Despite many games having been postponed, the EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge remains in progress for Round 19.
In the past, the game’s organization would allow extra trades and mark down players from the postponed games as injured.
However, this season, with the new Fantasy Challenge, is quite different. As long as at least one game is played in any round, Fantasy Challenged proceeds as usual.
At the moment, that one-game minimum is met by AX Armani Exchange Milan vs. Zenit St Petersburg, which is due to take place as scheduled on Friday night. All of the other eight games from this round have been postponed.
The procedure for postponed games is as follows:
1) All players from teams whose games are postponed remain eligible for Fantasy Challenge. Once their original game is due to have finished, each will receive his average Fantasy Challenge score for the season to date. It’s important to note that average scores are applied, too, for injured players on those teams.
2) Fantasy Challenge managers may choose a team captain from among the players whose games were postponed, BUT they must do so before what would have been the start of the first originally scheduled game of the round. You cannot switch to a player from a postponed game as team captain after that. It is all in the game rules.
All of that means that you already know the Fantasy Challenge scores of most players for this round. It is up to you if you choose them or not, which takes the game to a new, different, unprecedented level in terms of strategy.
If you risk taking players and coaches from the only game that will be played, Milan vs. Zenit, then you might get an advantage over other teams that did not use those players. At the same time, the risk may prove negative if the players you choose from that game perform below their individual averages.
The bottom line is that as long as Milan vs. Zenit is played, Fantasy Challenge will process results for Round 19. If not, the round will not count, now or in the future.
Depending on circumstances, you shouldn’t have to wait long to start making Fantasy Challenge trades again. A busy double-round is on the schedule for next week, starting Tuesday, January 11.
