Fantasy MMA (MagWar) TMMAC Alphas Season 2

[The Sound of Violence]

Hey everybody since season 1 of our Magwar league ends in July I wanted to start signups for the second season. @LawFitz was generous enough to provide us with a promo code and set me as Commissioner so I'm getting things in order for our first event of Season 2 to begin at UFC 227 on August 4th with the draft held the Saturday before hand on July 28th.

From what I remember @LawFitz recommended around 7-12 managers per league so depending on the number of people interested we can get a second league going if we need to.

First we need to figure out who all is interested in joining this season. This game is 100% free for all managers (again thanks to @LawFitz for the promo code).

The game works similarly to other fantasy sports games where you draft a team of 12 UFC fighters and set them to contract, flex or bench. From their website:
"Each MagWar team's active roster consists of seven Contract Fighters and one Flex Fighter.

Each Contract Fighter is limited to one fight score per quarter season. Once a Contract Fighter records a score, he (or she) is locked into position and cannot be benched or dropped until the end of that quarter. If he fights again in same quarter, the team receives the highest of his multiple fight scores as his score for that quarter.

The Flex Fighter position, however, does not have contract restrictions. Flex Fighters can be dropped at any time, which allows teams at least one active fighter on every fight card. However, Flex Fighter scores are cut in half to offset their increased scoring frequency. This roster structure gives all MagWar teams the exact same number of fight opportunities - one flex fight per card, plus seven additional contract fight scores over each quarter.

There is also an inactive bench roster where fighters can be held in reserve. However, only active-roster fighters score points. Manage your roster from the My Team page before and after fight events. Rosters are locked during fight events, from the official start time of the early prelims until the next calendar day. "

"The 12-month MagWar season is divided into four quarters. Winning any of the first three quarters of the season earns teams berths into a championship playoff round, held during the 4th quarter of the season. Playoff pool scoring during Q4 alone, then determines the league champion. "

 

[The Sound of Violence]

For new players thinking about joining it's not a ton of work if you don't want it to be. Essentially you can just log on once a week and set your team for that weekend's card, but if you want to go more in depth it allows for that as well.

Depending on the number of signups we get we may split the leagues in two we'll figure out the best way to do that if the issue arises.

You should be able to join the league for Season 2 by going to magwar.com and signing up. Then click "Leagues", click "Join Private League" and signup using:

League ID: 222
Password: ThanksLawfitz

Let me know if you guys have any questions or want more info. Cheers!

 

[The Sound of Violence]

As of now with only 5 events left in the playoffs TMMAC Alpha's Season 1 rankings are:

1. @nuraknu
2. Salty Kawa aka me @The Sound of Violence
3. GFL
4. @Sex Chicken
5. @LawFitz
6. @MMAHAWK
7. Villians of TMMAC
8. EH
9. CondemnedGayJesus
10. My Balls
11. Team Bisping

Not sure what the SN of some of the guys are so feel free to tag them if you know their SN on here. Also shouts to @No 1 Boolshit Guy who I know wants to get in on this season as well.

 

[Sex Chicken]

@conor mcgregor nut hugger
@ShatsBassoon @BirdWatcher
You guys should get in on this. It’s a great format.

 

[La Paix]

@conor mcgregor nut hugger
@ShatsBassoon @BirdWatcher
You guys should get in on this. It’s a great format.

Give me the short version and I'm probably in.

 

[The Sound of Violence]

Give me the short version and I'm probably in.

I'm pretty terrible at explaining this, but I'll take a shot at it:

Draft a team of ufc fighters
Set fighters to contract/bench for each card
Points are awarded based on round, method of victory, win/loss, and card placement
Winner of each quarter gets a spot in the playoffs
Winner of the playoffs wins the season

 

[nuraknu]

Put me down

Thanks!

 

[LawFitz]

I'm pretty terrible at explaining this, but I'll take a shot at it:

Draft a team of ufc fighters
Set fighters to contract/bench for each card
Points are awarded based on round, method of victory, win/loss, and card placement
Winner of each quarter gets a spot in the playoffs
Winner of the playoffs wins the season

Thanks, SOV. Count me in for season II. I need to redeem myself. Warning to all, Nuraknu is really really good at this game. She will dominate you on your MMA knowledge. You think you know, but you don't know.

 

[Weidman's right nut]

How many more players do you need?

