NFL Survivor Pool Rules
Also called suicide pool, knockout pool, eliminator pool, elimination pool
- Each of the players chooses one NFL team each week. If your pick is correct, you survive. If the pick is wrong, you lose a life.
- Once you are out of lives, you're out!
- If you have exhausted prior picks on the remaining available teams, you're out! This can especially happen in the post season when fewer teams remain to choose from.
- If a 2nd place bracket is configured, your first loss drops you to this bracket where you then compete for 2nd place. The winner of the 1st place bracket cannot also win the 2nd place bracket.
- The last player standing wins the survivor pool!
- Ties count as a win or loss, depending on the league setting.
- Once you pick a team, you can't use that team again (this is the default setting, but can be configured by the league manager).
- You must have your pick in by the deadline established by the league manager.
After you submit your pick, you can change it provided 1) the league's
configured deadline has not
past, 2) the configured grace period has not elapsed, 3) a
game has not started that you already picked.
- If your league has AutoPick enabled and you miss the deadline, a pick will be made for you provided you
haven't exceeded the configured number of weeks allowed for AutoPick generation.
If allowed by the league manager, you can override the league setting and choose
your own default AutoPick type under 'My Settings'.
- If your league is configured to require TWO picks for the week, you must get BOTH picks correct to win. If you miss either pick you lose ONE life. The system essentially treats a double-pick as ONE pick entity for the week, its either a win or a loss. So a player who gets one of the two picks correct is no better off than the player who misses both picks. The SOV for the week is the combined SOV of the two picks (which means its possible to lose the week with a positive SOV).
- If you pick a game that is unexpectedly cancelled and your survivor pick is locked in, you will advance to the following week. You will not be able to pick the same team again (configurable by league manager) You will also be weakened in the tie-breaker since most wins is the first tiebreaker (see below).
Tie-Breakers
In essentially every scenario the following decides the order in the standings:
1) Most wins
2) Best strength of victory
For example, player A and B end the season tied. Player A has 0 losses and an SOV of 100, and player B has one loss and an SOV of 110. Player A is the winner. If Player A and B both have one loss, then player B would be the winner because of their higher SOV.
If All players lose in a given week with NO Lives remaining:
Two things can happen, depending on the league No Survivors Tie-breaker setting. If Last Man Standing is configured, and its not the last week of the season, all players alive at the beginning of the week move forward to the following week and are set to 1 life (see special handling below for 2-bracket survivor leagues). If its the last week of the season, OR the No Survivors Tie-breaker configuration is Strength of Victory, the player with the fewest accrued loses, followed by highest SOV is the winner.
Two Bracket Survivor League, Last Man Standing option
The Last Man Standing option only applies to the 1st place survivor bracket. That is, players in the 2nd place survivor bracket do not move forward if they all lose, they are eliminated. If all players in the 1st place bracket lose, they incur a loss and move forward, including any players who previously bought back in to the 1st place bracket. If a player has no lives left, they are set to 1 life, but the number of losses they have accrued is maintained and used as a tie-breaker at the end of the survivor pool season. If buybacks are enabled, a player who had not previously lost will have the option to either 1) do a buyback to stay in the 1st place bracket, or 2) drop to the 2nd place bracket without incurring a buyback fee. Regardless of which bracket they opt for, any future loss will eliminate them. If its the last configured week of the season, 1st through 3rd place are determined by the tie-breakers at the top of the page. For details of why we decided to handle it this way, see
Survivor Pool Last Man Standing Scenarios.
Two Bracket Survivor League, Strength of Victory option
If Strength of Victory is the "No Survivors Tie-breaker" configuration, and everyone in the 1st place survivor pool bracket loses, the winner is determined by the tie-breakers listed at the top of this page. The 2nd place winner goes to whoever is left with the fewest losses followed by highest SOV, regardless if they began the week in the 1st or 2nd place survivor bracket.