Most snake drafts in All 22 Football are won and lost in twenty minutes of arithmetic. Twenty-two jobs have to be filled per manager, but the pool is not evenly deep across those jobs. Seven of them want heavy bodies, five of them share the same short list of linemen, and two of them have exactly one body in the entire dex above a 65 grade. The snake order decides who gets the first crack at each shortage; your cheat sheet decides whether you take it or reach past it.
How the snake order actually works
Round one runs in draft order, round two runs backwards, round three runs forwards again, and the pattern continues to round 22. The reversal keeps a shared pool fair without reshuffling the order between picks. Each manager fills one open job per pick, so a round is not tied to a position: the manager on the clock can take a left tackle in round one and a receiver in round two while the other manager answers with two linemen. That freedom is what creates runs — the order is fixed but the shortage in the pool is not.
| Managers | Picks per round | Total picks | Draft length at the 30-second clock |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | 44 | About 22 minutes |
| 3 | 3 | 66 | About 33 minutes |
| 4 | 4 | 88 | About 44 minutes |
With an odd number of managers, the manager who picks first in a round also picks last in the same round once the order reverses, so track the position in the queue rather than the round number. The most useful thing to memorise is which picks are yours next: in a two-manager draft you are always picking twice within two picks of your opponent, and in a four-manager draft you have three picks between your turns, which is enough time for a line run to start and finish without you.
The pick clock decides which mistakes are possible
A clock is not decoration. Every extra ten seconds of thinking time adds nearly four minutes to a 22-round draft for each manager, and the length of the clock determines the kind of preparation that works. Long clocks reward browsing the pool; short clocks reward a written list with three names per position group. Running out of time forfeits the pick and hands the turn to the next manager, who can then take two bodies before you are back on the clock — which is fatal at jobs where the pool is two or three bodies deep.
| Clock | Two-manager draft length | What you can afford to do |
|---|---|---|
| 60 seconds | About 45 minutes | Filter by generation, check height and weight on every pick, and compare two candidates per slot |
| 30 seconds | About 22 minutes | A written board of three target names per position group, plus one fallback each |
| 15 seconds | About 11 minutes | A memorised queue only: line, interior, edge, linebacker, speed, kicker |
Prepare for the clock you are playing, not the clock you wish you had. On a 15-second clock, the manager with four linemen listed in priority order beats the manager who knows more about the pool but has to read it live.
Restrictions: generation, region and typing
A rolled restriction is the single biggest variable in a draft, because it changes where the shortages are. Generation and region restrictions shrink the pool in the same way — Kanto is Generation 1, Johto is Generation 2 and so on — while a typing restriction keeps the pool large but hollows out entire position groups. The generation table below shows what each roll does to the two jobs that break drafts: the offensive line and the kicker.
| Generation | Draftable bodies | Best line body | Best receiver | Kicker | Bodies grading 60+ at a line job |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gen 1 | 151 | Snorlax — 65 at LT | Alakazam — 65 at WR1 | Jolteon — 55 | 1 |
| Gen 2 | 100 | Tyranitar — 61 at LT | Houndoom — 59 at WR1 | Shuckle — 61 | 1 |
| Gen 3 | 135 | Aggron — 66 at LT | Latias — 65 at WR1 | Swellow — 54 | 4 |
| Gen 4 | 107 | Hippowdon — 64 at LT | Darkrai — 65 at WR1 | Glaceon — 56 | 1 |
| Gen 5 | 156 | Cobalion — 57 at LT | Keldeo Ordinary — 66 at WR1 | Meloetta Aria — 55 | 0 |
| Gen 6 | 72 | Avalugg — 74 at LT | Greninja — 62 at WR1 | Hawlucha — 54 | 1 |
| Gen 7 | 88 | Melmetal — 58 at LT | Zeraora — 72 at WR1 | Marshadow — 62 | 0 |
| Gen 8 | 96 | Stonjourner — 59 at LT | Sneasler — 64 at WR1 | Greedent — 51 | 0 |
| Gen 9 | 120 | Iron Hands — 62 at LT | Kilowattrel — 67 at WR1 | Grafaiai — 55 | 3 |
Read the last column carefully, because it changes the whole draft plan. In a Gen 1 roll there is exactly one body in the 151-entry pool that grades 60 or better at any of the five line jobs: Snorlax, at 65 at left tackle and 67 at defensive tackle. In Gen 5, Gen 7 and Gen 8 that number is zero, so the line floor is a 57, a 58 or a 59 and you cannot fix it — the win condition shifts to the speed jobs, where Gen 7 holds both the best receiver in the game at 72 and the best kicker in the dex at 62. Gen 9 is the opposite roll: 120 bodies, 17 of them at 110 speed or better and 11 over 300 kg, so both the heavy and the fast markets are open and you draft normally.
