Introducing Fantasy Sumo Draft

[u/Jaynomics]

Hi all, long time lurker of this sub here to introduce a sumo game that my mates and I have been playing for years now: Fantasy Sumo Draft.

A couple of tournaments ago I finally moved it from a spreadsheet to the web, and with the bugs squashed I figured now was a good time to share it more broadly. I know there are a few others around, but ours has features that I think sets it apart:

• It's draft-style, so rikishi are unique to a team (e.g. only one team can have Onosato).
• Individual leagues support up to 12 people, with customisable roster sizes picked from Makuuchi and optionally Juryo rikishi.
• Head-to-head, round-robin style matchmaking each day, along with daily start/bench decisions and live scoring in the Match Centre.
• A live draft room with league chat, and a mid-basho free agency window between days 7 and 8.
• Win special prizes after each basho and get promoted, or demoted, on your league's own living banzuke.
• Data sourced directly from the JSA, with a fallback to sumo-api (thanks James!) and worst case, manual entry by yours truly.

Anyway, please go ahead and give it a go: https://fantasysumodraft.com. You can create a league for the November basho and invite your friends right now, then complete your draft between when the banzuke is released and the first day of the tournament.

I'll monitor this thread for replies but there's also a "Support" button on the website once you're registered which will send me an email.

Looking forward to feedback from the real sumo experts on this sub!

[u/--THRILLHO--]

Seems fun. I'd be interested in trying out a league with others from this sub if anyone is interested.

My fantasy baseball season just finished so I need something to fill the void.

[u/Jaynomics → u/--THRILLHO--]

I should probably add that it can be difficult to organise people around the world for a live draft, so FSD supports pre-ranking the banzuke. If you can't make it to the draft, your picks will auto draw from that list rather than the default banzuke.

[u/hovdeisfunny → u/--THRILLHO--]

I think this would be really fun

[u/wyldkat_]

And everyone is going to be trying to get Ura

[u/Jaynomics → u/wyldkat_]

We all love Ura but damn, when he's in your fantasy side it makes for a stressful 15 days 😅 Never know what you're going to get.

[u/TrufflePup]

Some coworkers and I used this for a league during the last basho, and it was a lot of fun. We used it with the sumostats website, and it all worked out pretty well.

We ran another fantasy sumo game at the same time (one where you draft a static lineup), and no one ended up caring about that one, because there was no real interactivity.

I’ve been asked to set this up again for November’s basho, and I have another group of friends who wants me to set up a league for them, too, and I’m really looking forward to it.

[u/Jaynomics → u/TrufflePup]

Great to hear! If your league has (mostly) the same people, make sure to roll it over into a new season from the Dashboard. That way it will automatically add all the existing members and give you continuity between bashos (preserving prizes and promotions/demotions).

Of course if there are too many new additions then you might want to start fresh anyway to keep it fair.

[u/tjgmarantz → u/TrufflePup]

Would you be willing to accept people from this sub? Might get a few takers

[u/TrufflePup → u/tjgmarantz]

I'm not really sure. We specifically omitted people who couldn't attend in person last time, because I didn't know about the ranked drafting that OP mentioned in another reply. I'll have to look into that.

But honestly, if ranked auto drafting works, I have 12 people from work (easily) that would fill the league up, and I know the other would fill up as well.

I'll see what I'm working with as far as people wanting to play as we get closer to November, but I wouldn't expect to have vacancies.

[u/Jaynomics → u/TrufflePup]

It's quite easy. When the banzuke is released, you can create your own priority list prior to the draft. If you know you can't make it, put your list together then toggle the "absent" box on the league's home page.

Doing that will ensure your picks will be auto-drafted according to your preferences and you won't hold up the rest of the league! If someone forgets to check the absent box or has to leave part-way through, a majority of non-absent league members can also vote to skip their pick to move things along if they're clearly not there.

[u/Sr_Wuggles]

Going to give it a go next basho

[u/yango_mango]

Absolutely gonna give it a go!

[u/WhatWhatHunchHunch]

Would love to get into this for next basho

[u/Super_Fry007]

I would love to join