In this chapter, we are going to discuss using player cards to help build your lineup. These cards, similar to those in any of DraftKings’ contests for each individual, have data that can help start the process of building your lineup. All the necessary basics are within a handful of clicks…
In the bottom left, we have player news provided by RotoWorld. Keep an eye on this for recent updates, but always search for more information via your favorite news source – be it a website, Twitter or a news aggregator.
At the top, we have the basic information: name, team, position, next game, and salary cost. Anyone that’s played on DraftKings has seen this on player cards for MLB, NBA, NFL, etc. In the upper right, we have season totals in goals, assists, shots on goal, and fantasy points per game.
At A Glance
Centrally, we have the guts of the player card. On the title page, “At A Glance”, we have info for the individual’s last game and their entire season with goals, assists, shots, shots on goal, corners, fouls drawn, red cards, and minutes played. You can use this tab to quickly review how the player did last game, and it also helps you get a sense as to how this player is performing for the given season.
10-Game Log
On the second tab, we have the same info for each of that player’s last ten games he has seen time in. If he/she does not play in a match, it will not be displayed. This ten game breakdown will show scoring from all competitions (EPL, Champions League, etc). This game-by-game breakdown will also include a total points scored and the salary costs on that day. You can use this to review salary changes (up or down) for a certain player. Also, this tab is helpful to see if a player is on a current hot/cold streak. Both of these factors should be used when selecting players for your lineups.
So how will this help you create your roster?
How to Use the Player Card to Your Advantage
First of all, it will help you look for trends and where this player gets his points from – Is this individual goal dependent, or do they get peripheral scoring from other categories like fouls drawn or crosses? You’ll see how these players have done in their past games, see if they’ve been a starter or a substitute, you can see even if they haven’t scored, how many shots/shots on goals they’ve had, and so on.
Another very helpful thing about the cards is the salary column. You can see trends how pricing has developed, how it’s gone down or up depending on the previous week’s/game’s performance, how he has been priced in the Premiership versus European play, and so on.
In Conclusion
While you shouldn’t base your lineup building just on the player card alone, it’s very helpful to start your building process, and it is helpful to come back to, especially when you’re in that last hour after lineups have been announced. It has the ability to give you pivots to alternative options, which comes in handy if, perhaps, you notice there may be a better option based on a team’s formation or use of an individual that you had in your lineup once the official lineups are released.
These cards can help you with stacking a team, seeing how individuals do versus specific opponents or types of opponents (big clubs versus smaller ones, how they do against offensive versus more defensive clubs), and so on. Everything you need is there to build a winner.