Here we go again! The MLS season is just around the corner, which means it's time to set up your MLS Fantasy team. If you haven't played before, it's a great way to learn about the league, while also providing a built in rooting interest for all 340 regular-season games.
If you're a veteran player, be aware that the MLS Fantasy Manager team has made some changes to gameplay this season, most notably the return of auto substitutions (with the option for manual subs), form-based price fluctuations and a matchday team tracker. Also, the website now uses a responsive design so you can play on your phone, tablet, or computer. If this is your first time playing, allow our Fantasy 101 series to help you study up.
First things first, it's time to set up your squad.
REGISTER YOUR TEAM
Use fantasy.mlssoccer.com on your tablet or phone via a web browser.
To begin, head to the game's website at fantasy.mlssoccer.com and click the Start Playing button. You'll be prompted to sign in with your MLS Network account. If you don't have one, there are several options to create a free account – I use my Twitter account. Once you've signed in, you'll be taken to the Select Your Squad page. If this is your first time, the game will provide a helpful tour of screen's features.
SELECT YOUR SQUAD BY USING PLAYER FILTERS
The first thing you'll need to do is to assemble your squad. MLS Fantasy is a salary cap game; that means you start with an initial budget of $120m to fill your team. Just like MLS General Managers, your job is to choose the best 18 players while not exceeding your budget.
To choose a player for your team, simply click or touch their name in the Player Filters column to the right of the screen. When you select a player's name, a pop-up window will appear. Select Add Player to add the player to your fantasy team or select View Information to view his stats.
The Player Filters column also lets you filter player lists by position or team. If you're looking for a goalkeeper, for example, you can select "Goalkeepers" from the View menu and the game will display all the available goalkeepers.
You can also use the Player Filters column to narrow player lists in different ways. Let's say you wanted to search by a player's total fantasy score — just select "Goals scored" from the Sorted by menu and column will sort players by the number of goals they've scored. (Before the 2015 season starts, players' stats are from the 2014 season.)
The With a maximum price of menu let's you sort players by price, which comes in handy whether you're looking for bargains or just looking to fill a roster hole. Imagine you've assembled most of your roster, but only have a limited budget for your final few spots. No worries. You can view all players who cost less than $5m.
Keep in mind that you can't have more than four players from any one club. You can also let the game fill in a team for you by selecting the AUTO button, though you'll want to return before the season begins to give it your own flavor.
Your final roster must include:
- 2 Goalkeepers
- 6 Defenders
- 6 Midfielders
- 4 Forwards
TEAM SELECTION STRATEGIES
When it comes to choosing your 18 players, everyone's got a different strategy – some people will load up with great striker talent such as Robbie Keane and Bradley Wright-Phillips, despite their high prices. Others choose to spread the money around a little more, with a few quality players in reserve on the bench. Here are some basic strategies:
Assemble a solid back line: For me, defenders are the most reliable position group and yield the most return on investment. Guys like Omar Gonzalez, Bobby Boswell, Chad Marshall and Matt Hedges are about as reliable as you'll get. You can set ‘em and forget ‘em.
However, it's not always about brand names. If you can find a starting defender on a historically good defense, you can stockpile points and perhaps even make some money to improve your squad. David Horst is a prime example: he started 2014 priced at $5.5m and ended at $7.0m.
Find undervalued players: See Horst, David. You should scour the player pool for players who are undervalued, regardless of position. Keep in mind that this year's pricing strategy will reward form and not demand.
What does that mean? It means that if you can find a goal-dangerous midfielder at $5.0m or a starting goalkeeper at $4.0, you should think about grabbing them, even if you simply stash them on your bench as an investment. There's always a strong correlation between your Total Team Value at the end of the season and your team's performance.
Find the free-kick takers: This one is pretty self-explanatory – standing over free kicks really ups a player's chance of notching goals and assists. Last season, Dom Dwyer and Pedro Morales each scored seven penalties on eight attempts. FC Dallas' Michel went five for five from the spot to provide great value from a defender.
It can be hard to tell who will stand over dead balls and take penalties so early in the season, but a little observation and some sure bets will get you by early on in the season.
ESTABLISH YOUR #BRAND
After you've found an 18-man roster you're happy with and have selected the ENTER SQUAD button, you're going to need to choose a team name and establish a strong #brand. This is everything. You'll be referring to your team in countless e-mails, texts, and tweets, so you have to get this right.
Puns are highly encouraged. To light your creative fire, I looked at the owners in the MLSsoccer.com database with last names starting with B. Here are the results:
- Bendik like Beckham?
- Always Beitashour Thing
- Grin and Chad Barrett
- The Beasley's Kneeslees
- Can't Find a Beckerman
- Keep Austin Berry Weird
- Dropping (Birn)baums On 'Em
- Bruin Golazos
- The Burch Boxes
- Busch League Bandits
- Borchers Bees All Natural Beard Wax
- Create your team
JUST THE BEGINNING
There you have it. You're in the game! But that's only the beginning. Check out the rest of our Fantasy 101 series to get the lowdown on creating and joining leagues, the intricacies of the scoring system and revamped transfer market as well as a guide to tackling your duties as an owner each week. Start playing.
Fantasy Soccer 101:
Part 2: Create and join leagues »
