05-06-2023, 02:28 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-08-2023, 10:49 AM by xenosthelegend. Edited 1 time in total.)
Get in Rookie!
Hello fellow S42 rookies! I may have already been drafted into the ISFL, but at my heart I still consider myself a Rookie through and through. If you don’t believe me you can easily reference the ISFL index where my player name, “Dub Redd”, has the ® indicator next to his name. Like you fellow rookies I was once at the mercy of scouting conversations with ISFL GMs. From being asked to switch to Safety, or how to hide a Bus in 6 hours, the onslaught of questions will not cease up until Ultimus Week. Not to fear though a Literal Wizard is here to assist in navigating your way through the upcoming weeks. You may not have access to arcane powers such as myself, but knowledge is power and that’s what I’m here to provide! Thankfully for you, I’m willing to take it upon myself to analyze the array of scouting questions I received during my True Rookie season, and offer some questionable advice on how to answer. As an aside I’m writing this article from the perspective of a player who chose Defensive Tackle. Your mileage may vary on these responses for other positions.
At this point you’ve all been scouted at least once by a DSFL team, hopefully by more than one team but given the current upturn of DSFL GMs don’t take it personally if a team may have missed you. After all, scouting is a human process and prone to many mistakes. And herein lies my first bit of advice. While we may be disconnected via the pathway of the internet, there’s still a human on the other side of each scouting conversation. We’re all here to have fun and interact with other users, so don’t approach questions with robotic repetitiveness. Even when receiving the same questions 3 or 4 times mold your answer to the person you’re talking to.
We're Going Scouting!
“How you doing? Got some time to chat?”
Starting off with a softball here, but a question that you should answer honestly. If you don’t have the time at hand to engage in a conversation without distractions let them know that! In my opinion continuous flow in the discussion leads to a much better experience for both sides.
“Did you enjoy your scouting in DSFL? I’m about to send you on a ride if you’re ready for it lmao.”
If you receive an inquiry such as this you have every right to be fearful. But I guarantee if you play along you’ll come out the other side battle hardened and ready to face any future questions. In all seriousness, harkening back to my first advice, there are no wrong answers given you’re truthful and project your personality in the conversation! Some scouts prefer to throw our odd questions and that’s just a way to gage you as a locker room fit.
“So you play a DT and I highly doubt we’d ask you to position switch, but are you open to it? Any positions you'd play/not ever play?”
This is an important one to discuss so bear with me for a moment. If ISFL teams had their way of things they would always choose a User for their value of character regardless of player position. Nevertheless this is a competitive league, and tough choices need to be made in order to fill roster holes and ensure everyone on the team is happy. It’s entirely okay if you do not want to switch positions! Just understand GMs are performing their due diligence by asking if you’re willing. All that being said if you’re willing to position switch, then that can be a big boon for your draft stock!
“Do you have any sort of terms you'd like to see contract-wise?”
I only received this question once or twice, however it’s certainly something you’ll want to consider ahead of time when talking to teams. In general rookie contracts are a standard 3 years with or without a Move Option at the end. But perhaps you really care about a No Trade Clause or Salary adjustment? I’ll provide the available contract options below for your personal use.
No Trade Clause (NTC): Clause preventing the trade of a player by their team without the consent of the player.
No Movement Clause (NMC): Clause preventing the trade or sending down of a player by their team without the consent of the player.
Player Option (PO): Option by which a player may move to end their contract and become a free agent.
Team Option (TO): Option by which a team may move to end a player's contract and without buying said player out.
Mutual Option (MO): are not their own unique construct, instead being defined as a contract with simultaneous POs and TOs
Salary Adjustment (SA): Clause that automatically adjusts a player’s salary to whatever TPE bracket they sit in. This adjustment takes place after regression has been completed in the offseason.
How you finding the ISFL so far?
“So you have any goals in this league at all?”
