Liam Kermode

May 227 min read

GameDay Squad: Fantasy Cricket!

GameDay Squad is excited to announce that Cricket is coming back to the platform! For the 2024 International Tournament, GameDay Squad are excited to be venturing into one of the biggest and best sports tournaments in the world! We also understand that for a lot of coaches, this could be the first step into any form of Cricket fantasy, and to help acclimatise existing and/or new users, this blog will provide you with all you need to know to get started on your GameDay Squad Cricket fantasy journey!

What is GameDay Squad?

GameDay Squad follows the traditional fantasy approach of leveraging in-game stats to apply scores to players. Coaches select a team of players each week and their individual scores aggregate to determine the team's overall score. Where GameDay Squad differs from conventional fantasy platforms is that instead of selecting players from a “pool” of players, GameDay Squad’s fantasy players come in the form of player cards that are digital assets that you have full control and ownership of on the GameDay Squad platform. You will be able to start, bench, trade, de-list, sell and buy these cards all within the GameDay Squad platform and enjoy the traditional fantasy game all at the same time. In addition, GameDay Squad’s fantasy modes are based on the dynasty fantasy model, which means that you retain your fantasy assets season-to-season. Dynasty fantasy sports creates a fantasy experience like no other. By enabling team owners to keep players and build a team over time, there is a stronger sense of ownership, and there is value in identifying future stars of the game.

Dynasty fantasy cricket further explained

GameDay Squad Cricket is a dynasty style fantasy sports platform that allows you to retain your player cards from tournament to tournament. We offer a product that is very different to traditional fantasy sports and unlike anything else in the global market. Enabling coaches to build a squad over time leads to a feeling of true ownership of your players and fantasy success is achieved with a greater sense of satisfaction.

Decisions in a dynasty league can lead to mistakes or successes that effect the fortunes of a team for years to come, just like International Cricket. The players that coaches obtain during the 2024 Cricket tournament will be able to used in major future international cricket competitions. This means that in years to come any player card you pack or find on the transfer market have value and can be used for years and years to come!

The player cards available in this edition of GameDay Squad will be SEPERATE to any future domestic cricket competitions run on the GameDay Squad fantasy sports platform.

More on Player Cards and how to obtain them?

Player cards can only enter the GameDay Squad ecosystem through opening packs. Although player packs are the only way to introduce players to the GameDay Squad Platform, coaches will be able to acquire players through other means such as the transfer market. Player cards have key visual elements, including team colour, the player's name, the player's number (Excluding GameDay Squad Rugby League), the multiplier attached, the rarity of the card, and the player's position. Another feature of the player cards within GameDay Squad is that once you acquire a player card, it’s your card forever. You can make any decision you like with your player cards including delisting, trading for other player cards and selling on the transfer market.

In GameDay Squad, each player in Cricket will have 6 variations of their card, each with an ascending level of rarity. Higher rarities of cards have a higher points multiplier - meaning they receive an additional bonus to their standard scoring.

The 6 rarities, card numbers and multipliers of cards are as follows:

Bronze - Unlimited - 1.0x

Silver - 5000 - 1.1x

Gold - 2500 - 1.2x

Platinum - 500 - 1.3x

Diamond - 100 - 1.4x

Legend - 1 - 1.5x

To put the multipliers in perspective, a Virat Kohli Diamond card applies a multiplier to their score of 1.4 x. If Virat Kohli scores 100 GDS fantasy points as a base score, that then gets increased to 140 fantasy GDS points given her Diamond status and 1.4 x multiplier. This brings players with lesser fantasy relevancy into the conversation as starters and propels established fantasy studs into fantasy superstardom!

One of the main ways to collect cards is to purchase player card packs. Player card packs can be found in the GameDay Squad Cricket store. There are three pack rarities, with three types of player volume attached. Each type of pack has a different chance to include different rarities of cards, with a higher chance for the rarest cards in the Unique pack type. At the start of each GameDay Squad coach’s journey, they will be given starter packs to start building out their squad. In GameDay Squad Cricket, each coach will receive 46 bronze player cards. The player cards are completely random, giving everyone the chance to pack someone special right from the start.To Start each coach will receive the following starter packs: Wicket-Keepers: 4 Player Cards (4 X 1 Player Pack) Batsmen: 12 Player Cards (4 X 3 Player Pack) Bowlers: 12 Player Cards (4 X 3 Player Pack) All-Rounders: 18 Player Cards (6 X 3 Player Pack)

So now you have some player cards, how do the squads work?

There are 11 active scoring players on a Cricket field. These are separated into 4 different positions:

1 Wicket-Keeper

3 Batsmen/Wicket-keeper(s)

4 All-Rounders

3 Bowlers

A change from the One Day World Cup previously played is that Wicket-Keepers are now allowed to be selected in batsman position slots! This allows for greater strategy and tactics as users gain more customisation of their squads.