Typing restrictions work differently. A roll such as every pick needing a fire, fighting or steel primary type cuts the pool to 142 bodies while leaving the top of the board almost intact: Aggron still grades 66 at left tackle and 71 at defensive tackle, Annihilape 66 at running back, Machamp 65 at every linebacker job and Marshadow 62 at kicker. The damage is at the thin end. In that pool exactly one body clears 60 at each outside linebacker job, two at each corner job, one at kicker, and no free safety clears 60 at all — the best is Sawk at 58.
| Job | Bodies at 60+ | Best option | What it means on draft night |
|---|---|---|---|
| LT, LG, RG, RT | 3 each | Aggron — 66 | The top of the line survives, the floor does not |
| C | 4 | Iron Hands — 65 | Better than a free draft at this job |
| DT1, DT2 | 5 each | Aggron — 71 | The deepest heavy pool under this restriction |
| K | 1 | Marshadow — 62 | Take him early or play the season with a 54 |
| LOLB, ROLB | 1 each | Machamp — 65 | One body for two jobs: one of them is below 60 |
| CB1, CB2 | 2 each | Sneasler — 63 | Corners get thin fast, and they already cap at 64 |
| FS | 0 | Sawk — 58 | There is no above-floor free safety in the pool at all |
| SS | 3 | Conkeldurr — 63 | Strong safety is the safe secondary job here |
Under any restriction, re-run the scarcity math before the first pick instead of using your usual board. A good habit is to mark jobs with two or fewer bodies above 60 in the restricted pool and treat them as round one to six targets, then mark jobs with ten or more and let them fall. The full scarcity picture for the unrestricted pool lives in the snake draft page.
Plan the 22-pick budget
Every manager has 22 picks and 22 jobs, so the question is never how many picks to spend on a unit — it is when. Budget by scarcity: the units with the fewest above-floor bodies get your early picks, and the units with deep pools get the middle rounds. The column on the right is the number of bodies grading 60 or better at that unit's jobs in the unrestricted pool.
| Unit | Jobs | Target rounds | Bodies at 60+ | Reach rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offensive line | LT, LG, C, RG, RT | 1 to 6 | 11 at any line job | Reach immediately: the same dozen bodies serve all five jobs |
| Defensive interior | DT1, DT2 | 2 to 6 | 13 | Reach for the second body once one is gone — seven names overlap with the line |
| Edge | LE, RE | 4 to 9 | 10 at LE, 13 at RE | Reach for right edge: one body clears 65 |
| Linebackers | LOLB, MLB, ROLB | 6 to 12 | 7, 9 and 6 | Reach for the third body: three jobs share one short list |
| Secondary | CB1, CB2, FS, SS | 9 to 16 | 7, 6, 11 and 16 | Never reach: no corner clears 65 in the whole pool |
| Quarterback | QB | 4 to 9 | 15 | Wait: fifteen bodies clear 60 and the tenth-best is still a 63 |
| Receivers | WR1, WR2 | 7 to 13 | 24 each | Wait: the deepest premium group in the game |
| Tight end | TE | 8 to 14 | 16 | Wait for the middle, but take the 65 if it is sitting there |
| Running back | RB | 10 to 16 | 11 | Wait: the size band is wide and the top three are close |
| Kicker | K | 21 to 22 | 2 | Wait in a free draft, reach in a restriction draft |
Positional runs, and the round-by-round target sheet
A run is two or more picks in a row at the same position group, and it is not a bluff: the bodies are genuinely leaving the pool. To see how a run resolves, take the priority order in the table below and draft it against one opponent who uses the same plan, alternating picks within each round. Neither manager reaches, both fill the scarcest job first, and the market clears like this — the two body names are what the first and second manager get at that job.
