What’s up, FANation! We have yet another 2-game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive DFS slate that has been added to the DraftKings lobby for Friday, April 17th, 2020. We get a match in the “Home Sweet Home” series here for Friday. It is the early start time once again, and at the time set to kick-off this slate is at 5:50 AM ET, so get those line ups in now, or get them reserved to get in tonight! Without further ado, I hope you guys have been enjoying the articles I have been posting here @FantasyAlarm and let us get right down to the slate!

Gambit Youngsters (Ranked 49th in World) vs Copenhagen Flames (Ranked 61st in World) – 5:50 AM ET

We saw Gambit take care of Endpoint seemingly easy in their prior match in the LOOT series, as they looked to have found a rhythm and got back on track, as they had dropped their prior two matches, and last three of four. The Flames have been trounced in three of their last four games, getting 2-0 swept in three of the four as well. However, they did face some stiff competition in Team Cloud9, HAVU, and MAD Lions. This just goes to show how strong these upper-echelon teams really are. I think this match is a bit closer than it seems, and the Flames record is a bit skewed for the reasoning listed above. They did take Cloud9 into OT on Overpass, before losing 22-19, after losing their first game on Dust 2 by a score of 16 to 8. So, even though the score reflects 2-0, they were competitive. Against Team HAVU, they won 17 and 14 rounds in both games, so also took HAVU to OT on map Train, and lost in the final two rounds of map Overpass, so we can definitely see they have been highly competitive against some big-named teams. Not to mention, they took MAD Lions to a three-map game, winning the first map at Dust2 by a score of 16 to 9, before falling on Train and Nuke by scores of 16-6, and 16-13. Gambit’s 2-0 sweep over Endpoint wasn’t just an overly convincing win as well, as they allowed Endpoint to get to double-digit round wins on both map Overpass and Vertigo at 10 and 11. Not to mention, and not to fail to remember that Gambit had dropped three of their last four matches before the win against Endpoint, and two of those losses were by a 2-0 sweep. With that said, I could see this game going one of two ways.

Now, it is very important to note that this match is a BEST OF ONE. So, only one map, and one winner. These are the opening matches for Group D of the Home Sweet Home series. So, not exactly play-in games, but early deciders for the group.

So, lets kind of break down the teams here on a paper-level. All of Gambit’s team have a Rating 2.0 of 1.01 or better, so all above average by a margin and some by really good margins, which we will discuss in a short. Copenhagen Flames have only two guys on their roster with a Rating 2.0 of 1.0 or higher, and that is both Nodios (1.03), and Farlig (1.18). The remainder of there squad sits at 0.98, 0.92, and 0.95. So, on paper, we give the edge here to Gambit Youngsters. Now, to the picks and stack options:

Gambit Youngsters

ANCHOR: Sh1ro – (Likely will be the main chalk play on this slate, but he just wrecked Endpoint last match with a 42-28 Kill/Death ratio, a 1.40 Rating 2.0,77.4 Kill-Asst%, and 89.9 ADR. For last 3-month average, running a 1.27 Rating 2.0, 0.79 Kills per Round, insanely low 0.54 Deaths per Round, 76.2 Kill-Asst%, 1.26 IMPACT (insanely good as well), and a 79.2 ADR.)

Top Builds: Sh1ro, Ax1Le, nafany (can use supra as a value if needed for salary relief)

Copenhagen Flames

ANCHOR: Farlig (1.18 Rating 2.0, 0.76 Kills per Round, 0.59 Deaths per Round, 71.9 Kill-Asst%, 1.23 IMPACT, and modest 74.1 ADR)

Top Builds: Farlig, Nodios, Queenix (*Note- I am more than likely plugging Flames here as either a Farlig one-off, or a 2-man Farlig/Nodios stack)

 

SKADE (Ranked 39th in World) vs Endpoint (Ranked 36th in World) – 7:00 AM ET

Here we get a match with the two last round losers in the Loot series. Again, this is a BEST OF ONE match for the opening round of Group D of the Home Sweet Home series.

A little map history here, and I believe it does factor in a little with these two teams, as it is more of an exploitive angle for SKADE here. I highly believe that both Vertigo and Inferno will likely be the banned maps here for each team, as Vertigo is a map that Endpoint has had their most success on with a 71%-win clip over 14 maps. Inferno has been SKADE’s best map lately, as they have recorded a pretty insane 83%-win clip over 23 maps played. So, if and when these are banned, I believe that SKADE will likely choose map Overpass, as they have had a 75%-win clip over 8 maps there recently, whereas Endpoint has recorded a putrid 29%-win clip over 7 Overpass maps lately. For Endpoint, I believe they will choose Dust2, in which is their second-best map lately, winning at a 60% clip, however, SKADE is not bad on this map, as they are sporting a 54%-win clip at Dust2 in 13 map matches there. So, before looking at player options, I do have to give a slight map edge to SKADE, as I could see this playing out to their favor overall.

Now, looking at player options for this match. SKADE has three players with a Rating 2.0 of 1.0 or higher, and their other two options are both sitting at 0.98, so this is fairly good. Endpoint has four options with a Rating 2.0 of 1.0 or higher, and that gives them a bit of a bump, in terms of ADR, both teams have all options over 70.0, so somewhat of a wash. Here is my breakdown, I feel that if SKADE wins, it will be on the coat-tails of Rainwaker. He is a the game-changer type, and has ridiculous numbers. Endpoint seems to be a bit more evened-out as a team, so I could see them working well as a team, but may not have that super-star stud you will need as a CPT. I really think this game will be close, and I honestly do not know who will win, so use the above analysis as you will. Let’s get to some player options, shall we?

SKADE

ANCHOR: Rainwaker (Rain was a non-factor in their match yesterday morning against Winstrike, but Winstrike quite a good team, so I am fully expecting a bounce-back here from Rain, and I would highly recommend rostering as CPT)

Top Builds: Rainwaker, rafftu, dennyslaw

Endpoint

ANCHOR: Thomas (1.12 Rating 2.0, 0.73 Kills per Round, 72.1 Kill-Asst%, 1.10 IMPACT, 81.6 ADR)

Top Builds: Thomas, CRUC1AL, Surreal (*NOTE- again, I think this is more of a team effort, in which kills/assists could be more even, do like them as a 2 or 3-man stack option)

 

TOP PLAYS AND STACKS:

TOP PLAYS: Sh1ro, Rainwaker

TOP VALUES: Nodios, Surreal, rafftu, CRUC1AL

TOP STACKS: Gambit Youngsters, Endpoint