Underdog Fantasy. Best Ball Mania II. If you have not already submitted an entry, act soon to avoid disappointment. $1 million dollars as the first place prize should be enough to get even those new to the best ball format excited. The draft is only 18 rounds, so you will not need to have the depth of knowledge some contests from other providers may require you to possess. The roster construction is 1QB/2RB/3WR/1TE/1Flex, with 10 bench spots. 

The ability to go up to 150 max entries should ensure that you can deploy as many unique strategies as your heart may desire. You can choose between a fast draft with a 30-second timer or an eight-hour slow draft, so there is no excuse to delay. A smooth mobile app and user interface is sure to be kind to both novice and experienced Underdog Fantasy patrons. Ready to draft? Here are some top tips to consider.

Play for $1 million in Best Ball Mania

Draft Prep

FantasyPros has a wide variety of best ball coverage, including rankings, ADP, and a litany of articles to help you prepare to dominate your Underdog Fantasy Best Ball Mania drafts. Rankings and ADP should be used in conjunction, but only as a helpful tool and not as a concrete guide. Draft rooms will always differ, so do not be afraid to reach on players you feel are undervalued by consensus rankings or ADP. This is especially true in the double-digit rounds. 

QB Early or Late

If you are not looking to secure two QB1 types early, you may be better off securing three quarterbacks on the periphery later in the draft. Quarterbacks do slip a little more than we are used to seeing from other platforms, so don’t hesitate to snap up value when you see it, even if you were eyeing a wait-on-QB strategy. This also means that reaching on middling QB2 streamer types just to fill the position is not a suggested strategy. 

Boom or Bust

While some may bemoan this line of thinking, boom-or-bust players, the ones many managers actively try to avoid in weekly redraft leagues, have added intrigue, allure, and potentially, value in best ball formats. We are chasing the spike weeks in the mid to late rounds, and the high variance wide receiver or running back can help propel you to the top of your league and onto the championship rounds. This is due to the fact that in best ball, lineups are set after the week is complete. Plugging these types of players in your lineup in weekly leagues can often lead to disastrous results if you are unlucky enough to play them during a down week. In best ball, this problem is eliminated. Do not go overboard, but at least be aware that players like T.Y. Hilton, Darnell Mooney, Marquise Brown, Nyheim Hines, and JD McKissic will have more value at Underdog Fantasy. 

Rookies

Drafting rookies in redraft leagues is often a hot-button topic. Rookies come with inherent risk due to their propensity to start slow and/or fail to live up to their hype or ADP. Rookies who don’t win a starting role in the preseason are often forced to play rotational roles and earn enough snaps to become fantasy-relevant. However, as we see almost every year, there are rookies who do hit. Identifying them and being able to roster them at a value is the challenge. Due to the unique format of best ball tournaments like Best Ball Mania II, hitting on one or more high upside rookies could be the difference between a top-two finish and advancing to the playoffs.

High Floor vs. High Ceiling

In redraft, high floors often come at a premium. In best ball, the premium shifts to high upside. This does not mean that one should ignore players who may have a high floor but a defined ceiling, but it does mean that rankings should be tweaked to adjust to the best ball format. As mentioned above, boom or bust players are often viewed as having more value when it comes to best ball leagues. Rookies, by their nature, fit the bill or being boom or bust in an even larger sense.

DeVonta Smith could very well lead the Philadelphia Eagles in receiving yards and touchdowns this season but will likely be inconsistent enough that he spends more than half of his games disappointing weekly managers who plug him into their lineups. Once again, in best ball, the lineup setting risk is eliminated, buoying the value of players like Smith. DeSean Jackson is another high ceiling player with a very low floor. His failure to stay healthy in recent seasons makes him a true gamble on draft day, but he has a league-winning ceiling if he can stay healthy and if you can land him at a value. 

Target High-End Stacks 

Targeting stacks from teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, and possibly the Los Angeles Rams could help propel you into the championship rounds. Attaching yourself to high-powered offenses is always a good strategy, but the potential benefit increases when you have one or more key players from one of said teams. Spike weeks from quarterbacks usually mean they bring one or more of their pass-catching options along for the ride. Don’t reach to create stacks but be aware of the potential synergistic benefits stacking can produce. 

Garbage Time Heroes 

As we see year after year, some of the top fantasy producers often come from very good or very bad teams. Positive gamescripts often lead to increased opportunities for running backs. Conversely, negative gamescripts usually lead to increased opportunities for pass catchers and signal-callers. Be cognizant of this on draft day, and do not hesitate to pull the trigger early on teams that you believe may be very good or bad on the defensive side of the ball. A team that comes to mind here is the Cincinnati Bengals. Expected to struggle stopping the pass despite being strong everywhere but corner, the Bengals seem to be in line to find themselves in a lot of shootouts. This could be good news for players like Joe Burrow, Ja/Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd, and the Bengals primary receiving back (either Joe Mixon or Chris Evans). 

Strongly Consider a Three Tight End Roster 

If you do not land a tight end with sure-fire top five potential, you may want to consider rostering three tight ends. You need at least two players per position to deal with byes and quite possibly injuries. However, outside of the top five types, there will likely be maddening inconsistency at the position. If you do not land someone within the top seven or eight in your rankings, it may be best to wait on the tight end position and look to employ a tight end by committee situation. Two tight ends are great if you have a top option who will score enough points to be in the lineup most weeks. However, when dealing with lower floor tight ends, having a third tight end to help avoid the peaks and valleys having only two mediocre tight ends may present could be the difference between having a good team and one that advances. 

Roster Construction 

According to 4for4Football, the most popular roster construction from league winners in last year’s Best Ball Mania I was 2QB/6RB/8WR/2TE. All in all, 13.9 percent of all league winners built their rosters this way. As mentioned above, managers can field a 1QB/2RB/3WR/1TE/1Flex lineup for Best Ball Mania II. If you are fortunate enough to have injury luck at quarterback and tight end, this roster construction setup will allow you to maximize potential point production at wide receiver and running back by giving you more options to work with.  

Problems with Zero-RB

Zero-RB is a strategy that relies heavily on finding gems on the waiver wire or new starters named just prior to the start of the season. There are no adds or drops in best ball, so zero RB is a much harder strategy to employ. One can still choose to start addressing the position after round five, but positional scarcity and the lack of transactions should have you targeting value as opposed to remaining steadfast in following a strategy that works better for weekly lineup leagues. 

Play for $1 million in Best Ball Mania

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio

Raju Byfield is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Raju, check out his profile and follow him @FantasyContext.