(Originally posted on BoardGameGeek http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1007790/scott-armstrongs-draft-rules-for-star-wars-lcg)
From the time when I first started playing Star Wars LCG, I thought a draft variant would be fun. I started working on my ideas for a draft variant about one month ago.
Jason Blakeney has posted his rules for a draft, and I like them. Mine are a bit different, but I encourage people to try both! One point about mine is it requires you to make 'draft cards' which cause an additional expense.
The draft cards I made look like this:
At the top, from left to right, is the objective set number, the affiliation, and the damage capacity/resources of the objective. Below that is the name of the objective set. Below that would be any attributes the objective has, like Hoth or Limit 1 per deck, etc. The above example doesn't have these.
Below all that is the text on the objective, if applicable. And then we have a list of the cards in the set. I did this for a few reasons. Some people don't know what is in every set. Also, this allows people to make better draft decisions. Lastly, these also work like flash cards to study and memorize the sets!
One concern Jason mentioned is that the draft may be prone to some analysis paralysis if the whole set is listed, since it is quite a bit of info. One way to get around this is a simple timer. I don't think time will be a big problem, but that depends on who is drafting.
Okay, rules!
So, everyone comes to the draft with their collection of cards (durr). Separate the draft cards into a Light side and Dark side pile (my cards have blue and red back, respectively). I think about 15-18 objectives per side per player works. This is if you are making a 10 set deck. If you want to drop it to 8 set decks, maybe 12-14 sets per side per player.
Everyone takes a certain amount of cards from ONE side of the Force. (Not sure on this number yet, depends on how many 'hands' of draft you want to do. If you want to end up with 15 sets, maybe 3 hands of 5? Or copy 7 Wonders and do 3 hands of 6 with the last card getting tossed so that there is always a choice.) Draft according to whatever draft method you like. Once that is done, do it again with the other side of the Force.
Once everyone has their cards, make decks! Then play as normal, 3 round Swiss, whatever suits your fancy.
Now the biggest problem I saw with draft is the risk of getting resource match screwed. As there is a chance your decks may be 'rainbow' decks, I devised a small work around. Instead of choosing a certain affiliation, each player receives a card like this (one for Light and on for Dark):
This replaces your affiliation card. This allows a player to at least have one resource match per turn, but hopefully more.
Now, concerning the 'XXXX Affiliation Only' objectives. For this, I say that each deck is only allowed one affiliation specific set per deck. So if you drafted a Jedi only and a Rebel only set, you can't put both in your deck. You can pick one. If you have three different Jedi only sets, they can all be in your deck, as they are the same affiliation. I hope that is explained clearly.
Limit 1 per objective deck still applies. If you draft two of these, tough luck! Players can look at their previously drafted cards at any time, just to check if they drafted something already. And of course, the 'only 2 of any objective' rule also applies. So don't draft three Emperor's Web!
I hope I explained everything clearly. Ask questions, please! I printed my cards using Printer's Studio. I saved my 'project file' on the site, but it seems to have gone missing. I'm going to see if I can some how post a link to it so people don't have to make their own sets. That being said, you can make some on index cards by hand. They don't have to be pretty!
Also, this is what the back looks like (Light is blue, Dark is red):
