Playoff Guilloteenie Overview: Postseason Fantasy Contest Rules & Settings
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If you did not get enough Guillotine League (TM) action during the regular season, then I have good news for you. Playoff Guilloteenie leagues are coming! This article will walk you through the rules and details for the upcoming Guilloteenie playoff leagues.
Sign up today at guillotineleagues.com and you'll have plenty of time to draft your playoff guillotine squads ahead of the NFL playoffs.
What is a Guilloteenie League (TM)?
For those still unfamiliar with how guillotine leagues work in general, think the opposite of Ricky Bobby’s Mantra: “If you ain’t last, you’re first!” The lowest scoring team each week is eliminated, with their roster going up for auction using free agent acquisition budget (FAAB).
Playoff Guilloteenie leagues have a few differences. They begin with up to five teams, and for each playoff round the team that scored the fewest points is eliminated from the competition. When a team is eliminated, its entire roster of players become free agents, eligible to be acquired by the rest of the league. The last elimination round will be the Conference Championships, where the lowest-scoring team will be chopped, leaving the final two teams to compete for the top prize in the Super Bowl.
Roster construction will be a bit different compared to regular season leagues. All rosters will consist of eight starters but no bench. Starting lineups must consist of the following:
- 1 Quarterback (limit 1 drafted per team)
- 2 Running Backs
- 2 Wide Receivers
- 1 Tight End
- 2 FLEX (RB/WR/TE)
We will have more articles in the future regarding strategy once the playoff matchups are finalized, but there is plenty to think about compared to a normal league. Do you draft for highest ceiling or longevity? Will a superstar on a seventh-seeded team be more valuable than a second-tier player on a team expected to make a deep playoff run? How do you navigate not having a bench?
The rest of the general rules can be seen below.
Guilloteenie League Size and Duration
All playoff leagues consist of a maximum of five teams, and the gameplay lasts for up to all four rounds of the NFL playoffs:
- Round 1 - Wild Card Round (lowest-scoring team chopped)
- Round 2- Divisional Round (lowest-scoring team chopped)
- Round 3 - Conference Championships (lowest-scoring team chopped)
- Round 4 - Super Bowl (final two teams remain)
Free Agent Acquisition
All free agents are acquired via blind bidding using your Free Agent Acquisition Budget (FAAB). All owners begin the playoffs with a $1,000 FAAB, and in order to acquire a player on waivers, a minimum bid of $0 must be placed. Remember, this is blind bidding, so the other owners in your league cannot see what you have bid on a player until after waivers have been processed.
The first two blind bidding deadlines each week are on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 3 p.m. ET. The third and final weekly bidding deadline is 11 a.m. ET on Saturday for the Wildcard Round (Round 1) and Divisional Round (Round 2), and is 11 a.m. ET on Sunday for the Conference Championships (Round 3) and Super Bowl (Round 4). The blind bidding process is detailed further in the next section.
A player is awarded to the owner with the highest bid, and in the event of a tie for the highest bid, the player will be awarded to the owner with the lowest overall season-to-date point total.
When this tiebreaker is executed, the winning owner is moved to the end of the tiebreaker priority list for any other tiebreakers that may occur in that week. This ensures that other teams can win tiebreakers, not just the lowest-scoring team.
Players dropped during blind bidding periods can be acquired in the following bidding period. Blind bidding acquisitions made in public contests cannot be undone unless due to system error.
Blind Bidding Periods
After the Wildcard Round results are finalized, the Divisional Round begins. From this point, there are three weekly blind bidding periods, running from the Divisional Round up to the Sunday before the Super Bowl.
Wildcard (Round 1) and Divisional (Round 2) Blind Bidding
The three weekly blind bidding deadlines are on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 3 p.m. ET, with a third and final weekly bidding deadline at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday.
Conference Championships (Round 3) and Super Bowl (Round 4) Blind Bidding
The three weekly blind bidding deadlines are on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 3 p.m. ET, with a third and final weekly bidding deadline at 11 a.m. ET on Sunday. The same rules apply for the week of the NFL Pro Bowl (Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2025), for a total of six blind bidding periods between the Conference Championships (Round 3) and the Super Bowl (Round 4).
More Guilloteenie League Rules
Guilloteenie leagues follow similar rules to standard fantasy leagues and guillotine leagues.
Injured Reserve
There are no designated roster spots for injured or suspended players.
Trades
Trading players is not permitted in public contest leagues.
Stat Corrections
We do not allow for the NFL's stat corrections (that occur on the following Thursdays) for the previous round’s games. All stats are considered final at the conclusion of the last game of the current playoff round.
Scoring Tiebreakers
In the event of a tie at any point in the playoffs (including the Wild Card Round), the following tiebreaking criteria will be used:
- The team with the fewest year-to-date points is eliminated (except ties during Wild Card).
