ALTP SEASON I

CAPTAIN INTERVIEWS

Conducted by: Elegant

LONDON WASDS

Captained by: LoweJ

The London WASDs will begin their playoff run against Trailer Park Balls on wormy.

Q: What was your draft plan heading into the season?

A: “I'd had laserpig PM me saying that he really wanted to be on my team, so I worked on the basis of getting him early. Along with him and steez scouting for me, we put together a solid draft plan. I also did quite a few trades pre-draft, so I had Einstein, laserpig and FragrantFowl by the 29th total pick of the draft, and then didn’t have a pick til i had to get myself, so i was pretty pleased.”

Q: What has been the toughest part of your season so far?

A: “1) I had some problems with actually getting online for a few weeks when i was at home due to the late time and the fact I live with my SO, so didn't want to keep her up every night

2) Fragrant and Einstein both getting called up was a pain, plus the lack of practices.”

Q: Despite the departure of some of your top offense, it seems like you gained a few pickups who have been having a pretty solid showing, like Tim Hortons and Taurus. How has it for the team to adjust to these changes in players?

A: “Honestly it was pretty easy to adjust. I got Taurus just after I lost fragrant, and got Tim just after I lost Einstein, both from disbanded teams. Moobear had had a great game on transilio in b team and one half of a team, and paired up well with Tim (who I bid on with more points that any other captain had) and since then they've been our starting O straight away, with Taurus being the foundation of our b team O”

Q: Has anything in the league surprised you, either on or off your team?

A: “Inside- how well moobear turned out to be on O! as a support O he's ridiculous and he's almost untouchable with the flag.

Outside- goddamn BBB. also how sick some of the players are (rexer, kate md, curururururururuurururu)”

Q: What are the biggest strengths on your team heading into playoffs?

A: “Well, the fact that we just came off a strong week against the team we're going to play and on the map definitely helps. I'd say laserpig being able to carry me on wormy (cuz im not that good at it), and tim/moo both being great OD players is going to be huge. Plus I think Ruud is free for the playoffs and he's good for D in B-team, while taurus is untouchable.”

Q: Aside from your own, which team would you root for to win the Championship?

A: “Either KoS or, if we lose the first round, TPB, they were fun to play and we had fun playing hockey and other mini games afterwards”

Coup d’Ecap

Captained by: Squeeb

Coup D’Ecap will start off against Fall Out Balls on Wormy.

Q: What has been the toughest part of your season so far?

A: “Toughest part has been taking over the team. There's always challenges to being a captain and when you take over midseason they tend to be magnified due to the sudden change in the team. The biggest one has been setting up a rotation that I feel works best in 5 weeks instead of having a whole season plus the preseason. Luckily I brought in j0ules_ and Jorge118 to be my cocaptains and both of them have helped me through a lot of stuff during this season.”

Q: Talking about taking over the team - You started off the season as an early draft pick, were called up, and then returned once again to play a prominent role as captain. Have these changes in perspectives affected team dynamics at all?

A: “Having been drafted with the team and then coming back after being called up has definitely been a struggle. The team attitude before I left is definitely different than when I came back. The biggest contributor to that, in my opinion, is the experience factor. Klutchin, the old captain, had already played a year before this season and the players knew he'd be the captain.

This is my very first season. The biggest reason I took over is because the other cocaptains weren't able to. The players on the team remember me being drafted with them. One was even drafted higher than I was. So the dynamics in the team are definitely different than if I'd been a player in a higher league coming to be captain as compared to getting called up and then coming back two weeks later.”

Q: Has anything in the league surprised you, either on or off your team?

A: ”The biggest one was the lack of callups from the team. We've only had 3 people called up, 1 of which was me and the other was a free agent I picked up the previous week. I thought there would be a few more. Luckily for me, that didn't happen. The other was how Texoccer came into the team pretty seamlessly as a free agent pickup in the last round of free agency. I anticipated picking him up as a B team defender because our A defenders seemed to be set. However, over the last few weeks, he played well enough that it looks like he'll be on the A team roster for the playoffs.”

Q: Who are some of the players on your team that have really developed over the season?

“All of the players have developed in one way or another. Some of the biggest ones were CitruSelfDwn and Axiomatik. Citru came into the team as a mid round pick and, while he played decent in the first few weeks, there wasn't any reason for the previous captain to move him off B team rotation minutes. As the season went on though, and especially once I came in as captain, he's played a lot better and depending on the map he might have seen A minutes in the playoffs if it wasn't for the ineligibility rule.

Axiomatik also improved a lot over the season. He was drafted as an O player during the draft. We had some defenders drop out/traded away however so we needed someone to move back to defense. He volunteered and, while it was a little shaky at first, he's grown into it and is playing pretty well now.”

