With things warming up as the CFL Draft takes off, fantasy football owners are watching closely to see which MVPs will carry their team for 2022. Without a doubt, it’s an exciting time for owners both novice and seasoned alike to hit the stands and screens. While it’s important to brush up on what mistakes to avoid this round, a commonly overlooked problem that happens among owners is not so much losing, but plateauing in skill. Usually, the source of this issue is in taking the game for granted through overfamiliarity.

To get out of this stagnant phase experts recommend playing a range of different strategy games. This can help people refresh their skillset, and become more dynamic players once again. While some of these methods may appear a bit nerdy, they are excellent exercises to improve your fantasy football technique. 

Deck-building Games

Deck-building games come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Common games include Pokemon, YuGiOh, and Magic: The Gathering. To play a deck-building game, players select a group of cards to compete against opponents using spells, charms and creatures. The decks grow as people play, with some decks reaching 20,000 cards or more. The principle of deck building is to create a strong team composed of individual cards in order to achieve a unified goal. It’s a game that’s meant to be played over and over again as players gain more knowledge about their own decks and how to best utilize their assets.  Deck-building games also require thinking about the big picture. Honing in on a single card (or in the case of fantasy football, a single-player) weakens chances of winning because people fail to see the strengths of the other cards. By thinking of how teams function as a whole, and how players’ unique skills complement one other, you can develop unpredictable and novel strategies.

Role-playing Games

While many disagree with the notion that fantasy football is just Dungeons and Dragons for jocks, there are quite a few similarities. Whereas deck-building games encourage big picture thinking, role-playing games engender specificity by immersing players in the perspective of a single character. Role-playing titles are helpful in understanding how stats influence gameplay, and teaching players how to collaborate with others.

These types of games, like deck-building games, are meant to be played over and over. However, in role-playing games you pick up where you left off in an ongoing narrative each time you play. This helps strengthen memory, and encourages reflection in order to better prepare for the next match, a useful transferrable skill for fantasy sports.

Mental Sports

While turning to fantasy and deck-building games is useful for developing innovative strategies, they take a bit of time to get the hang of. If you want a simpler set of rules, while still keeping strategy in mind, mental sports such as chess and poker help to curb losses and make smarter choices with greater consistency. These mental sports also allow players to take into account the many variables to consider when playing, making them more conscious of how the future will unfold for them. Playing mental sports is useful for planning ahead, determining where to place your resources, and how you think of the game in terms of overarching strategy.

Other Activities

Learning from different games is one thing, but to become a truly well-rounded player you need to think outside of the box. For example, spending time teaching others how to play can massively improve your own performance. Believe it or not, teaching does more for the teacher than it does for the pupil. That’s because you have to think carefully in order to best convey the information you want to impart. Breaking it down for someone who has absolutely no idea where to begin helps players understand the game themselves at a deeper level.

Another great method is to watch others play, which is similar to playing new games in order to get a fresh perspective. It’s a great idea to watch how other people operate in their fantasy football strategy. Whether it’s watching tutorials, sitting in on a different match, or shadowing someone else, watching someone different play can help in developing new strategies and ideas. Finally, remember that practice makes perfect. It’s a simple solution, but it’s the most effective in the long run.