The draft is over. RD2L Franchise League is upon us, and I have run out of openers. No bullshit — let’s get to the rankings.
10. Mewes
Roster: Mewes, Bloodyu, Nsphere, PONPO, Debowy, fred, Diego, Gordon
Expected Main Lineup:
- Bloodyu
- PONPO
- Nsphere
- Mewes
- Debowy
Sub Strength: 4/10
Review: The one single team whose placement in these rankings I never second-guessed, Mewes’ squad is undoubtedly the weakest Franchise has to offer. Here’s some insider info — Mewes thought managers weren’t actually players on the team, which leads me to believe he was trying to just grief Nsphere then ditch, before eventually falling prey to his own trap as he accepted his fate and decided to play. There are a couple of teams with only two or three high skill players, but the dropoff after Bloodyu and Nsphere to Mewes and PONPO is much bigger than most other teams. This is also the team I struggled most to put together the main lineup for, as the roles make no sense — Bloodyu will likely have to occupy the safelane, being the only one of the team’s four 5k+ players who actually plays the role. The natural expectation from here would be that Nsphere goes mid, but considering PONPO only plays mid, Nsphere will likely be pushed to his main role as a 3…except Mewes only plays 3. All of this means that one of PONPO or Mewes will presumably be pushed into the 4 role…unless they plan on putting Nsphere 4, which I guess in some universe makes sense since he’s been spamming it in pubs? Either way, this looks pretty grim. Forecast predicts Nsphere dodging.
Transfer Targets: Literally anything, honestly. Don’t know how to salvage this…maybe if they lose enough they’ll get enough money to get 2 more immortals?
9. exZ
Roster: exZ, Severe, Paul, YoungHawk, Chewie, Zenith, LukeSkyFAKER, Yawaboi
Expected Main Lineup:
- YoungHawk
- Severe
- exZ
- Paul
- Chewie
Sub Strength: 2/10
Review: exZ has made his return to RD2L, and he went for the names he recognized, splashing big cash on Severe and Paul. No one passed him the memo that YoungHawk isn’t actually the German carry H4wk, though, so this is another pretty mediocre team. I originally thought that Sev might go safelane with Paul mid or vice versa, but after looking at the picks again I think they might feel more comfortable putting Paul on his usual support role, with the 1 coin YoungHawk safelane. The bench for this team looks pretty mediocre as well, and the onus is on Sev and Paul to carry this team to any and all wins. That might become problematic if the two of them accidentally synchronize their sleep schedules and miss games, but I’d say the duo is good enough to take some games, especially if Paul steps into an active shotcalling role. As long as they’re able to consistently field their best five, they could do just fine…it’s just a matter of doing so.
Transfer Targets: A safelaner. If they can manage to grab an immortal tier carry, the team should stabilize significantly — and provide the team’s best players with extra motivation.
8. Anstar
Roster: Anstar, Thunderdyne, Broos, Reddydas, DeadlyTaunt, Valchers, moyo, Jeremy
Expected Main Lineup:
- Valchers
- Anstar
- Broos
- Thunderdyne
- Reddydas
Sub Strength: 2/10
Review: At first, I had this team midtable, but every time I looked at it after that, I knocked them down a peg. The squad depth here is lacking, with a low MMR bench and a low 4k in the top 5. Anstar is a good mid, but I think he’ll have to play out of his mind and make a lot of things happen from mid, which from my experience isn’t really his style — not to mention that the competition in mid is a lot rougher in Franchise than usually. Thunderdyne is a great support, and can provide teams with direction in games, but I have my doubts about how motivated he’ll be on this team. Valchers and Broos are okay players, but I think they’re pretty heavily outmatched by their counterparts on other teams, so for this team to succeed, Anstar and Thunderdyne will have to do some pretty heavy lifting in my opinion.
Transfer Targets: Playmaking core and a hard support. Anstar’s mid playstyle is pretty specific, so I think they need a carry player who can take the load off of him. They’re also likely to look for a more experienced 5, since Reddydas or moyo might not quite cut it.
