So I recently ran a Mystery Envelope tournament that went over pretty well. Everyone had fun and the lists were very weird. no meta. I am running a standard tournament in a few weeks but in the future I like the idea of running standard tournaments with alt formats thrown in to mix it up a bit. So the next one I sort of took pieces of other people's events and had a thought for a new one.

"Contracted Alliances"

1. Your faction must be Rebel or Imperial
2. You can then hire "Scum" pilots to help you
   1. The number of scum ships must be equal to or less than the number of your chosen faction
3. You don't have to hire "Scum"
4. No mixing of faction specific upgrades (Scum crew stays on Scum ship, etc). You are hiring them for a job, not sharing resources

What are your thoughts? Any other rules that should be included? Should something be limited because it's too strong?

38 minutes ago, migs6000 said:

So I recently ran a Mystery Envelope tournament that went over pretty well. Everyone had fun and the lists were very weird. no meta.

I'm more interest in this. What do you mean by a Mystery Envelope Tournament?

Got the idea from a guy across the pond. 24 envelopes, 8 from each faction. Each envelope contains a list of expansions and all the upgrades, pilots and so on. You have to make a list with only those components included in your envelope.

So, you pick an envelope with the Imperial logo. Inside I included a sheet with a little flavor text and a list of expansions. The next sheet was an excel sheet with all the components. 1 hour to make a list. Standard rules after that.

5 hours ago, migs6000 said:

Got the idea from a guy across the pond. 24 envelopes, 8 from each faction. Each envelope contains a list of expansions and all the upgrades, pilots and so on. You have to make a list with only those components included in your envelope.

So, you pick an envelope with the Imperial logo. Inside I included a sheet with a little flavor text and a list of expansions. The next sheet was an excel sheet with all the components. 1 hour to make a list. Standard rules after that.

That sounds awesome! Would you mind sharing the lists you put in each envelope?

In response to your original post, I would make it a draft sort of system. Ie: Before the tournament you have a list of bounty hunters / mercenaries up for hire, then let players draft the ones they want (or even better, auction them off using MOV as currency).

I like the idea. I think limiting Scum upgrades to Scum ships and vice versa should be enough to stop anything from being too strong because of unexpected synergies. Though, as an aside, and with nothing really to do with the topic; I've always wondered why bounty hunter crew cards like Boba Fett, 4-Lom, etc. are Scum only, since they're mercenaries. Apart from Fett in RotJ, the only time we ever see any of them in the films is when they're working for the Empire!

Herowannabe's idea of a draft is a good one, too; stops everyone from just taking the obvious strong picks. Maybe do something like the 77-plus format from the Coruscant Invitational ?