The Community Round Up

The Fantasy Premier League launch is looming, as the Fantasy Football Scout community eagerly look back at previous seasons to deduce the likely launch date. Ahead of the big day, our community writers and posters have cast an eye over the potential heavy-hitters, budget options and rotation strategies for the next campaign.

We look back at their efforts, whilst dropping in on our resident Sky Sports Fantasy game expert, who has been offering his tips for success following the launch this time last week. Not surprisingly, we also round off the community’s World Cup reactions and congratulate the winners across the various community competitions based on the tournament.

The Community Submissions

Earlier in the week, we asked for your votes for the best community article during the month of June. There was plenty of excellent articles to choose from but we’re delighted to announce that Portsmouth Bubblejet’s detailed look at Premier League Home and Away rotation stood out and claimed our community article of the month prize of a £20 Amazon gift voucher. Well done to the Pompey printer hybrid.

To be in with a chance of winning July’s prize, you can submit your article for consideration here. The Sarjeant’s detailed look at how players coming up with promoted sides are set to perform under the Fantasy Premier League’s Bonus Point System is already an early contender..

The Boose13 was another community writer active this week, he’s looked ahead to the new Premier League campaign, with this assessment of Tottenham’s prospects. It includes some pretty forthright opinions on Spurs’ transfer activity prior to the last campaign.

Meanwhile, Balotelli’s Bib and Innsie continued to focus on the final matches of the World Cup and a big thanks must go out to them for their efforts over the course of the tournament.

Balotelli’s Bib rounded off his lessons learnt series, before steering us through the final two matches with a look back at the semi-finals.

Elsewhere, Innsie’s helped out Fox managers with his guide to the available players for the semi-finals and beyond.

The Hottest Topics

With the World Cup giving way to another domestic season, the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) start date was already dominating our thoughts. According to The Sarjeant’s look at previous FPL launch dates, he reckoned that we’re a just a days away from getting stuck in. Daniel was another to predict an imminent launch, having also studied previous season’s dates.

The raft of newcomers to the Premier League are already tempting some, even before the FPL player list is revealed. Archie, however, urged caution when picking new faces, reminding the community of Wigan’s misfiring Italian hopeful Mauro Boselli, a notorious name around the community, who promised so much and delivered so little.

There’s no such pessimism surrounding Arsenal’s new stellar recruit, Alexis Sanchez. In Heydudes13’s discussion on where the Chilean forward will fit into the London side’s lineup, the consensus is he will shine as either a central striker or a winger. We’re now just waiting on that all important price tag.

Our options up front are, of course, plentiful, as explored in our discussion on the potentially pricey FPL prospects. With fixtures in his favour, Robin van Persie will be in big demand from the off, while Luis Suarez’s departure has made Daniel Sturridge an obvious early target. There are sceptics amongst you, however, with Baines on Toast stating that Van Persie may have lost his mojo and may not be the points machine of old. Fitness concerns worry him in this hot topic where he also reveals that Wayne Rooney could be an overlooked gem.

Whilst big money will doubtless be spent in our forward lines, Christina was mulling over potential FPL third striker options, with Hull’s Nikica Jelavic among those in the sights.

Among the burning questions we’ll all be pondering when FPL launches is whether to opt for one pricey keeper or go for a pair of rotating shot stoppers. Lionel’s Messy Boxers explored some of the best rotations available, with Burnley’s keeper and his counterpart at either Hull or Crystal Palace, emerging as one of the favoured options.

No discussion about the FPL would be complete without dreaming up some potential rule changes. This week EdenoftheEast wondered whether it was time to consider a mid-season re-classification to tweak players who have emerged as being out of position. Those interested in drafting in Tottenham’s full-back Danny Rose, who spent last season classified as a midfielder, will certainly be among those hoping such a rule change is considered. For Carrick Deserves More Mata, more points for slick midfield passers tops his list of rule tinkering.

The final FPL related hot topic in our round-up takes a look back at the past, as Innsie asked the community to recount their track record in the game, including highest rank, years played, as well as aspirations for next season.

There’s been a slightly shorter wait for those playing the Sky Sports Fantasy game, which has already launched. At first glance the pricing looks tough but luckily our resident expert D1sable set up his advice surgery earlier this week to help us search out some bargains, allowing us to focus on acquiring the heavy hitters.

Finally, last weekend saw some of the Fantasy Football Scout team attend our annual get-together in London. For those who want to see what the likes of Applebonkers, Evs and FPL winner Tom Fenley look like during a night out in London there’s a link here.

The Community Tournaments

The Fantasy Football Scout community dominated the final leader board of the Fox game, with 17 of our league members in the top 50 overall rankings.  The winner of our league was Alba Esque, who finished  seventh overall. Meanwhile, Arvin Velu topped the Fox FFS Deadzone league and Spencer won the FFS moderators and contributors league.

Frip69 not only topped the Scout League in the McDonald’s backed Official World Cup game: he also finished first in the overall ranks. Congratulations on an excellent effort.

The winners of the  FFS UEFA World Cup team competition, which is using the Official FIFA Fantasy game, were Nigeria. Full details can be found here.