7. Roran
Roster: Roran, Cvaekt, Denden, Polarbear, Roo, PAIERS, Lucas, Shiba Chamy
Expected Main Lineup:
- Denden
- Cvaekt
- Roo
- Roran
- Polarbear
Sub Strength: 3/10
Review: This team, on paper, makes a lot of sense. They’re pretty solid all across the board, with some potential weak points in the sidelanes, which I believe they can get over without too much trouble. There’s a couple of issues with this team, though — personalities may clash, and with Denden becoming a father soon (congrats!), they’ll have to look to their pretty underwhelming bench pretty often. Roran seemingly did something pretty similar to exZ, in that he went for the names he recognized, and on the way managed to get some great value for his money by picking up some of the players that other managers might’ve wanted to avoid. This also means he has a comfortable chunk of change left over after the draft, which will be useful once the transfer window opens.
Transfer Targets: Squad depth, and potentially a replacement carry. Roran will be looking to pad out his team with some solid subs, and might need to consider looking for a carry if the baby puts a strain on Denden’s playtime.
6. Agnitos
Roster: Agnitos, Chuleo, H3lix, Boelens, Huttendrutt, ZaikS, Unha, STJ
Expected Main Lineup:
- Boelens
- Huttendrutt
- ZaikS
- Unha
- Agnitos
Sub Strength: 3/10
Review: This team looked like a trainwreck as Agnitos started by picking up the lowest MMR player, flat 1k Chuleo, for 1 coin. This becomes slightly more understandable when one considers that the roster size limit wasn’t made clear beforehand, and that obviously impacted Agni’s draft plan significantly, but he was able to draft a much better team than I think anyone would’ve thought at the time. Agnitos came into the draft with the advantage of being a natural support player, therefore not having to deal with the extreme lack of supports in the pool, and managed to round out the team’s support duo with his buddy Unha. The core spread also looks very decent; Helix makes for a great value sub, being able to play both carry and mid, Boelens at 15 is a great value pickup for much the same reasons, and Hutten for 4 is, and I admit it begrudgingly, a steal. Zaik is also a solid offlaner who Agnitos managed to get for a decent price, meaning that he has the most coins of any manager left over after the draft. The big two questions for this team, in my mind, are whether Boelens can gel with Hutten, as well as what happens if they’re ever missing two players.
Transfer Targets: Bench warmers. With the healthy budget at his disposal, I think Agnitos will be looking for versatile and stable subs to pad out the team — preferably with people who don’t mind Hutten, who can make or break the team.
5. Sparta
Roster: Sparta, Crayon, Harbinger, Cory, Kimer, Butters, Tribo, Dirty Pig
Expected Main Lineup:
- Sparta
- Crayon
- Cory
- Tribo
- Butters
Sub Strength: 5/10
Review: Getting Crayon is a big boon for Sparta, but he might have overspent for him, which shows when you look at the strongest lineup. Sparta and Butters are both decent players, but no amount of immortals can make up for having two 4ks in your starting lineup, which I expect they’ll do unless they push Crayon or Harb into a sidelane to fit them both in. Cory’s a solid offlaner, and if need be he could also swap to safelane, making the team’s core duo stronger. With Tribo recently hitting immortal as well, the team’s got a solid foundation, but the pressure on Crayon and Cory might be a bit too high here. They do have an okay bench, though, with Harb and Kimer ready to hop in, so if they are ever missing someone, they should be ok.
Transfer Targets: A carry that’ll make Sparta bench himself — or, if Cory’s playing carry, an offlaner.
4. Nappa
Roster: Nappa, BabyRabbit, Jogoe, REALLY, ShotoMan, mitsu, Rinku, Bursti
Expected Main Lineup:
- ShotoMan
- BabyRabbit
- Jogoe
- REALLY
- Nappa
Sub Strength: 3/10
Review: I don’t think anyone had high expectations for Nappa going into the draft, despite his massive budget, but I think he’s done well. This might be a bit of an optimistic ranking for the squad, as a lot of the big names are new to the community at large, but having three 6ks speaks for itself. Additionally, their roles line up perfectly, with Shoto being a carry player, BabyRabbit a mid, Jogoe an offlaner, and REALLY (aka German Tom, who you can read more about in Melalez’s rankings) a 4 main. Nappa is the weakpoint, but he’s definitely a solid 5 for his MMR, so I think this team works…on paper. It’s hard to tell with new players, and there’s increased importance in diligent player management to make sure everyone shows up, as this team instantly becomes much worse if they’re missing any of their main players.
