The Free Hit chip, as we all know, is the new replacement for the much-maligned “All Out Attack”.
The new chip is essentially a temporary wildcard for one week, where you take a holiday from your team and flirt with the possibilities of what might have been if you hadn’t settled down with your current set-up.
Initial assessment of the Free Hit chip here outlines three strategies:
Small Double Gameweek – Use when there’s a third Double Gameweek but the Triple Captain and Bench Boost have already been earmarked for the two “regular” Double Gameweeks. This allows for a temporary focus on the small number of teams playing twice.
Blank Gameweek – Use when fixtures take a turn such that weaker teams are the only options for returns. Instead of wrecking your team with players you don’t want either side of that week, this provides a handy sidestep.
The Lateriser Conjecture – As discussed here, it can be used to take advantage of teams with isolated monster home matches in which you otherwise would have no ownership.
I’d like to suggest two more strategies. The first was originally proposed in the very early discussions on here but seems to have lost currency since then.
The Big Finish
This is where you wait until Gameweek 38.
Last year Gameweek 38 was a huge week with average scores approaching Double Gameweek proportions. The advantages are that you can use end of season knowledge and target teams that are still trying (not on the beach), players who are likely to get the minutes and assets trying to win the Golden Boot.
A second advantage is team value. If you wait until the end of the season you can get maximum use out of your team’s value. This can be augmented by taking a punt that you don’t need a bench, which can then be populated with fodder (and take further advantage of players who started at £4-£4.5 million and have slipped below that mark).
The second strategy is at the opposite end of the campaign because it needs to be proposed before the season starts.
The Hot Start
This idea is to maximise home-field advantage over the first three Gameweeks and works as follows:
Gameweek 1: Load up on players from teams playing at home in both GWs 1 & 3.
(West Brom, Crystal Palace, Man Utd, Newcastle, Chelsea, Watford) (*Include 2 players from Southampton/Arsenal even though they don’t have a home game in GW3)
Gameweek 2: Play the Free Hit chip and build a team around players with home fixtures in GW2.
(Southampton, Burnley, Huddersfield, Liverpool, Spurs, Bournemouth, Swansea, Leicester, Man City, Stoke)
Gameweek 3: Your team reverts to your GW1 team all playing at home. If you have two from Southampton/Arsenal then you can user two free transfers to switch these players to those with a home match who didn’t have one in GW1.
(Huddersfield, Liverpool, Spurs, Bournemouth)
In summary, the idea of the Hot Start is to start the season with 33 players playing at home and then to wildcard early if needed, either immediately or after Gameweek 5 for the turn in fixtures.
6 years, 9 months agoDoes anyone know what happens with price rises/falls using this chip? i.e. If you've made say 1.0m on Alli price rises. Then you ditch him for one week only on the free hit, if the player you bring in makes a 0.2 rise in that week, do you gain 0.1 at the end of the week when Alli reverts back into your team? Or if the reverse happens and while Alli is temporarily out of your team he rises 0.2 and whoever you bought falls 0.2m what happens to the value of Alli in your team? Do you get Alli's rise of 0.2m?