Make the Playoffs: drafting underdogs

A weaker pool, a lower bar — how to squeeze a qualifying run out of role players.

Make the Playoffs draws only from the underdogs — players whose peak PIR was under 10. Nobody in this pool is a star, so the run will not go undefeated and it is not meant to. The goal is to assemble a five good enough to simply reach the playoffs.

Because everyone is modest, small edges decide it. The best underdog in a bucket is often meaningfully better than the fifth-best, so it pays to use your re-spins to find a club-season with real depth rather than settling for the first thin board you land on.

Coverage matters even more

With no star to carry a category on their own, a balanced underdog five out-performs a lopsided one by a wider margin than in Classic. A role-playing rebounder or a defensive specialist is genuinely valuable here — they cover a category your modest scorers cannot. Draft the specialists, not just the highest scorers among the underdogs.