Haibo Does Data: Week 10 – Vanilla

Hello everyone – welcome to Week 10 of the column! For more insights, be sure to check out our weekly Haibo Does Data Podcast.

In addition to our regular summary metrics overview, we wanted to talk more this back with a focus back on the basics – taking a look at a set of intro cards alongside card scoring and calculations. So let’s jump right in!

The Vanilla Cards

As SmashUp has grown this year, there are quite a few users that are relatively new to the game. While the concept is pretty straight forward – you get SmashCards that power up your team, it can be intimidating to see and learn the over 60 cards in SmashCard’s card-dex, especially the first couple of times you play. This is where the “vanilla” cards come into play.

Smashup has a set of 18 cards that are Starting/All-Pro/Hall of Fame at each of the 6 positions. These cards have the simplest and most straightforward mechanic – a straight multiplier to the player’s score. This set of vanilla cards is a fantastic way for newer players to ease in to the game. For QB, RB, and WR, the Starting multiplier is 1.5x, the All-Pro multiplier is 2x, and the Hall of Fame multiplier is 2.5x. For TE, K, and DEF, the corresponding multipliers are 2x, 2.5x, and 3x since generally those 3 positions score fewer points. If you are newer, I recommend starting with these cards and you can move into the more complex ones with additional combos as you get more familiar playing the game.

And just because these cards are basic doesn’t mean they aren’t powerful! You can absolutely win the entire thing playing these cards. Just ask RedRusyn – the overall top point getter in Week 10. And he did it with a Hall of Fame WR card played on Ja’Marr Chase – scoring 111pts on one player!

When we talk about the vanilla cards, I also like to use it as an opportunity to talk about card scoring. We sometimes get questions from users about how cards are scored and calculations. The key formula is this: Card Points = Points of the combined Player/Card – Points of just the Player alone. Another way to think about it is – if A = the number of points the player scored and B = the number of points the player scored with the card applied – then the value of the card is just B – A.

Let’s do an example. Let’s pretend we played the All Pro QB card on Jalen Hurts and Hurts scored 20pts for the week. All Pro QB says – your QB gets a 2x multiplier to their score. That means Jalen Hurts + All Pro QB = 2 x 20pts = 40pts. So with the card, you get 40pts and without the card, you would’ve gotten 20pts so the value of the card = 40 – 20 = 20pts. You can apply this same approach to every card in SmashUp. Reminder again that cards DON’T STACK so each card operates in a vacuum. You can just see what the value of your player/lineup is WITH the card and then subtract the value without the card and you can get the card score! As always, if you have any questions on scoring, send us a message in app or via email to help@smashupsports.com.

Summary Metrics

This past week, we had over 3,000 different lineups across our Fantasy Frenzy weekly tournament, league play, and single player campaign modes. When we aggregate all of the data across those lineups, these were the most selected players.

Players by Position

We talked last week about seeing the impact of cards being played on the players selected and you can certainly see some of that here. Sam Darnold as the #2 most picked QB stands out as that was a very popular pick with our QB SmashCards. Player of the week is hands down Ja’Marr Chase and a lot of folks got that right – with Chase being the 3rd most picked WR. He rewarded players with 11 catches for 264 yards and 3 touchdowns – an all-time stat line. Almost any card you played on Chase would’ve netted you a ton of points – highlighted of course with the winning combo on Hall of Fame WR. 48 of the top 50 scoring lineups had Chase this week! That is an insane concentration on one player – basically if you did not have Chase, you did not win this week.

Top 10 SmashCards

We definitely have our usual suspects in the top 10 with mainstays The Human Vulture, Starting RB and Starting WR, but there are a couple of things that jump out at me. First, is Run CMC overtaking The Human Vulture for the top spot. Those who read this column and watch the video knows that I really just don’t think Run CMC is a great card at its cost/value. It hits so rarely compared to the other 30 or nothing cards and even when it does it – it’s unpredictable on who it will hit. Coming off of a huge RB dominant week in Week 9, in Week 10, 0 players hit on Run CMC. 0! That means all 499 of those lineups that played Run CMC got nothing for their investment. It’s a very risky card to play and I think there are better options elsewhere.

Speaking of dominant RBs in Week 9 – we see that bleed into the Week 10 card selection. We talked a lot last week about the Hellacious Halfbacks/Hurricane Season combo that just ruled the top 50 in Week 9 and we see quite a bit of folks playing that again this week with both cards making the top 10. Unfortunately, RBs didn’t have a great week this week and only one lineup out of the top 50 scoring lineups incorporated that combo.

Top 10 Player/Card Combos

You can see the thought process behind folk’s picks here. Again, coming off of that insane RB Week 9, we just see RB dominant combos here. 4 Run CMC + RB combos (again – NONE of those hit!). We see 2 Unstoppable Freight Train cards, and 2 more on Saquon. All told, 8 of the top 10 combos played this week involved RBs! Unfortunately, it just wasn’t their week this week.

But a new week awaits! Maybe this is the bounce back week for RBs? Maybe Ja’Marr Chase and the receivers continue their hot streak? Come find out and set your lineups in SmashUp!

Good luck everyone!