Mutant Football League: Building a Dynasty

The first and probably most important Step is choosing which Team youll coach. You can build a Dynasty with any Team and they all start as Rookies with the same Money, but there are certain Factors that might/should affect your final Choice. These are:

Races

Different Teams are made up of different Races. Many Teams contain at least 4 Races, a few only 1 or 2 and others all 7 of them.
Obviously this is affected by whether you have the Werewolf and Devil DLCs or not. If you own neither, Teams will have completly different racial Makeup since Werewolfs and Devils replace some Players when you own them.
If you dislike certain Races, for whichever Reason, you might want to filter Teams that use them. Lets say you dont want Orcs since they are more or less forced to stay dumb and slow, you should not take Teams that only contain 4 Races, one of them Orcs. The same is applied when its the other way around and you prefer a Race.
I, for example, hate Bots and very much dislike playing with them, so I filtered all Teams with Bots. Same with Deadheads, but I can tolerate them.
Specific Examples:
Galaxy Chaos, who are made up entirely of Aliens
Tokyo Terminators, who are made up entirely of Bots
Orcs of Hazzards, who are (almost) entirely made up of Orcs and a singular Human
Insane Cults, who contain all Races

Dirty Tricks

Dirty Tricks your Team has from the Beginning are free to use and thus you should filter based on if you like or dislike them. If you have specific Playstyles (as much as that is possible in MFL) you should watch out for Tricks that fit said Playstyle. If you dislike Rushing Plays, you should not take “Lighting Speed” for example. If you like Killing, “Berserk” and “QB Sack Attack” are your Tricks.

Playing Field

Your Home Field will be played on very often since its your Teams Field. So you might want to play with/against potential Teams prior to starting a Dynasty to find out what their Fields offer and if youre okay with playing there regulary.
Examples:
Galaxy Chaos has a permanent slowing effect on their Field. This can be annoying especially when youre here 50% of your Games.
Fields with Worms can lead to “Player Tax”, where certain Plays result in someones Position being near a Hole just to be swallowed the second the Ball moves. A Example is the “Mile High Chronics” Field. I seem to lose someone during each and every Kickoff here.
Fields with Saws and Spikes can also lead to Players dying more or less randomly. A good example is the “Purple Mutant Eaters” Field since they have a Saw directly in the Middle and 2 field spanning Spikes near the Endzone, which sometimes forces you to stop or suffer Damage before Touchdowns.
Fields with Pits arent so harmful since they can only injure People that fall in and they can be avoided rather well.
Fields with Mines are less dangerous if your Team is made up of Bots

Music

Just a sidenote, but you could also choose based on who has better Theme music, since it will play in Home Games and each time you score Points. Its not important and I definitly would never choose based on this alone, but it might be the final nail in the Coffin for who you want and who is out

So, you made your Choice? Great, then lets move on

In Dynasty Mode you should always keep an Eye on the Players Goals to level them up from Rookie to Pro to All-Star and finally Legend. Rookies usually level up to Pro without you doing anything specific since their Goals are super easy like “score one Touchdown” and “rush/pass 25 Yards” or “deflect 1 Pass”. Later this will need focus for specific Games, like when your Kicker needs to become MVP for a Game or when Players need to be MVP in Playoffs or the Mayhem Bowl.
Keep in mind that you can spend 1.5 million before each Game to buy Experience, which you should do EACH Game for a new Dynasty. I only stopped doing this after my second Mayhem Bowl Win since I reached All-Star for many Starters by then and won all Games that Season. Money might become a Problem once you have many expensive Players but at the Start your Rookies cost nothing so spend spend spend that Cash.

Usually your MVP is the Mutant who scored the most Points / got the most Experience. This will almost always be a Offense Player. Tricks on how to “force” someone to become the MVP are:

Receivers / Bruise Receivers / Running Backs

Only letting them do Touchdowns and 2-Point attempts. This is rather easy with Receivers, Bruise Receivers and Running Backs. You might want to have more then 1 Player for potential MVP in case one of them gets killed during the Game. That way you can still level up your Team consistently and steady. Alternativly you can play the Halftime Show and revive them when killed.