| Round | Target | First manager gets | Second manager gets | Drop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LT | Avalugg — 74 | Aggron — 66 | 8 |
| 2 | RT | Snorlax — 65 | Hippowdon — 64 | 1 |
| 3 | RG | Iron Hands — 64 | Roaring Moon — 62 | 2 |
| 4 | LG | Metagross — 61 | Tyranitar — 61 | 0 |
| 5 | C | Registeel — 60 | Melmetal — 59 | 1 |
| 6 | DT1 | Great Tusk — 65 | Glastrier — 64 | 1 |
| 7 | DT2 | Stonjourner — 62 | Cobalion — 60 | 2 |
| 8 | LE | Volcanion — 67 | Crabominable — 65 | 2 |
| 9 | RE | Dracozolt — 64 | Hydreigon — 64 | 0 |
| 10 | MLB | Cloyster — 70 | Iron Leaves — 65 | 5 |
| 11 | LOLB | Machamp — 65 | Slaking — 64 | 1 |
| 12 | ROLB | Salamence — 63 | Rampardos — 61 | 2 |
| 13 | QB | Deoxys Normal — 68 | Sharpedo — 66 | 2 |
| 14 | WR1 | Zeraora — 72 | Kilowattrel — 67 | 5 |
| 15 | TE | Druddigon — 64 | Lickilicky — 64 | 0 |
| 16 | RB | Annihilape — 66 | Infernape — 65 | 1 |
| 17 | SS | Genesect — 66 | Cresselia — 64 | 2 |
| 18 | FS | Landorus Incarnate — 65 | Tornadus Incarnate — 65 | 0 |
| 19 | WR2 | Keldeo Ordinary — 66 | Darkrai — 65 | 1 |
| 20 | CB1 | Ogerpon — 64 | Sneasler — 63 | 1 |
| 21 | CB2 | Weavile — 62 | Iron Moth — 61 | 1 |
| 22 | K | Marshadow — 62 | Shuckle — 61 | 1 |
Three things fall out of that table. First, the five line rounds are the whole draft: rounds one to five consume ten of the eleven bodies in the pool that grade 60 or better at any line job, which is why a manager who opens with a receiver is finished before the first timeout. Second, the biggest single drop is Avalugg at left tackle — eight points to the next body — and the next-largest are Cloyster at middle linebacker and Zeraora at receiver, both five-point cliffs. Third, the snake itself is fair: the manager picking first in every odd round ends up with a stronger board, but both managers clear the floor, with no slot below 60 for the first and 59 for the second.
Run that pair of boards through the season simulator over 40,000 seasons each and the difference is small in grade and large in ceiling. The first manager's board grades 65.2 overall, averages 12.2 wins and runs the table 50 times in 40,000. The second manager's board grades 63.5, averages 11.7 wins and runs it 14 times. Both are contenders; only one is a realistic 17-0 board. That is the honest reason to care about the snake: the order costs you about half a win, and the picks you waste cost the rest.
When to reach and when to wait
- Reach for the second heavy body, not the first. Avalugg is 8 points clear at left tackle and the next tier is Aggron at 66 and Snorlax at 65. If two linemen and one defensive tackle are gone before your pick, take the fourth heavy body rather than a receiver.
- Reach a round early at center. Only six bodies clear 60 there and the fourth-best is already a 61. A run at tackle drains center too, because the lists overlap.
- Reach for right edge in round four or five. One body clears 65 and the drop to the third-best is four points. Left edge can wait a round longer.
- Never reach for a corner or a kicker in a free draft. Corners cap at a 64 grade for the best body in the pool, and the kicker market loses one point between the best and second-best body. Spend those picks where grade actually exists.
- Wait on quarterback and receiver. Fifteen quarterbacks clear 60 and the tenth-best is a 63; twenty-four bodies clear 60 at each receiver job. Neither is worth a top-five pick.
- Reach when the pool count is two. If a job has two or fewer above-floor bodies left and you need it, the pick you save by waiting is worth less than the four grade points you lose.
Five signals to read on draft night
- A kicker in the first ten rounds. Your opponent is not drafting scarcity. Let them — the market only drops one point from Marshadow to Shuckle.
- Two linemen in a row. Join the run on your next pick. Ten of the eleven line bodies above 60 fit in five rounds, so once it starts there is no later tier to fall back on.
- A receiver run. It strips cornerback too: four bodies grade 60+ at both WR1 and CB1 — Zeraora, Regieleki, Sneasler and Iron Moth. If receivers are flying off the board, take your corners before the overlap disappears.
- Your opponent's board shape. Three skill picks in the first six rounds means their line is being funded by whatever is left, so you can wait a round on the heavy jobs you assumed you had to reach for.
- The second-best body is the real price. When both managers need the same job, the grade you should compare against is not the best body but the next one — that is what you actually get by waiting, and at left tackle it costs eight points.
Draft the board, then run the season
A finished snake-draft board can be judged the same way as any other: 17 games against a schedule that is scaled to your own rating. Drafted boards tend to beat free-built ones on balance, because the pool forces you to fill the jobs nobody wants instead of stacking famous names. When the last pick is in, take the board to the <a href="/17-0-challenge/">17-0 challenge</a> and run the season — and if you want to know which slots will decide that run, read the <a href="/blog/how-to-go-17-0-all-22/">17-0 blueprint</a> before you simulate.
Set up the room and start the clock
Pick a clock, roll a restriction, and draft 22 rounds from the full 1,025-body pool against a friend or the clock.