The Anatomy of a Good Faction Wars Team -- Part Five

V. Build for the Future...But Don't Give Up the Present

"I think the most important part to building a winner is guts. You can't be scared to take chances. No balls no glory is the one philosophy that I live by when it comes to running my team." - Walt Florio, former GM of Stacy's Freak

An interesting topic that comes up in Faction Wars is the theories behind building a contender season after season. Several franchises have maintained their dominance in multiple seasons, which would seem like a difficult task to accomplish, considering general managers are forced to relinquish eight of their ten players.

So how does one do it? It hinges on the draft, of course. Unlike the initial draft, though, the draft pool is already thinned out, with the ten best players already retained by their teams. While a GM can muster together a team based on saavy picks, an important key is to acquire higher picks via regular season trades.

The best GMs have been able to trade away good players, acquire good picks, and still maintain a strong team in their current season. Trading for picks also serves as an important insurance policy.

"[Earlier this season], I optioned to trade away Mr. Anderson for the Hitmen's second round pick. The hidden agenda I had with that trade involved Jeff Hardy returning to the WWE at the Royal Rumble. It was a pipedream, I was working on a real gut instinct, and it failed. But that's why I opted to trade for a pick, instead of dropping one of my bottom talents for Hardy. Even though it failed, I managed to set myself up with three top ten draft picks." - Jason Coellner, The !@#$ers GM

But, one can't become too trade-happy. The loss of too many key players may set a GM up for a strong draft next season, but they should start planning early: because there's no chance of them making the playoffs. Season ten would be a poor example, as all six teams had a chance at the playoffs until Week Fourteen, but should a team be eliminated from contention earlier, it opens up the opportunity to begin the rebuilding process.

"...as soon as you deem your chances at the playoffs no more, start dealing away anyone you don't want to retain. Why not? Some guys who aren't going to be kept could still be a big boost to a playoff team and the team out of the playoffs stands nothing to lose." - Greg Jovi, eGo Busters GM

Greg Jovi also believes (as stated in an earlier part of this series of articles) that having three team anchors is key to remaining in contention every season. The only way to maintain a three-Main Eventer core, a GM needs to hang onto its first round pick.

"Unless there is something huge on the table, I don't ever want to give up my first round pick again. You really NEED that third anchor, because something could easily go wrong with your two retained guys and then where are you at? Fucked." - Greg Jovi, eGo Busters GM

In conclusion, the key to being a good Faction Wars team is summed up best by, who else? Walt Florio:

"Confidence, I believe, is another good quality to have in FW.  You have to be able to be confident in your abilities to find a way to make the talent you have work.  I don't think there is a right or a wrong way to run a team, but I think that if a GM is not confident in how they run their team they are setting themselves up for failure.  I believe you just have to realize you will not win every week, or win the title every season, and just have to be willing to take the chances needed in order to make those adjustments the times you don't win so you can win the next time."