This season of fantasy football is like any other we’ve seen in the past.
Throughout the years, the development of unique fantasy football leagues have exploded.
From vampire leagues where one manager does not partake in the draft but in turn, makes a team from undrafted players. The vampire then gets the ability to steal a player in the event that they defeat the opposing team in their weekly matchup.
There are leagues such as pirate leagues where each week, the winner of any given head-to-head matchup can steal a player from the losing side.
The list of unique, fun and challenging fantasy football leagues goes on and on.
But this season, Nate with We Know Fantasy has taken the uniqueness to an all new level.
He has developed a fantasy football league based on the popular television series, Survivor.
The league begins with two separate tribes of eight teams. Naturally, the tribes have been named the AFC and NFC.
Those tribes were randomly assigned and then given the task to determine their own draft order for the 16-man league draft. One tribe was given odd numbers and one tribe was given even numbers.
From there, each week, the tribe with the most combined points scored wins the ‘Immunity Idol’ and will avoid ‘Tribal Council.’
The tribe facing ‘Tribal Council’ will unanimously vote out a member of their tribe.
From there, the voted out team will enter ‘Castaway Island’ with hopes to play their way back into the league. Starting in Week 3, the first two castaways will play each other. The winner will advance to play whomever was voted out in Week 3. The process will repeat through Week 5 at which time, the winner of that matchup will rejoin the league.
The teams losing on Castaway Island will be removed completely from the league and locked.
This process will repeat itself beginning with the Week 6 castaway playing the week seven castaway. The winner of this second Castaway Island will rejoin the league for Week 10 at which time the ‘Merge’ will happen and the tribes will be no more.
Reward Challenges will also take place each week with a different unique challenge being presented. The winners of the reward challenge will receive an advantage for the following week.
For Week 1, the Reward Challenge goes back to the roots of fantasy football in the way of head-to-head matchups.
Before I present this Week 1 Reward Challenge, it is worth noting that the first twist of Season 1 came as the draft ended after the tenth round, with three rounds remaining.
This left a few teams without a quarterback or tight end and others lacking depth. Waivers have been locked and teams cannot exceed ten players on their roster until Week 2.
The reward for Week 1 gives the winning tribe the first eight draft slots in each of the last three rounds of the draft. The losing team will occupy selections nine-through-16.
A big advantage to start the season for sure.
This reward challenge begins with the AFC tribe nominating a team to the ‘block.’ The AFC tribe won the coin toss to determine if they wanted even or odd picks in the draft.
From there, the NFC tribe will select that AFC team’s opponent for Week 1. The NFC will then put a team on the ‘block’ for the AFC to select their opponent.
This process will continue until all 16 teams are placed into one of eight Week 1 head-to-head matchups.
The reward is granted to whichever team wins the most head-to-head matchups. In the event of a four-to-four tie, the tribe with the most combined points will receive the reward.
Trading is only allowed within tribes. There will be plenty of trades and strategy happening leading into Week 1 as tribes look to counter and set themselves up in the best way possible for each matchup.
The matchups for this Week 1 head-to-head Reward Challenge are as followed:
FantasyFro vs. Rich
Logdog vs. Pickens Picks
Ytrb vs. Ben
Hippo vs. Jake
Sean vs. Duke
Conner vs. Brooks
Cody vs. Christian
Trey vs. Marko
Now, let’s meet the contestants for Season 1 of the We Know Fantasy Survivor Fantasy Football League.
The AFC
Jake
Accountant/Professional Fantasy Football Player
Fun Fact: He is a huge New York Rangers’ fan and a golf fanatic
Fantasy Football Experience: Five Years
Favorite Football Team: Dallas Cowboys
Favorite Survivor Contestants: Tony Vlachos
Favorite Survivor Moment: Tony’s entire Winners at War season.
Social Media: @THEJakeFriedman (Twitter)
Marko
IT
Fun Fact: Introduced the founders of the Long Drinks to each other.
Fantasy Football Experience: Too much
Favorite Football Team: Buffalo Bills
Favorite Survivor Contestants: John Cochran
Favorite Survivor Moment: N/a
Social Media: N/a
Cody
Sports Writer
Fun Fact: He attended one-of-the-six games in MLB history where a team threw a no-hitter and lost.
