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Guillotine

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Guillotine features:

A Fantasy Football Guillotine League is a brutal but thrilling format where each week, the team with the lowest score is eliminated (i.e., gets “guillotined”). The remaining teams continue to play until only one is left standing. Here’s a breakdown of how the rules typically work:

The Draft

  • Standard Snake Draft: Teams typically draft players like a standard fantasy league. However, there’s no “benching” in this format.
  • The key difference is that, because there’s no “traditional playoffs,” each matchup and each week matters more than ever, since you risk elimination

Weekly Matchups

  • Each week, all teams compete in head-to-head matchups, just like a traditional fantasy football league.
  • At the end of the week, the team with the lowest score (based on points) is eliminated from the league.

The eliminated team’s players go into the “waiver wire” for the other remaining teams to claim.

Waiver Wire for Eliminated Team’s Players

  • The players from the eliminated team are dropped into the waiver wire for the remaining teams to claim.
  • Teams will put in waiver claims or use a blind bidding process (e.g., FAAB – Free Agent Acquisition Budget) to pick up players from the eliminated team.

The process for claiming players is usually done before the start of the next week’s games, so if you’re eliminated, the others will have a chance to pick up your best players.

Elimination

  • The league continues in this fashion until only one team is left standing.

Tiebreaker: In case of a tie for the lowest score (extremely rare), the team with the highest total points scored for the season may survive or other tiebreaker rules (like head-to-head matchups) will be applied.

No Playoffs

  • The “playoff” system is effectively built into the league each week. There are no traditional playoffs; instead, teams are eliminated weekly until only one remains.
  • The team that survives the longest (and wins the most weeks without being eliminated) wins the league.

Roster and Starting Lineups

  • Similar to regular fantasy leagues, you set your starting lineup each week. There are often rules to clarify how many positions you must fill and whether bench spots are allowed to sit players out.
  • Since elimination occurs at the end of the week, you can continue making trades, picking up players off waivers, and adding/removing players to improve your team.

Strategy Tips for Guillotine Leagues

  1. Stay Active: The key to success in a Guillotine League is staying active, making sure you have the best possible team every week, and using waivers to your advantage when eliminated teams’ players are dropped.
  2. Manage Risk: Early on, you might be able to get away with taking a risk on high-upside players, but as the season progresses, it’s crucial to avoid players who are more likely to underperform or be injured.

Monitor the Elimination Roster: When teams are eliminated, study their rosters carefully. Sometimes, a dropped star player can be a game-changer for the remaining teams.

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