CS:GO Daily Fantasy Helper: ESL Pro League, Road to Rio, Wednesday 5/13/20
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 America, the CIS region, 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 best-of-three, and players will receive a bonus for completing a 2-0 sweep.
MVP Considerations
With only two matches on the slate, we have limited options overall -- but the top-tier of players is loaded. FaZe and Astralis come in as the favorite in their respective matchups -- but they aren't overwhelming favorites -- which should give us closer matches. All four of these teams are in the top-11 of the world rankings and should give us some amazing action to watch.
A case can be made for several different players in the MVP spot, so let's take a look at a few different options. As a reminder, KAST is the percentage of rounds in which the player either had a kill or an assist.
| Player | Salary | Total Kills | Kills per Map | Headshot % | KAST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| kennyS | $12,000 | 356 | 20.9 | 30.6% | 73.8% |
| coldzera | $12,000 | 360 | 21.2 | 63.1% | 76.9% |
| broky | $11,900 | 341 | 20.1 | 34.3% | 80.2% |
| device | $11,700 | 385 | 21.4 | 36.4% | 70.8% |
| Magisk | $11,700 | 349 | 19.4 | 42.4% | 74.6% |
| Plopski | $11,000 | 391 | 19.6 | 45.0% | 73.9% |
All five of these players are very close in nearly every category, but there are a few things to point out.
kennyS has been consistent throughout the group stage and is deserving of his high price tag. Roster him with full confidence, it's that simple.
coldzera held the highest Headshot (HS) percentage through the group stage and was second overall in total headshots. He finished with a negative kill-to-death differential only four times in his 18 maps, while having 15 kills or more on 17 of those maps.
broky has the highest KAST and if we are expecting these maps to be close with no heavy favorite -- more rounds equals more fantasy points. He's nearly the same price as coldzera and should be lower owned.
device has a higher floor compared to Magisk, but they both have shown similar ceilings when it comes to fantasy points. We're looking at a coin-flip type choice.
Plopski is the most interesting of the bunch since he is the cheapest and should be the lowest-owned -- since NiP are underdogs versus FaZe --, but he doesn't have as high of a ceiling. Every other player broke 30 kills at least once, Plopski never hit that mark.
Players
dupreeh ($9,800) is only $200 more than the cheapest player on the slate and ended group play with 20 kills or more in four of his last six maps. That is above his 18 kills per map average, hopefully, a good sign heading into playoffs.
JaCkz ($9,600) is tied for the cheapest player on the slate, but is a volatile option. He had 20 kills or more in five of his last six maps, but held a negative kill-to-death differential on three of those maps.
olofmeister ($10,100) only averaged 16 kills per map in the group stage but finished with the sixth-highest Headshot percentage -- giving him a slight boost of FanDuel points per kill.
REZ ($10,400) is one of my favorite plays on the slate given his price and overall consistency. Averaging 18 kills per map, a KAST of 73.9%, a HS% at 47.5%, and had a negative kill-to-death differential only twice in his last nine maps.
Team
We have only four teams to choose from on this two-match slate and we should see FaZe ($6,900) and Astralis ($6,800) be the two highest-owned. That makes sense, as they are the favorites for their series and winning rounds are directly correlated with winning the map. G2 ($6,200) is clearly the leverage play -- also the cheapest option -- and are still viable, as they have an implied win probability of 33.9% in this matchup versus Astralis.
