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2025 Cup draft review
It is here, long awaited Cup tournament, to bring zone back to life again after weeks of empty arenas, ridiculous discord drama and stories of TW being dead again. With 5 teams in each division, let's see how the captains managed their drafts:
WARBIRD
Lineup for captains in draft order included Ekko, Siaxis, Bike, Racka and Iron Survivor. Pretty big difference for skill-level in wb for caps with Ekko having to compete with some high-rated players in cup format, where VPs do not really matter.
Time to rate the draft, although this season with FAs included and probably a few trades going on, we can imagine strength of teams fluxuate across the season.
(PS! as i couldnt find any team names on sheets, i will refer to teams by their captain)
Racka
Racka really had a good draft in my opinion. He tried to get players with wb backround, as Rackas playstyle needs support from experienced wb pilots and he made some good choices. Maybe picking raazi in first round was a bit of waste with several top players still available, but looking at lineup Racka/Raazi/Beam/Jurassic/Riverside, with very solid dwopple/renzi as subs has experience, skill and agression. All his top players know how to play aggro, know the dynamics of the game and can decide games. Only question is about beam motivation to show and if racka can get over the slump he has experienced in past few leagues in wb.
Definitely a contender for winning it.
Iron Survivor
Irons top team looks pretty nasty with himself/okyo and morph all present. No other team has luxury of 3 10* players (or 9.5 if you please) in their lineup. Morph of course hasnt played in competitive leagues for years, so time will tell of his activity, motivation and rustyness level. Rough is solid as 4th player with jabra, rylo, lee and hellzno! probably getting some gametime as well over the season. Comparing this team to Rackas, i would say the top players here are better, but 4th/5th pick a bit weaker, same can be also said about subs as most are more 7.5 star players vs 8* in renzi/dwop. If all show, this team will definitely be a top contender, but main season could produce some struggles.
Siaxis
Siaxis got bombed to his team in first round, who has been dominating wb in recent leagues when it comes to KPD. Byakko (i understand its temu) will always have show-up issues, so second round pick seems like a bit of waste, but geio and drose are usually reliable and very solid additions. If sprackle shows, this could be very good freq, but his showups are very random, last draft league he played 2 games for example, so they need another player from selection of rampage, beast, rabbit, scuzzy to also deliver. So comparing teams, they definitely have some raw talent here, but perhaps even more questions about activity of players compared to irons team with similar level subs available. So i would position them to 3rd position for now, but with everyone active, they can definitely have a shot for finals and winning.
Bike
Bike made some headlines picking dreamwin in first round. For reference, last time dw had positive KPD ratio in wb was back in 2021. He is definitely a smart player, but first round pick? Seems like a waste. Tiny, second round pick hasnt really done miracles in wb in recent leagues as well. He is of course very aggressive player, but needs a very solid team around him to be useful. Booker was good last league and zapata has also loads of experience in wb. Also subs are not really that impressive with refer/stayon probably most used. I just feel like this team potential is below the level of top 3 teams in this league and they will be fighting to get that 4th playoff spot with Ekko. Maybe they can pick up some key players in FA draft of trading.
Ekko
Ekko always had disadvantage in being level below other captains in wb, basically his team missed 1 first or max 2nd round pick compared to others. He picked Dak first, who has been really solid in regular games, but sort of faded in playoffs recently. Absurd has been off his game for several years and cripple in wb last season was also dissapointment. Zizu and jz probably complete the lineup, ekko himself will probably also have to play, maybe also violence will get games. Overall, this would be decent team for draft league considering VPs, but for cup tournament, i feel like they missing the top player to decide games alone and form of some top picks is questionable.
As conclusion, i can see racka/iron teams being main favorites, siaxis very solid in between and bike/ekko fighting for that last playoff spot in this league.
JAVELIN
Ekko had to step up for jav captain as well with that bringing similar issues as in wb. It is interesting to see how rampage does as captain, with experienced tiny, stayon and dreamwin having loads of experience in these competitions.
Tiny
Tiny already showed last draft league of having good sense for draft and this continued in jav. Looking at teamsheets, his team is without any weak links with tiny/racka/drose/jurassic/skatarius looking as the most dangerous team out there. Only thing that can mess that up is poor showrates, but he also has some solid subs in absurd, riverside and paky. This team can really put pressure on opponents, has good bench and is in my eyes the biggest favorite and tiny can continue his win-run in jav.
Stayon
Stayon top 4 players are really formidable with himself, rough, yeh and hellzno!, all high quality javs. His 5th has to be though one of siaxis, rekashi, raazi, capt lonestar, so that makes it automatically more of a draft league lineup and a bit lower level compared to Tinys potential. His team looks to be though pretty reliable in showups, so they can play at maximum level for majority of season, so i expect them to do well in main season and they are definitely a contender for final spot.
