Never done an auction draft. Give me tips for my first.

That's brilliant. Thanks.

I'll fiddle with mocks

Auctions are great but chaotic. Snakes usually go in a uniform manner with some slight adjustment.

With auctions, every draft is it's own entity. It's much easier to fail an auction draft than a snake draft. Trust me, I've been there.

You can read online about auction budgeting and different approaches - hold your budget and grab value compared to go all out on top guys.

My only contribution here is to say don't panic and don't overbid a player you don't want. Last thing you want is a team full of scrubs you didn't want initially.

Was that me?

I can't see the auction values now in M/TV Auction, but I think I spent big on OBJ, DT88 and Megatron.

Yeah, that's crazy I still won. OBJ and Megatron didn't even play in the championship game now that I'm looking back.

I play nearly exclusive auction. Best advice is to mock different strategies. Get some combinations of strategies you like and mock buying those players. It sends you a mock result with all teams. See what team roster you like best.
I just did my first mock. I started this one with the zero RB strategy.
I'll do one where I pay for QB and what I would consider a balanced draft. Compare all three mocks and make an overall strategy for the year.

Budgeting is the only real auction strategy, if you're going to use one

Set how much you want to spend per position and don't go over

10% on (1) QB
60% on (3) WR
20% on (2) RB
5% on (1) TE

Remaing 5% on $1 players

Winning formula imo

Eta: for 12 team PPR

It's only a part of it. Still have to know the players. Then you adjust the % based on what you like

It's the most widely accepted, successful practice for someone new to auction draft, from my experience. You could just go in guns blazing but chances are you're going to go wrong and learn the hard way - which is fine, you'll learn, but won't be as competitive year 1 imo

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It's the most widely accepted, successful practice for someone new to auction draft, from my experience.

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Yep. And there are many articles online detailing budget allocation for OP to Google.

But for a novice, I would personally recommend what I stated above: 1. Don't panic, 2. Don't overbid players you don't want.

All auction drafters can get overwhelmed by the chaos of auctions v. snakes. Players don't go in order and don't go for "value". The tendency for novices is to bid on players because their spreadsheet has that player going for more $$ and they see value. That can be precarious when that player doesn't fit your team or strategy.

Some guys will spend $180/200 on 3 players and fit in the pieces. Some guys won't spend more than $45 on a player, but will bid you up on the guys you want.

Auction is the best format for fantasy sports IMO, but you'll initially regret every dollar you spent and every dollar you didn't.

I think in a league where everyone is new to an auction format, the one that sticks to a strategy is generally more successful. Im talking 12 teams or more that doesn't have the parity of 8 or 10 team leagues.

In a more veteran auction league, everyone has a strategy, they just don't know it. If you see enough auctions, you're strategy becomes ingrained in you, to a point. You have a valuation on the positions, you just arent creating an excel spreadsheet to do it

Either way you do it, it should always be fluid. If the clock is ticking down and Cam Newton is sitting at $4 and you already have Aaron Rodgers, you just pull the trigger on a value regardless. That all comes with knowing the players, just like you would in a snake

(i know you know this, just putting it out there)