CS:GO Daily Fantasy Helper: ESL Pro League, Road to Rio, Tuesday 5/5/20

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

Both FaZe Clan and Astralis come into this slate as MASSIVE favorites, while Team North and NiP are minor favorites in comparison. Naturally, we want to look to some of those top teams for an MVP option, but there should also be some consideration given to a potential underdog.

Maka is the most expensive player on the slate, and he has the fourth-most kills during group play and the second-highest kill-to-death ratio, all while averaging the second-most kills per round, along with a bevy of other stats. He is at the top or near the top in dozens stats for this event and warrants that high price tag. The only hangup is that Team Heretics are underdogs against NiP but only slightly. NiP are second place in the group, and Heretics are in third place. It's a close match, and I'd bank on Maka continuing his strong play.

Broky has only played 10 maps compared to Maka and Device, who have both played 13 maps. That is why we see him coming in with only 209 kills, the lowest among these three players. But there is good news here, as FaZe are 4-0 in group play and two of those wins have come via a 2-0 sweep. While he lacks in the pure kills, he has the potential to pick up the sweep bonus.

Device is the cheapest among these three players and might be the best option for the MVP spot. As mentioned above, Astralis are massive favorites on this slate and should be able to pick up the 2-0 victory over Team Dignitas. If you don't like the idea of spending up for Maka as an underdog, drop to device for plenty of consistency as a favorite.

Player

If you want to fit one of those stars -- or multiple stars -- into your lineups, you need to find some cheaper options. There are plenty of players to pick from, so let's jump in.

Kjaerbye and Team North could be in for a sloppy series versus c0ntact Gaming. For reference, there are eight teams in each group, and North are in seventh place and c0ntact are in eighth place. The teams aren't great, but that means we could be going to all three maps, meaning more potential fantasy points.

Lekr0 is only $200 above the minimum salary and is the cheapest option on NiP, who are the favorites in their match against Heretics. He is a bit of a punt option, but the idea of rostering both broky and device might force you into this type of lineup build. In his last two series, he has a low of 14 kills and a high of 24. It's a wider range of outcomes, but that should be embraced in CS:GO DFS.

Olofmeister is the most expensive out of these three options, but he comes in with the best average kills per map, the highest headshot percentage, and the potential for a 2-0 series sweep bonus. In his 10 group stage matches, he has 14 kills or fewer three times but also posted 23 kills or more three times. He's a boom or bust type play, so hopefully we see the boom with FaZe as large favorites.

Team

Spending up to get Astralis or FaZe Clan could be the easiest answer on the slate -- it only comes down to the salary you have available. NiP and Team North are the other two favorites on this slate, but it's been established that Team North isn't amazing. If you are trying to jam in as many top-tier players as possible, NiP might be the option to fall to based on win probability and salary.