Rampage
Rampage top lineup has higher ceiling compared to Stayon in my opinion. Rampage himself really blossomed in last draft league, showing he is among the big boys now. Supported by temu, okyo and morph (if they all show), they can easily also win this thing, if they all show. From bench, geio and kangal are most likely to get gametime, spirit, beast and tj are looking for some minutes as well perhaps. So yea, it really depends on how active the top players are on this team. I feel like if they show for crucial games, they could even win this, but for regular season they may have to rely on subs too much and lose some points.
Dreamwin
DW has commodo alongside him, who has not really been on top shape in recent leagues, zizu, jabra (lets see if its 8* or 10* version showing up this time) and dwopple make up rest of his lineup, with dak, bike, lee and omega maybe getting some minutes as well. One can definitely not underestimate dw/commodo combo, but i feel like quite a few players (like jabra/dwopple) can have really bad days which makes this team a bit unstable in delivering results. On a good day though, they can easily compete with anyone.
Ekko
Ekko picked better and more competitive team compared to his wb choices. Bombed, iron, hellkite, zizzo and scuzzy all great javers, with ekko himself, jz, rabbit and rylo maybe also getting some minutes. I feel like they also have a good shot at making it to playoffs if players show for main season and get those important points, but perhaps they miss that winning potential i can see in some other teams.
As conclusion, i see tinys team as favorite with rampage team being closest in skill, but with some showup questions, but overall teams are pretty close to each other so it will come down to some small details in games, who actually make it.
BASE
Unlike jav/wb, base had only highly experienced captains for draft, but also as base needs more players and rosters are quite small, showups will play really big part here, so even lower picked players could be really important for teams. Just for comparison we had 18 players per team for last draft league, now only 13-14. Did not really see any very weird decisions in draft, so hopefully it will be a competitive and tight tournament. Looking at teams, i do not see any dominant one, each have some weakness in lineup, so i think showups could easily decide how this goes.
Dreamwin
Dw coming fresh off his draft league base win has once again picked very strong team. Spooked will be probably tested for terrier with mark/cig smoke taking shark roles and captain lonestar also potential for that. Bombed/absurd/drose/dreamwin make up really strong spider lineup with jackie/jabra/lee having potential for that under role. Spooked can be also replaced by dw himself, he played that role well in draft league and has been praccing it quite a bit as well. That would mean 2 of the sub list getting spider games. So team is looking really strong, all roles are covered with subs also there at good quality. Looking to be strong contender for title in my eyes.
Ekko
Ekko clearly does not want to terrier anymore, as he picked both genx and ogron to his team, making his options very wide for that. Commodo/Mvp/joeses are all great picks for shark, so that is covered as well. This automatically leaves it a bit vulnerable in spider power. Stayon has to play his best, if ogron terrs, then most probably ekko/genx also take spider roles with henry saari and rucci completing lineup. Rampage also showed he is a very solid choice for spider if needed.
If ogron has difficulties terring with his lag and timezone issues, either ekko/genx can take that role and rampage will step in for spider.
So flexible team, high quality players for terr/shark and very solid spiders, will be definitely contender.
Dwopple
Dwopple probably has had enough for having a weak shark partner, so he opted to get jamal as first pick as partner. Zizzo looks to be taking terrier role with jurassic/rabbit/groan as main spiders. There are some interesting choices from lower picks as well. Sprackle can play a role with riverside in shark and jamal/dwop used as spiders. Clefairy/Hellzno!/jz are solid choices for spider and he also has tiny there, who did well as terrier in last draft league. I still have a feeling this team may lack a bit spider power, but will definitely have top shark duo for this league, that will a bit compensate on that.
Zizu
Zizu opted for strong spiders as his first picks with cripple/ft getting early picks. Willby will be main shark with zapata probably being his partner. Rough and tj will be also taking main roles in spider, while last spot is probably being tried among PA, unlimited, racka or dak. Zizu quality is of course known, shark duo looks to be weakest of the teams, but spiders on the other hand look very decent. So i feel like its a bit off compared to top teams at this stage.
Renzi
Renzi early picks included hulk, hellkite and skatarius. Hulk will be probably supported by menelvagor in shark, with omega red also in roster (also violence and beam, but being late picks they are not that much counted upon), but this lineup is giving me flashbacks from last draft league and Prime, failing to see any strong terrier here. Not sure how renzi will solve that. In any case this team has really strong spiders with renzi/hellkite/skatarius/okyo (last spot having options like Tim, siaxis, rosay, raazi), gazillion shark options, but who will take the role as terrier? Maybe renzi has to dive into trading or then someone steps up (meaning that most probably he will be not playing his main role, weakening the lineup in that sense).
