DraftKings Diary | Buys, Sells, and What to Look for on DraftKings Reignmakers for Week 12

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In the DraftKings Diary, each week Lucky Trader's Jason Rouslin will walk through his buys, sells, and team lookahead to give you insights from an experienced DraftKings Reignmakers player.

Check out Jason's full portfolio with the Lucky Trader Reignmakers Portfolio Tool.

It is here! The first DraftKings Reignmakers Millionaire Maker is here! With more than 13,000 packs sold from the set, the proof of concept has been well established. The first-place prize is a huge draw, and in this article, I'll cover how I plan to attack the slate, especially after pulling a CeeDee Lamb LEGENDARY Flannel card.

Before that, I'll also quickly review how my late swap strategy helped me earn my best finish yet in a DraftKings Reignmakers Contest. So, let's dig in!

Week 11 Diary

If you missed last week's article, where I discussed my strategy up to this point in the season, check it out here. Interested in seeing what makes up the 1,400+ NFT card collection? Check it out here!

Week 11 Top Lineup Strategy/Tier & Contest

Contest: ELITE | Deep Roster, $40K Fiat Frenzy, $10K to First

Lineup:

QB: Joe Burrow
RB: Tony Pollard
RB: Antonio Gibson
WR: Tee Higgins
WR: Terry McLaurin
TE: Travis Kelce
K: Robbie Gould
DEF: Washington D/ST
Flex: Deebo Samuel

Total Points: 209.20, 3rd Place

It was clear last week that Week 11 was going to be the toughest to build main slate Reignmakers lineups thanks to my portfolio construction. A combination of teams on a bye or playing in a Showdown slate made it very hard. So much so, that out of the five ELITE lineups I created, not one of them cashed. That was a first. But now, onto the positive parts of the slate.

With the introduction of the Holiday Set, it was pack-ripping time once again. In the first 13 packs I bought, the main highlight was a CeeDee Lamb LEGENDARY Flannel card, one of the best cards available to pull. Not only is it eligible for the Millionaire Maker contest on Thursday, but it can be used in Reignmakers lineups for the rest of the year. More on what I did with the card coming up.

One of the other cards I pulled in those packs was a Joe Burrow ELITE. Having had very few shares of Burrow, and nothing above CORE, it was a great pull for my portfolio.

Just before kickoff on Sunday, I fielded an ELITE level team with Burrow, Michael Carter, Tee Higgins, Diontae Johnson, and the aforementioned Lamb card. Not a strong lineup by any stretch, but the nice thing about the last three players listed there, and Burrow, was they were playing in the 4:00 window.

After the 1:00 games were basically done, and Carter had thrown up a big-time dud, I moved my Burrow and Higgins shares to a Deep Roster ELITE lineup with a Washington Commanders stack. The combined points from Antonio Gibson, Terry McLaurin, and the D/ST were good enough, having a combined 40 points.

Especially with the defense being very close to optimal for the position, the lineup had a decent chance for solid cash if the other parts around them were good. In addition to the Burrow and Higgins swaps, I needed an ELITE RB for the lineup.

Gibson, McLaurin, and Higgins were the RARE cards, so I took the Lamb card and switched it with Tony Pollard, who I had initially paired with Daniel Jones and a Minnesota stack of Justin Jefferson and Dalvin Cook. It was a pretty even change, given I was going for a Minnesota and Dallas game stack anyway. It just so happened that all three (Burrow, Higgins, and Pollard) had ceiling games, and the team was sitting in 16th place in the Deep Roster ELITE contest, with a tight end, flex, and a kicker still to play.

Then came the next batch of high-quality swaps that paid off tremendously. No one above me in the contest had 180 PMR left, but many had 60 left, with the tight end spot still open. So while George Kittle was still to play, I figured Travis Kelce would be on most of those teams above me with PMR remaining. There were eight in total, and six of them had him. He's been the highest-owned player in the Deep Roster format since its inception, and I figured he'd be in most of the lineups.

With this educated guess, I decided to play my ELITE Kelce card in this contest to hedge the ownership. It again worked to perfection as Kelce had one of his best games of the year and vaulted me all the way up to sixth place! With still two players to play, I had a final decision to make.

With both Deebo Samuel and George Kittle ELITE cards in my portfolio and available for that last flex spot, I had to choose between the two. I needed a combined six points between Kittle or Samuel and Robbie Gould to get into the top five spots.

Ultimately, it wouldn't matter which one I would choose, as neither scored enough points to get me into the top 2, coming just six points back of second place but easily ahead of fourth place by 23 points, finishing in third.

It was my first top-five in an ELITE contest this season, pushing my portfolio to its best finish of the season. I also added in six other top 35 finishes in Showdown slates from the ELITE level and down.

Overall, the slate yielded just shy of $3,000, approximately an 18 percent return for my portfolio. I'm still searching for that first win though!

Week 11 Buys & Sells

Whenever a new set drops, especially one that includes cards that can be used for a Millionaire Maker contest, it will create an entirely new market within the game. No way I was missing this one.

