Blue side vs red side: which one favours whom?
The question "which one is better" has no answer. The two sides do not give you the same thing, and what they give is not worth the same depending on the team that uses it.
Blue side lays down the first pick of the draft, red side the last one. Everything starts from there.
Who picks when
The pick order sets what each side can know at the moment it decides.
| Phase | Pick order |
|---|---|
| Phase 1 | blue, red, red, blue, blue, red |
| Phase 2 | red, blue, blue, red |
Blue side therefore holds picks 1, 4 and 5 of the first phase; red side holds picks 2, 3 and 6, then the first and the last pick of the second phase. In phase 2, it is red side that lays down the first ban.
Two positions matter: the first pick of the draft, which belongs to blue side, and the last one, which belongs to red side.
| Blue side | Red side | |
|---|---|---|
| Tempo | Leads the tempo of the draft | Drafts by reacting |
| Information | Has to show its final composition on B4-B5 | Can hold the flex until the very end |
| What it aims for | OP picks | An advantage from the lane phase onwards |
| Champion pool | Narrow | Adaptive |
What blue side gives you
It leads the tempo. Blue side has the opportunity to lead the tempo of the draft. It is the one that opens, and the opponent positions itself afterwards.
It can have THE best pick. The first pick of the draft gives access to the best available champion — the one nobody else will be able to take.
It tends to draft its own game. Blue side's draft is rather centred on its own playstyle. The word "rather" matters: it is not an exclusivity, it is a tendency.
These three advantages do not cancel each other out.
What red side gives you
It reacts. Red side drafts by reacting: it sees before it chooses.
It can have more counters. Answering what has already been laid down opens up the possibility of lining up more counters.
It holds the flex until the very end. Thanks to the last pick of the draft, red side can keep its intentions ambiguous right up to the very end.
The cost of blue side: revealing its composition
This is the direct counterpart of the flex held by red side. Blue side has to end up showing its final composition on B4-B5 — its fourth and fifth picks fall before the opponent's last pick.
There is one way, and only one, to escape it: having several possible flexes in the final composition. But that is very rare, and you should not count on it when building your draft.
Which side for which team
The advantage is not the same depending on what the team is trying to do.
| Blue side is advantageous if… | Red side is advantageous if… |
|---|---|
| You are aiming for OP picks | You are aiming for an advantage from the lane phase onwards |
| The champion pool is narrow | The champion pool is adaptive |
The champion pool logic is the most concrete one. A team with a narrow pool needs to be sure of getting its champions: the first pick guarantees that. A team with an adaptive pool does not have that need and prefers the last word.
What the advantage depends on
In both cases, the side advantage depends on the profile of the players. Two profiles are opposed:
| Profile | What it plays |
|---|---|
| More comfortable having its champion and being "countered" | Often plays the early less |
| Comfortable playing lots of champions and playing as the counter | Plays the early |
The side advantage also depends on the level of teamplay: the better the teamplay, the less you need to win the early.
These two factors are parallel. They cannot be deduced from one another, and nothing indicates which one weighs the most.
FAQ
Is blue side better than red side?
The question is badly framed. The two sides give different things — the tempo and the first pick on one side, the reaction and the last pick on the other — and their value depends on the profile of the players and on the team's level of teamplay.
What does "holding the flex until the very end" mean?
A flex pick can be played in several positions. Red side, which lays down the last pick of the draft, can keep that ambiguity until the end: the opponent does not know where the champion will be played at the moment it finishes its own composition.
Why does blue side have to reveal its composition on B4-B5?
Because its fourth and fifth picks fall before red side's last pick. When red side picks last, the opposing composition is already complete.
Can you avoid revealing your composition on blue side?
The only way is to have several possible flexes in the final composition. That is very rare.
Should a team with a narrow champion pool prefer blue side?
That is what the first pick logic calls for: a narrow pool needs to secure its champions, and blue side allows that. Conversely, an adaptive pool gets more out of the last word left to red side.
What is draft tempo, concretely?
Leading the tempo means opening and forcing the opponent to position itself relative to what you have laid down. Red side does the opposite: it waits until it has seen before choosing.
Going further
- Side selection between two games — when you take your preferred side, and the two cases where you do nothing of the sort.
- The first pick — what it costs, what it brings, and what cancels out everything else.
- The last pick — the real power of red side.
- How a draft unfolds from A to Z — the complete step by step.
- The draft glossary — all the vocabulary, by family.
- All our draft guides — the pillar page of the cluster.
Test the difference rather than read about it. Replay the same draft from both sides on uDrafter — it is free and no account is needed.