So as conclusion, i see dw/ekko as main contenders, but dwopp/zizu teams are really only behind by a very narrow margin. Difficult to judge renzis team as i cannot make its lineup properly. Its spider power is impressive though and sharks really good.
WARBIRD
Lineup for captains in draft order included Ekko, Siaxis, Bike, Racka and Iron Survivor. Pretty big difference for skill-level in wb for caps with Ekko having to compete with some high-rated players in cup format, where VPs do not really matter.
Time to rate the draft, although this season with FAs included and probably a few trades going on, we can imagine strength of teams fluxuate across the season.
(PS! as i couldnt find any team names on sheets, i will refer to teams by their captain)
Racka
Racka really had a good draft in my opinion. He tried to get players with wb backround, as Rackas playstyle needs support from experienced wb pilots and he made some good choices. Maybe picking raazi in first round was a bit of waste with several top players still available, but looking at lineup Racka/Raazi/Beam/Jurassic/Riverside, with very solid dwopple/renzi as subs has experience, skill and agression. All his top players know how to play aggro, know the dynamics of the game and can decide games. Only question is about beam motivation to show and if racka can get over the slump he has experienced in past few leagues in wb.
Definitely a contender for winning it.
Iron Survivor
Irons top team looks pretty nasty with himself/okyo and morph all present. No other team has luxury of 3 10* players (or 9.5 if you please) in their lineup. Morph of course hasnt played in competitive leagues for years, so time will tell of his activity, motivation and rustyness level. Rough is solid as 4th player with jabra, rylo, lee and hellzno! probably getting some gametime as well over the season. Comparing this team to Rackas, i would say the top players here are better, but 4th/5th pick a bit weaker, same can be also said about subs as most are more 7.5 star players vs 8* in renzi/dwop. If all show, this team will definitely be a top contender, but main season could produce some struggles.
Siaxis
Siaxis got bombed to his team in first round, who has been dominating wb in recent leagues when it comes to KPD. Byakko (i understand its temu) will always have show-up issues, so second round pick seems like a bit of waste, but geio and drose are usually reliable and very solid additions. If sprackle shows, this could be very good freq, but his showups are very random, last draft league he played 2 games for example, so they need another player from selection of rampage, beast, rabbit, scuzzy to also deliver. So comparing teams, they definitely have some raw talent here, but perhaps even more questions about activity of players compared to irons team with similar level subs available. So i would position them to 3rd position for now, but with everyone active, they can definitely have a shot for finals and winning.
Bike
Bike made some headlines picking dreamwin in first round. For reference, last time dw had positive KPD ratio in wb was back in 2021. He is definitely a smart player, but first round pick? Seems like a waste. Tiny, second round pick hasnt really done miracles in wb in recent leagues as well. He is of course very aggressive player, but needs a very solid team around him to be useful. Booker was good last league and zapata has also loads of experience in wb. Also subs are not really that impressive with refer/stayon probably most used. I just feel like this team potential is below the level of top 3 teams in this league and they will be fighting to get that 4th playoff spot with Ekko. Maybe they can pick up some key players in FA draft of trading.
Ekko
Ekko always had disadvantage in being level below other captains in wb, basically his team missed 1 first or max 2nd round pick compared to others. He picked Dak first, who has been really solid in regular games, but sort of faded in playoffs recently. Absurd has been off his game for several years and cripple in wb last season was also dissapointment. Zizu and jz probably complete the lineup, ekko himself will probably also have to play, maybe also violence will get games. Overall, this would be decent team for draft league considering VPs, but for cup tournament, i feel like they missing the top player to decide games alone and form of some top picks is questionable.
As conclusion, i can see racka/iron teams being main favorites, siaxis very solid in between and bike/ekko fighting for that last playoff spot in this league.
JAVELIN
Ekko had to step up for jav captain as well with that bringing similar issues as in wb. It is interesting to see how rampage does as captain, with experienced tiny, stayon and dreamwin having loads of experience in these competitions.
Tiny
Tiny already showed last draft league of having good sense for draft and this continued in jav. Looking at teamsheets, his team is without any weak links with tiny/racka/drose/jurassic/skatarius looking as the most dangerous team out there. Only thing that can mess that up is poor showrates, but he also has some solid subs in absurd, riverside and paky. This team can really put pressure on opponents, has good bench and is in my eyes the biggest favorite and tiny can continue his win-run in jav.
Stayon
Stayon top 4 players are really formidable with himself, rough, yeh and hellzno!, all high quality javs. His 5th has to be though one of siaxis, rekashi, raazi, capt lonestar, so that makes it automatically more of a draft league lineup and a bit lower level compared to Tinys potential. His team looks to be though pretty reliable in showups, so they can play at maximum level for majority of season, so i expect them to do well in main season and they are definitely a contender for final spot.
