I feel like with Swarms becoming so popular there is no real reason for named pilots. There are tons of upgrades and pilots that don't or rarely get used.

What if there was some way you could set up an X-wing draft so these pilots and upgrades would have to be used in a battle, rather than always seeing no named pilot swarms?

Any comments or ideas?

I'd like it. It'd be different, that's for sure, and may prove harder to balance, but if it works, I think that'd be great!

My inital thought for this type of draft would be:

Buy-in must include the price of a ship. You randomly draw one card from the pilot deck. Your fleet MUST contain that pilot, but you get a copy of the ship. The rest of the list is on you to assemble.

Optional: That pilot is the only constant for the tournament. Between each game you may reshuffle your list however you want, but that pilot must remain.

This could be interesting if you include the large ship pilots. You get to keep a more expensive ship, but you could quickly find yourself saddled with a heavy point cost ship.

Try playing with people you haven't played with before. Different builds become popular in different gaming groups, but there is so much possible diversity in this game.

I really only think there are two bad upgrades: Expose and Marksmanship, and even on these there is firm disagreement.

I think most experienced players agree that you don't want to "over" upgrade your ships, but that being said I have seen quite a lot of lists that put a lot of upgrades on their ships and the people who made the posts claim that they did very well.

I don't think you need to force people to try new things. I think as people keep playing they will want to try things. If they don't work try them again in a new way.

My biggest problem is that I don't have enough time to play to try everything out that I would like to.

I mostly play friendly games and trying new things is almost as fun to me as winning. In a tournament I would be more likely to fall back on something I was more confident in. But I still wouldn't want to do a list that I would expect every one to have seen already.

One of my happiest day was the realization that the Han Shoots First list wasn't as unbeatable as I have previously supposed. I was worried that the temptation to always take it would discourage me from trying new things.

My group usually plays with named pilots. Soontir or Mauler Mithel almost alway show up on the imperial side. Luke and Ibtisam are both really common with the rebels. We usually play with more than 100 points thought. I think having a higher point limit makes a difference in what shows up on the table.

My group usually plays with named pilots. Soontir or Mauler Mithel almost alway show up on the imperial side. Luke and Ibtisam are both really common with the rebels. We usually play with more than 100 points thought. I think having a higher point limit makes a difference in what shows up on the table.

Higher points probably do.

Try playing with people you haven't played with before. Different builds become popular in different gaming groups, but there is so much possible diversity in this game.

I really only think there are two bad upgrades: Expose and Marksmanship, and even on these there is firm disagreement.

I think most experienced players agree that you don't want to "over" upgrade your ships, but that being said I have seen quite a lot of lists that put a lot of upgrades on their ships and the people who made the posts claim that they did very well.

I don't think you need to force people to try new things. I think as people keep playing they will want to try things. If they don't work try them again in a new way.

My biggest problem is that I don't have enough time to play to try everything out that I would like to.

I mostly play friendly games and trying new things is almost as fun to me as winning. In a tournament I would be more likely to fall back on something I was more confident in. But I still wouldn't want to do a list that I would expect every one to have seen already.

One of my happiest day was the realization that the Han Shoots First list wasn't as unbeatable as I have previously supposed. I was worried that the temptation to always take it would discourage me from trying new things.

I don't mean to take people from what they want to do or force them into this game. I just think it would be a new way of testing the skill of pilots in a way that instead of always playing for the total domination win with a tournament style swarm, would give the game a more cinematic feel to it. I just watch tournaments and play with friends it always seems certain pilots come out and some stay in for good, where I will reach for whatever tickles my fancy for the day. My first win came over a guy I play who played Fettigator, and I played Biggs, Blue Squad B-Wing and Arvel. I had no expectations to win unless I really flew good, and the surprise was I did! But next time I will probably choose something completely different just because, heck why not?

rebels: you pick 3 pilots (named or otherwise) for your opponent. Your opponent must use at least 1 of the 3 in his team. Then he does the same to you

imperials: pick 5, must use 2