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Hey, I was going to write a teams review myself but I couldn't compete with one canadian-timezone-dwelling Dr. Claushouse (PhD in Subspace Vector Physics) who pushes out a big ol' article before monday. So if you want to read another one here's a recap of the draft.
For the 2019 January Draft nowon (9/7/10) selected Trasher (8/9/10) as the #1 overall pick. Congrats Trasher, you made it. The obvious question to ask though, is why not pick turban (8/10/10) instead? Both players are multi-ship stars but turban comes in with the coveted max rating in javelin as well. My guess is that it's an issue of squad history and achieves better teaming.
Commodo (7/10/10) had the #2 overall pick and was handed an easy choice with turban (8/10/10). Turban told us his showrate is 50% this year which in turban's language is huge. It means that he can be online for 12 hours a day (=50% of the time).
Dreamwin (8/10/10) went next, choosing RaCka (10/9/8) for the #3 pick. Choosing a warbird here makes sense for dreamwin (8/10/10), as it fills his weaker leagues. It is a bit obvious of a pick but the more I think about it, the more I like it. The other 10-star warbird available would have been vys (10/9/8).
Next up was Mythril (10/8/9) who used the #4 pick on Steadman (8/10/8). There's an argument here that can be made for picking a more established multi-leaguer instead. Such a choice best fitting Mythril's leagues would perhaps have been hellkite (7/8/10). However with that choice you end up running into challenges in TWDT-J. We need to note that 10-stars are the most worthy in javelin. You are less likely to get 1vs3'd in javelin than in warbird, which enhances the value of individual players, and in base you need more high stars to get things going. You are relying on success in future draft rounds for even your 1st round base pick to reach their potential. Steadman hits the ground running immediately.
For the #5 pick Ease (10/10/10) opted for JAMAL (7/8/10). I feel like this could even be the best pick in the first round, if we normalize for picking position and captain's ratings. Nowon picked top spider and multishipper Trasher first, slightly too early, whereas Commodo had an easy choice in turban. Dreamwin and Mythril picked natural mirrors, and zidane is hanging in the back at the 6th spot, glad to take home any superstar. Ease has more of a choice here. He needs to start filling the roster with basers, which he correctly identified. But he has JAMAL, Mcvicar (7/7/10) and cripple (7/7/10) as the 10-star options available, so which one does he choose? He correctly identified that a spider is better here since he can team with one, but there's no guarantee for a shark partner yet. Or maybe Ease avoided mcvicar on purpose and was trying to bait zidane into picking him, so that he could get cripple next turn and unleash some kind of a 10+10+10 spider monstrosity. A spicy theory, but sadly it wouldn't have worked picking two basers in the first two rounds.
Zidane (8/10/10) was the unlucky one this draft and occupied the last drafting position at #6. He made the best of it by picking beam (9/7/7) and cripple (7/7/10). I think these three have synergy together and versatility in leagues. It was a good start for a sixth place drafter who definitely needs to keep his sixth sense active past the first round to overcome the disadvantage.
Overall the captains being the veterans they are picked a great array of teams. Recruiting captains who are balanced with regards to each other seems like a cornerstone in any future TWD Tournament. The only clearly lacking area is Commodo's warbird roster. Still props to him for stepping up to captain four days before the draft.
During the first five rounds of the draft I feel like Ease got the best of it. He picked three 10-stars, JAMAL, vys and Ogron, which is more than any other team. Ease also picks players who are scary even in their worst leagues. Three-league grinders and 10-star talent outperform one-trick ponies and casual players who say "oh well" when they are having a bad day most days. However something weird happened after round five, when Ease picked eight 7-star basers in a row. With the basing roster the way it is now Thunder is on track to play ONE of them, and ONLY if 5-star superstar Hellrazor shows up and plays. I think many of the captains neglected good 6-stars and even some 5-stars too far into the draft, when they can be really valuable in the star capped format.
For the 2019 January Draft nowon (9/7/10) selected Trasher (8/9/10) as the #1 overall pick. Congrats Trasher, you made it. The obvious question to ask though, is why not pick turban (8/10/10) instead? Both players are multi-ship stars but turban comes in with the coveted max rating in javelin as well. My guess is that it's an issue of squad history and achieves better teaming.
Commodo (7/10/10) had the #2 overall pick and was handed an easy choice with turban (8/10/10). Turban told us his showrate is 50% this year which in turban's language is huge. It means that he can be online for 12 hours a day (=50% of the time).
Dreamwin (8/10/10) went next, choosing RaCka (10/9/8) for the #3 pick. Choosing a warbird here makes sense for dreamwin (8/10/10), as it fills his weaker leagues. It is a bit obvious of a pick but the more I think about it, the more I like it. The other 10-star warbird available would have been vys (10/9/8).
Next up was Mythril (10/8/9) who used the #4 pick on Steadman (8/10/8). There's an argument here that can be made for picking a more established multi-leaguer instead. Such a choice best fitting Mythril's leagues would perhaps have been hellkite (7/8/10). However with that choice you end up running into challenges in TWDT-J. We need to note that 10-stars are the most worthy in javelin. You are less likely to get 1vs3'd in javelin than in warbird, which enhances the value of individual players, and in base you need more high stars to get things going. You are relying on success in future draft rounds for even your 1st round base pick to reach their potential. Steadman hits the ground running immediately.
For the #5 pick Ease (10/10/10) opted for JAMAL (7/8/10). I feel like this could even be the best pick in the first round, if we normalize for picking position and captain's ratings. Nowon picked top spider and multishipper Trasher first, slightly too early, whereas Commodo had an easy choice in turban. Dreamwin and Mythril picked natural mirrors, and zidane is hanging in the back at the 6th spot, glad to take home any superstar. Ease has more of a choice here. He needs to start filling the roster with basers, which he correctly identified. But he has JAMAL, Mcvicar (7/7/10) and cripple (7/7/10) as the 10-star options available, so which one does he choose? He correctly identified that a spider is better here since he can team with one, but there's no guarantee for a shark partner yet. Or maybe Ease avoided mcvicar on purpose and was trying to bait zidane into picking him, so that he could get cripple next turn and unleash some kind of a 10+10+10 spider monstrosity. A spicy theory, but sadly it wouldn't have worked picking two basers in the first two rounds.
Zidane (8/10/10) was the unlucky one this draft and occupied the last drafting position at #6. He made the best of it by picking beam (9/7/7) and cripple (7/7/10). I think these three have synergy together and versatility in leagues. It was a good start for a sixth place drafter who definitely needs to keep his sixth sense active past the first round to overcome the disadvantage.
Overall the captains being the veterans they are picked a great array of teams. Recruiting captains who are balanced with regards to each other seems like a cornerstone in any future TWD Tournament. The only clearly lacking area is Commodo's warbird roster. Still props to him for stepping up to captain four days before the draft.
During the first five rounds of the draft I feel like Ease got the best of it. He picked three 10-stars, JAMAL, vys and Ogron, which is more than any other team. Ease also picks players who are scary even in their worst leagues. Three-league grinders and 10-star talent outperform one-trick ponies and casual players who say "oh well" when they are having a bad day most days. However something weird happened after round five, when Ease picked eight 7-star basers in a row. With the basing roster the way it is now Thunder is on track to play ONE of them, and ONLY if 5-star superstar Hellrazor shows up and plays. I think many of the captains neglected good 6-stars and even some 5-stars too far into the draft, when they can be really valuable in the star capped format.
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