Georgia based FanTeam player ‘daaceofdiamonds’ gave us an exclusive interview following his €50,000 WCOFF (World Champion of Fantasy Football) Final win, a contest held amongst the elite fantasy sports players!
FT – Congratulations, ‘daaceofdiamonds’ on your recent win of the WCOFF Final, how does it feel to be Fantasy Football World Champion?
It feels great indeed! When I joined I could never have even imagined to win so much money in such a short timeframe, it is simply mind blowing! WOW! It is the biggest tournament in the history of Daily Fantasy on FanTeam, so it’s a great honour to have won. Thanks to FanTeam and everybody involved to make such huge prizepools possible! I am especially honoured to have won this finale since it gathered the most prominent DFS players in Europe. TTribl, Khan, Zhenek_Gomez, Quirrel77 and many more pros, which I highly respect all entered with several lineups. There have also been some new players on the rise with very solid teams. So, yes it feels very special to have won this title among many good rivals!
FT – Where are you currently located?
I am right now in Europe due to the current COVID-19 situation and recently decided to stay here for a lot longer than I had originally
planned. Thanks to playing full-time FanTeam, I am pretty flexible for my point of living. I can basically live everywhere since I make my money playing DFS on FanTeam. So I am quite excited for the COVID-19 situation to improve and start to live in other nice places very soon.
From hearing first about Fanteam to winning the €50,000 WCOFF 2020
FT – How did you learn about FanTeam?
I watched a stream on YouTube with two Russian Poker players (one of them happens to be in second place in the recent
WCOFF, he finished just behind me! – Gipsy74) and they were talking about the new thing called Fantasy Sports on FanTeam. I decided to try it out and from the beginning I liked it a lot due to its user-friendly atmosphere. I´m coming from a Poker background so getting used to the prizepools and everything was quite easy. The basic principles are all very similar to Poker with the Entry fee and how prizepools grow based on the amount of participants. I really enjoy the sports character about FanTasy as you play against other players, not the system. Therefore, its very challenging and one can put work into getting better. Since then I´m attached and I guess I can say that it was a good decision 🙂
What I enjoy most about FanTeam is its community aspect though. While there is surely rivalry among the players – everybody participates in the many community chats, helps out new players and also gives tips to more experienced players. I also received many congratulations from other players, which felt very nice!
FT – How much fun did you have throughout this competition?
I had plenty of fun! Daily Fantasy Sports is awesome and playing in a contest over two gameweeks with life-changing prices like this is just a great ride. I love to watch football and following my team points makes it even more exciting. After the first Gameweek I knew that I had to push again for the top spots so I drafted accordingly. But I wouldn´t have thought that I will be making first place here, but all in all, the amount of fun I had was immense and the crazy prize money made it even more worthwhile. I am already looking forward to the next episode of the WCOFF.
FT – There was a lot of competition in order to win this contest, how tense was it during those final moments?
It was incredibly tense, especially during the last two days. The first GW, on the other hand, I was not nervous at all, since I knew I would have another chance to catch up. In the end there was so much happening and high-scoring matches. Not choosing Salah in my top team was a tough choice but in the end, it was definitely worth it. I like Liverpool but I cheered for Southhampton in that last match of the Gameweek as most of my opponents had Salah and the other Liverpool players in their team.
How winning €115,000 within less than 2 years and making a living by playing Daily Fantasy Sports on FanTeam can change your life
FT – Do you have any words to describe the feeling once you saw the €50,000 in your FanTeam account?
I felt incredibly happy to be honest. When that final whistle appeared and I saw the winnings on my account – that was impossible to describe, a multitude of emotions engulfed me and it was truly amazing. I mean, that is worth a brand new Luxus car I won here! Seeing the €50,000 appear on my FanTeam account is definitely one of the most exciting moments I have experienced in my life so far!
The last match was extremely intense to watch. I was already in first place, but there was an army of Salah captaincies and Liverpool Defense stacks behind me. So you can imagine that watching this game was nail-biting. As the whistle then blew, I was filled with Joy and Happiness.
FT – What are you going to do with the €50,000 prize money?
I have not fully decided yet! This is a life-changing sum for sure, so a brand new sports car doesn’t sound too bad! Or I may invest it in Crypto and should be able to live a very relaxed life in the future. The beauty of FanTeam is that it offers people the chance to enjoy such rare luxuries after just one tournament win, it really has changed my life for the better.
