Super League Basics

06/30/2026

Intro

Welcome to Super League. This short article will tell you everything you need to know to get started. Ask the commissioner if you have any questions after reading this. There may seem like a lot of rules, but there are mainly two - set your lineups, and don't be a dick.

Twelve teams. Three divisions. One goal - bring home a championship ring for your team. Super League is a keeper league with 3 keepers each, so choose your players and keepers wisely. A $35 buy-in adds up to $200 for first place, and the ring I mentioned isn't metaphorical.


Makin' Moves

Super League was designed for wheelin' and dealin'. Trades and waiver pickups are the backbone of the league. There are three types of tradable assets in Super League:

  • Players

  • Draft Picks

  • FAAB

Players

Players are like Jared Goff or CeeDee Lamb, you know these guys and how they work. The roster resembles traditional fantasy football, but with an extra WR/TE flex.

Draft Picks

Draft picks can be traded when the "pick window" is open. The pick window is open twice a year, during August and during the season. Draft picks must be traded 1 for 1, meaning each team exchanges an equal number of picks. You'll be able to trade picks for the upcoming draft in August, and your picks for the next year's draft in both periods. So for 2026, you will be able to trade 2026 and 2027 draft picks. The August pick window is always opened after the draft lottery results are revealed. The picks are listed for each team in the sleeper app. New for 2026 - A "soft" pick window will open in the season prior to the full pick window, which allows teams to trade picks in rounds 4-15.

FAAB

Think of FAAB as cash used to get free agents. Each team will have a chance to blindly bid on free agents each week, with the highest bidder earning the free agent. Players can still be added for free if no one bids FAAB. Each team starts with 100 FAAB a season. FAAB is tradeable and can be combined with players and/or draft picks in the same trade. The finalists of the Mickey Mouse Cup, an in-season tournament, will receive extra FAAB.

General

These three asset groups make up Super League trades. All trades are approved or vetoed by the "trading counsel", which is made up of three members of the league including the commissioner. If a member of the counsel makes a trade, an alternate is brought in to determine that trade. Players and FAAB can be traded until Week 13 begins in Super League.


Timeline

Lotto

The six teams that do not make the playoffs each year are entered into the draft lottery. The 2026 draft lottery will be held on July 30th. Each of the six teams has an equal chance at getting the number one pick. There will be a physical draft lottery involving real lottery balls this season. Check out the ball guide below to see which balls you should be rooting for:

Once the draft lottery is complete, and the order is entered into Sleeper, the trading window will open. It will close when keepers lock the night before the draft (September 4th). The draft will be on September 5th at 6PM EST for 2026.

Mickey Mouse Cup Tournament

The goal for the Mickey Mouse Cup is the same as any other week, score as many points as possible. The top two scorers from the first two weeks of the tourney will advance to the finals. Whoever comes on top will get a tiebreaker over all other teams for playoff seeding and some cash and FAAB. If division rivals meet in the Cup tournament, the Cup finals will NOT count as a divisional game.

Trading

The soft pick window opens after week 4. The full pick window opens after week 7. If you're having a rough season, you may want to consider selling a player for draft capital in order to position yourself better for next season. If you're having a nice season, you may consider the opposite. Trade deadline will be maintained in the Sleeper app.

Playoffs / Toilet Bowl

The top six teams from the season move on to the playoffs, with the top two seeds receiving a BYE week. The ultimate winner will earn the Super League championship. Aside from the cash and the ring, the winner also gets to suggest a new rule for Super League to adopt and a spot on the trading council for the next season.

That's the winner's bracket, but what about the losers? The six teams who don't make the playoffs will be entered into the toilet bowl, an anti winner's bracket where only the losers advance. The bottom two seeds from the regular season get a BYE. The ultimate loser earns the league punishment. This means all 12 teams will have something to play for in the postseason. The loser will be forced to change their names to "Shit Eating Skunks" for the entire next season and post-season, and rep the Chet logo. You will be immortalized as such on the website.

Of course, this is too many dates to memorize, so we've made a timeline with all the key dates at the bottom of this.


Off Limits

Next, let's get into some things to avoid in Super League. Overall, it's pretty simple - don't do something that hurts the integrity of the league. Tanking and collusion are simply not allowed in Super League. Making a trade using anything but the three asset types is illegal. Pick trades will face harsher scrutiny. You must also set your lineup each week.

If any of these rules are broken, or some other action detrimental to the league occurs, you may receive a strike. Strikes have penalties, with strike 3 being the most severe. Strike 1 is free, which essentially builds in the opportunity for a team to lose for free one game a year for whatever reason they so desire. The trade council controls strikes, and multiple strikes may be given at once if the situation permits. Strikes carry over into the next season, reduced by 1 each season.

Outside of strikes, pick trades must have equal numbers of picks, so teams retain a full selection of picks for each draft. You cannot trade first round picks in back to back years, like in the NBA. In general, if you don't want to stay in Super League long term, do NOT trade away future pick capital.

Extras

Lastly, we have some fun stuff. Each week throughout the season we will post power rankings on the website. We have other articles on the website from time to time, and have some pretty cool pages in terms of history and records.

The only required thing for this league is to set your lineups, so you can interact with the fun stuff as little or as much as you want. Feel free to get creative with your team identity.

And that's Super League's basics. The full rule book goes into full detail on these topics, but now you know enough to play. I wish everyone a great season and wish you all the best of luck.

Dates for Timeline

  • July 30 - Draft Lottery / Pick Window Opens
  • September 4 - Keepers Lock
  • September 5 - Draft at 6pm / $35 BUY IN DUE
  • September 9 - NFL season begins
  • October 6 - Soft Pick Window Opens at 8AM
  • October 22 - Divisional Back to Back begins
  • October 27 - Full Pick Window Opens at 8AM
  • November 12 - First week of Mickey Cup
  • November 25 - Week of Mickey Finals / Thanksgiving
  • December 3 at 5PM - Pick window closes / Trade Deadline
  • December 17th- First week of playoffs / toilet bowl
  • December 31st- Championship week begins


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