How to run a captains’ pick that everyone enjoys

Last updated 9 October 2026

Captains choosing in turn is the oldest way to make teams, and the easiest to get wrong. How to keep it quick, fair and kind.

Why captains still work

A captains’ pick turns making teams into part of the event. People enjoy the tension, the captains feel ownership of their team, and there is no argument about who chose what. Done badly, though, it is slow, and the last person picked remembers it for a long time.

Choose the order before you start

The pick order decides how fair the teams end up. The usual ones:

  • Straight order: captains pick in the same order every round. Simple, but the first captain gets the best player in every round.
  • Snake: the order reverses each round, so whoever picks last in one round picks first in the next. This is the usual choice, and fair for most groups.
  • Third-round reversal: like snake, but the order flips again from the third round. It evens out a very strong first pick.
  • Lowest total picks next: whoever has the weakest team so far goes next. The fairest, if you have a rating for everyone.

Decide who picks first by a coin toss or a draw, in front of everyone, so nobody can say it was rigged.

Keep it moving

  • Use a timer. Thirty seconds a pick is plenty. It stops one captain deliberating while everyone else waits.
  • Let captains plan ahead. If each captain keeps a shortlist, a missed turn picks the top name instead of holding everyone up.
  • Show the picks as they happen. A screen everyone can see makes it an event rather than a queue.

Be kind to the last picks

Someone has to go last. You can make it matter less:

  • Pick captains from the middle of the group, not the strongest players, so the picks spread out.
  • Stop when each team has its core, and deal the rest out fairly instead of picking them one by one.
  • Keep the order private and reveal whole teams at the end, so nobody watches themselves go unpicked.

Doing it with Draftastic

  1. Start a draft and choose Captains in Setup. Pick the order and, if you like, a timer.
  2. Choose a captain for each team, or let Draftastic pick them at random.
  3. Captains pick on their own phones. Their phone stays awake and chimes when it’s their turn, and they can keep a list of who they want next.
  4. The Stage shows each pick on the big screen as it lands, with the countdown, so the room can follow along.

Try it

Draftastic is free. You can start a draft without an account, and people join on their phones with a code.

Start a draft