This article is part of our Fantasy Football Draft Strategy series.
After much anticipation, paid public leagues went live on GuillotineLeagues.com last week. Because it's a survivor-style format, you can start leagues any week of the season for as long as you want. Leagues drafted this week will allow up to 14 teams and have championship prizes as high as $800.
If you're not familiar with Guillotine Leagues, here's how they work:
1. Join a league and draft your team just like traditional fantasy football
2. Each week the lowest scoring team gets eliminated
3. All of the players from the eliminated team become free agents
4. A weekly FAAB bidding war starts among the remaining teams
5. Survive the chop and be crowned champion
[Note: The states where paid contests are allowed have changed slightly from last year. There is a map of eligible states at the bottom of the GuillotineLeagues.com home page.]
Through the first four weeks of the season, we've learned a lot about what we can expect player usage to look like. We've also seen the fantasy value of several elite players plummet due to injury, while players like Jordan Mason have taken advantage of unexpected opportunities.
With that knowledge, my eight strategies for winning a guillotine league haven't changed, but some of the players who I'm targeting or avoiding certainly have changed.
With that said, here is my updated cheat sheet for anyone who is drafting in a guillotine league this week. All of my league-winning strategies are factored into the rankings. Because one bad week could mean your season is over, players with early bye weeks and existing injuries are ranked lower than they would be in typical "rest of season" rankings.
Updated Guillotine League Rankings
