Our local group started an Escalation Tournament that went over a span of a few weeks and it turned out to be very successful! Having each match up schedule their own game made it extremely easy. We usually struggle to get 6 people out for a tournament, but we were able to run the league with 14!

We’re now looking to the next phase, and an idea of a Season was tossed around. I wanted to toss some ideas on the forums and see if you guys have any comments, suggestions, or any additional ideas you would add:

Pre-season

Divisions: Depending on the number of people, there will be 2-4 divisions. If say, 14 people sign up, we will have two 7 player divisions. We will randomly draw players to be placed in each division.

Draft: Each player chooses a faction. Each player then chooses 4 ships from that faction. This will be your “team” for the rest of the season. You will be able to field standard 100 point lists from pilots from each ship chosen in any combination. (For example: I choose Imperial as my faction. I choose TIE Interceptor, TIE Fighter, TIE Phantom, and the VT-49 Decimator. I can choose to fly a Academy Pilot Swarm, Soontir+Carnor+Echo, Whisper+Chiraneau, Oicunn+Howl Swarm, etc.)

Season

Round-Robin: Each player will play everyone else in their own division once. Even if there are an odd number of players, this will keep anyone with a BYE from playing lesser games than anyone else. In the example with 14 people, each player will be playing 6 matches against the 6 people in their division. MoV and SoS will be calculated to determine standings.

Playoffs

Bracket: Top 4 in each division will advance to a single elimination playoff for the ultimate title of King of the X-Wing nerds!

I’d like to hear your thoughts!

Not quite sure I like the idea of restricting ships. Let's take a look at how it's likely to break out:

Imperials:

Fighter - Auto Select

Advanced - Do NOT select

Interceptor - Auto Select

Firespray - Questionable

Bomber - Do NOT select

Lambda - Questionable

Defender - Questionable

Phantom - Questionable

Decimator - Auto Select

So, basically, 3 of your 4 ships are pretty much already chosen, and you have your choice of Defender/Phantom/Shuttle/Firespray

Rebels:

X Wing - Do NOT select

Y Wing - Questionable

A Wing - Questionable

YT1300 - Auto Select

B Wing - Auto Select

HWK - Do NOT select

Z95 - Questionable

E Wing - Questionable

YT2400 - Questionable

Rebels are a bit better, with really only 2 auto select ships, they do seem to have a lot more play style flexibility than the imps

Scums:

Z95 - Auto Select

Y Wing - Auto Select

StarViper - Do NOT select

HWK - Do NOT select

Scyk - Do NOT select

Agressor - Auto Select

FireSpray - Auto Select

Well, there you go, you got your 4 ships for the Scum.

And I'm not saying no one is going to take any of them differently (I would never take a YT-1300 personally). But if you're pigeon holing people into choosing his ships for the next several weeks, you're going to lose out on some strange but fun builds. I love experiementing with the HWK, but I doubt I'd select it as my 4th ship over something that I'm sure would be useful (I'd probably go with Y, A, B, E).

Not quite sure I like the idea of restricting ships. Let's take a look at how it's likely to break out:

Imperials:

Fighter - Auto Select

Advanced - Do NOT select

Interceptor - Auto Select

Firespray - Questionable

Bomber - Do NOT select

Lambda - Questionable

Defender - Questionable

Phantom - Questionable

Decimator - Auto Select

So, basically, 3 of your 4 ships are pretty much already chosen, and you have your choice of Defender/Phantom/Shuttle/Firespray

Rebels:

X Wing - Do NOT select

Y Wing - Questionable

A Wing - Questionable

YT1300 - Auto Select

B Wing - Auto Select

HWK - Do NOT select

Z95 - Questionable

E Wing - Questionable

YT2400 - Questionable

Rebels are a bit better, with really only 2 auto select ships, they do seem to have a lot more play style flexibility than the imps

Scums:

Z95 - Auto Select

Y Wing - Auto Select

StarViper - Do NOT select

HWK - Do NOT select

Scyk - Do NOT select

Agressor - Auto Select

FireSpray - Auto Select

Well, there you go, you got your 4 ships for the Scum.

And I'm not saying no one is going to take any of them differently (I would never take a YT-1300 personally). But if you're pigeon holing people into choosing his ships for the next several weeks, you're going to lose out on some strange but fun builds. I love experiementing with the HWK, but I doubt I'd select it as my 4th ship over something that I'm sure would be useful (I'd probably go with Y, A, B, E).

And yes in your example pigeonholing yourself to say a HWK, and not be able to use it successfully can be a bummer. Maybe I can leave it to just factions. But as I am kind of making it a bit "sports" themed, it's like drafting a risky prospect that can make or break your season. Personally I don't think people in my league will go for the "auto includes" you described, like I said we're a bunch of nuts (I placed second with Kath and the 3 named Scum HWK lol)

Thanks for the input!