With Sporting Kansas City’s season opener against New York City FC just around the corner, it’s high time to prepare for a successful year of MLS Fantasy.
Multiple changes are in store this time around, as the new MLS Fantasy game will be split into a spring season and a fall season. The spring campaign will start March 3 — a day before Sporting KC’s highly anticipated curtain raiser at Children’s Mercy Park — and run until July 29, a few days before the 2018 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target. The fall season will then kick into gear for the final 17 rounds.
Without further ado, here’s a crash course on how to build an MLS Fantasy winner in 2018.
Setting Up Your Team
Step one: visit fantasy.mlssoccer.com and click Play Now to get started. From there, you have a budget of $100 million to build a team of 15 players. Once you’ve picked a squad, it’s time to select a formation, with anything from a defensive 5-4-1 to an attacking 4-3-3 available.
Joining A League
After building a team, each participant will automatically join two public leagues: the overall competition and a team-specific public league determined by the selection of your favorite MLS club. In addition, players may create up to five private leagues and join an unlimited number of public and private leagues. The newly implemented message board functionality now allows fans to talk smack with their fellow friends and fantasy rivals.
Prizes Up For Grabs
The overall winner of each season will win $2,000 in prize money, while the winners of the supporters’ league in both the spring and fall campaigns will receive a $200 gift card. For contest rules and eligibility requirements, visit the Prizes page.
New Feature: Rolling Transfers
Any experienced transfer manager hates to pick a player like Sporting KC forward Gerso, only to find out 45 minutes before kickoff that he’s no longer in the 18. That means zero fantasy points and lots of frustration.
In the 2018 version of the game, however, players can make rolling transfers up until each match kicks off. For example, if you learn that Gerso isn’t in the lineup for the Saturday night kickoff, you can log into the game and swap him for Johnny Russell, Diego Rubio or any other Sporting KC player available.
