My Post-Circus Monkey Thoughts on the Draft

[Gustav 6,331]

I haven't forgotten about my 30 in 30 series, I promise--it's just 1 AM on Monday and I haven't written a media spot.

 

Thankfully, this week gives me lots and lots of things to talk about. I wrote up what was meant to be a highly sarcastic joke thread in the thunderdome the other day, but judging by the fact that no one liked it or said anything in response, I think I may have gone a bit too sarcastic and just made everyone grimace. So, to clear the air a bit, here are my honest thoughts on my biggest VHL development of the week--Lazlo Holmes becoming the latest hot prospect in Prague.

 

• I don't actually feel seriously negatively about this, but I was mildly disappointed to see that I fell to 10th overall. It's the lowest I've ever been drafted into the VHL (even in S75 when I could still auto-pick my own player and tried my hardest to trade down as far as I possibly could). I know I was a good bit behind in TPE for reasons not entirely clear to me (leaving a couple career tasks undone so far and not donating accounts for some of the difference, but not all), but I was still a max earner and have been for over 5 years straight at this point. It makes me wonder what more I have to do to prove that I'm the right one for the job in lots and lots of places I could be right now had those teams had a bit more faith in Lazlo.
• That said, I've found Prague very chill so far. I've been in the server since @diamond_ace brought me in when the team was founded, and digging it out of my "everyone I'm not currently playing for" folder has felt nice. At one point, I was one of the more active members of the server despite not being on the team. Two things I love so far:
  • Our activity has mostly been in the public channel, something I was always hugely in favor of as a GM. I will forever stand by my opinion that this is THE number one way to have an active locker room.
  • I have always thought (and since confirmed) that @Tetricide is a very cool and very real person to talk to, and I'm excited to be part of his rebuild. An honorable locker room mention (and a very nice point in favor of what I just said about public channels) is @samx, who I've always gotten along well with and who I'm glad is still active in Prague. 
• I'm assuming that it's been assumed that I'm going to play in the E this season, and I've decided that I'm just going to suck it up and go along with it. I'm apparently not the monster earner that the top end of my draft class is, Prague isn't in a spot where I'd be contributing to their ability to compete at all, and I am actively hurting my player's future if I decide that maybe whatever marginally active teammates I end up with could benefit from playing alongside a recognizable name this season (the absolute horror!). I think I can still reasonably hold all my E-related opinions without it becoming hypocritical that I stayed down, though, because I did it despite not wanting to but because I don't really have a reasonable choice when you think about it. I'll stop there for now, but consider that the next time you bring up the "oh you can enjoy it either way" argument.
• Being part of a rebuild is going to be exciting, I think, because I'm one of the first pieces that the roster will be built around. As a player, I have the (underrated) ability to influence my teammates, and I like to think that the right sort of person might be able to be charmed into really loving it in Prague as well. In the past, I've faded out of activity in some of my team servers, but I see the chance to help reform Prague into a super active place to be and I'm excited that I get to be part of defining what that looks like. I hope it's a lot of fun for as long as I'm there.

[leandrofg 1,126]

12 hours ago, Gustav said:

I'm assuming that it's been assumed that I'm going to play in the E this season, and I've decided that I'm just going to suck it up and go along with it.

 

So... Cologne?