There are some realistic answers here you may think of such as an Ultimus victory, or HoF bid, and really even if you don’t have any goals at present feel free to be upfront about it. However the real trick here in my opinion, is understanding whether you have Team or Personal goals. There’s a subtle difference between wanting to stick with a team for multiple seasons to help build an Ultimus worthy roster is a team move, or just looking to win an Ultimus for your player individually(i.e. leaving via free agency at some point). At the end of the day it’s your player and time that’s being invested so both options are valid. However, being upfront about your intentions and goals is important!
“First off people have completely different styles for this league. Do you like to become your player RPG style, or are you more of a manager of said player?”
A very unique question looking to gauge your personality and approach to how you enjoy the league! I’ll take this as an opportunity to discuss Locker Room fits. Some teams care more about looking for players they think will vibe with the team. How you answer here isn’t necessarily as important as how you follow up. And here’s my second biggest piece of advice. Flip the script and ask your scout how they would answer the question! In my experience scouts really enjoy users who engage with them by asking questions back.
“What makes a locker room an enjoyable experience for you?”
In most cases at this point you’ve probably only been involved in one, maybe two locker rooms at the DSFL level. Think about anything specific that stands out as far as locker room activity goes! Do you prefer a closed LR with a tight knit community, or are you wanting an open LR that lets you interact with other members of the league! Maybe you really enjoy a good pet channel, or perhaps you’re focused on sports talk.
“How involved are you looking to be on the team you get drafted to? Are you looking to get in war rooms or just find somewhere to be active?”
General Managers are always looking for help in the war room! Either via scouting, sim testing, or trade talk, if you think you can contribute to the war room let your scout know! Above the basics of TPE earning and activity, the best thing you can do to boost your draft stock is demonstrate an honest interest in helping your team off the field.
“What time zone are you in?”
Here's an easy to read timezone map to help you answer this question.
“Have you applied for any league jobs yet, or do you plan to this offseason/in the future?”
Aside from helping in the war room, league jobs are a coveted asset and I highly recommend you apply for one if it fits your style. If you’re not aware yet, you can opt to use the funds from your league job to pay or either an Offseason or Point Task Pass. These allow you to earn the TPE automatically from these tasks! Apart from the personal benefits, this league is entirely user run, so if you can spare the time for a league job you should.
“I am the GM of the New York Silverbacks and would love to chat with you if you got the time.”
If the GM in question is @zaynzk leave him on read. If it’s @Repgnar you can proceed with the scouting conversation.
“Do you see yourself continuing to max earn and getting $ from media like you have been?”
Scouts will ask this in order to gauge your long term dedication. It takes a few seasons for any new player to hit reasonably sufficient TPE levels for ISFL competition. If you want to compete at the next level & max earn, then having a plan for steady income is important. Media, GFX, Discord Payouts are all ways you can ensure you’re hitting that weekly training or seasonal equipment. And if you haven’t thought it out completely, then ask what your scout recommends! For myself x2 media weeks are the goto for ensuring my cash flow is sustained. A single 2500 word article each season can net you close to $10M during x2 media! More than enough for an entire season of Weekly Training.
“Would you want to stay more time in the DSFL, or are you not that bothered if you come up quickly or slowly?”
My take here is that it’s totally fine if you want to stay down in the DSFL for at least a 2nd season, but every team is going to have different goals for why they might draft a user. If you want to be more involved with your DSFL team just be straight forward about staying down for another season. In most cases GMs will work with you to ensure your league experience is what you want it to be.
“How have you been enjoying the CB position?”
Okay big yikes the scout didn’t even get your player position correct. That’s okay just play along and turn the question back on them like so:
"Considering I play Defensive Tackle not very much, but I'm open to position swapping so CB could be a position I might enjoy if that's what the team needed."
“One last question, what's something you're really excited for this year outside of the sim league community?”
A perfect opportunity to connect with the scout on an interpersonal level. We’ve all got passions outside of the league, see if you can strike up a conversation with them on the topic. This could be attending a sports event, an upcoming vacation, or a hobby project. I’ll go one further on this and say that you could even ask your scout this when they open up the opportunity for questions. It’s good to get to know other league users, you never know when it’ll come in handy later in your career.
