Need Confirmation!

[ponzu]

I've noticed that the entire squad's rating is used now

No one confirmed or disputed this? And was this re: Cup, CL, League, or all three?

I am LV6... scratch that, big LV7 now!... and just started figuring things out midway through the last season. Reading the forum helps, but you oldtimers have no idea how confusing the info here can be. There are three problems that I see:

- people writing in shorthand that only their peers understand
- people writing in very bad English
- old information (dated 2013 and 2014) being stickied and published as guides and how-tos with no way to judge whether it's still current as the game gets updated.

But I digress. In the first 5 seasons I would buy the highest rated player I could get my hands on whenever I made enough cash, and then sell the lowest rated player in the same position (or the one I could get the most money back for). I did this throughout the season and typically finished with 5* through 3* players.

Last season, I found the forum and read about selling players as they get to X4 and X9 quality and also about selling off the high rated players at the end of season and not buying new high rated players until the draw -- in order to get better draws. A real eye opener was seeing screenshots of some top tier teams here in the forum that are full of 1* benchwarmers.

Still, I don't think I have read or seen enough. I had no idea about only the top 14 (or top 11) being used. I bought some 3* and low 4* players towards the end and sold off many of my 5* players, and still got into a Level 10 cup being a Level 7 team. My average Q is about 47+, but my first team is 49+.

Now I am guessing we are hours away from the league draw and I am watching with envy these Q54 players in the transfer market not daring to grab them for fear of ending up in a tougher league (I finished #4 last year after winning three seasons; the guy who won the league was a level 15 sandbagger playing with us level 6s).

My question is: is there a universal or at least universally understood strategy for buying and selling at the end and beginning of season for the purpose of getting the best draw in C, CL and League? Maybe there is a guide I should read.

My second question is: am I correct in waiting until the League draw to start bidding on the Q53-54 players (highest available in my transfer market)?

Thanks!