We’ve made it to the official start of the Intel Extreme Masters and many of the top teams in the HLTV.org Rankings are on today’s slate! Let’s have some fun and get down to the business of making money! For Thursday, July 8, 2021, DraftKings is offering a 4 match CS:GO slate with a lock at 10:45am ET. Here is my ‘Notes Sheet’ for this slate.
Match Breakdown
Our first match-up presents G2 (#3) as the betting favorite (-175) against Complexity (#12), who is the underdog (+130) in the Group A Upper Bracket. These teams faced off at the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2021 about 3 weeks ago and G2 walked away with a 2-1 win in the Bo3 format. Vertigo was the 3rd map decider in that match. G2 look to be the ‘Notes Sheet’ dominator in this match and my lean will be G2 today.
Next, we have Vitus.pro (#6) facing off with BIG (#10) in the Group A Upper Bracket. VP (-105) is actually a slight dog in this one to BIG (-125), where BIG holds the maps winrate advantage, appears to be in better form and has a slightly higher Kill to Death ratio. While, I’m not entirely sure this will considered an upset, I favor BIG in this match and I will be watching this match with great interest.
We also get two Group B Upper Bracket matches today, the first of which pits FURIA (#11) against Team Vitality (#9). VIT is the betting favorite here (-190), are in better form and have a better K:D (1.06). I have to wonder if ZyWoo has enough support against this FUR roster to come away with a win, even though the ‘Notes Sheet"‘ indicates they should be the lean here. These teams squared off in May 2021 in the DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 event and FUR won in 2 straight maps. I think this is a possibility again today. I will look to roster ZyWoo, but outside of that, I’m not really too interested in the other VIT guys.
The final match sees Natus Vincere (#2) enter their match with Renegades (#50) as -800 favorites. Renegade surprised OG (#13) yesterday in the Play-In stage and should be plenty juiced to be in IEM Cologne, but NAVI is coming off a Bo5 win against world #1 Gambit and they will provide a much tougher challenge to REN today. I lean NAVI.
Building Lineups
On this slate, I will be looking to target NAVI, VIT, G2 and BIG players in my builds. Where to start is the thing? On a slate with s1mple*
($14.7/$9.8) and
ZyWoo*
($14.1/$9.4), I can tell you one thing, I want them both! This will be tough, due to their salaries, but there are a few players in Counter Strike that we consider MUST PLAYS and these are the guys! I will be trying to fit them both in all my lineups today, if salaries allow this. While I’d love to get one of them in at captain, I don’t think you are going to be able to accomplish this without playing a player or two from the underdog squads (read about the 2/1 game stack strategy below).
One other note on these GOATS, I have to wonder if fading one of them will be the optimal play. This slate is loaded with player talent, and the other teams have great leaders who can put up gaudy kill numbers too.
When we are constructing lineups for a four match slate, my preference is to build 3/3 lineups by pairing 2 of the favorites/leans in my Cash contests (50/50s, Double Ups). When building lineups for multi-entry GPP contests, I will consider 3/3 lineups and also build 3/2/1 or 2/2/2 lineups from the favorites/leans. If I’m looking for a higher risk GPP build that is more unique, then I will look to stack matches by rostering players from the same match. In these cases, I try to play 2 favorites/1 underdog from a single match and run it back with a 2/1 set from another match.
Because this slate is unique with both s1mple and ZyWoo, the above mentioned strategies may not be possible. I’m actually leaning towards building with 3 BIG players, because their salaries are the least prohibitive, and then filling the remaining spots as I can from s1mple, ZyWoo and one other player. My favorite captains from BIG are syrsoN*
($11.7/$7.8) and tabseN*
($10.5/$7.0). Now those are salaries we can work with from a team I expect to win.
I also expanded the player pool a bit to include a few players on predicted losers who seem to be priced a little too low. You're going to have to get creative today with your roster builds. The strict adherence to 3/3 may not be possible. For that reason, I am favoring GPP contests over cash on this slate.
Player Pool
These are players I am considering in cash and GPP lineups, along with my *preferred captain plays
. Players are listed by team, in order of preference. When constructing lineups, make sure to follow one of the strategies laid out in the Building Lineups section above.
NAVI: s1mple*
| electronic | B1T | Boombl4 (only punt if needed)
VIT: ZyWoo*
| misutaaa*
| shox | apEX
G2: NiKo | huNter- | nexa
BIG: XANTARES | syrsoN*
| tabseN*
| tiziaN (only punt if needed)
FUR: KSCERATO | yuurih | arT
COL: k0nfig | blameF | poizon
Live Discord Chat
If you want to get personal advice and insight around this slate and my CS:GO DraftKings ‘Notes Sheet,’ I am typically chatting in the Hammerhead DFS Discord up until lock. You’re welcome to join this free community that is open to DFS fans of all sports and come chat! After getting some free CS:GO advice, make sure to head over to https://www.hammerheaddfs.com/ and check out the values on single sport Day Passes from the proven DFS winners you’ve just hung out with! MLB has been fire lately, but you can also try your hand at PGA, NASCAR, and MMA, not to mention some of the best NFL content you can find in just a few short months. The entire crew over there is great, just make sure you tell them d0C bR3WZ sent you!