“Okay one last question. Are you a wizard?”
Hello fellow S42 rookies! I may have already been drafted into the ISFL, but at my heart I still consider myself a Rookie through and through. If you don’t believe me you can easily reference the ISFL index where my player name, “Dub Redd”, has the ® indicator next to his name. Like you fellow rookies I was once at the mercy of scouting conversations with ISFL GMs. From being asked to switch to Safety, or how to hide a Bus in 6 hours, the onslaught of questions will not cease up until Ultimus Week. Not to fear though a Literal Wizard is here to assist in navigating your way through the upcoming weeks. You may not have access to arcane powers such as myself, but knowledge is power and that’s what I’m here to provide! Thankfully for you, I’m willing to take it upon myself to analyze the array of scouting questions I received during my True Rookie season, and offer some questionable advice on how to answer. As an aside I’m writing this article from the perspective of a player who chose Defensive Tackle. Your mileage may vary on these responses for other positions.
At this point you’ve all been scouted at least once by a DSFL team, hopefully by more than one team but given the current upturn of DSFL GMs don’t take it personally if a team may have missed you. After all, scouting is a human process and prone to many mistakes. And herein lies my first bit of advice. While we may be disconnected via the pathway of the internet, there’s still a human on the other side of each scouting conversation. We’re all here to have fun and interact with other users, so don’t approach questions with robotic repetitiveness. Even when receiving the same questions 3 or 4 times mold your answer to the person you’re talking to.
We're Going Scouting!
“How you doing? Got some time to chat?”
Starting off with a softball here, but a question that you should answer honestly. If you don’t have the time at hand to engage in a conversation without distractions let them know that! In my opinion continuous flow in the discussion leads to a much better experience for both sides.
“Did you enjoy your scouting in DSFL? I’m about to send you on a ride if you’re ready for it lmao.”
If you receive an inquiry such as this you have every right to be fearful. But I guarantee if you play along you’ll come out the other side battle hardened and ready to face any future questions. In all seriousness, harkening back to my first advice, there are no wrong answers given you’re truthful and project your personality in the conversation! Some scouts prefer to throw our odd questions and that’s just a way to gage you as a locker room fit.
“So you play a DT and I highly doubt we’d ask you to position switch, but are you open to it? Any positions you'd play/not ever play?”
This is an important one to discuss so bear with me for a moment. If ISFL teams had their way of things they would always choose a User for their value of character regardless of player position. Nevertheless this is a competitive league, and tough choices need to be made in order to fill roster holes and ensure everyone on the team is happy. It’s entirely okay if you do not want to switch positions! Just understand GMs are performing their due diligence by asking if you’re willing. All that being said if you’re willing to position switch, then that can be a big boon for your draft stock!
“Do you have any sort of terms you'd like to see contract-wise?”
I only received this question once or twice, however it’s certainly something you’ll want to consider ahead of time when talking to teams. In general rookie contracts are a standard 3 years with or without a Move Option at the end. But perhaps you really care about a No Trade Clause or Salary adjustment? I’ll provide the available contract options below for your personal use.
No Trade Clause (NTC): Clause preventing the trade of a player by their team without the consent of the player.
No Movement Clause (NMC): Clause preventing the trade or sending down of a player by their team without the consent of the player.
Player Option (PO): Option by which a player may move to end their contract and become a free agent.
Team Option (TO): Option by which a team may move to end a player's contract and without buying said player out.
Mutual Option (MO): are not their own unique construct, instead being defined as a contract with simultaneous POs and TOs
Salary Adjustment (SA): Clause that automatically adjusts a player’s salary to whatever TPE bracket they sit in. This adjustment takes place after regression has been completed in the offseason.
How you finding the ISFL so far?
“So you have any goals in this league at all?”
