IT’S GO TIME!!!!!! LET’S GET READY TO DRAFT!!!! The Professional Grappling Federation starts this Sunday, November 3rd with the AUCTION DRAFT!!! It’s one of the most entertaining parts of the PGF. The Draft is where championships teams are made. Anyone who has played fantasy sports knows the draft is one of the most fun parts of the experience; and the Draft is definitely one of the best parts of the PGF!
The four legendary coaches will all have 10,000 PGF points to use in drafting their five-member teams. Then, throughout the four days of the PGF season, each team member will have three matches a day for a total of 12 matches for each competitor for the season. Each time a competitor scores a submission, the points they earn for their submission is added to the team’s total. Competitors and their teams earn 3 points for a BREAK (joint lock), 6 points for a KILL (strangle); and 1 bonus point if the sub is in less than one minute. Having a strong team matters even more because each night will have three Blocks of matches. A Block represents 10 matches, with the four teams breaking into two face-offs (e.g. 5 matches where Team A faces Team B and 5 matches where Team C faces Team D). Whichever team earns the most points in a block will get an additional team point added to each of their player’s totals.
The Draft order was randomized this season, adding a new twist. In previous seasons, the draft would start with the competitor at the top of the pre-season rankings and work its way down. In PGF Season 6, that led to 75% of the teams spending more than half of their budget on their first pick. This season, the Coaches will have to very strategic with their bidding. We might even see an “intentional walk” where all four coaches choose not to bid on a player, sending them to the back of the line/queue.
Fans interested in what the Draft might look like (strategy and bidding-wise) can check out two drafts done by folks who know a little about the PGF. The PGF Insiders had a mock draft using a random draw of competitors HERE. Then, T J De Santis and the Commissioner, Brandon Mccaghren, hosted another Mock Draft with the actual draft order HERE, and the last part HERE.
While we have less than 24 hours before the draft, let’s discuss some things to look for and strategies we might see…
First, the most important thing to do before entering an auction draft is RESEARCH! Fantasy managers know you have to really do the work to put yourself in a position to really put a value on a player. The Editorial Board at Eggheadwarrior.com researches every competitor, looking at their matches on FloGrappling, their Smoothcoomp profiles, their matches on Enigma JiuJitsu TV, their matches on UFC Fight Pass, their matches on YouTube, their Instagram profiles, their grade school report cards (e.g. Elijah Carlton’s D+ in PE in fourth grade for led us to drop him a bit in our rankings). The PGF Season 7 roster is STACKED with very active competitors and many of them have faced each other previously. While no one piece of information is dispositive, every bit helps build the mosaic of your evaluation of a competitor. For the fans at home building their own draft board, the EggheadWarrior.com Editorial Board put together some power rankings that can get you started, check them out HERE.
BUDGET/SET A CEILING: Doing all that research should help a coach set a ceiling price on each competitor. As referenced earlier, three teams spent more than 50% of their budget on their first picks, leaving the fourth team in the drivers seat for the rest of the rounds. That fourth team just happened to with the PGF Season 6 title. So, having the discipline to let a player go that has gone too high is important.
MAKE THEM OVERSPEND: As a corollary of not overspending yourself, any time you can prey on your opponent’s zeal to get someone – it’s goodness. Sometimes coaches/fantasy managers make it obvious they really, really want someone – whether it’s because their a fan or maybe that competitor is in their jiu jitsu lineage/association. Any time a coach can find that bias towards a competitor in their opponents, they should seize on the opportunity to bid the opponent up. Every bit of money you can make your opponent spend on a player is less they can wield against you in the bidding for a player you may want.
KEEP ON TOP OF THE NUMBERS: Let’s see which coach either has a helper with a laptop or is taking notes, tracking which coach has spent what money in the draft. With this randomized auction order, knowing how much money you have and how much everyone else has (and how many roster spots everyone still has to fill) is crucial. If you know a competitor is going to try to take your desired player, but they have to fill two spots, you may be able to bid them up on one roster spot, ensuring they don’t have enough money to challenge you for the player you want.
HAVE YOUR TARGETS, BUT DON’T PASS UP A BARGAIN: Every coach will do their own rankings and have their favorites. For good reason, they should try to get the competitors they think will produce the most points. At the same time, when a bargain comes along, a coach should pounce. For example, in the PGF Insiders mock draft, Egghead was able to secure Marcin Maciulewicz for $700. Keeping in mind each roster spot is essentially budgeted for $2,000, that’s a steal. Even if coaches were unsure of how many submissions he would get in the season, he’s a beast that won’t get subbed himself. Every team needs a stopper like Nathan Haddad in PGF World Season 6 – Nathan only got one submission in the season (a very nice kill), but he NEVER GAVE UP POINTS! For the final person on a roster to not give up points is key to winning those blocks and to not allowing your competitors to add to their team totals. Haddad’s performance definitely helped Coach Jean Jacques Machado and Team XMartial win the title last season. With the random order, a Coach might be smart to pick up a bargain early, saving more money for their targets.
DON’T BE AFRAID TO MAKE A SPLASH: In poker, it’s customary to bet at least three times the big blind when you have a decent hand. It’s well established that people value things they have (i.e. something they posses and now could possibly lose) more than if they didn’t have it and were looking at possibly acquiring it. The pain of losing something is more powerful than of not getting something. So, if a coach wants a player, it can be a good strategy to put out a serious (but not crazy bid). For example, one mock draft had many managers placing $100 bids to start…this low bid provides no barrier of entry to other competitors. The other coaches have no problem raising it to $200. And the more competitors that enter the fray, the more competitors that have an emotional stake in winning that player -because when the coach had that top bid for even a second they “had” that player and when they are outbid, they feel a loss. Sometimes, you just need to make a little splash (like the $2000 bid Egghead made for Kyle Boehm) that keeps the tire kickers from even considering taking a run at the competitor you want.
Those are at least some strategies and things to possibly observe during the PGF World Season 7 draft tomorrow. The Draft and every day of the PGF World Season 7 Regular Season will be available LIVE and FREE on YouTube HERE. Every sports draft, whether it be real sports or fantasy sports, is a blast. The PGF World 7 Draft will be insanely fun as well. Because, the PGF is everything you love about sports, plus jiu jitsu!
Keep following PGF World and Brandon Mccaghren on Instagram and keep tuning in to the PGF Insiders on PGF World’s YouTube page. We normally go live at 7pm Eastern on Sundays. If you want a comprehensive article that breaks down everything we know about PGF World Season 7, check out my “All the Details” article. It’s an amazing time to be a jiu jitsu fan. So much is happening to grow the sport. But the biggest thing you can do to help it become professional is to follow and support the Professional Grappling Federation World. After all, it’s everything you love about sports, plus jiu jitsu!
BTW, if you’re looking to get some new jiu jitsu gear, PGF World Season 6 Team Champions XMARTIAL has some great gear. I wrote a review of my XMartial shorts and rash guard HERE. If you use the coupon code “EGGHEAD,” you will get 15% off your order (and you’ll help me out a bit). XMARTIAL has some really fun rash guards and everyone I know loves their shorts. So check them out.
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