Just like in WED, I interviewed the captains to find out what they think about their team, the draft in general, whether they were surprised by anything, and finally to decide who the captain-voted best and worst teams are.
Draft Interviews
Ovidiu
The draft went well for me, I got pretty much all the people that I planned on drafting, with the help of Holy Harry god. My team seems to have great potential depending on how Barg adjusts to playing 1/2 together with Elpie. Big PMA captain so hopefully we can do well.
Play
I am very happy about my team and very confident that we will make it far. Seems like a giga PMA team that especially I would thrive in.
RampagingBench
The draft went as expected, pick a high MMR carry and let them draft for me. This turned out pretty well. Our team well shit stomp this season so hard it won’t be a challenge I mean we have an Anstar+zorenb lane how can we lose?
Syrphx
Ran mostly smoothly until sheet problems, potential grief-fest potential winners the classic rd2l experience overall, should be a lot of fun playing with my team though.
hi5
As this was my first time drafting, I was a bit surprised how it went. A lot of people opted for lower MMR value picks quite early which I did not expect and this led to me being lower in pick priority for the later rounds than I hoped for.
Nevertheless, I’m quite happy with my draft. I got 2 high MMR core players and the rest of my team is quite value for the listed MMR in my opinion, and I had all of my players marked as potential picks before. Also everyone gets to play a favorite/comfort role. As long as everyone plays up to his potential and we dont get any internal issues, I think we can get pretty far.
Neox
I think my team looks really good, Bernard will solo carry me to an easy win.
Neon
Since this is my very first time being a captain, I came into this very nervous. At first, when I was offered the opportunity, I did not really want to purely because of the reason that I felt I’m not equipped enough to captain. With a push from Reddydas and other RD2L members I decided to give it a shot, even if I completely suck. I drafted Reddy with my first pick because I want to play with him this season, he is a close friend of mine and is willing to help me out with captaining duties and such. Playing inhouse with Valchers a bunch of times undeniably showed he’s a sandbagger or some shit, seeing that he wasn’t drafted once my second pick arrived, I just had to take him. With my other players, Anderkent and Xyu, I am completely unsure of, never heard of them, never played with them and they are fairly lower mmr. I took advice from Reddy who said Anderkent is a value as fuck pick and just went with it. Ben was stolen from me on last pick so I decided to roll with Xyu as he was the only one left in the pool who seemed confident with playing 5. Overall, the team seems solid and I can’t say I’m disappointed with my draft.
Rinku
Happy with the team, some god gamers and some pepega gamers.
Madsen
I went over most of my thoughts on my own team in the power rankings, but I’m still very happy with it. Finally getting the chance to play a main season with Boelens, without it costing me a lot — or, really, anything, considering I got a great support second pick, and then a pair of super value players in the last two rounds. Was very lucky here, to be honest, and I think I picked the best possible player at my turn each time.
Harbinger
Draft was really weird considering how people picked in the late rounds. Like Neon picking Reddy, Ovidiu getting Barg and Neox with the 0 IQ move. I didnt want to get 5th picked again and heard Haraway signed up so I became a captain to pick him. My draft plan went great(ish) I think. I was hoping to get Valchers/Luke/Kalisdar or Butters for 2nd round, and close out with some low 4k pos 4 player, but I was lucky and I got a free 5k player (who most people think is dodgy but he needs some practice is all). I was hoping to get a natural pos 5 player but I was left with Okami or some edgy name guy. Not that I am complaining about Okami, I’ve heard good things about him and wanna see it myself. I think our team is fairly strong because of all the bans we are forcing for our cores and shit. Can win it all or be dogshit but I will be enjoying this team 100%.
T-Reds
I think my draft is alright, I got some cores that are really reliable and I’m very happy about them. It’s always hard to draft as a pos 5/4 but it looks like I got the right people. We will see during the season!
Grimmjow
I am very confident in my team. I got myself a newcomer midlaner Acid, who has already proven himself in the inhouses. Then I got myself Dildawg, whom I’ve already played with a lot. He’s proven to be a great player and a great drafter, so I am definitely looking for his input on our drafts and games. I also got myself zGrozem, who’s proven himself to be a solid offlaner. Dark Psiona, the last addition to the team, will complete our roster. He as well has no RD2L experience until now, but is very excited and eager to compete. As for the draft itself, I think it’s alright, everyone gets fucked in one way or another.
Cardinalstar
I think the draft went well, I was hoping to draft one of the better known mids. My position at the middle of the pack in terms of MMR of the captains didn’t really allow that. I have good hopes for Madalainen. I wasn’t too suprised in the draft however, I’d prepared rather well.
Kevin Richardson
Draft went as predicted: all super high MMR players picked by someone else. Drafted Raffie as flex pick, then value carry + strong pos5 to complete the safelane. Overall, I’m quite happy.
