Seven years of drafting, a “Draft We Must” league title, a “International Genie League” title and (most importantl) a Draft Community League Champions Cup title…it’s not often you get to brag about your Fantasy Football achievements so I’m grabbing this opportunity with both hands!
Why the (not so) humble brag? Well, my Togga/Fantrax experience has inadvertently landed me with my biggest and toughest task of all…qualification to the Draft Community Gold League and (in partnership with the Fantasy Football Community) I am tasked with writing about my experience. This is unarguably the toughest league and Twitter so I could genuinely finish dead last…hopefully not eh?
After a break for the internationals, we faced another very tough fixture in Gameweek 11 against Payet Posse legend @DannyNoll as well as the start of our Champions Cup title defence!
Another week, another average score, another loss. A big score is coming, I’m sure of it (I have to be!) but once again in this league, it’s not quite enough.
Despite “surviving” Erling Haaland’s measly 14 points and seeing goals scored by Emmanuel Dennis, Odsonne Edouard and Andreas Pereira, Danny got the victory this week. There’s no point in dwelling on another narrow defeat so I’d rather talk about how I’m looking to turn things around.
The eagle eyed among you will notice a new face in my team, none other than super Kevin De Bruyne. I sold Mo Salah and Jack Harrison to get him in, a move that I felt I’d achieved on the cheap to be completely transparent as KDB is the game’s best player in my opinion, bar none.
He didn’t deliver as I’d hope against Southampton though. If I’d “survived” Haaland’s 14 points then I definitely “suffered” De Bruyne’s 12.5. Never mind. The plan is to sell KDB immediately to boost the squad once more. Unsurprisingly I’ve had a load of offers. Tune in next week to find out which offer I managed to negotiate!
And that’s all part of the plan to turn things around: 1. trade, trade, trade and 2. pre-empt things on the waiver wire.
My pick of Cesar Azpilicueta really paid off this week as I pre-empted a rest for Reece James and due to the injury suffered by RJ, Azpi suddenly has a bit of trade value. Nice.
With my situation as it is, trading is my only option in my opinion. As soon as a player has a good week now (bar my elite assets) I’m looking to ship them out as soon as they have some value rather than holding on to them. I should have done this far earlier wit Jack Harrison which is a huge regret of mine!
My last (very obvious) piece of advice is…don’t give up! He will correct me if I’m wrong but last season’s Payet Posse champion @JStep25 was 1-6 after 7 weeks last season before he went on to clinch the title (somehow). Coincidentally, he is my next league opponent!
The Champions Cup Title Defence
This week saw the start of my Community League Champion’s Cup title defence! Last year I was crowned as the “Champion of Champions” (not strictly true but it was a pretty monumental achievement) as I beat 107 other managers to win the trophy.
It’s fair to say I’m proud of myself and it’s that achievement that has brought about the pain and torture of taking part in the Gold League this season.
After my bye-week in week 9, my campaign started this week with a fortunate win over Silver League participant @PawnPogba by 85.25 points to 65.5. Yes, some good luck!
I probably sound like a broken record but this is going to be one HECK of a group to get out of. Only the top two will qualify so realistically you can only afford a maximum of two losses over the group stage.
To give you an idea of how tough it’s going to be, Payet Posse participant (and league leader) @JMoneyTaco somehow has a team involving three first round picks in James Maddison, Mo Salah and Gabriel Jesus. Sweaty.
In total, three of our group members lead their leagues (@JMoneyTaco, @PawnPogba and @FantraxFluke) with @extrabeisshit currently second in his division.
Then there’s little old me in 8th. Still, the defending champion. That’s all that matters!
Fantasy Football 92 