- If Step 1 does not break the tie, the team with the starting player who scored the fewest points is eliminated. In the event of a continuing tie, this methodology continues by comparing the second-lowest-scoring player, the third-lowest-scoring player, and so forth until ties are resolved.
- If in the unlikely case there are still tied teams, the team that scored the fewest amount of points in the previous round (ex: Round 3) will be eliminated. In the event of a continuing tie, then the team with the lowest amount of points scored in the round before that (ex: Round 2) will be eliminated, and so on until the ties are resolved.
- In the unlikely scenario where two or more teams are still tied after all other tiebreakers have been applied, all remaining tied teams will move on to the next round of the contest.
Entry Fees and Prizes
Prizing for Playoff Guilloteenies is as follows, assuming a five-team league size:
| Entry Fee | 1st Place | 2nd Place | 3rd Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| $30 | $100 | $15 | $10 |
| $50 | $130 | $50 | $25 |
| $100 | $300 | $75 | $50 |
| $250 | $800 | $200 | $50 |
Note that the prize structure above is for full five-team Playoff Guilloteenies that begin play with the Wild Card round of the NFL Playoffs. Leagues that start in later NFL Playoff rounds will have fewer teams and a differing prize structure. See each individual contest's details for that league's prize structure.
Tiebreakers
In the case of a tie between two or more teams for one or more league prize, and the league tiebreakers are unable to break the tie, then the prizes in question will be split evenly amongst the tied teams.
Guilloteenie Drafts
All drafts are serpentine style, meaning the draft order is reversed after each round has ended. All playoff drafts consist of eight rounds (eight picks per owner). The draft timer depends on which draft format you choose, Live (online) drafts or Slow (email) drafts. Further detail is provided below.
All teams will draft 1 quarterback, 2 running backs, 2 wide receivers, 1 tight end, and 2 FLEX-eligible players (RB/WR/TE).
You will be able to set your pre-draft player rankings from the league's home page at any point before the draft starts. We highly encourage you to set your player rankings, which provides guidance for our systems if you are unable to make your selection. Your pre-draft rankings are also global, meaning you can use them for future drafts.
Live (Online) Drafts
Draft Timer: 60 seconds or 120 seconds per pick
All live drafts are held in our online draft room, which can be accessed on either a mobile or desktop device. You can access the live draft room at any point after registering, and once your league has been filled, the draft order will be randomly generated (results will also be sent via email). We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the draft room prior to your draft, and you need to arrive at least several minutes before its scheduled start to ensure that you are not experiencing any technical issues.
When it's time for you to make a selection, you will have 60 seconds to make your pick. There is an available player queue that provides guidance for our systems if it needs to auto-draft for you. The auto-draft control is located underneath the draft clock in the upper left of the draft room (see below).
If you do not make a pick before the timer has expired, the system will select the top-ranked player in your queue, or if your queue is empty, the top-ranked player (with an open roster position) from the remaining available player pool will be selected. In addition, if you fail to make a pick before the draft timer expires, you will automatically be put on auto-draft, which must be manually turned off. Also, if you are late to the draft room for the start of the draft, you will put on auto-draft, which must be manually turned off upon entering the draft room.
It is your sole responsibility to ensure you make it to the start of your scheduled draft. If you think you may be late or miss your draft entirely, remember to utilize the pre-draft player ranking feature (mentioned above) to ensure you have the best chance to obtain your preferred players.
Slow (Email) Drafts
Draft Timer: 1 or 2 hours per pick
Slow drafts are held in our same online draft room as live drafts, but slow drafts take days to complete, not hours. Please note, the draft timer will be suspended every night from midnight ET to 8 a.m. ET. (For those on Pacific Time, note that the clock will resume at 5 a.m. PT, so be sure to have your preferred players in the queue.)
Just like live drafts, you can access your draft room at any point after registering for your slow draft. Once your league has filled, the draft order will be randomly generated, and you will be emailed your league's draft order and the scheduled start time (generally one hour after the league has filled). You can enter the draft room at any point while your slow draft is in progress, and you will be notified via email every time you are on the clock (settings can be adjusted on site).
Depending on your league's timer, once the draft has started, you will have either one or two hours (when on the clock) to make each pick, and you will be able to move players in and out of the queue for reference, or for use with the auto-draft feature. The auto-draft control is located underneath the draft clock in the upper left of the draft room (see below).
If you do not make a pick before your timer has expired, the system will select the top-ranked player in your queue. Or if your queue is empty, the top-ranked player (with an open starting roster position) from the remaining available player pool will be selected. In addition, if you fail to make a pick before your draft timer expires, you will automatically be put on auto-draft, which must be manually turned off.
In order to ensure that all drafts are completed in time for the start of competition, the time between picks may be changed, or the league draft may be changed from a slow draft to a live draft, as determined by Guillotine Leagues and/or the league commissioner. In the event the league draft timer needs to be changed by Guillotine Leagues, all league entrants will be notified by email prior to the change.