FT – You have made some solid wins over the last few months. In total, you made more than €115,000 profit by playing FanTeam (and just joined 1.5 years ago!). How does that feel and can you already live from playing Fantasy Sports on FanTeam?
There is so much to be won on FanTeam, and I have already won a lot, so, yes – I can definitely live by playing Fantasy on FanTeam. I dont think I could earn more money in any other job right now – so I am very happy about the current situation! But there are many other players who have won similar amounts in there time playing on FanTeam, so there is lots of room for other players to win big. As you know, I am from Georgia and the sum I have won now on Fanteam within 1.5 years is what other people earn in their entire lifespan. I try to always reflect and put things into perspective. I am really thankful for the situation and appreciate the possibility which FanTeam gives its users. FanTeam has really changed my life!
Strategic Advices: Why you should not captain KDB and how to be successful without Optimizer
FT – How do you approach the Daily Fantasy Contests on Fanteam? Do you have any advice for our readers?
I analyse everything, and try to upgrade my strategy with every GW whilst work on my mistakes. I try to keep my approach to fantasy as professional as possible. The beauty of FanTeam is that it is all there for you every week, with the plenty of previews and stats on the blog! It really couldn’t be easier to get started on FanTeam due to the endless help they offer to ensure you are in the right place, and after no time you could be winning €50,000!
FT – You used the common strategy of stacking three players from certain teams. But the auto-sub through our safety-net feature was used four times. Was this purely tactical?
It may seem that I got incredibly lucky, but I knew that safety-net is enabled in this tournament and acted accordingly. Ultimately this tactic won me €50,000! There are plenty of other factors to consider however, and this alone did not win me the contest. You have to take into account fixtures, player prices, stacks odds and may more so it isn’t as simple as just picking 11 players.
FT – What is the most common mistake that new players make?
Captain Kevin De-Bruyne in every team they enter in the contest! It is great to have variety in order to cover all aspects of possibility and rack up as many points as you can as ultimately, that is the key to winning money on FanTeam. If you have KDB as captain and he scores twice, your team will gain points, but so will 50% of other players teams. In order to success, it is essential to differentiate and pick players that not everyone has on the radar.
FT – There is a rumour that you play completely without any optimizer tool, is that correct?
Yes, that is 100% correct. Many players think that you can only succeed in Fantasy with an optimizer or advanced statistics. However, that it simply not true. As these tools surely can help other players, the own thinking is much more important. I do all my teams by hand and with manual research. Of course I use external statistic pages to see which player is likely to score, but that is about it regarding tools which I use. If you have a love for sports, can think analytically you are good to go to succeed in Fantasy on FanTeam.
Looking ahead: The future of FanTeam and the next WCOFF
FT – How do you see the future of fantasy sports in Europe with FanTeam?
I believe it will be bright and the growth of FanTeam will continue for many years to come. There are so many like me who have found FanTeam just recently and returned every single day to play more and more and love it continuously. Many players are new everyday and winning money everyday, this obviously means that the game will grow and even more money can be won! I think we will soon hit a level where the prizepools are so big that Fantasy will become mainstream and then it should be possible to win prizes of a million on FanTeam.
FT – Are you going to compete in the next WCOFF Final and aim to make it two in a row?
Absolutely! One of the things I love most about FanTeam is the fact you can play it over and over again and have so much fun, whilst winning money! Fantasy sports is constantly evolving and FanTeam is evolving with it meaning there are always new contests to compete in and more money to be won. I am very excited for the next tournament and will try to defend my title!
FT – If there is one thing you could wish from FanTeam, what would it be?
In general, I am very happy with FanTeam. If I had one wish: Crypto for deposits and withdrawals. But, this is literally it, FanTeam ticks all the boxes for me! It’s so fun and ‘low risk high reward’ which a lot of people enjoy more as they may be worried to lose their money. In my opinion, if you play FanTeam you are more likely to make more money than you spend, as that’s what I have done.
There you have it, guys! Our very own WCOFF winner ‘daaceofdiamonds’ exclusive interview with FanTeam. Head over and sign up and we could be interviewing you after winning €50,000 next!
[…] Also our recent winner of €50,000 from the WCOFF 2020 gave us an interview! […]