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Last year, I helped invent a very silly version of fantasy called Blue Shell League and now I'm bringing it to the goon world. FOR FREE. What is Blue Shell League? Blue Shell League is a punishing new twist on Fantasy Football, that gives all players a handicap and punishes people for being good, much like the titular Blue Shell from Mario Kart. How Does It Work? Every week, starting on the Tuesday after Week One, the manager in last place has the ability to “throw the shell” at the manager in first place. This means they can force the manager in first place to make a single-player trade with them, and the first-place manager HAS to accept the trade. There are some limits to the trades: 1: Starters Only: The players being traded on both teams must have been in the starting lineup the previous week. No trading your junk bench player for a stud. (This also means that in many cases the way to protect a player…is to bench them. This is a "Do Sit Your Studs" league sometimes) 2: Trades must be positionally-based. (QB for QB, RB for RB, etc.) No trading RBs for Kickers. You may trade for a player who was in either team’s FLEX slot, as long as it is still the same position. 3: No sticking people with injured players. Both traded players must have a designation of “Questionable” or better at the time of trade. You may trade players scheduled for a BYE week as long as the players are healthy and eligible. 4: No-Shell-and-Dump: If you are in first place and a player is forced on you in a shell trade, you must keep that player on your roster for at least one week. You do not have to start them but you cannot trade/drop them. 5: Play Normal: So obviously tank-to-win is a legit strategy here, but please don't keep injured/BYE week players in your lineup for the purpose of losing intentionally. I have no way of enforcing this, so just be cool. How to throw the shell: The first-place Blue-Shelled manager is NOT ALLOWED to drop or trade any player from their previous week’s starting lineup until after the trade has been submitted. These players are eligible for a shell. They may drop or trade players from their bench at any time, as these players are not eligible for the shell-trade. TUESDAYS ARE SHELL DAYS. The manager in last place MUST throw their shell (propose the trade) before 10:00 PM EST/7:00 PM PST on Tuesday night, in order to give the manager in first place an opportunity to use the waiver wire. It is recommended that the last-place league manager throwing the shell post a screenshot or description of their proposed trade to the thread. That way it is publicly known that you submitted and the commissioner can force the trade manually if it is not accepted in a timely manner. IF YOU DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR TRADE: Your shell is considered forfeit for the week. The first-place manager is now safe. The manager above you (in second-to-last place) now has 24 hours to force a trade to steal one of your players. The League Commissioner is responsible for accepting and pushing through all shell-trades as soon as possible. Otherwise, this is a normal, standard-score FAAB league on ESPN. Worth noting, there is no trade deadline (obviously) so all other trades and transactions are valid all year. Currently the league is set as a 12-team league with draft set for Tuesday September 5th at 8:00 EST but I can adjust based on interest. Team Names: Look I’m not saying you HAVE to put Mario Kart references in your names but I am saying it would be a lot cooler if you did. If you're interested, shoot me a DM and/or post in this thread how to get you an invite and we'll get going. 
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Aug 18, 2023 23:09
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 15:04 |
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The Zack posted:So, how do playoffs work? This has been the tough part and I'm open to suggestions. It depends on how many people we get signed up. Last year my league just ran normal playoffs, but that's pretty anticlimactic. I'm thinking about a "banana peel" mechanism where the team that loses gets to pick a player for the winning team to sit next week. But if we have BYE weeks for the top two seeds, that's trickier. If we're an eight-person league, I'm thinking two-week playoffs, top four go in. Week One is normal (including shell). Week 2 (championship), both teams have to bench a player determined by the week one losers. Still working this part out.
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Aug 20, 2023 19:23
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So far all invites sent out and accepted, and we are just one goon short of an eight-person league.
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Aug 21, 2023 21:16
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Worthleast posted:If you can draft at a different time, I'd join. Even earlier Tuesday works better for me. I have no problem with doing it at 6:00 or 7:00 Tuesday, I usually just go later in case there are west-coast players. Goons, thoughts?
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Aug 28, 2023 01:28
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DeadMansSuspenders posted:Is it on yahoo? ESPN. (Because that's where my other leagues are)
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Aug 28, 2023 19:32
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Freaquency posted:If you still need one I’d be interested. Invite link sent
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Aug 28, 2023 22:08
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Silly Burrito posted:This still happening? We got eight people and we're drafting tomorrow night!
