DraftKings Reignmakers | Week 3 Contest Recap
The Week 3 Reignmakers slate was heavily influenced by injuries and lackluster performances from designated Superstar players. Unlike last week, there was not a clear-cut game stack that was necessary in order to win. As we will see, each of the winning lineups looks very different from one another.
David Montgomery, Dalvin Cook, D’Andre Swift and Joe Mixon were all injured at some point during their contests, skewing the overall running back leaderboard with backups such as Khalil Herbert at RB1 and Jamaal Williams at RB4. Derrick Henry was the only relevant Superstar at running back, tying Cordarrelle Patterson for second in scoring with 25.3 points.
Wide receiver was even more extreme, having to scroll all the way down to WR22 to find Cooper Kupp with 16.4 points. Davante Adams, Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson all finished at WR30 or worse.
In Week 2 we learned that it is not necessary to include a Superstar player just for the sake of it. Two of the winning teams last week did not include a Superstar. This week, that theory was even more pronounced as three of the winning teams did not include a Superstar. Only Derrick Henry appeared on the Core and Elite winners.
I do think this is somewhat fluky, however, as there were several teams inside the top 10 that had Lamar Jackson. This also happens less at the Reignmaker tier because the price of Superstars is highly restrictive.
The Reignmaker tier looked different this week with certain players opting to play in the Web 3 Promo contests over the $100K “The Alpha” tournament. This made mathematical sense because the floor prices of the CryptoPunk and Bored Ape NFTs that were awarded first place are about 64 ETH and 85 ETH, respectively. This equates to four and five times the top prize of “The Alpha”.
Here is a look at the winning teams in each tier from the main slate:
Core - $50K Fiat Frenzy
The winner of the $50K Fiat Frenzy at the Core level was thomas3205 who scored 148.34 fantasy points. This team featured Superstar Derrick Henry to go along with Trevor Lawrence, who was not stacked with a Jaguars pass catcher. Rounding out the team was the top three scoring wide receivers on the slate and the only three wideouts to score over 30 points in DeVonta Smith, Marquise Brown, and Mack Hollins.
Mack Hollins was a great play in DFS at $3,300 filling in for the injured Hunter Renfrow, but wasn't a necessity in Reignmakers where there isn’t a salary cap.
Hollins had a career-high in catches, yards, and touchdowns in this contest. Somehow this team found a way to win without Lamar Jackson, who scored the most points at QB by almost 13. Only five teams out of the top twenty did not have Lamar.
Rare - $80K Fiat Frenzy
The winner of the $80K Fiat Frenzy in the Rare tier was TrustTheGutCast who scored 137.1 points with a Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith stack and a mini-game stack of the Ravens/Patriots game with Mark Andrews, Rhamondre Stevenson, and Devante Parker.
Parker was a sharp play filling in for the injured Jakobi Meyers. Surprisingly this team did not have a Superstar despite the succeeding ten teams on the leaderboard all having one. TrustTheGutCast saved about $70 in the Reignmakers Marketplace playing a Core Jalen Hurts over a Rare Lamar Jackson in this contest.
Elite - $250K Fiat Frenzy
The winner of the $250K Fiat Frenzy in the Elite tier was twentysixxx who scored 132.48 points with a Trevor Lawrence to Christian Kirk stack. This was paired with Mark Andrews, DeVonta Smith, and Superstar Derrick Henry. Playing this Jacksonville stack was a great strategy because, at the time, Lawrence and Kirk Elite cards can be purchased for a combined $860.
If we compare this to say, Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs Elite cards, we would be looking at $2,300, almost three times the cost. Lawrence and Kirk have not projected for one-third the fantasy points as Allen and Diggs, and in fact, the duo ended up combining for just about the exact total as that particular Buffalo stack, making them an excellent value.
Legendary - $100K Fiat Frenzy
The $100K Fiat Frenzy at the Legendary tier was won by Raize34 who once again played Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence was the only player to appear in more than two of the winning contests. This team was completed with Devin Singletary at running back and the trio of Russell Gage, Romeo Doubs, and Chris Olave at wide receiver. Gage and Doubs were solid plays pregame due to the plethora of injuries at wide receiver for both the Bucs and the Packers.
Chris Olave benefitted from in-game injuries to both Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry. This team also did not include a Superstar, however, Raize34 was able to save some money because Legendary Superstars have a floor price of around $2,000.
Reignmaker - $100K "The Alpha"
Finally, the winner of the $100K “The Alpha” at the Reignmaker Tier was matteten who had a Jalen Hurts to AJ Brown stack with Clyde Edwards-Helaire. The two Reignmaker cards on this team were Marquise Brown and Trey Hendrickson. Not only is this the first time we have seen a defensive player on a winning lineup, but second place in this contest also had a defenseman.
This could be the start of a trend in the Reignmaker tier because defensive players are all cheap in the marketplace. It is also worth noting that about one-third of the teams in this contest did not have a prayer of winning. It is more optimal to throw all backup players into an entry than hold onto them in your wallet.
