Russ' Roundup - Building a Championship TagPro Team

Issue #9 of Russ' Roundup is hot off the press. Today we dig into the secret sauce. What is the key to maximizing a roster?

Obviously step #1 is getting undervalued players

Almost all tagpro championships are built upon drafting or acquiring severely undervalued players. And while you can't always guarantee getting a steal, you can keep an open mind about each and every player. If you have any player on a 'Do Not Draft' list then you're basically destroying the integrity of the league and competitive fairness (I would never). If you aren't willing to collaborate with a Hitler-adjacent person, maybe captaining is just not for you (yes I am likely drafting ww again). But beyond that, a key secret is maximizing your team and getting the most out of your players. You can't always guarantee a bunch of steals but you can make sure the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And here's how you do that. You get players who compliment each others styles. Two O players who both play the exact same way, or two D players who both play the exact same way create big time gaps instead of covering for each other. The best teams pair up complementary styles. Today I wanted to dig into the 4 main roles of a TagPro team using the recent Superball Champs Trippin' Balls as a framework. I firmly believe you should draft and build your TagPro teams with these roles in mind:

1. The Spark/Finisher (BallSaget)

Everyone knows this archetype of player. The one who slams their keys as hard as possible upon respawning to get to the other side of the map. The ones who've never once considered playing 3D. The ones who'd rather grab than make the 'correct' play. This role (while it infuriates me as a player) is crucial for a Championship TagPro team though. Someone has to be the creator. Someone has to have insane holds/lives during pup rounds. And of course someone has to be walking in for caps while their teammates do all the dirty work. And while there's far more Trae Young's than SGA's out there in this role it is a key role.

2. The Quartermaster (Jazzz)

This role is often antagonistically called a 'support offender'. They are still grabbing and capping, but really they're the one grabbing pups (instead of being afk on re), they push off re to get returns for caps, they pick up clutch blocks and go for decoy grabs to make their teammates look good and of course they actually play some defense. For this player it's less about being the star of every possession and more about making sure the possession happens at all (think Sadness or Ty). When you pair two grab happy psychos together you get negative synergy. Pair two Quartermasters together and you've got nobody willing to actually take the risky grab.

3. The Field General (ASAP)

The Field General plays defense but at times they are itching to get a grab in. They are often the most vocal of the 4 teammates and are aggressive when it comes to setting up for pups. They stay ahead, contain and let their D partner just rack up returns and prevent. They also are usually much better at delaying returns and sort of just fill in the gaps around their teammates. On a good team this role can dominate GASP as they get easy cheeky caps and their D stats look amazing.

4. The Wall (Alphachurro)

This role is the antithesis of a BallSaget (think Gman10 or nameless when he's not trolling). They are happy to stay in their own base for the entire 10 min game. They sometimes don't even like going for pups, because they would rather keep the flag in base. They have excellent mechs and at times judge their success not by wins/losses; but instead by how many returns they can get. When they do find themselves on the other side of the map they often just fucking flaccid grab (aka Arbybear). Overall this is also an important role in TagPro. Because I don't know if you've ever played a game where everyone is just staying ahead and no one is willing to force the flag carrier a certain way or no one has that laser-focused killing instinct. It's miserable and a smart flag carrier is just gonna live forever and eventually cap.

Step 2 - Profit

The key to building a championship TagPro team is have the most talented team BUT I'd argue nearly as important is making sure you have a team with synergy and complimentary skillsets. The best example of this method in my opinion is the Boostin Celtics (minors S37). They were probably the most talented team, but they essentially had 3 BallSaget's. And while they had enough talent to get to the muper, they didn't have complimentary styles to bring home a championship.

O-Balls - The Sparks/Finishers

jig	Sugar	ez	Gamma	DiegoOnMac	Avsy26(avsy)
fender	mtr	BALLDON'TLIE	Iodized Salt	Nanner
d0pe	Carrrrrl	DT	kl	elonmusk
chuggo	BallsToYou.	SmallyBigs	snakes	drinks?

Quartermasters - Support O

Ty	jazzz	Corbeh	Spheroid.	GOBLIN	isaballa	Kindly
Messi	omni	Vader	Borgus	o o l e r	DYD	Flagcatchr(Ntdaspi.dll)
KING KRULE	Sadness	Spjork	doku	Damian	solongloser	Nikon
rina	Tinderfella	Tumblewood	PASSTHEFLAG	Sgt Ducky	josephyossi	BabyB

Field Generals - Support D

ASAP	fm	Kep	GtR	j0sh(josh61616)	Regicide
anti-re	Bam	mc(MC Ride)	omar	tits	CA$H.
ft	I'm a horse	DAD.	leblanc	Snowball	whiff
oatz_mgoatz	Robiny	Riley_2025	Namelessness	jverse	havok

D-Balls - The Walls

Alphachurro	bbb	Taurus	Toidi	Imortallix	NateH
mex	Button	Fizzy(yawn)	broseph	Karasu	3.1 Thor
phreak	DudeMcGuy	Turbo	Anti_Social	Cashews	leszer77
Syn	Cashews	BoF	Trapsin	Chritt	Mueller