Game Week 2 - lockout

 The Australian Open may now be over but FTL has only just begun and stops for no man! 

Game Week 2 features 3 events

ATP - Montpellier (250)

WTA - Singapore (250)

WTA - Linz (500)

The draws for all 3 events are available in the previous blog post together with handy price updates for each player.

Each game week starts when the first ball is played in any of the featured tournaments so with tournaments in different time zones, its important to stay on top of the lockout time which counts down on your team page.  All trades must be completed, lineups updated and teams saved before the clock gets down to 0.  I've "circled" trades, the lockout timer and the all important save button below. The save button will still be yellow if your changes have not been saved.  

Its likely that you will want to trade 2 or 3 players in this week for two reasons.

1. Firstly, you will want to have a strong team for Game Week 2.  Chances are you will not have 8 players for next week (especially after all the withdrawals from Montpellier) so try and trade out players who won't be playing and trade in a couple of players who will be playing and look like they have a decent draw.

2. Secondly, you will want to increase the value of your team. Every player who played in the Australian Open will now increase or decrease in value depending on how they performed in the event relative to their starting value.  

I've attached some of the more significant price increases and decreases to give you some idea.

Ideally you will want to actually trade out players who are dropping in value and not playing and trade in players who are both playing and increasing in value.   

Once you get the hang of FTL, you will find that it helps to plan ahead 3 or 4 weeks so that you have the best chance of fielding a full team in each game week.  I tend to keep a team planner which highlights which players are playing and when but just do what works for you.

I keep a spreadsheet updated which shows the player schedules.

ATP and WTA schedule

Here is a quick example taken from a team I created in the global league.

I'm quite fortunate with this team in that I already had 10 players playing in week 2 even before I did any trades so I have used my trades to increase the value of my team. 

I have therefore used my trades to bring in players who will increase significantly in value after the lockout and who will also be useful for future weeks.  As you can see from the above image my team will be worth 15m more after the lockout when taking into account the price increases of my existing players and the price increases of the players I intend to trade in, so you can imagine that you will be able to enhance the value of your team pretty quickly.

Kyrgios and Lulu Sun will both be going down in value. Even though Lulu is playing next week, I've decided I don't need her.

I've brought in Clara Tauson because she is increasing in value and should be helpful to my team in Game Weeks 2 and 3.   Neither Michelson or Vukic play in Week 2 but will be handy for Game Week 3 and as they are getting the maximum price hike, I feel they are a worthwhile investment.

You can check the prospective price increase or decrease of any players by using the calculator button on your team page.

I hope this gives the newbies among you some ideas for improving your team but as usual, feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Good luck in week 2 folks.

The week 1 updates will follow soon!