A full and comprehensive list of all the Cricket active players and their positions will be released shortly.

How do your player cards accumulate points?

The stats your player's record in real-life competition will inform how many points they receive in GameDay Squad fantasy. The Cricket scoring measurements are broken down below.

Cricket 2024 GDS Scoring:

Additional Scoring Details:

When a game is complete a player's score will be multiplied by their card tier.
Players in a team's reserves will not score points.
Once all player's scores have been calculated, a daily total score will be assigned to each coach for the round. These scores will be used to determine the standings in each competition against other coaches.
Players who play more than one game in a round will have the highest score (the highest recorded score in a singular game) across the games played, score toward their overall team's round score at the conclusion of the round' lock out period.
This process is completed daily with the final season standings for both leagues being a cumulative score of a coach's weekly scores.

How do I compete?

While GameDay Cricket will be familiar with experienced GameDay Squad coaches, with all the bells and whistles that make GameDay Squad fantasy sports great still being included in Cricket, the fixtures will be a little bit different this time around... GameDay Squad Cricket will be a Daily Fantasy Sports competition, meaning that every day is a new round and a new challenge for all coaches to prove that they're the best amongst the best fantasy players in the world!

To explain daily fantasy sports further, here's an example:

Round 1 - (02/06/2024) USA vs Canada: Coach's build a team of USA and Canada players.

Rounds reset and winners are determined for the next rounds fixtures.

Round 2 - (03/6/2024) West Indies vs Papau New Guinea: Coaches build a team of West Indies and Papau New Guinea players.

Rounds reset and winners are determined for the next rounds fixtures and so on as the competition runs!

In rounds where two games are played on the same day, coaches have the ability to select players from all four teams for their teams on that day.

In 2024, Cricket will have four different competitions: namely the Starter Competition, Classic Competition, Challenger Competition and the Champion Competition. To enter a squad all you have to do is simply fill in all the empty position slots and you are good to go! If there are empty slots remaining, your squad will be disqualified and you will receive zero points for that round.

Each card in GDS is assigned a salary cap cost depending on the rarity of the card, described below:

Bronze - $500k

Silver - $600k

Gold - $700k

Platinum - $800k

Diamond - $900k

Legend - $1 million

The Starter Competition's rules mean that coaches are required to create the best possible team they can while playing to the "Bronze Card Only" rules. Users participating in the Starter Competition can only select bronze cards for their team.

The Classic Competition’s rules mean that coaches are required to create the best possible team they can while still playing under the 6 million dollar salary cap. For the Classic Competition the salary cap is set at 6 million dollars, users need to stay on or under that salary cap using the dollar amount per tier to create the best team possible.

The Challenger Competition rules mean that coaches are required to create the best possible team they can while still playing under the 8 million dollar salary cap. For the Challenger Competition the salary cap is set at 8 million dollars, users need to stay on or under that salary cap using the dollar amount per tier to create the best team possible.

The Champion Competition is where the highest tiered cards are played as there are no salary cap rules to play with. Coaches go head to head with their best cards and the best coach wins! It’s important to note that if a coach submits a Classic Competition team they also enter the Champion Competition as well.

Salary Cap information for all four competitions:


Starter	$5.5 million Salary cap
Classic	$6 million Salary cap
Challenger	$8.5 million Salary cap
Champion	No Salary Cap

Prizes

Daily Prizes:

Starter Competition

1st: 50 GDS Funds

2nd: 25 GDS Funds

3rd: 15 GDS Funds

4th: 5 GDS Funds

5th: 2.5 GDS Funds

6th-10th: 1 GDS Funds

11th- 25th: 0.5 GDS Funds

26th - 100th: 1 X 1 Player Common Pack

101st-500th: 4 x 1 Bronze Packs (All Positions)

Classic Competition

1st: 75 GDS Funds

2nd: 50 GDS Funds

3rd: 25 GDS Funds

4th: 15 GDS Funds

5th: 10 GDS Funds

6th-10th: 2.5 GDS Funds

11th- 20th: 1 GDS Funds

21st-25th: 3 x 1 Player Common Packs

26th - 500th: 4 x 1 Bronze Packs (All Positions)

Challenger Competition

1st: 100 GDS Funds

2nd: 75 GDS Funds

3rd: 50 GDS Funds

4th: 25 GDS Funds

5th: 15 GDS Funds

6th-10th: 5 GDS Funds

11th- 20th: 3 x 1 Player Rare Packs

Champion Competition

1st: 150 GDS Funds

2nd: 100 GDS Funds

3rd: 75 GDS Funds

4th: 50 GDS Funds

5th: 20 GDS Funds

6th-15th: 3 x 1 Player Unique Packs

Season Prizes:

Starter Competition

1st: 25 GDS Funds

2nd: 15 GDS Funds

3rd: 5 GDS Funds