Guillotine leagues are the hot new rage in fantasy football. These are survival leagues, where the lowest-scoring team each week is eliminated, and all their players land on waivers for the wolves (remaining teams) to fight over.
At DataForce, a guillotine league lasts all 17 weeks. In a typical 12-team league, the first 6 weeks are called “accumulation rounds”, during which the winning teams are awarded for their efforts with more blind bidding money to use in waivers. Then, in the next 11 weeks, one unlucky team is eliminated each week until only one champion remains standing.
Here’s a link to the Guillotine rules at DataForce.
And here’s a quick video about Guillotine leagues:
As Commissioner at DataForce Fantasy Football, I don’t get to participate in these leagues, but I see it all. The single-minded pursuit of top players. The anguish over an early exit. The angst over how much to bid for players left behind by the guillotine.
You see, there are two competing strategies that must be carefully balanced:
- Stayin’ alive during the early elimination rounds
- Building a team with the top superstars for the final rounds.
It’s a slow progression from boring-but-solid in the first weeks to superstar-only teams in the final weeks that finish at the top. To that end, here are ten hints to keep you alive for seventeen weeks:
- Focus strongly on the very top players of each position during the draft. This year (2025) that’s guys like Chase, Bijan, Lamar, Bowers. The best at their jobs. Because by the end of the season, you want the best of everything, and you may as well get an early start on that. If you’re in an auction league … overpay!
- If you can’t decide between two highly-rated players, pick the one with an early bye week. By “early,” I mean before the elimination rounds begin in week 7 (for 12-team leagues). How cool would it be to nab a guy like Bijan Robinson (bye week 5 in 2025) or Justin Jefferson (bye week 6), who will be there for ALL of the elimination rounds?
- At the same time, don’t neglect the early weeks. Winners in the first six weeks get paid in FAAB (blind bidding money for waivers), and you need to collect every dollar you can. So, after nailing down your superstars, focus on reliable players that will get you through the first half of the season.
- Guillotine lineups are small. There’s precious little room for sleepers and handcuffs. Instead, select solid players and cover your early bye weeks. By the end of the year, almost everybody you draft will have been replaced by stronger players, anyway. Think: survive!
- Guillotine leagues are waivers leagues. They’re all about who wins the waiver wars, getting the best players at the best prices. Don’t waste your money on mediocrity at the waiver wire; you want the best. By the time you’re down to just three or four teams left in the league, only the best players are worth owning, and only the very best can give you an advantage.
- How much should you bid during waivers? I wish there were a pat answer. I’ll take the humble approach and admit I really don’t know, it differs so much from league to league. But what you definitely do not want to do is run out of money early. The enviable position is to be able to bully all the other teams down the stretch by having the most money.
- Like playing the stacks? Mahomes to Kelce? Leave that for Daily Fantasy Sports. It’s a bad idea in Guillotine leagues, where you want solid performances week in and week out, not shoot-the-moon lineups.
- Contrary to regular-sized rosters, where it’s often handy to carry two or even three defenses, don’t bother doing this in guillotine leagues. It’s true that DataForce scoring rewards careful defense management, but there will be lots of options on waivers each week to stream. If you ARE tempted to stash extra defenses, make sure they have great matchups in the final three weeks of the season.
- Now, a quiz to know whether you’ve arrived as an experienced Guillotine player. Q: What is the recurring nightmare of every Guillotine team owner? A: That anybody in your lineup gets injured in the first minute of play and turns in a goose egg. Injury-prone players should terrify you to your core.
- Most of all, remember: The football bounces in weird ways, and it only takes one week of bad luck to get eliminated. Don’t buy into just one guillotine league, and don’t beat yourself up when bad things happen. They. Just. Do.
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Lee Harmon
Commissioner