DraftKings CS:GO Wednesday ESL RTR Cheat Sheet

GAMES (EDT)

• 12:30 p.m. Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Vitality
• 12:30 p.m. Red Canids vs. BOOM
• 12:30 p.m. Imperial vs. Isurus
• 4:00 p.m. Cloud9 vs. Triumph
• 4:00 p.m. 100 Thieves vs. Gen.G
• 4:00 p.m. Orgless vs. Evil Geniuses

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Vitality

The Ninjas are still in a bit of a reboot situation after f0rest chose to part ways with the team back in January. None of the founding members who dominated the scene in the early days are still on the team. The organization instead chose to commit to youth, acquiring the likes of nawwk and Plopski. They have also picked up a very experienced coach in threat, who has received a fair share of credit for NiP's success in the past. NiP had a very solid start to the ESL Pro League season, upsetting Astralis 2–0 in the opening match, followed by wins against Spirit and GODSENT before their spree was ended by Vitality, the very team that they will be going up against here. With f0rest leaving the team, it appears as if Plopski has gotten a lot more room to shine, and he is top play on the side of NiP, leading the team with a K/D ratio of 1.15 and a team-high 0.72 kills/round. After Plopski, it gets a bit dicier. Lekr0 has been the second-best guy on the team, and I agree with his pricing, but I would be tempted to take a stab at nawwk, or even twist, at the lower price.

On Vitality, it is all about ZywOo, one of the world's elite players who has the potential to put up plenty of points, even in a loss, making him one of the top plays on the slate. The other players on Vitality are a complete crapshoot, and with this being a six-game slate, you can find good spots in other matchups. However, I do think that misutaaa is a decent value pick here as one of the lowest-priced players on the slate. We could potentially see maps like Inferno, Vertigo and/or Mirage, three maps that misutaaa has thrived on for Vitality thus far.

Ninjas in Pyjamas Players to Target: Plopski ($8,800), nawwk ($6,600)
Vitality Players to Target: ZywOo ($9,400), misutaaa ($4,800)

Red Canids vs. BOOM

Red Canids face a very difficult matchup, as they are set to go up against BOOM, a team consisting of former INTZ and Luminosity players such as felps, boltz and yeL. We have a limited sample size to go by with BOOM, as they have only played the South America Minor Qualifiers since felps joined the team, but they have gone up against a similar level of competition, which gives us a good indicator of how they might perform against Red Canids. They have a 4–1 record in these matches, and they have not lost after their opening match against TeamOne. felps has been the best player on the team, leading them with a K/D ratio of 1.41 and 0.92 kills/round (!). It needs to be emphasized just how aggressive felps is as a player — he attempts 33 percent of his team's opening kills with a team-high 0.22 opening kills/round. However, there will be times when he runs into a brick wall and under-performs at this price, as we saw in their match against Isurus when he was the only player on his team to finish in the red. That is a risk you need to weigh into your decision making.
I think DraftKings has the pricing spot-on for the other players, and I would consider rostering anyone but shz. It really comes down to salary constraints, but I like yeL and boltz the most due to the pricing. yeL is particularly interesting, as he is coming off a solid game against Isurus, and he has a favorable AWP matchup against nak. 

It will be risky to roster Red Canids players, but if you want to go there, I would consider DeStiNy, nython or latto. DeStiNy is in great form at the moment and certainly makes a lot of sense as one of the more reasonably priced players.

BOOM Players to Target: felps ($9,800), boltz ($7,200), yeL ($6,400)
Red Canids Players to Target: DeStiNy ($6,200), nython ($7,000), latto ($7,600)

Imperial vs. Isurus

DraftKings has priced the best players in this matchup fairly high, and with this being an even matchup on paper, I think you could skip this one unless you want to create a contrarian lineup. KHTEX, delboNi and zqkS are decent options due to pricing, but it is a lot more difficult to find value on the side of Isurus. decov9jse and reversive are the best options, but they have very high salaries. The team's main AWPer, L!nkz^, is probably a guy I would lean towards because he is a decent value at $5,200.

Imperial Players to Target: KHTEX ($6,200), zqkS ($7,000), delboNi ($5,400)
Isurus Players to Target: decov9jse ($9,600), reversive ($8,200), L!nkz^ ($5,200)

Cloud9 vs. Triumph

Cloud9 will be a big favorite in this match against Triumph, and this is a pretty good matchup to target. You will have to pay up significantly for guys like oSee and floppy, but it could very well prove to be worth it. With Nuke and/or Inferno likely to get picked, I slightly favor floppy over oSee, as AWPers are not as impactful on these maps. However, the new patch, which saw the Krieg get a nerf, should help AWPers take fights more confidently, and they are never going to be poor picks with DraftKings scoring. Both motm and Sonic are priced the same, and I would slightly lean Sonic because he has performed very well for Cloud9 on Inferno. 

I would generally stay away from any Triumph players due to the difficulty of the matchup, but if you want to go there, I would pick Grim at $7,600. He proved he can put up good numbers even in a loss to Bad News Bears last week, leading the entire server with 81 kills and a plus-17 K/D differential.

Cloud9 Players to Target: floppy ($9,200), oSee ($9,000), Sonic ($7,400)
Triumph Players to Target: Grim ($7,600)

100 Thieves vs. Gen.G

This is a matchup where you can find some value at lower prices, which will be important if you want to roster heavy hitters such as ZywOo. Gratisfaction is the highest-priced guy on 100 Thieves, but I favor jks and jkaem the most here $8,000 and $7,000 respectively. If you want to save even more salary, you could taraget players from Gen.G. Both of these teams have pretty similar map pools, so it is very likely that we end up on maps where both teams are confident, such as Inferno or Mirage. koosta has been the top guy for Gen.G, and autimatic is very reasonably priced at $6,400.

100 Thieves Players to Target: jks ($8,000), jkaem ($7,000)
Gen.G Players to Target: koosta ($7,200), autimatic ($6,400)

Orgless vs. Evil Geniuses

Orgless will be a significant underdog in this match against Evil Geniuses, and this is a decent match to target. I like Brehze and CeRq the most on Evil Geniuses, but it is obviously quite tough to fit Brehze on a roster at $10,000. For that reason, I would lean CeRq. If you want to go against the grain and pick a guy or two from Orgless, both WARDELL and Infinite are viable options. As mentioned previously, I like AWPers a lot due to DraftKings scoring, and the recent nerf to the Krieg will only benefit them going forward. One of their few weaknesses is that they don't get as many assists, but the fact that DraftKings scores points for flash assists help negate that somewhat. What a lot of people don't seem to realize is that AWPers are some of the most supportive players in the game, and they are often in the backline setting teammates up with flashes. Some do this more than others obviously, but this is generally something to keep in mind.

Evil Geniuses Players to Target: Brehze ($10,000), CeRq ($8,200)
Orgless Players to Target: WARDELL ($7,800), Infinite ($6,800)