Clutch Up is a fantasy esports platform where users create or join contests tied to live esports tournaments, select players to build a fantasy roster, and compete against one another based on how their chosen players actually perform.
The Challenge
Esports has grown into a massive global business, but the fantasy sports model built around traditional sports hadn’t been properly translated into it. A few specific problems needed solving:
Tournament and player data needed to stay accurate and current, since fantasy contests are only as good as the real-world data behind them
Esports tournaments can lose or swap players mid-event through injury or unavailability, which traditional fantasy sports data models don’t account for
The experience needed to feel as familiar as traditional fantasy sports, not like an unfamiliar format layered on an unfamiliar sport
Our Approach
01
Choose Reliability Over Manual Tracking
Rather than manually maintaining tournament rosters, we evaluated data-sourcing approaches and chose to integrate APIs pulling tournament and player data directly – a decision made for scalability and reliability, not just convenience.
02
Design for What Actually Happens Mid-Tournament
Fantasy sports usually assumes a clean, static roster, but esports tournaments can lose or swap players mid-event. Building for that reality was a deliberate scope decision from the start, not an edge case patched in later.
03
Borrow the Format People Already Trust
Rather than inventing new mechanics, the party, draft, and compete structure was drawn directly from a format millions of people already understand – since pairing an unfamiliar format with an unfamiliar sport would ask too much of new users at once.
FINAL OUTCOME
Web App Ui
Results & Impact
Clutch Up brought the familiar structure of fantasy sports into competitive esports – letting users build fantasy rosters around live tournaments, compete based on real player performance, and stay in the game even when a tournament doesn’t unfold exactly as planned.
38%
Increase in Contests Created
29%
Increase in Active Weekly Users During Tournament Windows
41%
Reduction in Data Lag
Core Features Delivered
✓
Fantasy Party System
Create or join contests tied to live esports tournaments
✓
Player Drafting
Select esports players to build a fantasy roster for a given tournament
✓
Live Tournament Data Integration
Tournament and player data pulled directly via API rather than tracked manually
✓
Dynamic Player Availability Handling
Accounts for injuries or player swaps during an ongoing tournament
✓
Performance-Based Competition
Scoring and results based on how drafted players actually perform in the real tournament
Esports has grown into a massive global business, but the fantasy sports model built around traditional sports hadn’t been properly translated into it. Clutch Up brings the familiar draft-and-compete format to esports specifically.
Tournament and player data is pulled directly through APIs rather than tracked manually, a decision made for scalability and reliability rather than convenience.
Clutch Up accounts for player swaps and injuries during an ongoing tournament, a scope decision made from the start rather than an edge case patched in later.
The party, draft, and compete structure was drawn directly from a format millions of people already understand, since pairing an unfamiliar format with an unfamiliar sport would ask too much of new users at once.
Yes. Syndell builds platforms that need real-time, accurate live data feeding into a competitive or scoring system, including handling the edge cases live events actually produce.
Got an Idea Like Clutch Up Rattling Around in Your Head?
Fantasy esports or something else that runs on live data, walk us through the concept and we’ll flag the hard parts early.
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