Transfer Targets: High MMR 5 so Nappa can bench himself and lots of squad depth.
3. Melalez
Roster: Melalez, KTZ, Tal, Bunnies, Dildawg, Low Expectations, stl, Webcole
Expected Main Lineup:
- Tal
- KTZ
- Melalez
- Dildawg
- Bunnies
Sub Strength: 6/10
Review: Surprise, surprise — no Cilamo in the pool to maxbid means Melalez has drafted a very solid team. KTZ is an established mid player, Dildawg (Tautology) and Bunnies form a very high MMR support duo, and Melalez is, as always, a solid offlaner. The question in my mind is whether Tal has actually improved as much as his big rise through the ranks up to high 5k would suggest — if so, this team could be a massive threat. Still, it’s a somewhat weird combination of names, but when you consider that their bench includes the likes of Pawel and Stl, they have decent substitute options and look like a good team on paper.
Transfer Targets: Nothing in particular. They’ll just be looking to grab a high skill player that would be an active improvement on their current squad if possible.
2. Neox
Roster: Neox, Zakke, Waloo, Viper, Frosty, Kuroame, Moonchild, wewlad
Expected Main Lineup:
- Waloo
- Moonchild
- Frosty
- Zakke
- Neox
Sub Strength: 8/10
Review: Neox has managed to draft the team with both the highest average MMR, as well as the highest top 5 MMR, which says a lot about the team. Role for role, they’re better on paper than the vast majority of teams, with the caveat that their stable of high MMR players doesn’t include a high skill position 5 player. Waloo has come back from his hiatus, and while he did usually play mid, I’d expect him to take up the safelane with Moonchild on the team. Both of them have fallen off a bit since their peaks in RD2L, but they’re still very good players. Zakke is also a very notable player, and I expect him to be massively impactful in his role. It’s also worth mentioning that he’s been playing quite a bit with Neox, so there’s already some synergy within the team. Their bench is pretty goddamn loaded, though admittedly mostly with core players, but there’s no lack of squad depth, and I think Neox is a capable enough manager to work around that. If they find their form, I think this could be the scariest team in the league, and I’ll begrudgingly admit that I’d considered putting them first after a conversation with Neox, but in an effort to spite Melalez, I’ll leave them at second.
Transfer Targets: Natural 5 player, or just some general support playing bench warmers.
1. Madsen
Roster: Madsen, Mikel, Barg, ElNino, eXceL, Ergo, Shnoor, ssd
Expected Main Lineup:
- Madsen
- eXceL
- ElNino
- Mikel
- Barg
Sub Strength: 8/10
Review: It’s a meme by now, but I think I’ve got a great squad here (though, admittedly, I’d say Neox’s might be better, but part spite and part cockiness prevent me from going through with that). I’ve managed to get a lot of people I wanted, with a great mid player in Excel, about as solid a support duo as was possible with the pool given in Mikel (who thought he wasn’t in the draft pool and begrudgingly accepted to still play, love you Mikky) and Barg, as well as finally grabbing up ElNino. I think it’s a very stable and well-rounded team with no significant weaknesses, and the best bench in the league, with not a single player below Divine 3 on the team. Despite not having any big weaknesses, we don’t exactly have any massive strengths, grabbing none of the big name 6ks or high ranked immortals, but I think overall stability and having the ease of mind that it’s not a disaster if we miss someone for a game makes us a top team. Oh, and, here’s the screenshot fodder for the drama fiends — cya in finals Neox.
Transfer Targets: Nothing in particular — solid main lineup, stable bench; the ideal is a big name star player (so I can bench myself — best way to secure the win), or another high skilled support so that Mikel and Barg aren’t pressured into not dodging.
Thanks for reading, and fuck you Melalez that was way too accurate.