 

[The Sound of Violence]

How many more players do you need?

We've got room for another 8 or so

 

[The Sound of Violence]

Thanks, SOV. Count me in for season II. I need to redeem myself. Warning to all, Nuraknu is really really good at this game. She will dominate you on your MMA knowledge. You think you know, but you don't know.

Haha he's not kidding Nuraknu has smoked us the entire season

 

[Weidman's right nut]

We've got room for another 8 or so

I'll join but i'll be in the "not a ton of work" category likely

 

[Weidman's right nut]

I'm having 0 luck getting in. I've signed up, got my confirmation email, clicked it to confirm but it doesn't allow me to sign in

 

[The Sound of Violence]

I'm having 0 luck getting in. I've signed up, got my confirmation email, clicked it to confirm but it doesn't allow me to sign in

Weird hopefully @LawFitz can help figure out what's going on with it.

 

[Weidman's right nut]

Weird hopefully @LawFitz can help figure out what's going on with it.

Ok I'm in....I guess you can't copy and paste the password, or maybe it takes some time before letting you sign in....I don't know but either way I'm in

 

[LawFitz]

I'll join but i'll be in the "not a ton of work" category likely

Nice. Welcome, WRN. The game is designed so that you can do minimal work at one extreme, or get crazy with drilled down analytics at the other, or really anything in between. Regardless, if you are good at selecting UFC fighters that:

- win (preferably by finish);
- get placed high on fight cards;
- compete for titles; and
- fight at least twice in the next year,

Then you will be good at this game.

Think of it like fantasy football, except that each weekend of football action is morphed into a calendar quarter (3 months) of UFC fights. There are 4 of these quarters in the game. To maximize fight opportunities each quarter, you need to start a full roster - 7 Contract Fighters that are fighting during the current quarter (Q1: Aug-Oct). Additionally, there a 4 bench spots to roster fighters who are good but don't have a fight scheduled in the current quarter, like players on bye in fantasy football.

Lastly your team roster has an eighth active scoring spot called the Flex Fighter. The Flex spot allows each team to have at least one fighter on every fight card - it can be churned after every UFC event, once fighters clear waivers. Since this spot can be turned over so frequently, all Flex scores get a 50% haircut before being applied to your team.

Winner of each quarter (most team points) advances to the final playoff, which takes place in Q4. Winner of Q4 wins the overall championship. Fighters who don't fight during Q4 remain relevant if they fought at least twice for you earlier in the season through a mechanism called the Playoff Bonus. This makes all relevant UFC fighters over the next 12 months fully impactful during the Q4 championship round.

Some people set their rosters once a week after 10 minutes of thought, while others spend hours getting into the strategy. There's plenty of room for the latter and easy enough design for the former. And as with all fantasy sports, there's enough luck involved to keep both groups competitive.

TL;DR - the game plays like traditional fantasy football, except quarter-to-quarter vs week-to-week; with as little or as much intensity researching fighters and matchups, as you like - just start a full roster each quarter to max your opportunities.

 

[La Paix]

Nice. Welcome, WRN. The game is designed so that you can do minimal work at one extreme, or get crazy with drilled down analytics at the other, or really anything in between. Regardless, if you are good at selecting UFC fighters that:

- win (preferably by finish);
- get placed high on fight cards;
- compete for titles; and
- fight at least twice in the next year,

Then you will be good at this game.

Think of it like fantasy football, except that each weekend of football action is morphed into a calendar quarter (3 months) of UFC fights. There are 4 of these quarters in the game. To maximize fight opportunities each quarter, you need to start a full roster - 7 Contract Fighters that are fighting during the current quarter (Q1: Aug-Oct). Additionally, there a 4 bench spots to roster fighters who are good but don't have a fight scheduled in the current quarter, like players on bye in fantasy football.

Lastly your team roster has an eighth active scoring spot called the Flex Fighter. The Flex spot allows each team to have at least one fighter on every fight card - it can be churned after every UFC event, once fighters clear waivers. Since this spot can be turned over so frequently, all Flex scores get a 50% haircut before being applied to your team.

Winner of each quarter (most team points) advances to the final playoff, which takes place in Q4. Winner of Q4 wins the overall championship. Fighters who don't fight during Q4 remain relevant if they fought at least twice for you earlier in the season through a mechanism called the Playoff Bonus. This makes all relevant UFC fighters over the next 12 months fully impactful during the Q4 championship round.

