Introduction to Daily Fantasy Counter-Strike: Basics, Strategy, and More
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. 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 both North American and Europe.
Counter-Strike: The Basics
To give a brief overview of Counter-Strike, there are two teams -- one attacking, one defending -- who play the first to 16 round wins. Teams will start on either attacking/defending and flip to the other side after 15 rounds -- half time. A team winning 16-0 is very unlikely and can be equated to a perfect game in baseball. It rarely happens and generally doesn't need to be considered when looking at a matchup.
The attacking team will attempt to eliminate all of the defenders or plant the bomb and defend it until time expires, resulting in a round won. The defending team will also attempt to eliminate all of the attackers or defuse the bomb after it is planted to win the round.
Counter-Strike: Rosters
When it comes to the five players on each team, the roles are somewhat defined, but that doesn't directly impact things from a fantasy perspective. On FanDuel, you have one player in the MVP spot -- earning 1.5x points -- in addition to four player spots and one team spot. Essentially, there are five utility spots and you have to decide which player is going to receive the 1.5x bonus.
Counter-Strike: FanDuel Scoring
Scoring is straightforward for both players and teams but allows you to get creative with roster construction due to sweep bonuses.
| Player Stats | FanDuel Points |
|---|---|
| Kills | 2 |
| Assists | 1 |
| Death | -1 |
| Headshot | 0.2 |
| Sweep Bonus | 15 |
The scoring is similar to what you find in League of Legends -- positive points for a kill, negative points for a death -- along with the added wrinkle of 0.2 points for a Headshot. Being able to identify players who excel in the fabled 'onetap' can lead to plenty of extra fantasy points.
| Team Stats | FanDuel Points |
|---|---|
| Bomb Planted | 1 |
| Bomb Defused | 2 |
| Round Won | 1 |
| Round Lost | -0.5 |
| Team Sweep Bonus | 10 |
| Match Won | 10 |
Finding a team that is likely to pull off a sweep can provide a huge boost of fantasy points, along with finding a team that's great on defense and able to defuse the bomb. Winning maps quickly/cleanly is something to value and could turn out to be like a more important version of defense we find in NFL DFS.
Final Thoughts
Finding players on winning teams will likely lead to the highest upside, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't look to the best player on a team who could lose. Stacking players from a winning team will be a common strategy, along with stacking two winning teams. Counter-Strike is a great game to watch and will bring another great DFS option to the lobby.