Rampage
Rampage top lineup has higher ceiling compared to Stayon in my opinion. Rampage himself really blossomed in last draft league, showing he is among the big boys now. Supported by temu, okyo and morph (if they all show), they can easily also win this thing, if they all show. From bench, geio and kangal are most likely to get gametime, spirit, beast and tj are looking for some minutes as well perhaps. So yea, it really depends on how active the top players are on this team. I feel like if they show for crucial games, they could even win this, but for regular season they may have to rely on subs too much and lose some points.
Dreamwin
DW has commodo alongside him, who has not really been on top shape in recent leagues, zizu, jabra (lets see if its 8* or 10* version showing up this time) and dwopple make up rest of his lineup, with dak, bike, lee and omega maybe getting some minutes as well. One can definitely not underestimate dw/commodo combo, but i feel like quite a few players (like jabra/dwopple) can have really bad days which makes this team a bit unstable in delivering results. On a good day though, they can easily compete with anyone.
Ekko
Ekko picked better and more competitive team compared to his wb choices. Bombed, iron, hellkite, zizzo and scuzzy all great javers, with ekko himself, jz, rabbit and rylo maybe also getting some minutes. I feel like they also have a good shot at making it to playoffs if players show for main season and get those important points, but perhaps they miss that winning potential i can see in some other teams.
As conclusion, i see tinys team as favorite with rampage team being closest in skill, but with some showup questions, but overall teams are pretty close to each other so it will come down to some small details in games, who actually make it.
BASE
Unlike jav/wb, base had only highly experienced captains for draft, but also as base needs more players and rosters are quite small, showups will play really big part here, so even lower picked players could be really important for teams. Just for comparison we had 18 players per team for last draft league, now only 13-14. Did not really see any very weird decisions in draft, so hopefully it will be a competitive and tight tournament. Looking at teams, i do not see any dominant one, each have some weakness in lineup, so i think showups could easily decide how this goes.
Dreamwin
Dw coming fresh off his draft league base win has once again picked very strong team. Spooked will be probably tested for terrier with mark/cig smoke taking shark roles and captain lonestar also potential for that. Bombed/absurd/drose/dreamwin make up really strong spider lineup with jackie/jabra/lee having potential for that under role. Spooked can be also replaced by dw himself, he played that role well in draft league and has been praccing it quite a bit as well. That would mean 2 of the sub list getting spider games. So team is looking really strong, all roles are covered with subs also there at good quality. Looking to be strong contender for title in my eyes.
Ekko
Ekko clearly does not want to terrier anymore, as he picked both genx and ogron to his team, making his options very wide for that. Commodo/Mvp/joeses are all great picks for shark, so that is covered as well. This automatically leaves it a bit vulnerable in spider power. Stayon has to play his best, if ogron terrs, then most probably ekko/genx also take spider roles with henry saari and rucci completing lineup. Rampage also showed he is a very solid choice for spider if needed.
If ogron has difficulties terring with his lag and timezone issues, either ekko/genx can take that role and rampage will step in for spider.
So flexible team, high quality players for terr/shark and very solid spiders, will be definitely contender.
Dwopple
Dwopple probably has had enough for having a weak shark partner, so he opted to get jamal as first pick as partner. Zizzo looks to be taking terrier role with jurassic/rabbit/groan as main spiders. There are some interesting choices from lower picks as well. Sprackle can play a role with riverside in shark and jamal/dwop used as spiders. Clefairy/Hellzno!/jz are solid choices for spider and he also has tiny there, who did well as terrier in last draft league. I still have a feeling this team may lack a bit spider power, but will definitely have top shark duo for this league, that will a bit compensate on that.
Zizu
Zizu opted for strong spiders as his first picks with cripple/ft getting early picks. Willby will be main shark with zapata probably being his partner. Rough and tj will be also taking main roles in spider, while last spot is probably being tried among PA, unlimited, racka or dak. Zizu quality is of course known, shark duo looks to be weakest of the teams, but spiders on the other hand look very decent. So i feel like its a bit off compared to top teams at this stage.
Renzi
Renzi early picks included hulk, hellkite and skatarius. Hulk will be probably supported by menelvagor in shark, with omega red also in roster (also violence and beam, but being late picks they are not that much counted upon), but this lineup is giving me flashbacks from last draft league and Prime, failing to see any strong terrier here. Not sure how renzi will solve that. In any case this team has really strong spiders with renzi/hellkite/skatarius/okyo (last spot having options like Tim, siaxis, rosay, raazi), gazillion shark options, but who will take the role as terrier? Maybe renzi has to dive into trading or then someone steps up (meaning that most probably he will be not playing his main role, weakening the lineup in that sense).
So as conclusion, i see dw/ekko as main contenders, but dwopp/zizu teams are really only behind by a very narrow margin. Difficult to judge renzis team as i cannot make its lineup properly. Its spider power is impressive though and sharks really good.
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