Yeah, leader first is definitely better unless the others somehow leave Inca for us. The four picks after us will get to choose their civ before us, so assuming India / Inca get picked up early, then we would be guaranteed one of China, France, Egypt, Ottomans or Babylon, which are the civs I had mentioned earlier that I'm interested in. Obviously this will change depending on what we see from our starts, but I think that we'll be safe to get a decent civ even if we choose our leader first.
So, about the teams choosing before us.
1. Team Eagles & Condors - Kurumi / HBHR (with Oxyphenbutazone dedlurking)
I think HBHR just registered to sign up for this game, so he's a complete mystery. Oxy and Kurumi are both playing in PB11, but I haven't really been following that game, just kinda checking the lurker thread occasionally. Besides, they had their leaders assigned so that game doesn't tell anything about how they might pick. Kurumi did participate in a snake pick in PB12, with India, Inca, Pacal and Willem banned. He had 5th pick and took Mehmed (with Mansa, Surry, Vicky and Lizzy taken), and on the way back he chose the Mongols (with Ottomans, Egypt, Carthage, China and Sumeria taken). What does that mean for this game? Probably not much. With first pick, my guess is they'll pick up India.
2. Team Dinosaurs - Whiteye / Raptorous (looking for a dedlurker)
These two are some more complete mysteries, with no previous RB experience. Maybe Cal can do more expert detective work and figure out where they're from (or maybe these guys are our Locke / Cervantes
). Anyways, I guess they'll take Pacal.
3. Team Master and Margarita - Slaze / Maga_R (with Jovan Kukic dedlurking)
I think Maga is going to make the choice for this team. I'm really not sure if she'll go for one of the acknowledged power picks, or if she tries something completely unorthodox. I'm not even making any predictions here.
4. Bowsling / Aivoturso
I bet these guys will make a pretty standard pick, probably taking either Inca or Willem.
5. Team Orgynized - Lord Parkin / Arkipeller / Magno_uy (with WilliamLP dedlurking)
I'm so pissed this team is going right before us. LP is definitely going to be able to figure out the best option based on their screenshot and position in the snake pick, probably ending up with whatever we were hoping to grab. But who knows, maybe he'll cave in to Arki and Magno, and try something unorthodox as a teaching opportunity for his teammates. I mean, God knows he doesn't need a strong leader / civ pair to be the heavy favorites in this game. So I'm hoping that they go for something crazy and leave us a strong choice.
And that will bring it to us. With the sixth pick, I really do feel we'll be able to make a pretty strong selection when we're finally up.
And of course, as I already mentioned, everything will change once the screenshots come out.
So, about the teams choosing before us.
1. Team Eagles & Condors - Kurumi / HBHR (with Oxyphenbutazone dedlurking)
I think HBHR just registered to sign up for this game, so he's a complete mystery. Oxy and Kurumi are both playing in PB11, but I haven't really been following that game, just kinda checking the lurker thread occasionally. Besides, they had their leaders assigned so that game doesn't tell anything about how they might pick. Kurumi did participate in a snake pick in PB12, with India, Inca, Pacal and Willem banned. He had 5th pick and took Mehmed (with Mansa, Surry, Vicky and Lizzy taken), and on the way back he chose the Mongols (with Ottomans, Egypt, Carthage, China and Sumeria taken). What does that mean for this game? Probably not much. With first pick, my guess is they'll pick up India.
2. Team Dinosaurs - Whiteye / Raptorous (looking for a dedlurker)
These two are some more complete mysteries, with no previous RB experience. Maybe Cal can do more expert detective work and figure out where they're from (or maybe these guys are our Locke / Cervantes
). Anyways, I guess they'll take Pacal.3. Team Master and Margarita - Slaze / Maga_R (with Jovan Kukic dedlurking)
I think Maga is going to make the choice for this team. I'm really not sure if she'll go for one of the acknowledged power picks, or if she tries something completely unorthodox. I'm not even making any predictions here.
4. Bowsling / Aivoturso
I bet these guys will make a pretty standard pick, probably taking either Inca or Willem.
5. Team Orgynized - Lord Parkin / Arkipeller / Magno_uy (with WilliamLP dedlurking)
I'm so pissed this team is going right before us. LP is definitely going to be able to figure out the best option based on their screenshot and position in the snake pick, probably ending up with whatever we were hoping to grab. But who knows, maybe he'll cave in to Arki and Magno, and try something unorthodox as a teaching opportunity for his teammates. I mean, God knows he doesn't need a strong leader / civ pair to be the heavy favorites in this game. So I'm hoping that they go for something crazy and leave us a strong choice.
And that will bring it to us. With the sixth pick, I really do feel we'll be able to make a pretty strong selection when we're finally up.
And of course, as I already mentioned, everything will change once the screenshots come out.