Four Points for First Time Drafters
I have never played any type of fantasy draft game before Fantasy LCS. To compete with my draft mates, many of whom are seasoned fantasy sports veterans, I made it my mission to theorycraft and read up on fantasy literature. No matter how much I prepared, however, a few things threw me off when the Fantasy LCS site went live. I expected some of them, but I failed to anticipate just how big an effect a small mistake could have in thwarting my plan to dominate the competition. I’m here to stress a handful of things that I wish I had thought about more before joining my first fantasy league.
AUTODRAFTING IS A THING
The first and most basic component of drafting that I wasn't prepared for was the auto-draft effect. If you allow the minute timer to tick down from 60 to zero for any reason—the water is boiling over, your internet connection crashes, your draft mate is attempting to sabotage you with a gif of kittens playing a piano — the system will choose the player with the highest projected points available to you. It might happen early enough to cost you a chance at one of your high-priority picks or later in the draft when sleepers can create huge value, but will leave you asking “What if…” for the rest of the season.
TRENDING ROLES MATTER
Having studied a bit of literature on fantasy drafting, I thought a good strategy would be to focus on lower point-scoring positions like Support and Jungle first to make sure I didn't get stuck with a pick that netted me less than one point each week. As a result, I made the mistake of selecting a first round Support in one of my drafts who I could have easily still snatched up in the second or third round. This precluded me from selecting a juicier Mid laner or Jungler, as the two slots were high priority picks toward the beginning of that draft for everyone else. Instead of taking something away from an opponent and waiting to pick up the Support I wanted next round, I cheated myself. Luckily, this was only a six-man draft. The situation could have been much worse for me in an eight-man.
LEAGUE SIZE IS HUGE
Which brings me to the next point. I failed to anticipate the massive effect inherent in the number of people participating in a draft. I had practiced four-man drafts before, but this didn't prepare me for either a six or eight-man game. In a four-man draft, your punishment for making bold early picks is lessened since middle-value players will linger even after the draft's conclusion. This means you can try sweeping strategies like picking four carries in a row with little loss in your other roles.
In eight-man draft, it's easy for every single starting Mid, AD Carry, and Top lane player in an LCS team to be taken at the end, leaving you with zero safe options to swap unless you can convince a draft mate to make a trade. This means getting a Jungler early is more important in an eight-man than in a four-man or six-man draft, as Junglers had the widest spread of points of any role from top to bottom. Draft size meddles with a lot of different variables.
CONTINGENCY PLANS
All of these factors point to one very important solution: bring not just one, but multiple contingency plans. Every time you make a pick, immediately begin to think about not just your next pick, but what you would choose if that pick and the next pick is taken before your turn rolls back around.
Decide what you think would be a logical choice for your opponents. Generally, with similar information, parties in the draft will have similar thought processes. Think about how you can not only ensure you get the best pick for you, but how you can prevent your opponent from getting the choice you believe he or she has in mind.
Expect things to not go as planned. Stay cool, and you will immediately be able to compensate for an unexpected turn of events. That way, no matter what curveballs your fantasy LCS draft may throw, you’ll still be prepared to win it all.
