CS:GO Daily Fantasy Helper: ESL Pro League, Road to Rio, Thursday 4/30/20
With traditional sports on hold for now, esports has taken the front seat in DFS, and we now have Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to play on FanDuel. Affectionately known as CS:GO, two teams of five players compete on each map until one team reaches 16 rounds. Most series are played as a best-of-three and will feature teams from the ESL Pro League in North American, South America, and Europe.
If you are new to esports DFS or CS:GO DFS, take a look at the introduction piece with a rundown of format and scoring. All matches are a best-of-three and players will receive a bonus for completing a 2-0 sweep.
MVP Considerations
A five-game slate brings us a few teams who are heavy favorites -- G2, Astralis, and Evil Geniuses -- making players from those teams a clear option for the MVP spot. Players from winning teams tend to score more points than players from losing teams. It's that simple, and you can see it in an individual player's game log and fantasy production.
There are plenty of players who could be in consideration for the MVP spot, but I want to look at three specific players: device, huNter and Brehze.
| Player | Salary | Total Kills | Kills per Map | Headshot % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| device | $12,200 | 166 | 20.75 | 37.3 |
| huNter | $11,900 | 137 | 19.5 | 56.9 |
| Brehze | $11,000 | 158 | 19.75 | 63.9 |
These three players are among the seven most expensive options on the slate and have somewhat comparable stats. device leads the way in salary, total kills, and average kills per map but falls to third in Headshot (HS) percentage. As a reminder, players receive 0.2 bonus points per HS.
Brehze is the cheapest among the three, with the best HS percentage and sitting just behind device in average kills per map. Both Evil Geniuses and Astralis are favorites in their respective matchups, with EG being a larger favorite. huNter is also a viable option and shouldn't be passed on. He is truly a great player, but it's tough to not spend the extra $300 and just roster device.
Player
Whether you want to spend up and pay for a big-name player in the MVP spot or roster one there and another in a player spot, you'll need to find some savings. Let's take a look at a few players who offer a bit of value to help round out the rest of your lineups.
| Player | Salary | Total Kills | Kills per Map | Headshot % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethan | $9,400 | 151 | 18.8 | 52.3 |
| Sonic | $9,300 | 151 | 16.7 | 39.1 |
| refrezh | $9,000 | 169 | 18.7 | 53.8 |
| aizy | $10,200 | 157 | 19.6 | 45.2 |
Ethan has 20 kills or more in three straight maps after posting 17 kills or fewer in three of his first five maps. He is the second-cheapest player on Evil Geniuses, who are the biggest favorites on the slate.
Sonic and Cloud9 are very, very slight underdogs versus Gen.G Esports today and could be in for a full three maps. He comes in with the fifth-most total kills in the North American ESL Road to Rio so far and has a great price tag tonight.
refezh is tied for the cheapest player on the slate and in a winnable matchup versus North. Both teams sit at 1-2 and don't see either team as a heavy favorite. He can fit into a stars and scrubs roster build to allow you to pay up for two of the top players.
aizy isn't as cheap as the other players but offers a strong combination of consistency and potential ceiling. He comes in averaging 0.71 kills per round in this qualifying group stage, which should make him valuable today. North aren't overwhelming favorites versus Copenhagen Flames, which could push this to all three maps. That means more rounds on top of the high volume North already play. Seven of their eight maps have seen double-digit rounds from both teams. To put it simply, they play very close games, maximizing the number of rounds he could potentially play.
Team
Of course, you should look to correlate your team with some of the players you expect to be on the winning side. G2, Astralis, and Evil Geniuses are the heavy favorites on this slate but are also the three most expensive teams. Cloud9 are an interesting option as a team since they are slight underdogs versus Gen.G. Finally, both North and Copenhagen Flames are two of the three cheapest teams on the slate. One team has to win and if this is going to be a coin flip, punting down to one of them is viable.
