Highlighting Potential First-Gen Steals in the S87 Draft

[Gustav 6,400]

It is THEME WEEK, and this week we're talking about FIRST-GENERATION PLAYERS (or, pretending to care for 5 minutes before going back to not caring and saying you do. Please do the former). It's no secret that the league thrives on a steady influx of noobs, and that's the sort of thing that makes the league what it is today. As a former GM in both the VHL and the VHLM, I know just how important it is to not only get your first-gens in the league in the first place and help them, but to really get to know them. Good first-gen scouting can make or break a VHL team, and it can REALLY make or break a VHLM team--you can either have a capped player or no player at all at the season's end, and sometimes that's a direct function of the work you put in to help the people that need it.

 

As a VHL GM, sometimes you can tell who's about to take off. You message a player who's mostly been on welfare and get a full paragraph in response. You see a clicker start doing press conferences, or drop a beginner graphic. Sometimes it's even as simple as happening to be online to notice that someone who hasn't yet become visible in the community has just commented on a forum thread or come into Discord to ask a question. And sometimes, it isn't even clear what might make someone a steal when the draft comes up. You could even just get lucky and happen to pick up the right player at random who gives you that rush of serotonin when they actually join your locker room and start talking. 

 

It's particularly important to talk about this now, as we approach the S87 draft, because we've got an uncharacteristically weak draft class on our hands. Outside of the top 10, the numbers drop hard--veteran-but-basically-just-a-clicker Reinhard von Kongming wouldn't be a first-round pick in most modern VHL drafts, but he's currently #13 in the TPE rankings and could even end up going higher if a GM values the consistency of a recreate over some of the potential risks involved in taking on other players. There's absolutely no luck to be had at the top--GMs know who all the good players are, and positional needs are pretty well-defined in some places, so it's almost not worth writing a mock this season (which I enjoy doing when I've got both the time and the inclination). But what about everything that comes after the top? What about our 15th, 20th, 30th picks? Every GM worth their salt will be determined to prove that you can get something from nothing, and I'm here to (try to) show you where that might be true.

 

Anyway, my intro is a media spot in itself. Behold!

 

 

Keno Akara

C |  |  | 130 TPE | @Keno | TPE rank: 14

 

Akara's agent has 10 posts on the forum, 3 of which have come in the last week after joining in early October. To add, this isn't a welfare player but an affiliate, who's got the usual 6-point tasks and has put out some additional stuff (including some this week). Though somewhat casual affiliates usually aren't outright expected to become max earners, it's at the very least possible (see my first career in the EFL) and even if not, a team can always pick up a consistent earner who knows how to get around a sim league. Regardless, we've got a player who will easily crack the first round, and might actually live up to what that's actually supposed to mean in most other draft classes.

 

 

Jarkko Laakkonen

LW |  |  | 115 TPE | @Xdjk93 | TPE rank: T17

 

Laakkonen hasn't earned anything yet and hasn't posted since creating. That said...both times I've checked the account associated with the player, I've seen a visit to the site in the last handful of hours. It's worth it to note that we're only technically dealing with a first-gen (in terms of this being a first-gen by definition as someone coming back after a hiatus), but it's still someone with less than 50 posts who probably hardly anyone remembers. Things like these are going to be intriguing questions for GMs heading into the draft--there's no earning history at all yet with Laakkonen, but we've also clearly got someone who remembered the site and wanted to come back and has checked in, at the very least, three times this week. Cases like these are what makes scouting so important, as GMs will need to sort through a great deal of mystery to get the bottom line--but when that's reached, the results could be intriguing.

 

 

Keita Kouru

LW |  |  | 110 TPE | @woog | TPE rank: 20

 

Another West African player who's claimed affiliate point tasks leads me to question whether there's any connection with Akara. Regardless (though that's something that could be a potential boost to any GM willing to pick up both), this is more than just a clicker. It's true that in most weeks, Kouru will just claim welfare, but last week we saw something even more important--a media spot written and claimed for the VHL. I can (obviously) sit down and spill out 500 words of nonsense any time I want to, but I still viewed a media spot as a commitment when I first joined, and that's still true today. Anyone willing to make that commitment even once out of a sea of players who have never gone that far has broken a barrier that could lead to a lot more--I've seen players continue earning like that when given the proper encouragement, and a GM who takes note of that could even end up making Kouru a late 1st-rounder.

 

 

Ziggy Dupree

LW |  |  | 101 TPE | @Ziggy Dupree | TPE rank: 23

 

Dupree is an interesting case because his earning has actually declined in recent times with just a practice facility claimed last week. That said, we only need to look a week further back to notice some first-gen player store stuff and a full 10 capped TPE, including a 6-point task. Contrary to some other players on this list who are starting to show some potential, Ziggy has already shown it, and we're waiting to see if he can follow up. If so (something that GMs can hopefully establish one way or another with a good pre-draft interview), GMs will be happy to have kept their 2nd-round picks.

 

 

Zechariah LeFevre

C |  |  | 80 TPE | @Zechariah | TPE rank: T40

 

LeFevre is our second Saskatoon player to make the list, and does so in a curious manner. He's never claimed welfare, and never done a 6-point task, but has done some other things--trivia, press conferences, and player store purchases on top of the weekly practice facility claims. What this says to me is that we've got a player who is willing to put in some time to learn and to do things for the league but hasn't necessarily gotten past the typical first-gen learning curve that we all experience one way or another at the beginning. Even by taking the extra five seconds to claim welfare every week, LeFevre would be at 100 TPE and much higher up on the TPE list--so with the proper coaching from GM @Bulduray_1, we could see a player with newfound knowledge of the league who's ready to take off.

 

 

 

There we have it--it's very true that our upcoming draft is far thinner than some others we've had in the past 20 seasons (have I been here that long?), but I do think there's just enough in it to keep it interesting. With less availability, GMs across the league will be far more devoted to taking everything they can get from what they have--and I hope that leads to players like these getting all they need to become great. Here's to a wonderful theme week!

 

 

1,333 words | 2 weeks

[Banackock 8,040]

Shout out to @Pifferfish and @okochastar. Taken a little higher but they fire. 

 

[okochastar 97]

On 12/9/2022 at 8:40 PM, Banackock said:

Shout out to @Pifferfish and @okochastar. Taken a little higher but they fire. 

 

 

 

You ought to catch up on scouting, Boss.

[Banackock 8,040]

54 minutes ago, okochastar said:

 

 

 

You ought to catch up on scouting, Boss.

At that point I forgot it was about first gens and was focused on steals

[Gustav 6,400]

Week 2