Welcome to Underdog Fantasy! The most exciting name in Best Ball/DFS is hosting a massive 155,520 entry tournament with $3.5 million in prizes that includes a staggering $1,000,001 prize for first place. The best part? Entry is only $25. So whether you are an experienced best ball draft champion or you are a newcomer eager to see what all the fuss is about, this is the tournament for you.
Play for $1 million in Best Ball Mania
What it is
The tournament we will be discussing for the next few months is Underdog Fantasy’s Best Ball Mania II. $1,000,001 to first place is enough to get anyone’s interest piqued. Best Ball Mania is a 12 team, 18 round draft with no kicker or D/ST.
Payouts
As mentioned, first place will receive a $1,000,001 grand prize. There are payouts out until 25,920th place.
Settings
The playoffs will run for four weeks, with the championship round being played during Week 17 (the NFL season is now 18 weeks and 17 games). Here are the other relevant settings to know. Each week, Underdog Fantasy will plug your top producers in at the following positions, one QB, two RB’s, three WR’s, one TE, and one flex. 10 players will remain on your bench. Here is the scoring.
Draft options
There are two draft options at Underdog Fantasy. There is a live draft with a 30-second pick timer for those who have the time to get the team drafted immediately. For those who may not be able to carve out a block of time to dedicate to a 30-second pick timer draft or ‘fast draft,’ there is an eight-hour pick timer option.
Why Best Ball
Best ball is one of the most rewarding draft experiences. What best ball does is attempt to address some of the most significant issues fantasy managers have when it comes to season-long, weekly lineup leagues.
Fantasy managers often bemoan leaving that high-scoring player on the bench. We have all faced the weekly sit/start decisions that we inevitably get wrong a percentage of the time. Best ball means your top-scoring players play, always.
The other issue best ball addresses for season-long, weekly lineup managers is it eliminates the luck or lack of skill that waivers play in leagues. We have all seen the manager who drafts so poorly that they have the roster flexibility to drop multiple players they drafted in favor of the top-performing waiver options once the season starts. Best ball tests your research, injury luck, and draft acumen as opposed to a manager’s FAAB bidding or waiver priority luck.
There are no trades and no roster moves during the season. You stick with the team you draft. We will discuss Best Ball Mania II specific strategy in the coming months, but the main thing to be cognizant of is that those weekly boom-or-bust players we cringe about in weekly lineup leagues become infinitely more valuable, as do rookies who may start slow before coming on over the latter half of the season. If you are eager to learn more about best ball, please see our resources below.
Best Ball resources
Best Ball articles
Best Ball expert consensus rankings
Best Ball consensus ADP
First impressions
Underdog Fantasy’s Best Ball Mania II is a highly appealing tournament that should interest both experienced and inexperienced best ball managers. 150 potential entries from one manager may be eyebrow-raising but is no different from what we see in many GPP DFS tournaments. Best ball’s popularity has exploded, and Underdog Fantasy is here to be a leader in an incredibly underserved market.
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Raju Byfield is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Raju, check out his profile and follow him @FantasyContext.