WL21 Draft Grades
By AlphaTurtle and Beam1n1
Captains are divided into ranks: A, B+, B, B-, C
I tried to analyze the drafts based on two metrics:
Flexibility: The ability of each player on the roster to fill a role/secure playing time.
Potency: The relative strength of the individual players
Alpha then added a reply to my thoughts, in the “Why you’re wrong” sections and added his own Floor/Ceiling Rankings
Zeg- A Tier
The only pre-draft trade paid off, netting Zeg a full starting roster before the 18th pick. He has a clear 1-2-3 tanking line, and a definitive runner in Martin. Dhmon-Fancy-Zeg is likely the best in the draft. Personality-wise, I see this team vibing, having fun, and communicating well. Conra could see some play time as a W-Key warrior, otherwise he’ll be leading in Ammy. Would take a surprise player coming out of nowhere to overthrow these guys as Pre-Season Favorite..
Flexibility: B-
Potency: A+
Why you’re wrong: They don’t have a top guy. Maybe Dhmon can be one and he’s shown flashes of the potential for it but he’s not. Martin has the greatest stiffarm in the history of the league right now but it’s not a team makeup that he should need to punch much. Will the combo of Zeg, dhmon, and Martin be able to care enough to win? Fancy will be Fancy. This team will almost certainly be good but I have no confidence they can be the best team in the league.
Floor: A+
Ceiling:C+
Star- B + tier
I know nothing about Mini Oreo Man or Wrecking Nerds, but the top 3 of this team is very solid. Two solid tanks on Defense and the defensive/sword play-maker-guru Aspence will be very potent against many of the other rosters. My concern for them, is dedicated runner. Icey likes to run, but having him hold the bomb on offense seems like taking a big hit to their tanking line. If their 4th or 5th players can develop to hold the bomb on offense, this team gets an A rank from me.
Flexibility: B
Potency: B+
Why you’re wrong: Aspence can run. Aspence should run on a team that can handle aggressive playmaking. If Tanker runs they are dumb. A tank line of Star + aspence + whichever mm friend of star they use is not an intimidating tanking line. Tanker runs fine but he will not win them games as a runner. Give aspence the bomb, let them live and die by him doing stupid stuff. They can hope to be equivalent to Star/Dhmon team of last season but will probably have the exact same problem as in the playoffs of having a weak fourth.
Floor: B-
Ceiling: A-
Xerack- B+ tier
Corn was sitting pretty after landing Ace & Rage in the first 11 picks. He had a LONG time to wait (19 picks til he could round out his roster), but snagged Tad & Myst at 30&31. In my opinion, this team needs to play Myst in order to out-tank some of the other lineups that have formed this season, limiting their roster a bit. With Ace/Tad/Xerack on the field I see them as having a little too much sword/utility/defense and not enough push-power(w-key magic) to score reliably.
Flexibility: C
Potency: A
Why You’re wrong: Rage can push enough. He won’t like it but he can do it. Let Tad make some magic with the plays. Screw boring-ass tanking. Unleash Ace/Tad/Rage playmaking and you have the best defensive team with a good enough tank line for Corn to run behind. Corn and rage will also be a hell of a launching duo. It’s their season to choke but luckily for the rest of the league rage likes to do that sometimes.
Floor: A
Ceiling:A
BCK- B Tier
Assuming AJ can win out against his superstition of being a 1st-Round Pick, I really like this lineup. BCK drafted well, I think by looking at roles he wanted to fill. He rounded out his roster with two competent tanks who each has their own specialty. Salty appeared on the W-Key warriors despite limited play-time last season, & Cornchip(Cell), who finished 10th in Stops Per Minute(on a team that also had the 2nd rank in Stops Per minute, Sab) last season, can sub in if they need more defense. I haven’t seen eTazedd play in a while, so I think a lot of this team hinges on him living up to/surpassing expectations. BCK has a versatile roster that can adapt as needed.
Flexibility: A
Potency: B-
Why you’re wrong: Aj can make etazedd care. Etazedd can make AJ care. It may be a beautiful trio with BCK. Or they won’t care enough and will have a great time losing in the playoffs. The team doesn’t really have a weakness. BCK + AJ can be a top defensive duo but still not quite to the level of BCK + Halfbreed. Some people will think SPB was over drafted but it’s the type of player BCK wants.
Floor: C+
Ceiling: A-
Regresser– B+ Tier
Team Chemistry Questions Aside, they have a solid 1-2-3 tanking line and a top-tier runner as well. I Stand by my claim that when needed, regresser can tank better than any of the other premier runners. On defense however, Regresser will have big shoes to fill after losing Sab & Cell, who were both on Stop per Minute leaderboards last season. Jbar & Diablo are competent defenders when needed. LiquidNitrogen is a complete unknown to me so they get the lowest grade on flexibility. However, having all of his starting roster before the 23rd pick, Regresser has a solid starting-4.
