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Mechanic Monday: Bad Draft Variants?

Alright let’s pre-write a Mechanic Monday to build up a buffer.  Hello Future! It’s Fin, from the Past.  I have no idea yet about the Dread Scarabs, and have unthinkingly invested all my money into Hope Bonds.  What an idyllic time!

Today I just want to brainstorm about Drafting Order as a rubber band mechanic.  Obviously this is relevant to Fantasy GM Squared, but this more popped into my head since the NHL Draft Lottery just happened.  The NHL is an interesting case because it had an expansion team (and subsequent expansion draft, prior to the expansion team getting third-best odds for the regular draft’s lottery) join the league two seasons ago, and will have another one joining the League next season (or the season after that? Maybe? Everything’s all messed up, playoffs should not be happening right now, this is all bad).  And apparently, the protocols in place to put the new teams on an even footing have changed from year to year, sometimes reverting back to previous versions.

Got me thinking about what you can do to a Draft Order to favour different priorities.  Now, let’s use the standard draft as a starting point.  1->x, with lower # / better drafting priority going to those who finished worse in the standings, and after all teams have drafted, a new round begins, adhering to the same order.  One obvious twist that Fantasy Leagues do, particularly when the Draft Order is randomized or otherwise not based on any previous standings, is to take that Draft Order and make it snake, aka 1->x, but then next round go x->1, then 1->x again, and so on and so forth.  In a League with parity, a snake draft helps maintain a more even distribution of talent.  Now, the pool of talent itself may not be (and for most real sports, is never) level, so depending on what the concentration of talent is toward the top of the pool, the differences between standard and snake could be magnified, lessened, or moot.  In a thin Draft Class, with a couple of superstars and a plethora of nobodies, maybe only first couple of picks are worth a damn, and after that you’re just throwing darts at a wall, regardless of whether the Draft Order snakes or not.  If there’s a bumper crop of young guns on the market, say, twice as many blue chip draftees as there are teams, then again, everyone should go home pretty evenly happy.  Now, if there are a number of truly draftable players *between* 1x and 2x times the number of teams, well then it’s truly going to hose some people, and who gets hosed will obviously depend on whether the Draft Order is Standard or Snake, with the Standard Draft most benefitting the teams who need to improve and the Snake most benefitting - well, whoever had the good luck to draft mid or late in the round.

So that’s the Default (unilaterally benefits lowest-numbered in the Drafting Order), and its most common variant Snake (tends to promote fair/even distribution of talent), although Fantasy Sports have also popularized the Auction Draft (favours no one, comes down to strategy and resource management).  But how about some more dynamic twists?


Year-to-Year Rotation

Each year, the team that previously drafted first moves to the end of the Draft Order.  Thus, every year a team drafts better and better, before ultimately drafting first, then falling to the end of the Order again to begin the cycle anew.


Round-to-Round Rotation

Each round, the team that previously drafted first moves to the end of the Draft Order.  Should theoretically split the difference between Snake and Standard Drafts.  Could move more than one team at a time.


Kind of a macro and micro application of the same concept.  One smooths out the highs and lows of Standard vs Snake Drafts, the other creates approaching (and overlapping) windows for teams to reach ascendancy.  You could also go the other direction:


Chaos Drafts

Each round, the Draft Order is determined randomly.  That’s it.  That’s the tweet.


Wouldn’t that be fun to see? People would absolutely get hosed, but would have only the cold uncaring cruelty of numbers to blame.  I’d be interested in taking the post-lottery draft orders for each team of a League over the last decade and seeing what the most common path is.  Do teams naturally end up going through something like a Snake over time? What can be learned from teams stuck on the “treadmill” in the middle, consistently making it into the playoffs but incapable of acquiring the talent necessary to close the gap and take it all?

Much to ponder, another time.  See you next week!

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