Posted this in a couple of other forums, thought I would post it here too.
Hey everyone. My group and I have been talking about a deck-drafting method for this game. The obvious advantage is that it takes us out of the super-killer-deck mindset and into the hey-this-deck-might-be-cool mindset. We came up with some instructions for it and they worked really well. The games we played tended to be very balanced, surprising (due to the fact that we were playing with card combinations that we don't usually run with), and fun! So, I figured you all might like to see the method that we use for deck drafting.
STAR WARS: THE CARD GAME
Unofficial Deck Drafting Instructions by hundreds
INTRODUCTION:
The point of playing a drafted deck game is to allow you to create a deck, on the fly, with only your knowledge of the Objective sets to aid you. Deck drafting can lead to some very fun games with card mixes that you are not very familiar with, requiring you to think on your feet, and experience new ways of playing Star Wars: The Card Game. As more and more Objective sets are added to this game, the deck drafting method will grow in variety and fun factor.
OVERVIEW:
Though the drafting method includes a random draw mechanic, you will still have some control over what your drafted deck will be comprised of. You will not end up with a completely random set of Objectives, nor will you be forced to play tri-color decks or decks so badly composed that resource matching becomes nearly impossible. You will be making a few choice decisions during the 5 minutes it takes to draft a deck like...
How many of each Affiliation's Objectives will you run?
Which and how many Neutrals will work?
How can I draft a deck that works well on the fly?
Deck drafting can also be very useful to players either don't know how to build a custom deck, or would rather not put in the time it takes to develop a specific deck strategy. For players like this, the only thing you really need to grasp is the concept of resource matching and how to make sure you have the right distribution of Objectives to make sure you have the right resources for Affiliation-specific cards. For some brief information on how to determine the right distribution of Objectives, see the following two threads:
And now...
THE METHOD
STEP 1: Each player chooses a side of the Force to represent.
STEP 2: Each player chooses TWO (2) Affiliations to play with. This can be accomplished either by randomly drawing 2 of the 3 Affiliation cards, or by simply choosing 2 Affiliations that you want to play as. A random draw usually forces the player be more flexible in his game and is my preferred method.
STEP 3: Take all of the Objective cards (just the Objective itself) from each Affiliation that was chosen and shuffle them together, including all of the Neutral Objective cards for that side of the Force. This creates the Objective Drafting Deck. As new Objective sets are added, this Drafting Deck will continually grow.
Example: Simon, after deciding to play as the LS, randomly picks the Rebels and Smugglers Affiliation cards. He then gathers up all of the Objective cards for the Rebels and the Smugglers, and also the LS Neutral Objective cards, and shuffles them into an Objective Drafting Deck (Drafting Deck). Then Ender, as the DS, randomly draws the Sith and Imperials Affiliation cards. He gathers up all the Sith, Imperials, and DS Neutral Objective cards and shuffles them into a Drafting Deck.
STEP 4: From the randomly shuffled Drafting Decks, each player draws 3 Objective cards from their respective decks. Each player looks at them, chooses 1 of them, and places the other 2 into a Drafting Discard Pile (Drafting Discard). Repeat this process until each player has chosen 10 Objective cards. If you run out of cards in the Drafting Deck, simply shuffle up the Drafting Discards to create a new Drafting Deck to pull Objective cards from until you have the required 10 Objective cards.
THE NO PEEKING RULE:
This is of course up to each players preference, but the general intent of this method of deck drafting is that the players are unable to see any of the cards that come with the Objectives they are choosing from. This will keep deck drafting fast and fresh and will result in you gaining a stronger knowledge of the contents of each Objective set the more you play.
STEP 5: Each player gathers up all of the cards that go with the Objective cards that were picked in step 4. Depending on the distribution of Affiliation Resource Objectives, each player now chooses a single Affiliation to play as (see below for some limitations on this). Each player will now have a legal deck consisting of 50 Command cards and 10 Objectives to play with. Have fun!
LIMITATIONS:
Objective set limitations still apply. Neutral Objectives that are limited to 1 per deck can only be drafted once. Objective cards that are Affiliation-specific can be chosen during the draft, but will mandate which Affiliation card the player has to use. It will also prevent him from choosing an Affiliation-specific Objective set that does not match the Affiliation that he is now running as a result of the Affiliation-specific Objective that he has already chosen. Therefore, in some circumstances, you may only have 1 or 2 valid choices when drawing your 3 cards from the Drafting Deck. In the rare situation that there are no valid choices, simply discard the 3 Objectives and draw another 3 from the Drafting Deck.
Example: Ender has drawn 3 Objective cards from the Drafting Deck. He can now choose from either The Ultimate Power (an Imperial Navy only Objective), a Reconnaissance Mission (one per deck Objective), and a Defense Protocol. In a previous draw, he selected to keep The Heart of the Empire (a Sith only Objective) and therefore will be running the Sith Affiliation card. In another previous draw, he chose Reconnaissance Mission. So from the 3 he just drew, he is forced to select the Defense Protocol, since he is unable to choose any Objectives that are Affiliation-specific to anything but Sith, and since he already has a Reconnaissance Mission in his deck and it is limited to 1 per deck.
Well, that about wraps up the instructions for deck drafting that we are using. Do you have any suggestions that would make this better, or perhaps an option to add into it to give the method more variety? Let me know!