Fantasy Football Experience: 13 Years
Favorite Football Team: Los Angeles Rams
Favorite Survivor Contestants: ‘Boston’ Rob Mariano
Favorite Survivor Moment: When Johnny Fairplay lied about his grandma’s death
Social Media: @WKFCody (Twitter)
Fantasy Fro
Coach
Fun Fact: Didn’t start watching Survivor until a few years ago and has since, binge watched a majority of the seasons
Fantasy Football Experience: Been playing fantasy for about ten years
Favorite Football Team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite Survivor Contestants: Spencer Bledsoe
Favorite Survivor Moment: Spencer was on the first season that he watched and he enjoys cheering for the underdog, just as Spencer was in his season
Social Media: @FantasyFro (Twitter)
Sean
Sports Tipster
Fun Fact: Resides in the UK and became a fan of the NFL through Madden 2003 on the Gameboy Advanced
Fantasy Football Experience: Casually playing for ten years, more seriously the last three
Favorite Football Team: Chicago Bears
Favorite Survivor Contestants: N/a
Favorite Survivor Moment: When the UK tried their hands at a version of Survivor in ‘01-’02
Social Media: @Thebettingyeti (Twitter)
Pickens Picks
Professional FIFA Player
Fun Fact: We are a partnership
Fantasy Football Experience: Playing since 2013, has won three championships
Favorite Football Team: San Francisco 49ers
Favorite Survivor Contestants: John Cochran
Favorite Survivor Moment: N/a
Social Media: N/a
Yrtb
Software Engineer
Fun Fact: Can’t hit a golf ball to save his life but loves to play disc golf. Once accidently ended up with 41 baseballs signed by Garret Anderson
Fantasy Football Experience: Playing since Josh Gordon’s breakout in 2013
Favorite Football Team: New York Giants
Favorite Survivor Contestants: Rob Cesternino
Favorite Survivor Moment: “It’s a f****** stick,” from Fans vs. Favorites
Social Media: N/a
Brooks
Scientist/Chemist/Engineer
Fun Fact: Brooks and Nate (@WKFNate) have done sports card breaks together.
Fantasy Football Experience: A lot of redraft and a decent amount of dynasties.
Favorite Football Team: Minnesota Vikings
Favorite Survivor Contestants: John Penner
Favorite Survivor Moment: Coach’s journey into Exile during Survivor Tocantins
Social Media: N/a
The NFC
Ben
Project Manager
Fun Fact: Also works in fine dining catering
Fantasy Football Experience: Been playing since the '90's
Favorite Football Team: Doesn't have a favorite team as a Canadian
Favorite Survivor Contestants: Tony Vlachos
Favorite Survivor Moment: Tony's Spy Shack
Social Media: N/a
Conner
High School Volleyball Coach
Fun Fact: N/a
Fantasy Football Experience: 15 Years
Favorite Football Team: New England Patriots
Favorite Survivor Contestants: Rick Davens
Favorite Survivor Moment: When Rick Devens played the idol to blindside Ron
Social Media: N/a
Christian
Business Analyst
Fun Fact: Has lived all over the country; namely in Phoenix, San Diego, Chicago and Indianapolis. Enjoys being active by mainly playing basketball and weightlifting. Enjoys cooking, trying new restaurants and comedy.
Fantasy Football Experience: Circa 2005
Favorite Football Team: Los Angeles Chargers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Favorite Survivor Contestants: Tyson Apostol
Favorite Survivor Moment: Wendell Holland’s diss on Chris Noble at tribal council. “Stop. Rapping. You’re trash. At Rapping. Put the mic down, BRO.”
Social Media: @cgmoeller1 (Instagram)
Rich
Librarian
Fun Fact: Has been the commissioner of over 20-plus fantasy leagues across multiple spots
Fantasy Football Experience: Has been playing fantasy football since smallworld.com had it back in the 90’s
Favorite Football Team: New York Jets
Favorite Survivor Contestants: Rodney Lavoie Jr.
Favorite Survivor Moment: Rodney Lavoie’s impressions of Mike Holloway and Dan Foley
Social Media: @justplainrich (Twitter)
LogDog
Sports Trading Card Sales
Fun Fact: His two feet are different shoe sizes
Fantasy Football Experience: Been playing fantasy football since the eighth grade
Favorite Football Team: Green Bay Packers
Favorite Survivor Contestants: N/a
Favorite Survivor Moment: Has never actually watched Survivor
Social Media: N/a
Trey
Professional Pickleballer
Fun Fact: He is Scott Van Pelt’s favorite Memphian
Fantasy Football Experience: Been playing fantasy for about 15 years now
Favorite Football Team: New Orleans Saints
Favorite Survivor Contestants: Sandra Diaz-Twine
Favorite Survivor Moment: When a commissioner of a league he was in decided daft order by who lasted longest in Survivor and Sandra pulled through and got him a top four pick.
Social Media: @OverFansPodcast / @Tedford901 (Twitter)
Duke
Educator
Fun Fact: N/a
Fantasy Football Experience: N/a
Favorite Football Team: N/a
Favorite Survivor Contestants: N/a
Favorite Survivor Moment: N/a
Social Media: N/a
Hippo
Fire Fighter
Fun Fact: Lost his nipple in a biking accident, but it grew back
Fantasy Football Experience: 12 Years
Favorite Football Team: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Favorite Survivor Contestants: Tony Vlachos
Favorite Survivor Moment: Tony’s spy shack in Cagayan
Social Media: @hippohammers
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