Last offseason, my friend and DLF Podcast co-host Matt Price invited me to join the latest version of his Red List Dynasty Leagues. These are awesome leagues Matt runs, which benefits many endangered species around the world. This league had a twist though, as it would feature three “vampire” teams, and I, along with my co-manager Dan Meylor had the chance to run one of these teams.
If you’re not familiar with vampire leagues, let me tell you about this addictive concept. In a typical league, one team will serve as the “vampire,” building their team at some sort of disadvantage compared to the rest of the league. This could include skipping the draft altogether or simply having fewer and later picks than every other team. The payoff comes when the vampire team pulls off a win and earns the right to steal a player from their opponent’s roster.
After participating in my first vampire league, I was hooked. By mid-season, I could not stop thinking about this league format and how I could get into more leagues like this. This led me to consider other unique league formats, including Paul Charchian’s Guillotine leagues. The twist in this format includes the lowest-scoring team being eliminated each week, making any players on that team available to the remaining teams in the league.
Ultimately, I concocted a format that would meld the two concepts. I was so anxious to try it that I chose not to wait until the offseason to give it a shot. I created the full rule set, recruited eleven other players and kicked things off in mid-season.
Here are the league rules…
Schedule:
Each week, the lowest-scoring remaining team from the previous week will call out an opponent. They may choose any other team. Once a team is selected, they lose the opportunity to call out a team themselves. We will continue this process until each team has an opponent. In odd number weeks, one team will not be chosen. This team will have immunity for the week and cannot be eliminated that week.Weekly Matchups:
Each week, the winning team in head-to-head matchups will snipe a player from their opponent. Any player is eligible to be sniped. All snipes must be submitted to the commissioner by Tuesday night at 10:00 pm eastern. Any teams missing that deadline forfeit their opportunity to snipe that week.Eliminations:
Each week, the lowest-scoring team across the league will be eliminated. Their entire roster of players (with the exception of the player their winning opponent snipes) will be returned to the waiver wire. These players will be eligible to be drafted in the subsequent weekly draft.Weekly Drafts:
Each week, a draft will be held on Wednesday. Any player on the waiver wire, including players from the recently eliminated teams, will be available to draft. The draft will be in inverse order of points with losing teams always taking precedent. Any team that had immunity in the week prior to the draft will have the final pick in each round. Teams can continue drafting until they have a full roster.Waivers and other Transactions:
Each week, teams may drop any players of their choice. Any open roster spots resulting from these drops can be filled through the Wednesday draft. Players must be dropped by Tuesday night at 10:00 pm eastern.
There will be no other form of transactions, including trading or waivers. The only possible exception would be a COVID-related emergency waiver run, though that is unlikely.Rosters:
Rosters will begin with 10 players and will increase by one spot each week for the entirety of the season. Here is the roster schedule for the season:
Week 6- 10 players
Week 7- 11 players
Week 8- 12 players
Week 9- 13 players
Week 10- 14 players
Week 11- 15 players
Week 12- 16 players
Week 13- 17 players
Week 14- 18 players
Week 15- 19 players
Week 16- 20 playersWeekly Lineups
The weekly lineups will be best ball. The starting lineup will always be ten players with total manager flexibility.
QB- 0-2
RB- 0-10
WR- 0-10
TE- 0-10Scoring:
Scoring will be 1 PPR for all players with TEs earning 1.5 PPR total. All other scoring is considered basic.
While I might be a little biased here, the league was a huge success. We even ran it back with the same format for the NFL Playoffs. Commission: Impossible friend John Bosch took down the Sniper-Active league title. Although this league required a great deal of upkeep as the commissioner, I am currently working to make this a realistic option as a season-long league. I’d also like to scale these leagues, which would make it possible to run multiple leagues and give many other fantasy players a chance to try out this new league format.
SFB Giveaway (February 26)
First, we’d like to thank everyone for the support over the past week. Not only are we looking forward to offering even more commissioner-specific content but also getting more people involved in all of the leagues we love the best.
Of course, the league that tops them all is the annual Scott Fish Bowl. As a reminder, we will randomly choose one paid subscriber each week to play in the 2021 Scott Fish Bowl. If you’ve enjoyed this free preview article and are hoping to find your way into SFB, simply subscribe for as little as $5 per month.
Congratulations to this week’s winner, “kwdorman.” We’ll see you in early July for the 2021 SFB draft!