Maus
The first pick went according to plan. Szajtek is the best player, but I wanted a mid and keep a good draft position for round two to increase the odds of getting a nice pick round 2 and potentially later as well. My first instinct was to pick Anstar first as he’s playing mid and he seems like a fun guy. Although I did some consulting with some fellow RD2L people and they valued Waloo higher so I went with him. As you know, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. So obviously the potential picks I had planned for in round 2 were snatched late in round 1 or early in the case of ElNino. There was a bit of a lack of good offlaners, so I had originally planned on picking one round 2, but Haraway was snatched as well. Still there was a 6k carry player left. I had expected Kuroame to go round 1 and hadn’t considered he’d still be there. So I picked him and screwed up the rest of my plans. I had some value picks I wanted, but after getting two players at around or close to 6k my draft position was worse than planned. So 3rd round I had to pick someone to go offlane. There were 3 options I considered and I hope I went with the right one. Last pick there wasn’t much to chose from and Synechdota plays the position I needed. So overall it didn’t go according to plan, but I think if everything clicks and Kuroame plays up to his potential we have a chance to compete for the title. Also everyone is playing in a position they’re comfortable in. Our 1/2 lineup is very strong. Our 3 average and the support duo is bad. You always wish you did slightly better. You want to have clearly the best team, but that is very hard to accomplish. So I guess I have to settle for a team that has a good chance if everything clicks and I think we do.
Sakoh
Draft wise, I’m pretty happy with my team. Managed to get the 1st and 2nd pick I had in mind.
Surprises
Ovidiu: “The biggest surprise in the draft was Neox first-picking the 300 mmr guy to get first picks starting with the second round.”
Play: “I was planning on 2nd picking the god over all gods — bernard — but he got yoinked by a 300 IQ captain. Some captains just have more balls than others.”
RampagingBench: “Biggest surprise for me was Harb picking Luke. Like who the fuck will play mid?”
Syrphx: “I guess everyone said Neox picking bernard or something along those lines, and I can’t think of any other surprises to be honest, pretty much went as expected, for me atleast.”
Neox: “I think my team looks really good, Bernard will solo carry me to an easy win.”
Neon: “I’m sure many will write the same, but Neox picking Bernard straight up was surprising as fuck. Seems like an ‘IDGAF’ move considering this guy is 7k but still don’t know if that was the move. He was first to choose in second round but I think slapping Bernard on pos5 will still be a burden for Neox.”
Rinku: “I’m surprised at some of the support picks earlier, Paiers, Chewie, Snuggle 420 caught me all off guard”
Madsen: “Like, so many. I talked about the most notable ones in Power Rankings, but off the top of my head, a couple of picks that had a massive impact on the draft were ElNino by Rinku, Darba/Reddy by Play/Neon respectively, obviously the biggest surprise (which at the time I thought was a meme!) in the bernard pick by Neox. Was surprised to get Nils at 26th pick of the draft, that was great too. Fun draft!”
Harbinger: “Nappa getting picked before Olav was bullshit. And I didn’t expect that move from Neox. Otherwise, it’s your classic RD2L main season draft with half of the captains griefing.
T-Reds: “I’m sorry for Mikel because I picked him once again! But as captain….you can’t leave Mikel, come on! Well, honestly I think this draft sheet was full of supports and carries adapting to support because of their low rank. I’m used to having a better draft sheet.”
Grimmjow: “Nope, no surprises that I could think of.”
Cardinalstar: “I wasn’t too surprised in the draft. I’d prepared rather well in that aspect. I had 4+ choices for picks in every category and I think that any combination of those players would’ve been good.”
Kevin Richardson: “Well I did NOT expect Mikel to get undrafted so late. I also had Debowy available late into picking for some reason. But overall, I think it went as expected for everyone.”
Maus: “Obviously Bernard not going earlier was a big surprise. ElNino getting picked so early was also a surprise, and it will be interesting to see Luke play carry. I think he’s a value pick and I considered making him play carry as well if I had gotten ElNino/Haraway round 2. Rinku deciding to go mid was a bit of a surprise as well. Ovidiu getting only support players was a bit of a surprise as well. Wonder if he makes BartyG play carry.”
Sakoh: “Well the only surprise is bernard 1st pick, which I think was just a drama instigator with 0 use to it. Still funny to see.”
hi5: “Apart from the already mentioned many early low MMR value picks and obviously the 1000iq play by Neox securing bernard-god first round, I was surprised I got to pick Blackbriar 2nd round and Laavi even near the end of round 4. Obviously Laavi has a bit of a reputation, but in my opinion he plays way above his listed 4.2k MMR and he has changed quite a bit lately. I’ve played with him before and didn’t experience major toxicity so far and since its me playing in his lane and not someone new, I think we will have no issues.”
Best & Worst Team
As the final question of the interview, I asked all of the captains which team they considered the best, and which they considered the worst. These are the results.
Best Team:
Madsen & hi5 (3 votes each)
WED saw the favorite with 9 votes, but the SUN captains have spread their votes, leaving us with a tie for the frontrunner at only 3 votes each.
Worst Team:
Cardinalstar (3 votes)
Boy, the rest of the captains do not have a lot of faith in this new Madalainen guy, huh? Then again, that probably explains why Cardinalstar got him in the draft in the first place.
Other fun stats:
- A staggering 4 teams were nominated for both best and worst: Play, Neox, Grimmjow and Neon.
- A total of 8 teams were nominated as the best, while a total of 9 teams were nominated as the worst.
- Only 3 teams went without a single nomination for either best or worst — Syrphx, Harbinger and Kevin Richardson; this means a total of 13 teams were nominated as either the worst or best.
- The Best Team category had a tie for the runner-up slot as well as the winner slot — Maus and RampagingBench are tied, with two votes each, for second best.
My writing routine, more often than not, is to take a walk and grab a coffee somewhere. If you want to support my content, you can buy me a coffee, but I’ll keep writing as long as there’s stuff to write about, no matter what.
Thanks to all the captains for participating, and thanks for reading!
