MasterstrokeSquad building and management
Snake draft
A draft where the pick order reverses every round, so last in round one picks first in round two. The Big Bash uses it for overseas players.
A snake draft is a way of distributing players without an auction: clubs pick in turn, and the order reverses in each round, so first becomes last and last becomes first.
If eight clubs draft, the club with the eighth pick in round one gets the first pick in round two, then the last in round three, and so on. That evens out the advantage of an early pick. Players are usually grouped into salary bands, platinum at the top, and a club that takes a platinum player commits to that band's fixed salary rather than a bid. Australia's Big Bash League introduced a snake draft for its overseas players in 2022, with the first-round order settled by a weighted lottery.
A draft is a different puzzle from an auction. There is no purse to manage and no way to outbid a rival: if the player you want is gone before your pick, he is gone. The skill is in reading the board, ranking players by how much they add to your XI rather than by reputation, and knowing which of your targets will still be there when your turn comes back around.
In Masterstroke: the Australian league does not use money at all. Pick order reverses each round and the board is all that matters.