Quarterbacks

For Quarterbacks you can use Plays like “QB Sneak” to rush into the Endzone and score Touchdowns yourself. Scoring “QB Sneak” Touchdowns can be made extremly easy by rushing/passing Yards until youre directly in front of the Endzone, then run the Player out of Bounds on Purpose to reset the new Line there. Another good Method is scoring Touchdowns with different Receivers, Bruise Receivers and Running Backs but with the same QB. This makes him the MVP since he passed all these Touchdowns

Kicker / Punter / Burn Returner

For the Kicker you should only Score with Field Goals or preferably fake said Field Goals and score Touchdown with the Kicker. Keep in mind that the QB might become MVP instead so consider switching them during Plays to increase your Kickers Chances. Like with the QB, rushing/passing Yards then setting the new line directly in front of the Endzone helps a lot to score Touchdowns with Fake Kicks.

Punters could be made MVP the same Way but they dont need to be MVP to reach Legend so it doesnt matter.

Burn Returners also dont need MPV but sometimes become MVP due to scoring Touchdowns directly after Kickoffs. Actually Burn Returners have no Goals at all. Just level them with Money

Defenders

As said, Defenders usually dont receive MVP since they dont score Touchdowns. You cant really force them to score since it requires Fumbling or Interventions, something Rookies really struggle with. Cluster♥♥♥♥s are very rare but almost guarentee your Defender the MVP award. In Games with very low Points Defenders sometimes become MVP if they killed a lot of People, so you could go for Kills with Cheap Shots after tackling.
Defenders only need MVP to reach Legend status so it doenst matter that much.

Youll probably lose your first matches, especially if you get matched up against high ranked Teams such as “Full Metal Mayhem”, “Karkass City Creeps” or “Killadelphia Evils”. This isnt important thought (unless you want to reach the Cinderella Achievement).

Since MFL isnt that hard to play Ill give general Advice here, because from Rookie to All-Star your Matches will play more or less the same, just more sucessful and easier

Experience

Score as many Touchdowns as you can. Go for safe Passes; dont throw to the Guy with 3 Defenders around him, but the one with only 1. Try to get the first Down by mixing Strategies of short, middle and long Plays. Use up all your dirty Tricks when they are fitting to score, kill Opponents or get the first Down or even a Touchdown. Becoming the MVP grants lots of Experience.
To level someone specific up he should score most or all Touchdowns whilst being kept alive. This almost always ends in him being the MVP aswell, further increasing Experience. Defense Players level the easiest by killing Enemies or denying Passes.
Later on, experienced Coverbacks and Linebashers might intercept Passes and then immidiatly score Touchdowns, which grants lots of Experience

Playbook and Formations

You should have a good mix of Formations for both Defense and Offense. Even very dumb Teams can afford to balance their Playbook after 2-3 Games. You get more Formations by fighting other Teams (im not 100% sure if you need to beat them thought).

Offense

You should always have at least:

A Formation with 2 Bruise Receivers like “Goal Line” or “Bruise” for short Yard Plays. These should be used when your Receivers are injured/low HP, your Running Back is injured/low HP or you need to force the first Down. These are the safest Formations for Rookies
Dont use this for medium or long Yard (anything over 10 Yards) Plays unless you level the Bruise Receiver.

And a Formation with 2 Receivers like “Shotgun”, “Pistol” or “Spread” for medium and long Yard Plays, almost always Passes. These should be used to cover much Ground and become your most valueable Plays once your Receivers and Quarterback become experienced, but are risky for Rookies
Dont use this when you only need to force a first down and are on 3rd or 4rd down or when your Receivers are about to die. Receivers tend to be very squishy, especially Alien and Devil Receivers

Other Formations can be mixed in by personal Taste. I like the “Airforce” a lot since it gives me 3 Pass Options and I rarely use my Running Back outside of Emergencies. The best way to test these Formations out is just playing Teams that have them in “Play now”

Defense

You should always have:

A Formation to protect against short Yards Plays like “Enforcer” and “Attack”, usually Rush Plays. These Formations should be used when the Enemy only needs to cover a short Distance, like near your Endzone, or when its the 3rd down and they need to move safe.
As a sidenote these Formations will get you the most Kills since you can pile on the Running Back quiet well with 2+ Players and they tend to be squishy