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Sep 4, 2023 19:52
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Silly Burrito posted:Awesome, any draft order? I was going to simulate a Mario Kart race to choose order but ran out of time. We're just gonna let ESPN do random order this time, next year we'll get a real race in I promise.
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Sep 5, 2023 00:16
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Snowmankilla posted:Never been in a 8 man league. These teams are going to be wild! Remember, ideally you want a team that is in 2nd or 3rd place for most of the year!
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Sep 5, 2023 00:17
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I'm running another blue shell league with my friends that drafted tonight. I'll show you the roster after drafting so I don't give away my strategy, but I drafted too many traps and I hate this team so much.
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Sep 5, 2023 02:41
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Now that we've drafted, I can show you all the team I drafted in my other Blue Shell League, where I went too heavy on the traps and created a team that oooh man do I hate:
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Sep 6, 2023 01:35
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The Zack posted:I didn't think about drafting blue shells. Guess I'll pick some up along the way I mean, if you can keep out of last place it won't matter.
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Sep 6, 2023 03:09
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lol I'm already freaking out over who to bench-protect and who to play (and thus put at risk of shelling) The sit-start on this league is wild
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Sep 6, 2023 14:54
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Updating the rules because this came up in my other league when someone tried to start Trey Lance: All players in your line up must have a projection of at least one point at their time of kickoff. This covers injuries, BYE week players, playing the third-string QB, etc. Technically, I guess you could try to stack your team with one-point third-string scrubs but I don't think that's a viable long-term strategy, especially in this league. After a few weeks you'll dig yourself into a points hole that's impossible to get out of.
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Sep 7, 2023 15:58
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Oh poo poo I never shifted this league to be a FAAB waiver system. Sorry fellas, I hosed up. Looks like being last place is REALLY beneficial now.
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Sep 7, 2023 17:08
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Who's tanking, who's trying?
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Sep 10, 2023 17:55
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Snowmankilla posted:I personally was trying. But my team is tanking. Also as an aside, I cannot trade anyone my player that has a torn Achilles, correct? Nope, the rule is tha players must be at least "Questionable." That is... a tough break
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Sep 11, 2023 00:24
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I wanted to try to land somewhere in mid range and instead completely tanked! I will enjoy my certified pre-owned Justin Jefferson though.
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Sep 11, 2023 14:57
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I have decided that as penance for forgetting to switch the league to a FAAB setting that I'm not going to use my waiver priority this week, though. This format works okay with standings waiver but getting the shell AND first priority makes last place a very enviable spot. It really works better as FAAB (as all leagues do)
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Sep 11, 2023 17:02
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It doesn't, that's the problem. At least not in the options I saw.
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Sep 11, 2023 18:58
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The blue shell claims its first victim, as I get the deal of a century on a barely-used Justin Jefferson for the low low price of one Skyy Moore. (and also there's 20 points between me and the next-lowest person.) Remember, you do not have to start Skyy, but you cannot drop or trade him for at least one week.
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Sep 12, 2023 15:15
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Silly Burrito posted:drat blue shell. I would encourage you to enjoy all these Jalen Hurts points while you still have him.
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Sep 15, 2023 18:14
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In a fun turn of events, all four 1-0 teams are playing each other this week, so one of them is guaranteed to be shelled. In the bottom half, it's a free-for-all.
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Sep 15, 2023 18:19
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Just remembered this in my other league so I wanted to declare it here early: You cannot throw a shell if you've been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. I don't think that's going to be an issue in this league for a long long time though
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Sep 15, 2023 22:29
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Snowmankilla posted:Does the shell waste, or move to the 7th place team? Moves to next eligible person then. So the last few weeks of play get REALLY interesting.
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Sep 16, 2023 13:21
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I am genuinely curious how this shell goes, there are so many targets on Silly Burrito's team. I know what I would do, but there might be a different take.
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Sep 18, 2023 23:18
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And it's Toad Gurley throwing the shell at Luigi's Death Stare (aka Silly Burrito)! Silly Burrito is not allowed to drop/trade any players until after the shell trade is posted, Toad Gurley has until 9:00 PM EST tonight to do so, otherwise they lose the shell and Rainbow Road Warriors will be able to steal from them.
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Sep 19, 2023 13:55
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Silly Burrito posted:I realize the odds of this are really small, but what happens if two teams end up having a tie for the lowest score? If this happens I think we have to implement some sort of Bob-Omb penalty where everyone in the bottom half loses a player or something.
