Draft Lobbies
A draft lobby is a pick-up game with structure. You host a room, players join, teams get formed the way you chose, and the match starts, no spreadsheets, no "who's captain?", no arguing about the pick order.
Browse open lobbies and host your own from Play → Draft Lobby.
Hosting a room
Creating a lobby is three steps: Draft Mode, Match Settings, then Lobby Rules.
Draft mode
Pick how teams get formed:
| Mode | What happens |
|---|---|
| Auto-Split | No draft, teams are auto-balanced when the lobby fills. |
| Captains Draft | Two captains take turns picking players. |
| Host Assigns | You build both teams yourself. |
| Pre-Made Teams | Pick two saved teams to face off. |
Pre-Made Teams has an extra wrinkle: a single team is enough. Set one team and leave the other side open for a team-against-the-world match, or turn on Inner Squad to split one roster across both sides for an intra-squad scrim. Starters fill in automatically and you can tap a player to swap them between the lineup and the bench.
Captain selection
For a captains draft, choose how the two captains are decided:
- Top 2 by Rank
- Host & Next Highest (only when the host is playing)
- Random Two
- Manual: you pick them in the room
Draft order
- Snake (1-2-2-1)
- Alternating (1-2-1-2)
- Front-Loaded (1-2-2-1-2-1)
Lobby rules
- Lobby access: Open, Friends, or Invite-only. Setting both teams up front locks the lineup, so the lobby stays private.
- Require approval: players request to join and you pick who plays from a queue, instead of first-come-first-served.
- Host only: create and manage the lobby without being added as a player.
- Keep lobby together: everyone in your current party joins on the same team.
- Rank gate: an optional minimum/maximum rank for joining.
Match settings (map pool, MR, best-of, overtime, knife round, coaches, map veto, region) are configured inline in the same flow, see Matches for what each option does.
The draft room
Once players are in, the room runs the draft:
- A pick clock shows who's on the clock, whose turn is next, and the full pick order.
- A coin flip decides first pick where it matters.
- The draft log records every pick as it happens.
- Lobby chat runs alongside the draft (players only during the draft itself).
- Drag a player to the bench to make them a backup, per side or unassigned.
- The lobby has an expiry timer, and the host can extend it for another 30 minutes.
- Copy Invite Link pulls people in directly, and you can invite friends straight from the room.
Substitutes and the sub queue
If the lobby is full, players can join the waitlist. When a slot opens they auto-join, no one has to notice and re-invite them. Backups sit on each team's bench and can be swapped into the lineup at any time.
Join requests
With require approval on, the host gets a Join Requests queue and can accept a player into the lineup, accept them as a backup, or deny them.
Starting the match
When both teams are set, the host hits Start Match. Players check in, the server is provisioned, veto runs, and from there it's an ordinary 5Stack match, demo, stats, replay, and highlights all included.
Re-host Last recreates your previous lobby with the same settings in one click.
Browsing lobbies
The lobby list shows every open room with its pool, region, player and sub counts, and average rank. Filter by average rank and has space, search by any player in the room, and sort by closest-to-full, newest, or rank.
You can join as yourself or join with your party, bringing your whole matchmaking group into the room together.