DraftKings Call of Duty: Saturday Cheat Sheet

Games (EDT)

• 1:00 p.m. Florida Mutineers vs. Los Angeles Guerrillas
• 2:30 p.m. Dallas Empire vs. Atlanta FaZe
• 4:00 p.m. Chicago Huntsmen vs. Toronto Ultra
• 5:30 p.m. Minnesota Rokkr vs. Seattle Surge

FLA (10-8) vs. LAG (4-11)

Well, for once recent scrims seemed to be a representative of the actual tournament itself. The new-look Mutineers roster was aggressive, going toe to toe in every round with arguably a top-3 team at the moment in the Huntsmen. Most of the credit will rightfully go to Owakening, who really shined in his debut, particularly during the team's two Hardpoints, but the synergy between the lineup top to bottom was impeccable.

I'm not positive Havok's 103 kills, which was second most overall Friday, is something that is repeatable, but the team-high 83 seconds of hill time is absolutely actionable and something to monitor with nominal objective man, Maux, now out of the lineup. I'm concerned about how many games will actually happen in this series, though. The Guerrillas play at a deliberate pace which is essentially counter to what this new version of the Mutineers want to do, and I'm not confident that when push comes to shove, they'll be able to keep up with their Floridian counterparts. Especially the way the Mutinners were playing their S&D, I just don't see where Los Angeles has an advantage. One of the three guys listed below will be worth their salary, but it's hard to envision more than one compiling enough to be relevant on DraftKings.

Prediction: FLA 3-0

FLA Players to Target: Havok ($7,800), Frosty ($7,400), Owakening ($6,800)

DAL (14-6) vs. ATL (16-2)

This is probably "the" series of the tournament, and one that I could very well see having to write about again come Sunday. Let's focus on the now, though.

I'm not really sure we learned much of anything, at least from the FaZe side, from Friday's game. Atlanta did what we thought they'd do following the 45 minute delay which jump-started the team's reverse sweep, but it was troubling to see them immediately fall 2-0 to a team that everyone assumed was an inferior squad. Maybe it was connection problems, maybe it was a lack of motivation...who really knows. If a FaZe series extends past three maps you can basically be assured they'll be among the highest DraftKings scorers in a given slate given how many engages they take per game. 

That seems like the most likely outcome against the Empire, especially with the form Shotzzy, Clayster and Huke displayed Friday. The latter name could make the biggest difference against a bevvy of aggressive SMG slayers like FaZe, although you have to imagine it'll affect his K/D numbers in a negative way. At $7,800, I don't think I'll be able to avoid using him in all my lineups, but there's probably more risk to that salary than you might initially assume.

This will be a heavily targeted series by most users, and for good reason given the likelihood of a four or five-game affair. It might be tempting to fade the field in that case, but I think you're more or less locked into starting at least two players from this matchup.

Prediction: ATL 3-2

DAL Players to Target: Shotzzy ($9,400), Huke ($7,800), Clayster ($7,600)

ATL Players to Target: Simp ($8,400), Cellium ($8,000), Abezy ($7,800)

CHI (16-5) vs. TOR (4-9)

Talk about a let down. Despite playing a five-game series as predicted, the Ultra --- in particular Methodz --- dramatically under-performed in their loss to the Guerrillas on Friday.

I have a hard time believing they'll turn it around against the Huntsmen, who despite the loss, really played well throughout their five-game series. Look, I'm a bit petrified to assume a blowout will occur after embarrassingly predicting something similar for FaZe on Day 1, but there's just no evidence this Ultra squad has what it takes to compete with the slaying power of the Huntsmen. A three-game series would kill the value of anyone on Chicago, so just be careful investing significant resources unless you're setting a contrarian lineup. 

Prediction: CHI 3-0

CHI Players to Target: Envoy ($8,600)

TOR Players to Target: MeTTaLlz ($7,000)

MIN (12-11) vs. SEA (4-13)

Seattle played absolutely out of their minds for the first 30-40 minutes of their Day 1 matchup, only to have all momentum completed throttled by a 45-minute delay entering Round 3. It's a disappointing outcome for the Surge, and especially after entering this tournament with questions regarding team chemistry and overall enthusiasm for the season, you have to wonder if this puts a damper on the rest of their weekend's projections.

That being said, other games just seem to have a more obvious projected outcome, to the point where it would become difficult to avoid this one. Octane is going to rightfully see something close to 60 or 70 percent play in most tournaments, and given how absurdly on point he was Friday, I don't think there's any reason to fade him either. Slacked was the next closest in terms of K/D (0.97), but nobody else for the Surge was even marginally good when it comes to slaying power. Proto's absurd hill time (137 seconds average over two games) probably gives DK users a safety net in terms of cash lineups, particularly if this game goes at least four games as I would anticipate.

Assault will have the unenviable task of trying to match Octane's AR with his own, but I think the Rokkr could put themselves into at least one favorable map situation which will help alleviate some of the burden. Alexx's 0.58 K/D against the Empire was unfathomably bad, but he's not facing the likes of Huke and Shotzzy on the Surge, which makes me think it's possible he could rebound somewhat. I truthfully don't know who wins this series, but I feel comfortable saying it'll be at minimum, the second longest contest of the day.

Prediction: MIN 3-2

MIN Players to Target: Assault ($9,200), Alexx ($7,600)

SEA Players to Target: Octane ($9,800), Proto ($8,200)