Q: What about on other teams? Have any players impressed you?

A: “I thought bigbadball had a decent run of form there for a few weeks. Joking joking. In all seriousness, KateEarl, MD has impressed me. I'd played with them in Origin pubs before and I wasn't entirely sure they were worth the 4th overall pick, especially with established NLTP players still on the board. However, it's worked out for caramelbeans because they got to keep one of the best ALTP defenders while other captains had their players called up.”

Q: During the season, what were some of the more important or particularly tense matchups for your team?

A: “The biggest matchups for us I feel were against Night's Watch, Trailer Park Balls, and SLATFAT Caps. NW was big because we were chasing them in the standings and we were trying to get that 2nd seed away from them. We managed to take 5 points off of them but then we dropped a few the next week and they pulled away. The TPB and SLATFAT games were both big for us mainly because we were playing the teams that were 2nd and 1st in their respective conferences and it was the last two weeks of the season. While the TPB games didn't go so well for us, only getting 2 points, my B team proved they could play with anyone, sweeping the SLATFAT B team, who has been getting a lot of points this season. A team got swept but going into the week we needed 4 points to clinch the 3rd seed and we got those 4 points off the top team in ALTP so I was happy with the result.”

Q: What are the biggest strengths on your team heading into playoffs?

A: “Our biggest strength is our ability to rotate. I can put B teamers on A team and we'll get points. I can put offensive players on defense and vice versa and still get points. This team is pretty versatile and it really helps to have that on nights where some people are missing/having ping issues or just aren't playing as well as usual.”

Q: Aside from your own, which team would you root for to win the Championship?

A: “As much as I would love my team to win, if we didn't win I'd be rooting for Night's Watch. We're a Sphere team and NW has a fair number of players who I play with there. We also traded two people to them earlier this year and it'd be great if those two guys could win something if my team isn't able to”

Q: But for your own team, what are you most looking forward to during playoffs?

A: “Winning is obviously the biggest thing I'm looking forward to. If I wasn't looking to win, I wouldn't have signed up for a competitive league. The other thing is I want to see how far we've come from the pre-season to when I took over to now. There's been a lot of improvement from the team over the season, especially the players who either haven't played competitive before or who didn't play much in previous season. The team has gone through our share of issues, both from inside and outside the team. Hopefully we can turn all of our experiences this season into a championship!”

Orange Jukes

Captained by: Elegant

Orange Jukes has a bye the first week, and awaits its opponent.

Q: What was your draft strategy heading into the season?

A: “After assisting Dance and FLYMOLO draft the NLTP Blockwork Orange team, they returned the favor and together we picked an awesome selection of players - our main focus was on drafting people who we saw clear areas of improvement for, that we could improve on over the course of the season - a player with awesome mechanics, but lacking in communication. Someone who excelled at getting returns, but needed to work on contain… We wanted a mixture of raw, undeveloped talent with experienced players who had room to improve and areas to teach others in. There were certainly players who we had our eyes on that went earlier than we expected, but we also received a few players who we did not expect to fall as late as they did”

Q: What has been the toughest part of your season so far?

A: “The complexities of real life - while I was very much pleased with our initial roster, a large number of players had real life and unexpected conflicts arise. Oh No!, a player who we took a risk on and picked 4th overall due to his excellent play in pubs and tryouts had work arise, while some of our other early picks had academic conflicts. This also has contributed to some unavailability to practice, or early issues in attendance at the beginning of the season. Luckily, other players stepped up and our free agent picks have played admirably over the season.”

Q: Has anything in the league surprised you, either on or off your team?

A: ”There are experienced players in this league who have proven in past seasons as well as the past 10 weeks that they have always had the skillsets to perform at the higher levels of league Tagpro. Likewise, there are new to competitive players who have quickly made a new themselves and taken the leap to the new style of play in stride.

On my team, I’m very happy with how many of these newer players have shown their talents, such as evanw4. I’m also thrilled with how well many of the players we’ve picked up or have traded for have filled in gaps on the team, particularly on offense, such as WildCard, DYD, or TOEMEIST.”

Q: Who are some of the players on your team that have really developed over the season?

A: “I can say something about each member of my team - I think all have improved in two main areas - communication and decision making. Players like Hjalpa, with little previous experience, have been talking nonstop and help keep our team aware of all the going ons. Some of the defenders, like Im A Goat, have the dankest of snipes, but have also become more comfortable in playing slightly more conservative, helping the team overall. Even players with previous competitive experience, such as hellyea or MasterCard have seen their play refined and become a bit more disciplined in certain situations. ”

Q: What are some of the reasons behind your success as a team?