And a Formation to protect against medium and long Yard Plays, almost always Passes. Use these for 1st and 2nd Downs or when the Enemy still has lots of Ground to cover to your Endzone.
These Formations usually dont get Kills, especially with Rookies, since you are almost always alone with the Receiver you just tackled.
You can also punch the Receiver to the Floor when he is targeted with a Throw to safely deny a Pass. This can result in a “Pass Interverance” Penality thought but it has safed me multiple times against Dirty Tricks like “Sonic Boom”. I just smashed the Guy to the Floor and thus denied the safe Touchdown

Kills

You should always try to kill Enemies when possible as it removes that Player from the Match, their Replacement is usually lower in Stats and it grants Experience. Its also satisfying and entertaining.

The most important Stats for Kills are “Hitting Power” and “Tackles”. The best Killers are Enforcers, Blitzers and Linebashers, but experienced Coverbacks and Safeties can, and should, be leveled in these Stats aswell so you can grind down the Offensives Players.

Your own Offense will usually not get Kills outside of Dirty Tricks since youre focused on moving the Ball. Leveling up your Bruise Receivers and maybe Running Back in “Hitting Power” cant hurt thought and it surely gave me a good number of Kills on injured Linebashers after Pass Plays

There are 2 Ways to injure Opponents. Tackles and Strikes/Attacks. On the XBox Controller Tackles are A and Strikes are X by Default. Tackles do far more Damage but Strikes are faster. Choose depending on the Enemies Health State and Position.

The simplest and probably most common way to kill a Enemy is by tackling them whilst they lie on the Ground after being tackled, preferably by two players at the same time to double the Damage. This is called “Cheap Shot” by the Commentator and can result in “Unneccesary Manslaughter” Penalities. Killing a Player with a Tackle whilst the Ball is still played doesnt stop the Play nor result in Penalities, this isnt very common thought since the AI replaces Players that only have ca. 25% HP remaining.

Keep in mind that Deadheads are hard to kill since the regenerate almost 100% HP after each Play. Devils and Aliens on the other Hand are rather easy to kill because Devils regenerate very slowly and Aliens seem to have very low HP

Orcs are naturally good at killing since they require less Experience to level “Hitting Power”. Aliens need more Experience for “Hitting Power” and have slow, weird attacks so they should not be your choice for Murderers unless the Kill is free, lets say, barely any HP remaining and noone is around to finish the guy

Here ill say something about each Trick, how to use it and how to counter it. You can use each Dirty Trick once a Matchs Halve. So you can use each Trick potentially two times, and you should. The only Trick you can use as much as you like is “Attack Ref”

Bribe Ref and Attack Ref

Once a Ref is bribed he will ignore Behaviour from the Team that bribed him which could be penalized, like “Unneccesary Manslaughter” or “Pass Interverance”. he will also call out a fake Penality when the Opponent managed to gain lots of Yards or scored Points, thus denying said Points and reseting everything back to how it was before the Score.

To get the most Use out of a Bribe you should bribe once the Enemy can very likely get a Touchdown. Field Goals usually arent worth being bribe denied. 2-Point Attempts and Extra Point Kicks will also be denied but are a waste of a Bribe. I usually bribe the Ref once im within 20-30 Yards of my Endzone to deny one Touchdown

To counter this you have the “Attack Ref” since you NEED to kill the bribed Ref, or else hell just spam penalities. You will get notified ingame CLEARLY when the Ref is bullshitting you by the Commentators and a “Bribed” sign over the Ref.
Sometimes its possible to read a Bribe before a fake Penality by seeing the standart Dirty Trick Formation (It looks like a T from above). The AI tends to bribe the Ref after a few Plays when youre approaching the Endzone, so usually the Ref isnt bribed when you score quick and you “only” get denied a long Yard Play by the Ref which isnt that bad.
“Attack Ref” Tricks always result in a “Unneccesary Refslaughter” penality. This means a bribed Ref removes 30 Yards total from you, 15 from the fake Penality and 15 for his Death.