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Sep 19, 2023 22:54
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Gobias Ind. posted:You're projected to win it and be the only 3-0 team....or am I misunderstanding how this works? I thought whoever was in first place overall got shelled. Yeah that's how it goes, and Silly Burrito's almost certainly winning this game unless the Eagles just fall apart tomorrow.
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Sep 25, 2023 02:54
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Well that definitely would change your strategy a bit.
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Sep 25, 2023 03:25
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Silly Burrito posted:So basically as long as I keep winning, it’s always going to be me that gets shelled. In my friend league there was a guy who got shelled like 6 times in a row last year, we were all screaming "WHY. WON'T. YOU. DIE."
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Sep 26, 2023 01:37
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Silly Burrito posted:This is not sour grapes, I swear, but I do think it would be better if it was the highest score of the week who got shelled/lowest who gets the shell. That way there's more variety and swaps. I can see that, but what I like about this format is that it forces you to pay attention to the whole league, to everyone's point standings, and to make some decisions you might not normally make, because it might not be in your best interest to just try to win or score as much as possible. I really like the challenge of trying to put together a team that wins but only wins by a certain margin or keeps under a certain point level. In my other league I started a bunch of people I never would before because I knew I was in danger of being shelled, I had to decide which people I wouldn't mind losing, had an opportunity to tank at the late game by swapping out the Steelers Defense late, didn't take it, so now I'm going to be 3-0. Even though all my players are done, I'm desperately watching another game hoping the other 2-0 team wins so they get shelled instead of me. If I do get shelled, I'm going to lose one of my sacrificial lambs like Amon-Ra or James Conner. It's a totally different experience than anything else I've played. If we did a week-by-week system, I worry it would just be like regular fantasy, everyone just trying to put together their best team and just seeing what happens. Except with more swaps. Which could be fun too.
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Sep 26, 2023 02:37
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For the record, here's the team of scrubs I put together to try to dodge the shell: This team still managed to squeak out a win, making me the only 3-0 left and a target for the shell. The team in last started two WRs he's not going to want to get rid of so I think Amon-Ra and Ridley are safe, but it was a huge risk starting them (especially since I just don't have any other WRs.) Most likely I'll wind up losing James Conner, someone I didn't want on my team to begin with because I thought the Cardinals were tanking. The shorter benches make it so you can't just start ALL bad players, you have to assume some risk. In this case having Mostert blow up on my bench was actually a good thing, I can save him for later when I'm maybe 3-2 and less in the hot seat. (And then he will be hurt lol)
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Sep 26, 2023 03:33
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Silly Burrito posted:Another week, another win, another attempt to tear me down. Bring it on bitches!! What's really funny is that by this point you have enough of a points lead that even if you lost one game you'd still probably be in first place.
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Sep 26, 2023 13:26
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Silly Burrito posted:You would think at this point I would’ve gotten the three green shell shield or something. We actually did implement a "green shell" rule in my other league. It's a punishment/penalty for starting an ineligible player (one who's injured or on BYE or otherwise has no reasonable chance of giving you points.) Teams who start ineligible players can have a player stolen by their opponents the following week. If the player's ineligible, they must be green shell-igible. I don't have to worry about that as much with this group of fantasy addicts. Congratulations to Toad Gurley for their newly-acquired T.J. Hockenson, and for ridding themselves of the curse of Hunter Henry!
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Sep 26, 2023 14:29
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On the other hand, I'm desperately trying to finish below 60 points so I can drop below Toad Gurley and take the shell. My plan was to drop James Connor for some no-mame with 2 projected points at the last second. But I hosed up and forgot to take Aiyuk off IR so ESPN wouldn't let me. So now I'm praying for intercept... and Zach Wilson just threw a TD while I was writing this. gently caress.
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Oct 2, 2023 03:12
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Oh my God, I'm at 59.8, I need a goose egg from Waller and that shell is mine
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Oct 2, 2023 04:51
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Missed out on the shell by half a point, remember to get your IRs in order, folks
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Oct 3, 2023 12:48
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It's a long season and BYE weeks are just starting, folks.
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Oct 3, 2023 17:59
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 15:04 |
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Y'all gotta start leaving some real land mines though. A guy who loses Jalen Hurts for Kirk Cousins still has Kirk Cousins.
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Oct 3, 2023 18:05
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