In the fifth pack I bought, I pulled the aforementioned Lamb LEGENDARY Flannel Card. Given that the price of his base card at the same rarity tier was about $2,800, and this was one of the best cards of the slate, I knew I had something of solid value.

However, after doubling my overall investment into the slate and not pulling any other fantastic cards to pair up with Lamb, I found it best to shop the card around. I had a few offers on the table, one for just shy of $4,000 cash, one with a value of $4,000 including other cards, and one that gave me some solid equity in the lineup where the card will be used and cash. Ultimately, I decided to take the equity and cash offer. The Reignmakers community continues to grow, and those in it are always willing to take the time to make trades and talk shop. It's greatly appreciated!

From that sale, I added some cash back to my portfolio, a Rhamondre Stevenson ELITE card, among others. One area in which my portfolio was relatively weak is ELITE running backs that don't have a SuperStar designation. Since the Patriots are in the thick of it for the playoffs, I felt Stevenson was a solid add. Plus, he completes a very strong ELITE lineup for the Thanksgiving slate.

Last note on the Week 11 buys - Keenan Allen's return to the field presented a solid buy-low spot and was the missing piece that I substituted in place of the Kelce ELITE card that helped me come in third in the Deep Roster contest. Allen's card was used for the Showdown slate and paired up with Patrick Mahomes, Isiah Pacheco, and Kelce, coming in 35th in the contest.

Week 12 Lookahead

Week 12 has four notable Reignmakers slates:

Slate #1: Thanksgiving Slate
Slate #2: Main Slate
Slate #3: Green Bay versus Philadelphia
Slate #4: Pittsburgh versus Indianapolis

What a fantastic week of football we are in for in Week 12. It starts with three stellar games in maybe the best Thanksgiving slate in recent memory.

Detroit is surging, winning three straight games, and looking the best they have all season, while Buffalo has been sloppy as of late and will travel to Detroit to play at Ford Field for the second straight week.

Then there is a massive NFC East matchup, with both teams solidly in the playoff picture. Dallas is coming off their biggest road win in franchise history against an 8-1 Minnesota team that couldn't contain Tony Pollard last week. Having huge investments in Amon-Ra St.Brown, Pollard, and more big names from these teams, my portfolio should have another great chance to win.

This week's main slate is a bit easier than last, with Miami and Jacksonville returning to the field and the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs returning to the main slate. With these four teams alone, eight of the "main" cards in my portfolio can be used again. Adding corollary pieces like Deebo Samuel, who finally found his stride last week, should make for a much better main slate this week.

Lastly, the Sunday Night game should be an exciting one, at least compared to Monday Night, as my portfolio already sits with the optimal ELITE lineup for the Philadelphia and Green Bay game, compared to a very weak collection for the Pittsburgh and Indianapolis game on Monday.

Week 12 Targets

With so much attention going to the Thanksgiving slate and the first-ever Reignmaker Millionaire Maker contest, we'll start with a few targets for that slate.

Given the steep drop-off in projected points from quarterbacks, it's no surprise to see Josh Allen's cards in high demand. Because of this, it's pushing the prices of the other two SuperStars on the slate down with it.

Saquon Barkley and Justin Jefferson's cards are going for about half that of Allen's. Pivoting off of Josh, to Dak Prescott or one of the other quarterbacks, with either Jefferson or Barkley, should be a bit contrarian, and given the sale of Lamb and the cards my portfolio already has, that's the way I'll go.

Over the next few days, I'll be looking for the lowest serials on the following players: Rhamondre Stevenson, Jakobi Meyers, T.J. Hockenson, and Adam Thielen.

Onto the main slate now. If you haven't picked up any Keenan Allen, now is the time. Mike Williams is continuing to be bothered by his bum ankle, and Allen looks like he's just about back to his old self. Other vital players for the slate include David Montgomery, Chris Godwin, Jaylen Waddle, as well as Deebo Samuel.

That's all for now, good luck with all your DraftKings Reignmakers Week 12 Lineups, and let's win us a million. Happy Thanksgiving!

Looking for a few more additional tips for Week 8, check out the rest of the Lucky Trader Reignmakers content!

Author Bio

Jason Rouslin

Hailing from the great, but little, state of Rhode Island, Jason decided that year-round golf was too hard to pass up. So, after 29 years of bitter cold, and only being able to play golf 4 months a year (comfortably), upended those roots and moved to the sunshine state, Florida. 5 years later Jason is the proud Dad of two young boys and a black lab Bella. . In his professional time he can be found diving into the DraftKings Reignmaker game, researching PGA Tour stats, and investing, with a heavy focus on equity markets. In his spare time, playing golf is likely on the docket. If not that, then it's likely something to do with Disney, as he enjoys just about everything, from the theme parks to the Marvel movies. Shoot him a message on Twitter @dfsgolfer23, he'd love to chat!

Disclaimer: The author or members of the Lucky Trader staff may own NFTs discussed in this post. Furthermore, the information contained on this website or the Lucky Trader mobile application is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as financial advice. AI may have assisted in the creation of this content.