There are some realistic answers here you may think of such as an Ultimus victory, or HoF bid, and really even if you don’t have any goals at present feel free to be upfront about it. However the real trick here in my opinion, is understanding whether you have Team or Personal goals. There’s a subtle difference between wanting to stick with a team for multiple seasons to help build an Ultimus worthy roster is a team move, or just looking to win an Ultimus for your player individually(i.e. leaving via free agency at some point). At the end of the day it’s your player and time that’s being invested so both options are valid. However, being upfront about your intentions and goals is important!
“First off people have completely different styles for this league. Do you like to become your player RPG style, or are you more of a manager of said player?”
A very unique question looking to gauge your personality and approach to how you enjoy the league! I’ll take this as an opportunity to discuss Locker Room fits. Some teams care more about looking for players they think will vibe with the team. How you answer here isn’t necessarily as important as how you follow up. And here’s my second biggest piece of advice. Flip the script and ask your scout how they would answer the question! In my experience scouts really enjoy users who engage with them by asking questions back.
“What makes a locker room an enjoyable experience for you?”
In most cases at this point you’ve probably only been involved in one, maybe two locker rooms at the DSFL level. Think about anything specific that stands out as far as locker room activity goes! Do you prefer a closed LR with a tight knit community, or are you wanting an open LR that lets you interact with other members of the league! Maybe you really enjoy a good pet channel, or perhaps you’re focused on sports talk.
“How involved are you looking to be on the team you get drafted to? Are you looking to get in war rooms or just find somewhere to be active?”
General Managers are always looking for help in the war room! Either via scouting, sim testing, or trade talk, if you think you can contribute to the war room let your scout know! Above the basics of TPE earning and activity, the best thing you can do to boost your draft stock is demonstrate an honest interest in helping your team off the field.
“What time zone are you in?”
Here's an easy to read timezone map to help you answer this question.
“Have you applied for any league jobs yet, or do you plan to this offseason/in the future?”
Aside from helping in the war room, league jobs are a coveted asset and I highly recommend you apply for one if it fits your style. If you’re not aware yet, you can opt to use the funds from your league job to pay or either an Offseason or Point Task Pass. These allow you to earn the TPE automatically from these tasks! Apart from the personal benefits, this league is entirely user run, so if you can spare the time for a league job you should.
“I am the GM of the New York Silverbacks and would love to chat with you if you got the time.”
If the GM in question is @zaynzk leave him on read. If it’s @Repgnar you can proceed with the scouting conversation.
“Do you see yourself continuing to max earn and getting $ from media like you have been?”
Scouts will ask this in order to gauge your long term dedication. It takes a few seasons for any new player to hit reasonably sufficient TPE levels for ISFL competition. If you want to compete at the next level & max earn, then having a plan for steady income is important. Media, GFX, Discord Payouts are all ways you can ensure you’re hitting that weekly training or seasonal equipment. And if you haven’t thought it out completely, then ask what your scout recommends! For myself x2 media weeks are the goto for ensuring my cash flow is sustained. A single 2500 word article each season can net you close to $10M during x2 media! More than enough for an entire season of Weekly Training.
“Would you want to stay more time in the DSFL, or are you not that bothered if you come up quickly or slowly?”
My take here is that it’s totally fine if you want to stay down in the DSFL for at least a 2nd season, but every team is going to have different goals for why they might draft a user. If you want to be more involved with your DSFL team just be straight forward about staying down for another season. In most cases GMs will work with you to ensure your league experience is what you want it to be.
“How have you been enjoying the CB position?”
Okay big yikes the scout didn’t even get your player position correct. That’s okay just play along and turn the question back on them like so:
"Considering I play Defensive Tackle not very much, but I'm open to position swapping so CB could be a position I might enjoy if that's what the team needed."
“One last question, what's something you're really excited for this year outside of the sim league community?”
A perfect opportunity to connect with the scout on an interpersonal level. We’ve all got passions outside of the league, see if you can strike up a conversation with them on the topic. This could be attending a sports event, an upcoming vacation, or a hobby project. I’ll go one further on this and say that you could even ask your scout this when they open up the opportunity for questions. It’s good to get to know other league users, you never know when it’ll come in handy later in your career.
“Okay one last question. Are you a wizard?”