Folks, I normally play X-Wing games where there are caps to from which waves can you draw content from. For example, yesterday I played a game where squadrons could be built from anything from wave 1-8 only (while still using the current FAQ).

Could this be a way of having more varied games and/or tournaments?

Let say, a tournament is broken into several rounds, each using different wave caps. Say:

Round #1: Waves 1-4

Round #2: Waves 1-8

Round #3: Waves 1-12

Round #4: All waves

Might be even interesting to see games that can't use content from earlier waves. Say:

Waves 4-8 content only

Waves 6-12 content only

Or perhaps thematic championships:

Resistance vs. First Order pilots only (with any upgrades)

Rebellion vs. Empire pilots only (with any upgrades)

Scum vs Subfaction only

Mix and match the above. Mix and match caps to only pilots, caps to only upgrades.

Might open a chance to revisit earlier successful builds, or perhaps new build (given that the FAQ has changed stuff) or come up with completely new stuff.

All of your suggestions are perfectly reasonable for casual matches, and in fact make for very good play experiences. And the tiered format might work for a *small* tournament. But as soon as you get to a large tournament, especially one where attendance approaches room capacity, requiring that much gear from each and every player would become burdensome.

edit: It occurs to me that if you do want to pursue this tiered Wave format in a tournament sort of environment, it would be easiest to run it as a League.

If it's a big tournament, then make it simple, make the cap a single range (e.g. waves 1-10) for the entire tournament.