Note: This is an abbreviated version of the 1st State of the League newsletter of the season, written by Dr. Ming for the Fantasy Football Institute. For the full article just enter your name and email and as a FREE GIFT we will also send you the first 5 chapters of Master Ming’s new book along with The 37 Secrets to Fantasy Mastery.

There are two main components to any individual’s fantasy draft: information and the analysis of that information. Most people only get the first part right and that is why they lose. There is nothing more important to fantasy mastery than information. People prepare for the draft by scouring news reports, reading blogs, fantasy magazines, watching ESPN, checking out the exhibition games. All of these sources of information are valid and need to be assimilated. However, it is in the process of analyzing this information where most people go wrong, especially in their fantasy draft.

Somebody else’s cheat sheet is not going to take into account how your specific league is constructed. It will not factor in the unique rules and settings that your league uses. Your league settings determine the scoring system and that dictates everything. As I go into detail in my book, no player has any inherent value apart from the scoring system your league adopts. Sure, L.T. is going to thrive under any system but things get much more dicey after the first couple rounds. You also need to understand your league’s roster set-up. This is another thing that the prognosticators are not factoring in when they give you their “picks”. How many quarterbacks do you utilize? Is there a FLEX? How many bench spots? All of these things matter much more than almost anyone realizes.

The main piece of information you should be analyzing though is the NFL schedule. Very few people do this. Contained in the schedule is every single matchup any potential player will encounter during the year. Notice, I did not say “likely to encounter”? It is predetermined, unchanging, written in stone. This is why it is so important to know the NFL schedule cold and to anticipate favorable matchups long before the season. With so many unknowns, the schedule is a constant. As Bob Dylan might put it, the schedule offers you “shelter from the storm.”

A final note on your demeanor during the draft… Whether it is done online or live, always seek out ways to psychologically manipulate your opponents. A big part of the hidden metagame at work is the element of psychological warfare. The draft is one of the best times to begin to put this to work. You want to get inside of people’s heads and manipulate them into making big mistakes. In The Art of Fantasy Football, I show you how to accomplish this goal.

Create your own strategy custom designed for your individual league by properly analyzing the information at your disposal. You will be light years ahead of everyone. 

A shenanigan is a deceitful confidence trick, or mischief causing discomfort or annoyance.

Ahh, yes… it’s that time of year again. Get excited. Get very excited. With the start of training camp comes the month of August and this is when we football enthusiasts get fired up. Right now is when the fantasy leagues are forming. This is when your draft is being set and league settings are being finalized. This is the infancy of the new season. Everything is fragile and new. Yet even now at this early stage you want to be taking action to ensure your eventual victory.

But what kind of action should you take? Heath Ledger, in his tremendous performance as The Joker in the new Batman movie, gives a wonderful demonstration of the kind of spirit to embody when you play the strategically rich – and often misunderstood – game of fantasy football. Notice, we love The Joker as much for his creativity and dogged determination as anything. This guy has a wicked sense of planning and execution (no pun intended.) Aside from all of his antics, The Joker matches Batman’s intensity and ability to get the job done. He is very effective at what he does.

Fantasy football is a game much suited to the maniacal approach that The Joker demonstrates. In a virtual fantasy realm, it serves you well to think about things on a level of psychological manipulation akin to what a villain like The Joker is doing in a comic book. I go into this subject in detail in my new book, “The Art of Fantasy Football: Mastering the Metagame”, in my discussion on fantasy role playing games and their similarities and contribution to the game of fantasy football. Much as the way you utilize witches and sorcerers in Dungeons & Dragons, you seek to utilize your Chad Johnson or Ladainian Tomlinson in an attempt to destroy your opponent.

Now is the time… now, in the early stages of your fantasy football league, to begin infecting your league with the psychological qualities that will set the tone for things to come. As I detail in my book, there are specific actions you can be taking right now to make sure things unfold in your favor. You should be utilizing all of the psychological tools at your disposal to tilt the outcome in your favor.

This isn’t an esoteric or ephemeral concept. Just ask The Joker. Like Batman, this guy doesn’t just show up. The Joker comes prepared. Both he and Batman conduct spectacular planning sessions. They take their craft seriously. What we see in the end result is the artistry unfolding. But make no mistake. Nothing comes easy. As Sun Tzu pointed out, victory is insured long before the battle. This is actually the crux of The Art of War: who wins and loses is determined early on in the planning stages.

So just as the entire NFL is warming up and strategizing and preparing for the season to come, you too should be operating on a grand master-plan type of level. Focus on what you aim to accomplish and determine a plan to attain that goal. (You’re goal, by the way, should be to scoop the cash and nothing less.) My book will show you exactly how to accomplish this. And don’t be afraid to emulate the carefully plotted shenanigans of The Joker. His brand of psychological manipulation over his opponents, combined with careful planning and deliberate action, is the mindset of the master in this crazy world of fantasy football.