A: “As I talked about earlier, I’ve had a small role in helping out Blockwork this season - NotEvenMex, my cocaptain, is a player on ABO. I think these connections to an NLTP team have complemented many of the things we’ve worked on during the season - it provides us with a frequent partner for scrims or practices at a higher level, and allows for different perspectives to be seen or heard during practices. I think the larger Blockwork circle also just leads to quite a bit of friendship and comfort with one another, an area that both Dance and I have worked on growing in either team.

I’d also have to say that the work ethic of individual players has been a huge factor - whether it be some players wanting to work in one on one sessions, or doing their own research / rolling around maps by themselves, they’ve been a very receptive group of players to my advice.”

Q: What about on other teams? Have any players impressed you?

A: “I think there are a number of players on other teams who have really taken on a prominent role on their team, and their playing shows it - WarpedPotato, Kibo, and LifeOfBrian all come to mind. ”

Q: During the season, what were some of the more important or particularly tense matchups for your team?

A: “I think the last matchup of the season, against Arizona DiamondCaps, was certainly an important one - We were hovering halfway through the standings and a strong performance would provide us with the bye for the first week, a performance which we achieved. Although they were missing nub, migos is still a very good player in a more rotational league, and I was extremely satisfied with how both my A and B teams played, earning enough points to help us leap into second in the conference.”

Q: What are the biggest strengths on your team heading into playoffs?

A: “I would probably answer with the most common one - the level of depth.

However, depth is also something that has provided us with issues over the course of the season. I felt so comfortable with many of the players on the team that I consistently rotated across all halves and with all players - but I think this over-rotation led to issues in developing chemistry between partners, and impeded on any momentum built, leading to a few close losses. While we did reverse back to more defined partnerships for most halves, strong individual performances across all players definitely proved their capabilities at playing at higher levels. “

Q: Aside from your own, which team would you root for to win the Championship?

A: “This is probably the hardest question for me, as there are quite a few teams that I’ve either rooted for throughout the season, or worked with the players/captains on. In the East, the winner of KoS v s GBOF will be a favorite of mine, and in the West I’d probably push for CDE, to see if the chaoticness of their season can end with a playoff push.”

Q: But for your own team, what are you most looking forward to during playoffs?

A: “I think I’m most looking forward to seeing the progress from Week 1 in the most competitive level of the season - every player has developed a fair bit over the season, and the playoffs are the prime spot to validate their successes and growth ”

So Long and thanks for all the caps

Captained by: 424242

SLATFATC has a bye and awaits its opponent.

Q: What was your plan for the draft at the beginning of the season?

A: “Start with a Pub Allstar(Warped Potato) then to draft a few people i had played with competitively early on(redbull, loaf), grab a European Star(DonDaddy), and then draft entirely based on win percentage. I didn't pick anyone who came to tryouts. It was a huge risk to pick a ton of people who had never shown up to competitive tagpro but going for potential and not worrying about reliability worked out amazingly well. Checko, POOTS, AresnioBall, JagPro,Ephiphany,Clouds were all later picks based on win percentage and they all have turned out to games and are crazy good at tagpro.”

Q: What has been the toughest part of your season so far?

A: “Developing Offensive players. I didn't really pay attention to position when i drafted and ended picking almost entirely defensive players except for TDD, Redbull and Jagpro. Clouds and Ephiphany were defensive players at the start of the year and both of them have turned into Offensive Stars. I was super lucky to get Squirrely, Balrog, 420Assman, and probably lag in Free Agency. They are all crazy good offensive players.”

Q: You’re one of the playing captains in the league - how have you been balancing your role as both player and captain of a successful team?

A: “I don't play a ton. I try to get everyone else minutes first and then hop at the end of b team games if i'm needed. There are quite a few players on the team that are better than me, so they do great even when i don't play.”

Q: Has anything about your team surprised you so far?

A: ”Drafting an entire team of unknowns i figured i would get at least a couple people who were complete tools, but they are all really cool people. All the different personality meshed together really well. Everyone on the team is really good friends. “

Q: What about on other teams? Have any players impressed you?

A: “MasterCard is crazy talented on Offense. Tim Hortons is one of the most underrated players in the League, i tried to get him in FA but got outbid. Drunk Defense, Phreak, and nub are all dang good.”

Q: Focusing back on your own team, who are some players who have grown over the season?

1. “Annasaur has improved a ton. She consistently gets 20-25 return in games now its disgusting.  Dorsia as well. We picked him up as a FA and hes gotten really good at staying ahead/containing with a defensive partner and playing temp Offense.”

