Photo: USA Today Sports
The best time of the year is almost here - your fantasy league's draft day! In order to succeed, you'll need to manage your time well. If Draft Dominator is part of your draft prep, here are some important items to address, according to the amount of time you have available to devote to Draft Dominator.
1 Minute Left Before Draft
In the one minute you have to prepare, you should:
- Turn on and log into the Draft Dominator Application and then:
- Go to two screens found under the "Gears" button (at top middle of the screen for laptop/desktop users and tablet users; at bottom center left of the phone screen for mobile phone users): Basic Settings (tell the Dominator how many teams are in your league and how many rounds the draft is going to be, and that this is going to be a live draft) and also Teams & Draft Order (tell the Dominator which is your team by clicking "Edit" next to the appropriate selection and hitting "Make This My Team").
- Then simply go hit the start button on top of your screen (or go to the paused tab on the bottom of your phone screen, and then hit "Start" at top of that screen). Enter your opponent's draft picks as they happen and then select from the options Draft Dominator gives you as the draft progresses.
5 Minutes Left Before the Draft
Planning ahead isn't a strong suit of yours, but at least you left yourself more time than the 1 Minute Left guy. Follow the steps described above for the 1 Minute Left guy, and then staying on the "Gears" menu, you'll want to:
- Enter your league's Scoring Settings and Lineup Settings. By doing this further fine-tuning, the Dominator will be better able to customize your recommendations to your league's scoring system, increasing the edge you have garnered over your league mates. Then go ahead and fire up the draft as described above.
30 Minutes Left Before the Draft
Alright, now you're in a decent position to master some of the nuances of the Draft Dominator.
- Go to this page on the Footballguys.com website and select the Quick Start Guide for the version of Draft Dominator that you will be using for the draft. Read it quickly (give yourself about 15 minutes), and then
- Go through the league setup steps described above. By reading the Quick Start Guide you'll have discovered how to use shortlists and the positional filters; where to find player information on the player cards, and so forth, which will help you to utilize the vast organizational and informational aspects of the Draft Dominator program.
Several Hours Left Before the Draft
By allowing yourself lots of time to familiarize yourself with the Draft Dominator, you can:
- Delve more deeply into the support materials surrounding the application by reading the Quick Start Guide found here thoroughly, then
- Go to check out the article index at Help Desk - just click on the version of Draft Dominator you are using to find complete listing of all help articles. Once you're studied up on the application
- Go ahead and run through several mock drafts in the league you are practicing for - you can vary your strategy at first pick or each pick and see how your fantasy teams come together, and then
- Go use the Rate My Team function built into each version of the Dominator to get instant feedback on how your team did in each mock draft. Here's how to find Rate My Team in Draft Dominator Online; Rate My Team in Draft Dominator Mobile iPads/Tablets; and Draft Dominator Mobile - Phones. Once you've practiced several mock drafts and have utilized the Rate My Team feature to review how you did, you should be confident in your ability to tackle even the most advanced draft formats like auction leagues
- Go here to find the guide for drafting in auction leagues for your device
A Day or More Before the Draft
If you have given yourself 24 hours (or more) to prep for draft day, now you can really fine-tune the Dominator.
- You can tweak the AI opponents so they pick more like your league-mates (how to do this in Draft Dominator Mobile Phones version; Draft Dominator Mobile iPads/Tablets version; Draft Dominator Online).
- You can establish Global Watch and Avoid lists to remind you about which guys you really like (regardless of league format) and which guys you don't want on your team (regardless of league format) - find the article for how to set up Global Lists for your particular device here.
- There is a multitude of special features in the program that you can learn to utilize before draft day to build a decisive edge on your opponents. They make the program more powerful, and more fun to run!
Happy Drafting!
Photos provided by USA TODAY Sports