Some people set their rosters once a week after 10 minutes of thought, while others spend hours getting into the strategy. There's plenty of room for the latter and easy enough design for the former. And as with all fantasy sports, there's enough luck involved to keep both groups competitive.

TL;DR - the game plays like traditional fantasy football, except quarter-to-quarter vs week-to-week; with as little or as much intensity researching fighters and matchups, as you like - just start a full roster each quarter to max your opportunities.

I signed up too bud. I'll need some time to figure it out but it sounds like fun. My only goal is to beat @Sex Chicken at everything possible.

 

[The Sound of Violence]

@nuraknu just a heads up you might want to sign up using the league id & password soon only 5 slots left. Cheers!

 

[regular john]

I want in is there a limited number of participants?

 

[The Sound of Violence]

Yep I think we can have up to 12 and we're around 7 currently not counting Nuraknu. Feel free to sign up!

 

[nuraknu]

Yep I think we can have up to 12 and we're around 7 currently not counting Nuraknu. Feel free to sign up!

I am in. Thanks for the heads up! @jason73 were you interested?

 

[LawFitz]

We're now at nine teams. Three slots left, if you want to go with 12. You might even consider capping at 10 teams, to keep good fighter depth, but 12 works too. Just makes it more competitive. Don't forget we have returning savages like @nuraknu and @The Sound of Violence swooping on picks.@Sex Chicken too. Gonna be a battle this league.

If more people in the forum want to play, you can always set up additional leagues. I can provide additional TMMAC promo codes.

 

[The Sound of Violence]

We're now at nine teams. Three slots left, if you want to go with 12. You might even consider capping at 10 teams, to keep good fighter depth, but 12 works too. Just makes it more competitive. Don't forget we have returning savages like @nuraknu and @The Sound of Violence swooping on picks.@Sex Chicken too. Gonna be a battle this league.

If more people in the forum want to play, you can always set up additional leagues. I can provide additional TMMAC promo codes.

Cool thanks Lawfitz! if we get a handful more people interested we'll get a second league going

 

[La Paix]

Can somebody break down the drafting process?

 

[The Sound of Violence]

Can somebody break down the drafting process?

You're going to look for a total of 12 fighters. I'm planning on randomizing the draft order unless anyone has objections. It'll go from 1-12 to make their picks, then round 2 goes from 12-1 and so on. As far as who to pick up they lay out some really solid tips on the site as well as have a "Top Fighters" list for the most popular drafts:

"Basic Tips for the Draft -

1. Four quarterly sub-periods make up the season.
Each MagWar fantasy season occurs over four consecutive 3-month-long "quarters" of competition for awards and league championships. Scoring during these 3-month quarters is tracked individually and collectively to determine winners.

2. Champions, main-card fighters, and finishers score the most points.
Future champions; contenders who fight at the top of cards; and fighters who finish fights without leaving them to the judges tend to score the most points. Those are the types of fighters you want to target in the early rounds of your draft.

3. Try to predict MMA matchups.
Predict future MMA fight matchups to gain an advantage. As in other fantasy sports, you can try to find relatively easier upcoming opponent matchups, so try to guess who will be fighting whom over the next 12 months. Fighting three or more times in a 12-month period is common for healthy, winning fighters.

4. Your fantasy season begins the first day of the month after your draft date.
In order to make quarterly scoring easier to track, the league season begins on the first day of the month following the draft date, which creates a preseason period following the draft until month end. Fighters don't score points and contracts don't apply during the preseason, but rosters may be managed, including add/drop & trade transactions.

5. Don't worry about weight classes.
There is no weight class differentiation in MagWar scoring, nor any weight class requirements on rosters. You are free to choose which ever fighters you think are the best in any weight class for your team.

6. Consider Contract Fighter restrictions.
Seven of the eight active roster spots on your team are categorized as Contract Fighters . These fighters are locked into position and cannot be benched or dropped once they record a fight score until the end of each quarter season. Flex Fighter and bench roster spots are not subject to contract restrictions."

They also have some more advanced draft tips at Draft Kit. To severely generalize my weak ass strats I try to grab a champ if they're available, then a headliner or two, and then a handful of fighters with scheduled bouts for the first 2 quarters all who I think will get a win