Q: What are the biggest strengths that you think will assist your team in the postseason?

A: “How much depth we have.  There are probably 10 players on our team who could easily start A team.”

Q: With a bye, you have an added week before you play your first game - how will you use this time?

A: “Probably just get a lot more practice time in on Pilot so we can be super prepared. Maybe play some random maps for fun.”

Q: Once that week is over, what are you looking forward to the most during playoffs?  

A: “Beating all the other teams into submission.”

Great Balls of fire

Captained by: LareTheBear

GBOF will begin its run on Wormy against Knights of Spamerino

Q: What was your plan for the draft at the beginning of the season?

A: “Dusk and I really wanted players that we were familiar with either from past seasons or from tryouts and I think it really paid off at least early on. 5 of our first 6 picks Dusk and I had played with previously or seen in tryouts and they were a big reason our season started off as strongly as it did. From then on we really went after people who we had seen in tryouts or pubs and we found a lot of really good players with that strategy.”

Q: What has been the toughest part of your season so far?

A: “Losing Rexer was probably the most difficult part of the season for us. We had lost finna and bigbadball previously which we were able to recover from because we had probably the strongest defensive pairing in the league with Rexer and LifeofBrian and losing one of those cogs really threw us off of our game for a while. People were confused when I said that bigbadball wasn’t even the best player on our team during that controversy and I’m still convinced that that wasn’t a very big stretch when you consider that Rexer went straight from ALTP to NLTP and has played every A team minute with tremendous success since being called up.”

Q: What was something that surprised you about your team or the league this season?

A: ”The biggest surprise this season was the help I received from Exate. He was in our channel one day just hanging out and we asked him to help us scrim and from there he basically became our 2nd co-captain. Him being able to scrim with us was great for me as I could take a step back and watch the scrims from above.

Q: Who are some of the players on your team that have developed over the course of the season?

A. “I could tell you something about everyone on my team but I’ll give you two. Sadness was a late addition after we had some attendance issues earlier in the season. He has already improved a ton and played himself into contention for Rexer’s spot when it came up. If he can work on communicating better he becomes an even better player.

Kibo is one of the most dedicated players on the team and has become one of the best. At the beginning of the season we thought he would battle for the A Team spot but would take some time before getting there. It didn’t even take that long. He is just a natural flag carrier and plays some of the best offensive defense in ALTP.”

Q: Did you have any particularly tense or nerve wracking matchups this season?

A: “These past two weeks have been much steadier for us and while we haven't gotten the results that we would've liked we have improved and I feel like we could get back into our stride in these coming weeks and make a nice run.”

Q: Aside from your own, what teams would you be rooting for to win it all?

A: “Even though my Whitecaps have a big game against their predecessor A Blockwork Orange this week I have to go with the Orange Jukes. Elegant and I have had our own metaphorical little corner that we hang out in during captains discussions on the various rules and controversies that have popped up over the season where we agree that everyone else is wrong haha. I’d also like to root for Ball Pings Considered or Cheshire Caps in the Western Conference because who doesn’t like an underdog story.”

Q: You started off the season having been ranked near last in the pre season rankings, and quickly proved them wrong with a strong start - but as mentioned rexer's departure definitely had an impact on your defense and your team has fallen back down the rankings. How do you plan on defying the seed and expectation again?

A: “These past two weeks have been much steadier for us and while we haven't gotten the results that we would've liked we have improved and I feel like we could get back into our stride in these coming weeks and make a nice run.”

Q: With just a few days until they begin, what are you most looking forward to about the playoffs?

A: “I’m looking forward to not screwing up the bracket (knocks on desk vigorously) as well as seeing if my team has finally gotten back into the form that we were in earlier in the season. I also want to see if So Long and Thanks for all the Caps is as dominant as their record says they are. Should be fun.”

Knights of Spamerino

Captained by: caramelbeans

KOS will face off against GBOF on Wormy this week - let’s hope for them that they do better than this interview.

Q: What was your plan for the draft at the beginning of the season?

A: “My plan was to get good players.”

Q: What has been the toughest part of your season so far?

A: “This Interview”

Q: What was something that surprised you about your team or the league this season?

A: ”Getting mdoug(Wildcard) stolen from me.”

        Elegant’s note: Get rekt crammel.

Q: Who are some of the players on your team that have developed over the course of the season?

A: “DaMourge and Hermy have gotten cockier. Ephew has gotten more drunk. Buddy has become less bad.”

Q: Did you have any particularly tense or nerve wracking matchups this season?

A: “Honestly, our offense and our defense are our biggest strengths.”

Q: Aside from your own, what teams would you be rooting for to win it all?

