PlayON – FFS Strategy Guide & New Features

As we revealed on Tuesday, not only are we supporting PlayON again this season, the game has undergone something of a revolution over the summer.

New ways of playing have been developed, inspiring us to roll out an updated version of our PlayON Strategy Guide, touching on some of the latest ploys that can help you achieve success in the game.

The newest feature from PlayON, is that Fantasy managers can now earn an income from their Fantasy team. Once the team-picking deadline has passed each week (two hours before first kick-off), all teams are locked in their final state and are then revealed on the site. Fantasy managers can then search through all teams and filter for teams that include/exclude certain players, teams with over x number of points or x points per player etc. Managers can they “Add” any of these teams to their own list of teams and can then use these teams to enter in-play games – receiving the benefit of any points already accrued by the team.

The beauty of this is if someone else uses one of your teams to enter an in-play game and they win money, you receive a percentage of their winnings. You can amend what percentage you require for your teams in real-time, so if your team is racking up the points on Saturday afternoon, you can increase the percentage share you require from other users in order for them to be able to use your teams. So even if you’re not entering any games for real money on PlayON each week, it still makes sense to pick three teams and if people use your teams, you could end up in the money.

Read on for our strategy guide to PlayON and further details on the new additions to the PlayON Fantasy manager’s weekend.

Find the Untouchables

Ideally, a PlayON lineup needs 11 starters who are more than likely to play for 90 minutes. With five points earned for every minute played, there are 450 points available for finding reliable starters who can see it through to the final whistle. Sometimes you can compensate for an absentee and a few goals can carry a 10-man team but as a rule, be sure to focus on the players that will ensure you get a full starting XI out on the pitch.

Hunt out the Bargains

This is without doubt a major key to success. PlayON’s pricing algorithm does its thing in advance of every Gameweek, repricing players each week based on performances over the prior number of Gameweeks. Often, this can create a select band of players who, for one reason or another, are clearly underpriced and offer value. In particular, look out for those returning from injury or suspension – they will often have taken a price dip having missed several matches.

Dare to be Different

You can sometimes kid yourself that you’ve put together a strong lineup when, in reality, others will be going into the Gameweek with very similar players. A differential or two is always handy and taking one or two calculated risks can give you the edge when it comes to the shake-up for the cash prizes.

Watch for Late Injuries

Harking back to our first point, that late nugget of team news can be all-important when it comes to finding bargains. If a regular starter is crocked, this could open the way for a undervalued second string player to come in – while this is a big gamble when dealing with attacking players, it’s often handy at the back with defenders.

Read our Player Picks

Every Friday we’ll bring you two player picks from each position that will help provide the foundations of your PlayON lineup. Just two, mind – we don’t want to give you a full team.

Earn From In-Play Tournaments

There’s a new way to win in PlayON this season, with “In-Play” tournaments allowing you to continue entering games while the matches are unfolding in real-time. You can continue to enter your own teams into one-on-one games and limited entry multiplayer games (i.e. 3, 4, 5, 10 or 20 player games) after the team picking deadline. Only limited entry games are available In-Play as a short time-lag between the first and last entrant is needed so no-one is at an information disadvantage. To facilitate this, PlayON has also introduced the “Unjoin” function, which enables you to immediately unjoin a game at any point before it fills up (i.e. up until 2/2 entrants are in a one-on-one game or up until 10/10 entrants are in a 10 player multiplayer game).

There’s an added dimension to this though. PlayON enables a manager to enter In-Play games with not only their own teams, but with teams originally picked by another manager. You get a quick and easy route into a game (ideal for new players or players who haven’t picked a team during the week), while the creator of the team can earn a commission from your winnings.

There’s real strategy to this. Do you enter an in-play game with a complete lineup of players yet to play, or do you adopt another PlayON manager’s lineup with some players used and some points already in the bank?

Other People Using Your Teams

The flipside of this is that you can earn a commission on winnings from all the people using your teams to enter In-Play games. Imagine this – you select Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata in one of your three PlayON lineups ahead of Saturday’s early kick-off and they both score. Others may then jump on it to use your teams to enter In-Play games over the remainder of the Gameweek and you can earn a % of their winnings from In-Play tournaments.

If your team is doing really well and you would rather enter all games yourself to maximize the amount you win (each team can only be entered into each game once), you can opt out of allowing other people to use your teams, but you then eliminate the ability to earn commissions from other users.

Commission levels can also be tweaked as you go so, if you think your team is hugely valuable and much sought after, you can raise your commission from 5% right up to 50%. Of course, the commission level, combined with the players and points scored could be a deciding factor on whether your team is ultimately used by other PlayON managers.

With this in mind, even if you’re not looking to enter tournaments, if you select three PlayON lineups each week and your selections fare well, you could earn an income from your teams with no outlay.

New tactics and strategies will reveal themselves once we’ve had time to settle into PlayON again this season. One thing is for sure, the game certainly introduces a new approach to Fantasy Football that looks intriguing.

PlayON has a huge £10,000 pot on offer just in Gameweek 1 to celebrate the new season. You can only enter your own teams into the £10,000 game as entries for this game close on Saturday at 10.45 – the team-picking deadline. Thereafter, the In-Play games, the ability to use other PlayON managers’ teams and earning money from commission all begins.

Look out for our first PlayON picks of the season tomorrow at 12.00. In the meantime, head over to PlayON.co and get started.