Subtitle: How I would approach the draft
Disclaimer: This is untested, and I take no blame for anyone’s draft doing a snafu.
Pre-draft: Start from the Greg’s wonderland tab in the draft sheet. (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18iHy_u9lnnF6Ap8p-zpVUypcr0Nka8muLCQ6Ye4bVWE/edit#gid=525877618)
The “Expected Cost” column gives the “fair value” of each player. From there, make value adjustments in your own scout sheet:
– The absolute highest mmr players tend to be worth more than their stated value.
– Core players are worth more than supports, at high mmrs.
– East coast players might need a negative adjustment (server disadvantage)
– Personal adjustments
Early in the draft: Your ideal situation is to have captains spend money on overrated players, and players that you don’t want.
Nominate players who are popular, that you don’t want, and are expensive.
Your goal is to have other captains (over)spend too much money. This will increase your purchasing power, and increase the value of your money.
You can and should “market-make” a little. This means that you can bid on players if the current bid is too low. This is especially true if it’s for a high mmr player. If it’s for a low mmr player, I would just let them have it, unless you are a high mmr captain.
In the middle of the draft: Now it’s time to go aggressively shopping.
Some common-sense observations:
– You will get last picks at least for free. There aren’t really any “booby picks” you need to avoid (such as a 100 mmr player).
– Any money leftover at the end is “wasted value,” that you would prefer to have used earlier, if you had known it would be left over.
– If you save your money to the end and get your choice of leftover pickings… your team is probably not going to be good and you will probably not spend all your money by the end.
Therefore, in the middle of the draft, I would plan to start getting into bidding wars for players.
Now, you SHOULD nominate the players you actually want. While other captains are waiting for the players they want, try to sneak in the player you want who is flying under the radar.
Should you buy your expensive players first or cheaper players first?
I would buy the larger purchases first. Then you can use whatever money you have leftover to get the best possible final players you can, maximizing your value and ensuring you spend out.
Exception: If you have low mmr players that you would really like to play with, try to buy them early in the draft. Later in the draft, they are more likely to be stolen from you by someone just trying to use his money, but who wouldn’t really care much about the player early on. After buying your friend, you can then spend your remaining money getting the best possible players.
What if everyone is nominating middle-mmr players instead of high mmr players first?
This scenario seems unlikely, but is a tricky case. Your best bet is to play a value-game. Bid on players if they’re currently undervalued. You may have to remain flexible and just draft whatever is dealt to you.
Late game: By now, hopefully you’ve spent most of your money and gotten some good picks. If you have quite a bit of money leftover, see how much money other people have, and try to get the best players you can.
If you have a little leftover, just keep aggressively bidding on any decent player. You’re trying to not be stuck at the end, fighting with other people when not much is left.
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The simplest way the draft can play out, is if high mmrs are bid on first. Then you cannot really make a mistake, unless you severely overpay. If low mmrs are bid on first, you could be making a mistake, even if you don’t “overpay.”
Summary
- When in doubt, focus on value.
- In the middle of the draft, it’s time to start spending.
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