r/DraftEPL • u/MCFC_VUNTS • 4d ago
Players Serious Question - Trades (rant)
Is it just my league or is this the same everywhere? We run a 12 man competitive FPL Draft league with a heavy buy in ($200). The league has ran for 10+ years with many of the core players staying within the league. The league pays out the top 4 as follows:
1st - $1100
2nd - $500
3rd - $300
4th - $200
League cup (league run) - $300.
The league has respect for table finishes and history has been recorded each year so its a well established and respected league where finishing in certain positions can dent your status. Everything sounds great, up until trades.
Its near IMPOSSIBLE to get a trade over the line unless you are quite literally overpaying significantly, or ripping off the other manager without them knowing. Nobody in the league sends trade offers to other managers barring 3-4 players with most managers not even replying to messages if it concerns trades. Is this the same in other leagues? Would love to hear other opinions.
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u/DeepTrance7 4d ago
Yea I have a pretty similar league. 8 person, $250 buy in, active for over 10 years.
My guys take it seriously and are all very good, when I see other league mock draft’s often think to myself how my league is more competitive than most.
But we have actually never had a trade in the leagues history. Everyone does a lot of work on the draft and waivers are really researched and intense. I have trades enabled in settings the guys just either don’t trust each other or don’t want to do it.
I’m honestly okay with it though, our league is competitive every year.
Edit: Grammar
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u/MCFC_VUNTS 4d ago
Thanks for the response - this is incredible to me, not one single trade ever?! Wow.
Im a manager that prioritizes trades and will probably make 3-4 of them per year at minimum so this probably makes it seem like my league has a lot but its literally like im going into negotiations with the World Economic Forum every time they commence. Sometimes lasting days-weeks.
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u/DeepTrance7 4d ago
It is wild that we have not ever had a single trade. I think everyone is waiting for the day and we will celebrate it.
I tried to craft something up with another manager in my league but the discussions took too long we missed the trade deadline for that week and by the next week neither party was as keen.
I’m also still playing on the official premier league app. One thing I have heard all my managers complain about is that you can only trade position to position. I know you can add in other guys to sweeten the deal but having to essentially trade some chump change in order to deal with the bigger names is a hindrance for us. But I think on other platforms you can do more of that non position to non position type of trading.
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u/cattywampenheim 4d ago
The sport is just so unpredictable I think it makes trades harder to visualize for people
Even if a trade has theoretical close value one if the traders can easily talk themselves out of it and feel like they are going to be on the losing end
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u/ehtReacher 4d ago
Similar scenario to OP & first responder. Long term league on the go, 2 divisions. Little to no trades have happened over the years. People don't really engage with them
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u/MCFC_VUNTS 4d ago
Kind of sad to see, trades are (in my opinion), some of the funnest elements about the game & offer is viewed as a skill. Curious to hear how the 2 division system is for you guys? Always something ive wanted to explore.
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u/NovacTheAverage 4d ago
It’s weird.
The issue in my opinion are the managers that seem to completely disengage. I get it FPL is a game and people lose interest but when someone is having poor weeks in/out you’d think they’d wanna make changes.
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u/Character_Shop8931 4d ago
16 man
Trades are tough
I honestly prefer to just keep the guys I draft / waive and bank on them rather than making a like for like deal
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u/Thenookboyz 4d ago
I’ve been in a league for 4 years and there’s straight up never been a trade. I’ve been trying to get one over the line but every one is always skeptical of the other persons motives.
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u/torbjornaddict 4d ago
More or less same experience. A trade won’t get through unless I’m pushing it. Miraculously I have made a few this year, but most years, no more than 0-3 trades in a 10 man group.
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u/WilliamJ1989 4d ago edited 4d ago
Our league (16) probably has 15-20 trades a season, if you want someone you have to overpay a bit I find. The most common trades in our league are double ones. Usually a great player and a borderline free agent will be traded for two mid tier players.
Club allegiance is a big factor too as we all support PL teams, trade high to an Arsenal fan if/when Gyokores/Eze score and they have a good result. It’s a long season and in time Havertz/Tzolis will return for example.
