DISCLAIMERS:
I typed this up at work without the benefit of the twd or twl website and therefor going off of memory only. I was not active for TWL last season so I probably missed a bunch of players performing greater than I project them below. Also due to this I cannot tell any of the newer EG guys apart so excuse my ignorance there. Lastly, I have no clue what the rules are offhand. I know newbies get to play but do not know the exact rules for this, so these projections are based purely on what I thought the top line was (not who will actually play). Furthermore, don’t get your panties in a bunch if I don’t list you as starting… For most lineups I read down the team in order of how they were picked until I had a starting lineup. If you’re not listed here and think you’re better than the people I have listed, chances are you’ll get your chance to play due to no-shows and will be a steal of the draft. That being said, let’s go with my random thoughts/feelings on the draft:
Team - Zidane
WBS:
Mythril, raazi, bon, beam, welt
JAVS:
Zidane, Kim, Torcher, Hunt, Maybe Exit
BASE:
Terr – Diakka
Sharks – Zidane, Mythril
Spiders – Shayde, Squallff8, Omega Red, Dutch Baser, non-impact last spider
Strengths: Elite warbird lineup and good, complete jav team (5 twld/twlj starter quality players in each). Solid terr/sharks. Top end spider to carry spider line. Some javs can double as wbs if top line doesn’t show.
Weaknesses: back end of spider line. No viable backup terrier unless mythril turns back the clock to his Pallies days.
Overall assessment: Probably the most complete team coming out of the draft. Capable of competing in all 3 leagues.
Team – Kate Upton
WBS:
Baserman89x, Trasher, LF, Zeebu, K A N E
JAVS:
Stayon, Children, Paradise, Schope, Tmac
BASE:
Terr – Hydride
Sharks – LF, ???
Spiders – Stayon, Kate Upton, Trasher, Schope, Zeebu
Strengths: Elite top 3 javs. LF/Trasher/Zeebu underrated wbs who won’t single-handedly lose a game. Elite Spider line.
Weaknesses: Don’t know who’s sharking with LF. Back end of the jav lineup will be dicey. Warbirds will be solid but Baserman will have a 3-10 performance occasionally and the other 3 I mentioned earlier who won’t lose you the game also won’t single-handedly win you a game.
Overall Assessment: Top Heavy team that will compete for the jav and base title despite their lack of second shark. I still can’t tell apart most of the EG players due to my own inactivity level so they may have a second shark I do not know of.
Team – Skatarius
WBS:
a2m, murder, tripin, sir spider, vue
JAVS:
Kess, evildeed, rendered, aprix, skatarius (with a2m complaining about being benched until he's subbed in for being annoying)
BASE:
Terr – Skatarius
Sharks – a2m, dwopple
Spiders – kess, superstarprokiller, bacon, evul, bellflowers
Strengths: Jav depth (5 to 6 twlj starting caliber javs). Best shark duo in league (/ego). Dwopple and myself should be able to push around some of the weaker shark tandems in the league.
Weaknesses: Spider Depth. WB Depth.
Overall Assessment: Capable of winning jav/base. Middle of the pack (which equals playoff quality in this league) in wbs.
Team – Ease
WBS:
Ease, Best, Obi, Jessup, byakko
JAVS:
Ease, byakko, M_M God, Tsunami, Vehicle
BASE:
Terr – Vehicle
Sharks – McVicar, Downfall
Spiders – Ease, Byakko, sarger, M_M God, Undercut
Strengths: Having Ease. Probably the second best spider line in the league.
Weaknesses: Terrier. Back end of wb lineup.
Overall Assessment: Any squad with Ease will compete in all 3 leagues regardless of the players surrounding him. That being said, I can see them struggling in the playoffs in all 3 leagues. They also have a hole at terrier and will have to be creative to fill it.
Team – Infrared
WBS:
Ricko, Ardour, Siaxis, Paky Dude, Amputate
JAVS:
Infrared, Amputate, Zizzo, Singer, Shadowmere
BASE:
Terr – Pressure
Sharks – Zizzo, Singer
Spiders – Infrared, Renzi, Sprained, Biet, non impact last spiders
Strengths: Five TWLJ quality starting javs. Thix is riding the momentum of his best twlb season in terrier. Five TWLD quality starting wbs. Ricko can carry a team.
Weaknesses: The guys they’ll probably have to start in shark are stronger in other ships.
Overall Assessment: I don’t know what to think of this team. They’ll probably struggle in base despite having good basers. They’ll win a decent amount in javs but the more I do these assessments I feel like a broken record saying everyone will compete in this league. They are a better than average warbird team and could be good enough to compete if they use amp as their fifth and the middle 3 play up to their potential (big ifs).
Team – Dreamwin
WBS:
Burnt, Mattey, Jack, Dezmond, Quince
JAVS:
Dreamwin, Flared, Maketso, John Juan, Major Crisis
BASE:
Terr – Flared
Sharks – Mattey, nokkonen
Spiders – Dreamwin, wbm, sphinx, Major Crisis, Jack
Strengths: Diversity of their basers. Most of their players can fill in at another ship if someone doesn’t show. They also have some jav depth.
