Compared to the punishment the Red Dragon Region endured during its Draft Order Gauntlet, Sunday afternoon’s Black Dragon version felt almost civilized. The board moved more smoothly, the chaos never quite reached the same level, and by the time the final team had been placed, it looked like the region might escape with a relatively uneventful finish.
Then the final roll happened.
What had been a steady, manageable Gauntlet suddenly turned upside down—literally—and the entire Black Dragon draft order changed in one clean sweep.
For a region already carrying more championship history than any other in the WRL, it was a fitting way to determine who would draft where.
Music City Miracles Opens the Show
The Music City Miracles became the first team placed on the board, opening the Gauntlet in the No. 12 position. Lucky Ass Ferg joined them shortly afterward, but the Miracles did not stay around long. They were replaced on the board by Groot as the early placements continued, with the Aviators and Lunatics also joining the action.
Then, at the 15-minute mark, Snake Eyes appeared.
Just like it had during the Red Dragon Gauntlet, the roll cleared the entire board and erased every placement made to that point. The Music City Miracles were already gone by then, but Lucky Ass Ferg, Groot, the Aviators, and Lunatics all disappeared at once, forcing the Black Dragon Region to start over from scratch.
This time, however, the reset did not lead to another marathon.
A Smoother Rebuild
Coming out of the Snake Eyes reset, Brady Sits Down to #1 became the first team drawn from the hat and landed in the No. 2 position. From there, the Gauntlet settled down. Teams found their way onto the board, the action rolls moved things around without constantly tearing the entire process apart, and Black Dragon began filling positions at a much more comfortable pace.
There was still movement, of course. There always is. But unlike the Red Dragon Gauntlet, where teams seemed to disappear almost as often as they arrived, the Black Dragon board slowly moved toward completion.
Then came a neat little twist nobody realized until afterward.
The final team placed on the board was the Music City Miracles.
The same team that had opened the entire Gauntlet by becoming the first team placed was also the last team to make it onto the completed board. After beginning the afternoon in the No. 12 position and being replaced early, the Miracles returned at the very end and settled into the No. 11 spot.
They had effectively bookended the entire placement phase.
At that moment, the board was full.
And then the Gauntlet reminded everyone that “full” does not mean “finished.”
The Final Roll Flips Everything
The final 2d4 roll produced an 8, triggering one of the most dramatic actions available under the new final-roll rules: flip the entire board.
There was no partial movement and no selective swap. Every position reversed cleanly. No. 1 became No. 12, No. 2 became No. 11, No. 3 became No. 10, and the pattern continued all the way through the middle, where No. 6 swapped with No. 7.
In one roll, the entire draft order was rewritten.
That one action completely changed the ending for several teams, but perhaps none more dramatically than the Music City Miracles. After beginning the Gauntlet in the 12th spot, disappearing from the board, returning as the last team placed in the 11th spot, they were suddenly launched all the way to No. 2 when the board flipped.
From the bottom edge of the board to one of the most valuable positions in the draft, all because of the final roll.
The Maniax benefited even more, landing in the top spot after the reversal, while Lunatics saw the opposite result and ended the afternoon at No. 12.
The Black Dragon Gauntlet had saved its biggest moment for last.
The Black Dragon Draft Order
When the board finally stopped moving, the Maniax owned the No. 1 pick, followed immediately by the Music City Miracles at No. 2. Lucky Ass Ferg claimed the third spot, while Groot landed fourth and the Diablo Valley Detectives rounded out the top five.
The Bearcats finished sixth, with Here For The Beer seventh and defending WRL Champion Turd Ferguson eighth. Teds Lasso landed ninth, followed by Brady Sits Down to #1 in tenth, the Aviators in eleventh, and Lunatics at the turn in twelfth.
The final order:
- Maniax
- Music City Miracles
- Lucky Ass Ferg
- Groot
- Diablo Valley Detectives
- Bearcats
- Here For The Beer
- Turd Ferguson
- Teds Lasso
- Brady Sits Down to #1
- Aviators
- Lunatics
The board itself was finalized at roughly the 46-minute mark, with the remainder of the 54-minute broadcast devoted to the other topics on the show.
Championship History Meets Draft Position
The Black Dragon Region entered this Gauntlet with something the other two regions simply do not have: a concentration of WRL championship history.
The 2022 co-champions, Bearcats and Lucky Ass Ferg, are both here. So are 2023 champion Lunatics, 2024 champion Teds Lasso, and 2025 champion Turd Ferguson. That gives Black Dragon five championship banners spread across the region before anyone has even drafted a player.
Now those teams know where they will begin building their 2026 rosters.
Lucky Ass Ferg emerged from the flip with the No. 3 pick. Bearcats landed sixth. Turd Ferguson will draft eighth. Teds Lasso will select ninth. Lunatics, meanwhile, will begin at No. 12 and immediately pick again at the start of Round 2 in the serpentine format.
That last spot may look like the worst result on paper, but as always, the turn brings its own advantage. Lunatics will have back-to-back selections every other round, giving the 2023 champion a different kind of leverage.
And that is what makes these Gauntlets so much fun. The board decides the order, but the order does not decide the season.
Rule from the Shadows
The Black Dragon Region did not need the same marathon chaos as Red Dragon to create a memorable Draft Gauntlet. Sunday’s event was shorter, smoother, and much more controlled—but the final roll carried enough weight to change everything at once.
Music City Miracles began the day first onto the board, disappeared, returned last, and then shot all the way to No. 2. Maniax ended up with the first selection. Lunatics fell to the turn. Five championship banners are now scattered throughout a draft order that did not truly exist until the final roll flipped the entire board.
Red Dragon survived the fire.
Black Dragon waited until the end to strike.
Rule from the Shadows, indeed.