Resurrection

Won in the Halftime Show by reaching more then 500 Points, this Dirty Trick can be used to revive someone midgame and immidiatly use them again. This also removes the need to pay Money to revive them, but that shouldnt matter anyway. Its nice to have and very useful when youre trying to level someone specific

Warp Speed

Used by both Defense and Offense, this Trick massivly increases the chosen Players speed for a good time. If you have a Running back with leveled Speed on Offense, this can make a very easy Touchdown even over 100 Yards. On Defense its okay and usually helps for sacking the QB. Cant really be countered outside of getting lucky with Tackles early or by calling a “Sticky Ball” Dirty Trick as Defense at the same time. Having a bribed Ref helps a lot here if you can predict this

Time Warp

The last Trick both Sides can use, this Trick simply denies everything that happened the Play prior and resets it. Its always useful to deny good Plays of your Enemy or bad Plays of Yourself. Cant be countered at all but the AI can be fooled into wasting it with long Yard Plays

Chainsaw Massacre / Shotgun / Fart

Dirty Tricks where the QB or RB pull out Weapons and try to kill your Defenders whilst rushing the Ball. This can be very deadly for the Defenders, but you can counter it well. Simply Sprint at the Enemy and do a Sprint Tackle, On XBox Controller its RT + A. That way the Chainsaw User cant hit you fast enough AND will shake shortly, so your other Players can get Hits in. This kills the Weapon User, fumbles the Ball and saves your Teammates. I dont really mind seeing this Dirty Trick played since its countered easy with tough Defenders

Flame on / Beast Boost / Roid Rage

Dirty Tricks that make it hard to block the Ball Carrier in different Ways. Either hes on Flames and does Damage to anyone touching him, he simply doesnt shake or he has maxed stats.
I dislike using these Tricks because of how simple it is to counter: If you ♥♥♥♥ up the Pass and get Intercepted, the Defender gets ALL Bonuses of the Dirty Trick for themselves. And even if that doenst happen you can do the same as above and simply Tackle the Guy to Death, especially easy with Beast Boost. These Tricks get you killed more then they move the Ball.
That being said they are good for short-medium rushing plays but you need to save the Player and the Ball by jumping off bounds in almost all cases.

Bombs Away / Murder Ball / Sonic Boom

The first of these Tricks is purely to kill Defenders hit by the Ball. The two Others pass the Ball and either kill Defenders in the line, or smash everyone close to the Receiver down, almost always resulting in a easy Touchdown.
The first Trick cant really be countered since you cant react fast enough. The two others can be by smashing the Receiver to the Floor before the Ball reachs them. This gives you a Penality but denies a Touchdown

Hot Potato

This Defender Trick makes the Ball explose and kill the Carrier. To counter this throw the Ball away once it ticks, on XBox this is done by pressing Y whilst having the Ball. Keep in mind that intercepting Hot Potatoes kills your own Guy the same Way. The Kill also fails when you miss the Pass or the Play ends to fast

Thunderclap

The Receiver is killed immidiatly after receiving the Ball and fumbles. Nothing much to say. Cant be countered and is great to use.

Ginormous / Zap Attack

Your Defender either grows large or emits Lighting, both make Offense Players fumble the Ball. These Dirty Tricks can be countered by throwing the Ball away with Y once spotted. They are your go-to Dirty Trick when youre aiming for Cluster♥♥♥♥s

Berserk / QB Sack Attack

Tricks that aim to kill someone. For the first you need to tackle someone like usual, but it will always kill them and fumble the Ball. The second results in Everyone rushing at the QB, who will die immidiatly when hit, just like Refs during “Ref Attacks”. Great to use and can be countered well. For Berserk you can either play as usual by passing quickly then hurdle onto the Floor as this doesnt kill your Player or just throw the Ball away. For the Second you run off Field just like in “Ref Attacks” but since youre not super slow its easier. QB Sack Attacks always end in a Penality no matter the Result.

Strawberry Field

Randomized your Controlls and slows down your Game whilst blurring your Vision. You can play around this by getting lucky with a Pass then sprint backwards since this will instead move you forward. This way youre still getting Yards. Alternativly just let your QB get sacked so you keep the ball

Sticky Ball

Completly denies all Passes. Hurts and tackles the QB to the Floor when he tries to pass. Almost always results in a Sack and often in a QB Kill. Cant really be countered but you can still try to get rushing Yards. Useless when the Offense wanted to do rare Plays like “QB Sneak”