Weaknesses: Warbirds. I believe in quince in wb/jav but I don’t know how much playing time he’ll get. I had to put mattey in the wb lineup and he hasn’t played the ship in years.
Overall Assessment: Under average wbs. Average jav lineup despite their depth. Above average base lineup.
Team – Hulk
WBS:
Apok, Racka, Weak, qpr, Kid Kaos
JAVS:
Hulk, Rough, Apok, 24, Kira_Yamato
BASE:
Terr – Heaven
Sharks – Hulk, Oder
Spiders – rough, Thug Waffle, overheat, hockeydude, non impact last spider
Strengths: In my opinion the best wb lineup in the league (I’d take this one over zidane’s but its definitely debatable). Also competing for best jav lineup in the league.
Weaknesses: Base.
Overall Assessment: I don’t know if it was his strategy going into the draft, but hulk ended up hurting his base prospects to strengthen his jav/wb lineups. Probably the favorite to win the warbird league. Capable of winning the Jav League. No chance in base.
Team – Claushouse
WBS:
Casket, Rasaq, Geio, Lockdown, misled
JAVS:
Mikkiz, mean gene, eelam, marge, euphoria
BASE:
Terr – Mikkiz
Sharks – cranium, eelam
Spiders – claushouse, marge, nl>trigger, spiderhate, tj hazuki
Strengths: Surprise, surprise, another team with jav depth! They also have one of the best terriers in the league who will do magic tricks to carry a team. Strong spider line with solid backups. Cranium’s also legit.
Weaknesses: They do have 5 wbs in their wb lineup which is more than most teams can say, but I can’t help but feel that 3 of them will not be on top of their game due to not playing for years. I can’t honestly assess how well they’ll do there.
Overall Assessment: Middle of the pack warbird and jav lineup (which again means playoff bound). Real contender in base.
Overall assessment of league: Where have all the warbirds gone??? Seems like every team has depth in javs due to basers taking up the ship and actually performing well. Probably 4-5 teams capable of winning javs and base. Probably only 2-3 capable of winning warbirds.
What do you guys think? Pick apart my rankings or do some of your own. This is the stuff that makes me interested/motivates me to play. Without it I lose interest and disappear for months at a time (see most other draft tournaments we’ve had). Hopefully someone more entertaining/active will fill in the holes and do one of these as well.
I typed this up at work without the benefit of the twd or twl website and therefor going off of memory only. I was not active for TWL last season so I probably missed a bunch of players performing greater than I project them below. Also due to this I cannot tell any of the newer EG guys apart so excuse my ignorance there. Lastly, I have no clue what the rules are offhand. I know newbies get to play but do not know the exact rules for this, so these projections are based purely on what I thought the top line was (not who will actually play). Furthermore, don’t get your panties in a bunch if I don’t list you as starting… For most lineups I read down the team in order of how they were picked until I had a starting lineup. If you’re not listed here and think you’re better than the people I have listed, chances are you’ll get your chance to play due to no-shows and will be a steal of the draft. That being said, let’s go with my random thoughts/feelings on the draft:
Team - Zidane
WBS:
Mythril, raazi, bon, beam, welt
JAVS:
Zidane, Kim, Torcher, Hunt, Maybe Exit
BASE:
Terr – Diakka
Sharks – Zidane, Mythril
Spiders – Shayde, Squallff8, Omega Red, Dutch Baser, non-impact last spider
Strengths: Elite warbird lineup and good, complete jav team (5 twld/twlj starter quality players in each). Solid terr/sharks. Top end spider to carry spider line. Some javs can double as wbs if top line doesn’t show.
Weaknesses: back end of spider line. No viable backup terrier unless mythril turns back the clock to his Pallies days.
Overall assessment: Probably the most complete team coming out of the draft. Capable of competing in all 3 leagues.
Team – Kate Upton
WBS:
Baserman89x, Trasher, LF, Zeebu, K A N E
JAVS:
Stayon, Children, Paradise, Schope, Tmac
BASE:
Terr – Hydride
Sharks – LF, ???
Spiders – Stayon, Kate Upton, Trasher, Schope, Zeebu
Strengths: Elite top 3 javs. LF/Trasher/Zeebu underrated wbs who won’t single-handedly lose a game. Elite Spider line.
Weaknesses: Don’t know who’s sharking with LF. Back end of the jav lineup will be dicey. Warbirds will be solid but Baserman will have a 3-10 performance occasionally and the other 3 I mentioned earlier who won’t lose you the game also won’t single-handedly win you a game.
Overall Assessment: Top Heavy team that will compete for the jav and base title despite their lack of second shark. I still can’t tell apart most of the EG players due to my own inactivity level so they may have a second shark I do not know of.