Flexibility: D
Potency: B+
Why you’re wrong: This team just might blow up. Jbar hasn’t quit mid season in months now so he’s due. Jbar and Diablo are pretty chill dudes. Regresser and Atone aren’t known to be chill in-game. Regresser will have to be a babysitter as well as a captain. He doesn’t like when teammates make mistakes and jbar is an idiot that makes mistakes all the time. He just usually makes enough plays to make up for it. Positionally, this team has all the right pieces: runner, aggressive tank with jbar, passive tank Diablo, maybe the best third tank in atone but it could be a bomb just waiting to explode. Or Regresser just wins another ship.
Floor: F
Ceiling: A
Gingy- B+ Tier
It’s difficult to doubt a team with Gingy and Halfbreed. After waiting 21 picks for his third player, Gingy landed Doer to round out as the dedicated runner. This trio can go toe-to-toe with any of the other rosters in the league. With Killerz and Tommy as backups, if the team can get-along and keep the morale up, they could become a force to be reckoned with. They get a B Grade because of the risk/potential.
Flexibility: B-
Potency: B+
Why you’re wrong: Killerz is not good right now nor does he care to be good right now. Gingy and Doer are probably two of the only people that could force him to care so maybe it can work? Halfbreed and Gingy is a scary duo but could easily see them getting in their own way as often as working well together. Gingy needs to take a step up in aggression to get tank ins because halfbreed holds down the same spots on the field Gingy tanks better than anyone. Doer has been tanking better lately but I’m not going to believe in him to be a push tank. Halfbreed needs his Grunt Padre. Someone on that team needs to step up and throw their life away on the plate.
Floor: C
Ceiling: A-
Robot- B- Tier
Sab and Canon will be a potent front line. Robot will be running almost all the time. I could say more about this team if I knew anything about Gilded and Perturbingly. The top 3 players make the team, and it will be up to the play of the 4th/5th to see where these guys end up.
Flexibility: B+
Potency: B-
Why you’re wrong: I don’t have a clue. I went from thinking that Robot was dumb picking up aspence when he did to thinking he ended up with a team he realistically wanted. Like a few other teams, they are a big question mark to rank because of one player. Is gilded as good as he has been before? If so, canon is in a great spot to be his weird hybrid/off-tank with a sword thing. Gilded needs to be a good main tank though because Sab isn’t best suited for being a primary tank. He did it well last season but the team wasn’t winning until Tanker really showed up. It’s entirely up to Gilded Grams being their second best player, not up to their 3/4.
Floor: C+
Ceiling: A-
Alpha- B- Tier
Quoted as saying he wants to “lose every game or win every game” the volatility of his roster and the questions surrounding how dedicated Snipez will be, there are too many concerns to give alpha over a B- Draft Grade. With Pie/Priest as dedicated runner, and Alpha as the defensive hybrid, Shadow-Captain Silva will once-again need to take the off-tank role behind Snipez, if this team is going to make playoffs.
Flexibility: B+
Potency: C
Why you’re wrong: Nah actually you’re pretty spot on. Pie is the exact opposite of volatile though. We might have a top tanking line in the league. We might also lose 2 games then be too sad to play anymore and really be The Boys: Season 2. But I finally get to see what it’s like tanking with normal, good tanks. It sounds boring but there’s a chance it works very well.
Floor: Z
Ceiling: A
Zim- B- Tier
Zim, without having to trade, got to complete his starting roster by the 21st pick in the draft. Taking the Original Grunt Padre at 20th pick may have been a reach. Zim notedly chose to go with Nihilus to run this season despite Doer being available 4 picks later, and also took cleak round 1, letting rage fall. I’m sure he just wanted to switch things up from last season, but it’s interesting. The chemistry of Zim/Cleak is a great start, and if Zim can play a bit more positional tanking, and let cleak & grunt run crazy through the enemy team, they could be the most difficult team to stop defensively. They get a B- Draft Grade, as I don’t expect their 5th, Mr. Irrelevant (last pick in the draft) to play much.
Flexibility: C
Potency: B+
Why you’re wrong: This team may have more mood swings than hammer swings this season. Zim and Nihilus aren’t known to be the happiest guys in the league during games. Grunt will just be vibing in the corner while Dcleak is trying to play team mom and keep everyone focused. Nihilus pick intrigues me. It could work but I think Nihilus will need to be more aggressive running that he was last season to keep up with Grunt and Dcleak. A lot of people are going to think they are the worst team in the league but I actually think they have higher potential than that. The team positionally is fine if Nihilus can keep up or could throw Beam in over Nihilus and they become similar to Team Rocket of last season.
Floor: D
Ceiling: B-
Scet- C Tier
Was Quoted saying he didn’t intend to run, but changed his mind at end. If he doesn’t want to run, BCN would need to sit for Nkot. I’m not familiar enough with BCN to comment. Menz is a great off-tank, and positional tank. Galvan can push in for scores. Their 4th could offer Scet some flexibility if he wants to play hybrid/3 or Run.
Flexibility: B-
Potency: C
Why you’re wrong: Worst case scenario is this team of Galvann/Menz/nkot runs back what they had at the end of last season with a better third/fourth in Scet. I believe in the Galvann/Menz duo. I don’t believe in scet or nkot tanking against top teams so that’s where they need BCN to show up. They don’t completely suck if they play their worst lineup and could potentially be good. I don’t think I’m shaking in my boots from tankot or scet but I’ve seen worse.
Floor: B-
Ceiling: B+