How to SPEED UP Fantasy Draft (& other FD protocols)

by GREENERRRR Fri Sep 06, 2013 7:51 pm

If we don't take steps to speed up fantasy draft - it will take over 12 hours for 32 players to finish a FD!

Below are things that you need to do - so that you can speed up your selection (and ultimately make fantasy draft a manageable length of time...)

PREPARE BEFORE THE DRAFT! Be familiar with the players you want to draft! Some guys have specific draft boards that will dictate their selections... But a draft board can be as simple as prioritizing the order of positions you want to draft and have a description of the attributes that you want for each position...

Example:

Draft Board (by prioritizing positions...)

Round 1 - MLB - speed & pursuit
Round 2 - SS - hit power & zone cover
Round 3 - HB - 225 pounds, trucking & carry
Round 4 - QB - THP - MAC & DAC
Round 5 - WR - speed & route running
Round 6 - TE - run block & catch in traffic
Etc etc etc

It's important you know the players you want to draft or at least know what position you want to draft (and the type of player...)

Make sure you have a HANDFUL of specific players READY TO DRAFT before your turn even approaches (this way if the player you wanted is drafted before your turn, you have many other players you are happy to select in his place...)

Make sure you know when your going to be ON THE CLOCK! The draft order is not available until we actually start the draft! (Therefore all 32 players must be prepared to be have the first overall fantasy draft pick)

Once you have your determined your draft selection spot, take note of who are the players that pick BEFORE and AFTER you... Fantasy draft are run in a SNAKE ORDER - so the guy who picks after you in the first round will pick before you in the second round (& the guy who picks before you in the first round will pick after you in the second round....) - bottom line YOU WANT TO BE ON THE MAIN DRAFT SCREEN WHEN THE PLAYER BEFORE YOUR TURN IS SELECTING! - this way when you are officially on the clock, you will know it (and then you can enter the player draft / select screen and make your pick - which you already had planned out before your timer even started ticking down!)

IMPORTANT: If your on the player draft / select screen when your turn comes up - YOU MAY NOT EVEN KNOW YOUR ON THE CLOCK - and this may cause you to miss your pick (and piss off the other 31 guys because we have to sit & watch your timer tick down for 90 seconds!)

BOTTOM LINE - PAY AATENTION - ANTICIPATE WHEN YOUR ON THE CLOCK - HAVE A HANDFUL OF PLAYERS READY TO DRAFT (in case others steal your picks b4 your turn)

Be deliberate when moving into player draft / select screen and when drafting your specific player - DO NOT BUTTON-MASH!

If players button-mash the game runs the risk of FREEZING - which ruins the draft for everyone!

Guidelines on how long it should take you to pick:

In the first 7 ROUND - these should be NO BRAINER picks! You should be able to make your pick instantly (within 5 seconds of being on the clock)...

In rounds 8 to 15 - A little more time may be needed in these pics - BUT AT THE VERY LONGEST YOU SHOULD MAKE YOUR PICK WITHIN 12 SECONDS! (afterall you have all the time in the world to strategize your pick between rounds - plus you have your draft board available to help guide your selections...)

Rounds 16 and later - should take no more the 18 seconds! Hell in prior years Madden we had to make these picks within 15 seconds (sure we missed the odd pick but we basicly got who we wanted!!!) SO having 18 seconds to pick should be tonnes of time!!!

* personally I think everyone should always have 7 to 10 players READY TO DRAFT (and after each selection they make, they start researching for their next pick so by the time they are ready to draft again they have another 7 to 10 players READY TO DRAFT - if everyone did this NO PICK WOULD TAKE MORE THEN 10 SECONDS!