Team – Skatarius
WBS:
a2m, murder, tripin, sir spider, vue
JAVS:
Kess, evildeed, rendered, aprix, skatarius (with a2m complaining about being benched until he's subbed in for being annoying)
BASE:
Terr – Skatarius
Sharks – a2m, dwopple
Spiders – kess, superstarprokiller, bacon, evul, bellflowers
Strengths: Jav depth (5 to 6 twlj starting caliber javs). Best shark duo in league (/ego). Dwopple and myself should be able to push around some of the weaker shark tandems in the league.
Weaknesses: Spider Depth. WB Depth.
Overall Assessment: Capable of winning jav/base. Middle of the pack (which equals playoff quality in this league) in wbs.
Team – Ease
WBS:
Ease, Best, Obi, Jessup, byakko
JAVS:
Ease, byakko, M_M God, Tsunami, Vehicle
BASE:
Terr – Vehicle
Sharks – McVicar, Downfall
Spiders – Ease, Byakko, sarger, M_M God, Undercut
Strengths: Having Ease. Probably the second best spider line in the league.
Weaknesses: Terrier. Back end of wb lineup.
Overall Assessment: Any squad with Ease will compete in all 3 leagues regardless of the players surrounding him. That being said, I can see them struggling in the playoffs in all 3 leagues. They also have a hole at terrier and will have to be creative to fill it.
Team – Infrared
WBS:
Ricko, Ardour, Siaxis, Paky Dude, Amputate
JAVS:
Infrared, Amputate, Zizzo, Singer, Shadowmere
BASE:
Terr – Pressure
Sharks – Zizzo, Singer
Spiders – Infrared, Renzi, Sprained, Biet, non impact last spiders
Strengths: Five TWLJ quality starting javs. Thix is riding the momentum of his best twlb season in terrier. Five TWLD quality starting wbs. Ricko can carry a team.
Weaknesses: The guys they’ll probably have to start in shark are stronger in other ships.
Overall Assessment: I don’t know what to think of this team. They’ll probably struggle in base despite having good basers. They’ll win a decent amount in javs but the more I do these assessments I feel like a broken record saying everyone will compete in this league. They are a better than average warbird team and could be good enough to compete if they use amp as their fifth and the middle 3 play up to their potential (big ifs).
Team – Dreamwin
WBS:
Burnt, Mattey, Jack, Dezmond, Quince
JAVS:
Dreamwin, Flared, Maketso, John Juan, Major Crisis
BASE:
Terr – Flared
Sharks – Mattey, nokkonen
Spiders – Dreamwin, wbm, sphinx, Major Crisis, Jack
Strengths: Diversity of their basers. Most of their players can fill in at another ship if someone doesn’t show. They also have some jav depth.
Weaknesses: Warbirds. I believe in quince in wb/jav but I don’t know how much playing time he’ll get. I had to put mattey in the wb lineup and he hasn’t played the ship in years.
Overall Assessment: Under average wbs. Average jav lineup despite their depth. Above average base lineup.
Team – Hulk
WBS:
Apok, Racka, Weak, qpr, Kid Kaos
JAVS:
Hulk, Rough, Apok, 24, Kira_Yamato
BASE:
Terr – Heaven
Sharks – Hulk, Oder
Spiders – rough, Thug Waffle, overheat, hockeydude, non impact last spider
Strengths: In my opinion the best wb lineup in the league (I’d take this one over zidane’s but its definitely debatable). Also competing for best jav lineup in the league.
Weaknesses: Base.
Overall Assessment: I don’t know if it was his strategy going into the draft, but hulk ended up hurting his base prospects to strengthen his jav/wb lineups. Probably the favorite to win the warbird league. Capable of winning the Jav League. No chance in base.
Team – Claushouse
WBS:
Casket, Rasaq, Geio, Lockdown, misled
JAVS:
Mikkiz, mean gene, eelam, marge, euphoria
BASE:
Terr – Mikkiz
Sharks – cranium, eelam
Spiders – claushouse, marge, nl>trigger, spiderhate, tj hazuki
Strengths: Surprise, surprise, another team with jav depth! They also have one of the best terriers in the league who will do magic tricks to carry a team. Strong spider line with solid backups. Cranium’s also legit.
Weaknesses: They do have 5 wbs in their wb lineup which is more than most teams can say, but I can’t help but feel that 3 of them will not be on top of their game due to not playing for years. I can’t honestly assess how well they’ll do there.
Overall Assessment: Middle of the pack warbird and jav lineup (which again means playoff bound). Real contender in base.
Overall assessment of league: Where have all the warbirds gone??? Seems like every team has depth in javs due to basers taking up the ship and actually performing well. Probably 4-5 teams capable of winning javs and base. Probably only 2-3 capable of winning warbirds.
What do you guys think? Pick apart my rankings or do some of your own. This is the stuff that makes me interested/motivates me to play. Without it I lose interest and disappear for months at a time (see most other draft tournaments we’ve had). Hopefully someone more entertaining/active will fill in the holes and do one of these as well.
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