A: “Orange Jukes because ur buns. Mainly because mdoug.”

Q: Who are some of the players on other teams that have impressed you this season?

A: “Tim Hortons, laserpig, Ultron, hellyea, mdoug, and Vander Boll. There are more that I'm forgetting.”

Q: Which of the following is better - your memes or your team?

A: “Both are exceptional - I don’t play favorites.”

Trailer Park Balls

Captained by: boogiedm

TPB begin this week on Wormy against London WASDs

Q: What was your plan for the draft at the beginning of the season?

A: “I had done a lot of research prior to the draft and I was hoping to get a lot of sleepers. I had a problem of not knowing many players, lots of them were new too, but my co-captain Think Shady from 21 Juke Street really helped our during the draft. We were able to come off with lots of sleepers. Heck, my 16th overall pick, Scrapper8o, is now playing defense for my A team. You really just have to try to balance out your known stars and some really good sleepers to pull off a decent team, in this league.”

Q: What has been the toughest part of your season so far?

A: “Scheduling. Lot's of people have prior commitments, more so than other leagues, and it can be hard to field the team you want sometimes..”

Q: What was something that surprised you about your team or the league this season?

A: ”Inside, I would have to say the level of commitment from my team and the level of skill my team has. I recruited many players that you will see soon going to other leagues in the near future. I have a lot of talent on my team, for sure. Also, Chelsea has done a wonderful job of teachings techniques that I was never aware of. I've learned a little myself since recruiting her as a co-captain.

Outside, the biggest surprise has been the level of animosity and crybabies we have in the league. This is a learning league but that doesn't mean that people aren't just as competitive as in any other league. People want to will and don't like it when they lose. It has cause a lot of grief in the league and it will have to be addressed and fixed before next season. The ALT have worked at this from the get go and it has still proven to be a relentless battle to calm things.”

Q: Who are some of the players on your team that have developed over the course of the season?

A. “Many, if not, most of my players have. I started the season sighing very loudly when I realized I'd have to teach them communication. Comms are an essential part of TagPro, as you know, and can be hard to remember to keep up with, when you're new.

My team took to them very quickly and has been doing great all season. I've helped other teams scrim throughout the season and other teams barely talk at all. As for specific players, I hate to leave anyone out, but Scrapper8o has slowly gained my love for his defense and pairing him with Stronk for A team D has been a great pairing. Link T surprised me. He was picked 6th on my team and has juked his way onto A team very fast. BallGasol has had a slight issue with showing up, in the beginning, but has since rectified his commitment issues. If it weren't for the fact that he was needed on B team and we didn't have a full A team, he would be playing A team. A$AP Caplord has killed it this season. I went from hating the guy in pubs to drafting him and digging his play style. f u A$AP But seriously, my whole team is incredible and versatile. I play everyone everywhere, when I have to, and it works out..”

Q: How about on other teams - have any players impressed you?

A: “Lots of players, but Phreak, for starters. I wanted to draft him from the get go and he was taken before I could. He's a really nice carrier. Too many more to go through.”

Q: Were there any games this season that seemed especially tense?

A: “There were a couple nerve wracking games we've had where it came down to the last minute or so and we were all on the edge of our seats. Those are the best games, whether we came out on top or not.”

Q: Aside from your own, what teams would you be rooting for to win it all?

A: “None, we're taking this championship and setting the standard for which the best team in the league next season will have to follow.”

Q: What do you think is a strength of your team heading into the postseason?

A: “Our chemistry and cohesiveness. I don't think we've every argued amongst ourselves even once. We go into games having a great time and we leave just about as happy, win or lose. Also, having Chelsea as a co-captain/partner. We captain together really well and I hope it shows in our teams playing.”

Q: You begin your playoff run on Wormy against the London WASDs, the same matchup as last week, which they came out ahead of. What kind of mindset are you hoping your players enter the game with?

A: “That game was very close. Both of our teams had issues with people being available too. Hopefully, we will see the problem rectified and we will get to play our actual teams. My team will go into it like any other match. We have fun. I make sure to keep them on their toes and remembering everything like communication, bombing, pups, etc... But we laugh and have a good time also. It's helps keep their nerves low which helps our gameplay..”

Q: Playoffs will be starting this week - what are you most looking forward to about them?

A: “Setting a standard of dominance. I hope to be able to see my team do as well as I know they can and take the title! They absolutely deserve it and I hope I've done them justice in the things I've taught them. I tried to follow in the steps of my teaching captains like Sorry, Aardvark and his weak ankles, and Snack. Little of Fronj mixed in there as well. They really taught me a lot, when I first started, and I tried to pass it on and do them justice. I believe I have.”