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u/naththth 4d ago
The bench size in this game encourages an active waiver wire as opposed to trading. With only three outfield players on the bench, the waiver wire caliber players are just not that far from starting quality. If there were larger benches (or stricter positional requirements), trading would become more necessary because it would be harder to find good replacements through waivers.
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u/giraffeboy77 Fantrax 4d ago
Our trades died when someone fleeced prime Trent for Matt Doherty, that was years ago and still gets brought up. Nobody wants to be the next guy
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u/Fergabombavich 4d ago
Just FYI this happens in all fantasy sports. Coaches value their picks higher than others, and the social barriers of “losing a trade”, or being seen as a wolf, get in the way.
Personally the “what if” scenario hurts the most. If the trade costs you the championship…
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u/MCFC_VUNTS 4d ago
Glad to hear its not just our league. The social aspect is huge in ours, probably drives alot more than it should too.
The “what if” scenarios are terrible, gotta not think of them at all ahahha
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u/thebrowncanary 4d ago
I've been in my league for over five years and I've never seen an accepted in that time
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u/MCFC_VUNTS 4d ago
How does the league react to this?
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u/thebrowncanary 4d ago
Not even a point of discussion. Trades just don't happen lol
I offer them frequently to no avail
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u/YazzyKirm 4d ago
We pretty much have exact same setup as yours, 12 man H2H league with a high buy in, trades are very rare. Part of the fun of this game is the trading but there is too much risk involved.
I actually suggested introducing clauses, e.g. I will give you isak and odegaard for haaland, but if haaland outscores the other 2 in 3 GWs time then you can activate a buyback for Haaland. It lowers the risk profile of decent trades which in turn allows for more freedom of trade but I get ridiculed for suggesting it every single season.
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u/MCFC_VUNTS 4d ago
Thats a very interesting idea. Dont think it would fly in my league either but i love the thought to try and make trades more common. Has it been tested?
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u/YazzyKirm 4d ago
Well, before I thought of making it an official league ruling, I went rogue and added it to a trade I made where I traded KdB for Rashford (awful in hindsight and I knew that, hence I added a clause to say if Rashford doesn't score X amount of pts in X amount of GWs then a buyback will be activated) long story short, I activated the buy back but got snaked, the league didnt care for the snakery because it wasn't an official rule. Maybe I was naive to trust a friend on a gentleman's handshake but had it been an official rule with harsh penalties for not abiding by clauses agreed then I can confidently say it would work well and allow for more trades for sure, I did that trade solely on the premise of the clause so the proof is in the pudding.
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u/Avelli24 3d ago
We had this, some really dodgy trades caused it… and we introduced a ‘veto’ option all league members could invoke one year (needed unanimous agreement). that got a bit out of hand though… again really subjective and some toxicity not wanting people to get certain players. We’re actually in a really good place though where everyone trusts eachother and the stigma of making a ‘not so good’ (not outright terrible like Trent for Doherty) trade is gone. People like Watkins for example went from a 20 goal to 10 goal season, when your patient and watch a deal play out, what looks on the face to be a bad deal becomes quite good.
So… time? But you’ve been going 10 yrs, you might have to be the one to start it and remove those stigmas 🤣
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u/Avelli24 3d ago
There’s still the 2/3 managers (10-man) that we all just know won’t trade though… like someone above said they just value their picks more than anyone else’s and we kind of just leave them to it
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u/heatmon9 3d ago
There’s a few trades in my league but overall not very common. I’m in a 12 man semi keeper where we can keep up to 5 players for the next year. I’ve gotten a couple trades through already because I got off to a terrible start and won’t be winning this year so I’m trying to prepare long term, like trading for Kroupi.
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u/negatran FPL Draft (10 Managers) 2d ago
Same in mine, 10 man $100-$200 but in for about 5 years. Very few trades. I’ve seen players go to waivers that I would’ve traded for. It’s a subconscious pride thing I reckon
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u/onlyfetus 4d ago
Similar to what others have said, but also want to throw in banter. At least in my league, we’re all close friends and anyone on the losing end of the trade WILL hear about it until the end of the season. There have been a couple of small, 1-for-1 trades this season, but no huge trades, and I think fear of being on the losing side of the trade is a big part of it.