Advice on ATG 9 League Creation

My friends and I (we have a group of 12) have consistently played Strato these past 5 years. We have always played the Mystery Card (90s, 80s, and recently the 70s).

The group has expressed an interest in doing ATG 9, however, some of them are concerned that the reason why they are so invested/engaged in the Mystery Card is that they spend much time analyzing what year they think they have and add/drop players frequently. Some believe that by doing an ATG that their level of engagement will dwindle, add/drops will diminish, and Strato won't be as fun as with the Mystery Card Version.

My questions are these:

1. What is the level of engagement for ATG as compared with Mystery Card Leagues?

2. Is it better to do a live draft or auto draft for ATG?

3. What should the settings be when/if I create an ATG league? (salary, dh vs no dh, waiver vs no waivers?)


Thank you for reading. Strato has saved our lives right now as we somehow create routine in our lives.

In my opinion, Mystery Card play and ATG play are two completely different experiences. I've mostly played ATG but there was a period some years ago when did a deep dive into the Mystery Card leagues. I finally decided to quit playing Mystery Card because there were only 24 hours in each day. The hunt to figure out which card you have and maybe even which cards your rivals have was tremendous fun and very absorbing. If your buddies like all the data analysis work and all the drop/add games within the game, then I'd advise them to stick to Mystery Card.

To me, ATG is more about macro-managing your roster and ballpark choices. ATG is like Deism where you are the Supreme Being who creates your roster and ballpark, then once the season starts, you just sort of sit back and watch how it plays out.

If you guys do decide on ATG, then I'd advise that you start out with a no DH $80M league.

Thanks for the feedback. Anyone else be willing to share?

I'm especially wondering about the initial league settings? 100mill vs 80 mill?

Thanks for the feedback. Anyone else be willing to share?

I'm especially wondering about the initial league settings? 100mill vs 80 mill?

Love ATG. I've tried Mystery in the past, couldn't get into it.

Some guys play both, would just depend on what type game you're looking for.

I play both and tend to go back and forth. I return to ATG when new cards are added or for big events like the new ATG 9. They are very different experiences. In mystery I typically spend 15 minutes figuring out my draft but will spend hours trying to suss out player seasons in the first week or two of play. With ATG I will sometimes literally spend (parts of) several days creating my draft list and then hardly do much other than check the scores or make very minor setting tweeks the rest of the season. Sure, sometimes after the draft I'll need to adjust a bit in waivers depending on my opponents' pitching staff and/or ballparks. But really, in ATG there's no heavy lifting to do once opening day arrives (see footnote). It's two different kinds of fun for me. ATG could be boring if not for the infinite ways to create a team using the various salary caps, ballpark features and thousands of players. I'd probably recommend a $100M league for a bunch of first-time players as that probably gives you the option to use some of the superstars but does also force you to grab some lower or mid-priced guys.

footnote: In the higher cap leagues ($200M) I suppose you could use a lot of platoons and carry a full roster and therefore want to tweek your lineups depending on the day's opponent.

When I started with SOM online--I think about 15 years ago--I played the Mystery Card game exclusively. At first there was only Back to the 80s. Then came the 70, the 90s, and later the 60s. I liked the day-by-day involvement in the games, trying to figure out which year I and my opponents had, etc.

Then I started trying out ATG and eventually got pulled into it--partly because the ATG game kept expanding and changing, with new players, new parks, new pricing--all of which tend to lead to new strategies. Also, the game can be really interesting to play at a wide range of salary levels, from 60M to 200M and beyond. Each salary level calls for a different approach, and leagues can involve a battle between a range of team design strategies.

Now, I play the Mystery Card games very rarely, and with the arrival of ATG9, I may stick with this format for good.

If you're going to form a league with 12 Mystery Card friends, why not try a 100M league rather than 80M. That will give you a a slightly different look than one gets in an 80M mystery league, without being too radically different. Why not give yourself enough salary, however, to be able to play a couple of superstars such as Babe Ruth or Ted Williams. DH or no DH should be your choice. Personally, I like the DH, but opinions vary.

You can look at varied team designs by exploring the ATG 2020 Barnstormer Tournament, when all the players are learning the ATG9 game on the fly: https://365.strat-o-matic.com/tournament/37. Managers were allowed to chose their preferred salary levels, so we've got all kinds of different games going on right now, with everyone in a process of experimentation. I'd say, dive in and have fun!

Also, check out the Diamond Dope website. This provides information on every card in every park in the ATG9 game. There are more than 5400 cards to choose from, so it's good to have a little help: http://www.diamonddope.com/card_reader.cfm

Thank you guys for the info. Looks like my buddies want to try No DH rule.

Does HAL do its own double switches?? Or do you have to tell HAL your preferences?

I’ve ways been impressed by Hal’s double switches but them i’m a newbie.

About the mystery vs ATG: I prefer mystery unless the ATG has some kind of theme. Otherwise too many choices in drafting and not enough engagement to during the season. One set I like is the 1920-1960+NEL set - but it needs to updated for the new players.
I also don’t like ATG for the advantages it gives the expert players. Mystery is more of a gamble and how much you pay attention.

I'm not sure that I would classify myself as a Newbie since I normally play once a year since 2007, but the ATG is def new to me.

Someone mentioned that there are "themed play."

Can someone clarify what that means and how it works?

Couple of different Types of “themes”. One is a subset created by a player (although Strat may have stopped that at the moment). One example I have enjoyed was created by Rick ranger: 1920-1969 plus the Negro leagues. That type of theme is where the player/organizer creates a subset of the larger pool, gives it to Strat and Strat uploads it to the shuffle feature.

The other type is where the organizer makes up rules. Some funny ones I saw recently were “only left handed pitchers”. Or franchises. ‘you can only draft players from the franchise you pick.” Or similar. Some get way too complicated for me.