Tips for creating your first Fantasy Team in the Fantrax, Perfect XI and Official FPL games

It's been a whirlwind summer for us at NMA, and with a shorter break than usual between the end of last season and the beginning of the next we've been scrambling to make sure everything is in place for the 2015-2016 Premier League season. In addition to adding a bunch of new writers to the team (who you'll be meeting shortly), we've also had the task of finding an adequate replacement for the discontinued Yahoo Fantasy Football game.

That task ended up with us moving forward with coverage for three fantasy games: The official premierleague.com offering, Togga's Perfect XI game, and a customized league on the Fantrax platform. Each game has its own set of rules for scoring and team selection, and if you're finding yourself confused or overwhelmed when it comes to putting a team together for any of the games, rest assured you're not alone. I've put together a brief overview of each game to help you set up your team(s) for success ahead of this weekend's campaign-opening match between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

Official PremierLeague.com Game

Even for those of you who have been playing the FPL game for years, there are a few new twists for this season. Before we get to those, though, here are the basics:

• You have a budget of £100M to spend on a team of 15 players (11 starters and 4 bench players)
• You may choose up to three players from any Premier League team.
• You are allowed one free transfer each week. Each transfer after the allotted one will cost you 4 points from your total score, which will be taken away at the end of the week.
• Each week, you will need to assign a player as your captain. This player will earn double points, so you want to use it on the player you think is most likely to score big points for the given week.
• You will also choose a vice-captain, who will score double points in the event that your captain choice does not play that game week.
• There are two wildcard "chips" available, where you may make unlimited transfers without being penalized. You may use one at any point during the first half of the season, and the second may be used in the second half of the season.
• Three new "chips" have been added this season, and may be played once each at any point in the season. The "All-Out-Attack" chip allows you to play in a 2-5-3 formation; the "Bench Boost" chip adds your points from bench players into your score for the week; and the "Triple Captain" chip gives your captain triple points instead of double for the selected week.
• You may sell players whose value has increased for a 50% sell-on fee. For example, if you buy a player for £8.0M and sell when they are valued at £9.0M, you will be awarded £8.5M to use toward another player.
• The deadline for setting your team each week is one hour before kick-off of the first match.

You can join our league for the premierleague.com game with the following league code: 60178-148342

Togga's Perfect XI Challenge Game

Togga's main fantasy offering is a draft-style game, but they've recently introduced their Perfect XI game, which operates without a budget and focuses on making the right selections for your team regardless of price. Here's how you can get set up with an account and an initial team:

• You'll need an account on Togga's main website before you can join Perfect XI from desktop, though you can sign up for both on their mobile app.
• Once registered, you can visit the Perfect XI website to get your initial team set up.
• You will need to choose 11 players to fill a 4-4-2 formation for your squad. No other formations are available.
• You may select as many players as you like from any team in the Premier League.
• Unlimited transfers are allowed each week, with the goal being to change your team based on matchup throughout the season.
• Live scoring is available and will be updated in real-time each week.
• The deadline for setting your team each week is 5 minutes before kick-off of the first match.

You can join our league for the Perfect XI game by searching for "Beat the Bloggers" on the Groups tab and clicking on the league. If you are prompted to enter a referral code, use BP3SCWECM7.

Our Custom Fantrax 100M Game

Due to its customizable nature, the Fantrax game was the natural choice for us to move ahead with as a replacement for the Yahoo game. The vast majority of scoring metrics and rules that applied to the Yahoo game are available on Fantrax. After a lot of trial and error, I was able to create a league that very closely approximates Yahoo's game from seasons past.

Unfortunately the interface for Fantrax isn't as flexible or polished as any of the Yahoo, Togga or Official PL games (Editor's Note: Fantrax has confirmed they are currently working on a UI/UX redesign), but it is functional and should serve as an adequate alternative for all the Yahoo purists out there. Here's some clarification when you're putting your initial squad together:

• Even though there are 14 slots available, please choose only 11 players for your team each week. The additional slots are available to allow you to use different formations throughout the season, and that's all. There is no bench available, and your team will not be legal to score points if you select additional players.
• The mobile app does not appear to currently support team selection, so you will need to build your team on the Fantrax website under the "Adjust My Roster" tab. You can track scoring for your team on the app if you'd like.
• You may select as many players as you like from any team in the Premier League.
• Unlimited transfers are allowed each week, though discounts will come into play. If you sell a player from your team at a discount, you will only get back the money you spent to bring them into your team.
• Live scoring is available and will be updated in real-time each week.
• The deadline for setting your team each week is 1 hour before kick-off of the first match.

We have raised the limit on our Beat the Bloggers league on Fantrax, which you can join here. Please use the league ID wehttmjnibz6qmqy and league password NMA_Blog.

Hopefully this will help everyone get set up this week. We'll be back with more posts throughout the week leading up to the Week 1 deadline. If you have any other questions or need any help getting things set up, let us know in the comments!