Improved draft options

[LikeTheSandwich]

I know it's not an official rule, but in my circles as a house rule we draft 2 sets of 5 cards, then discard 2 so we still only have 8. That way we are much less likely to have dead cards in our deck. I'd love to see a draft option like this!

[Bjorkio]

To improve draft, cards should get a ELO score based on gaming statistics, which should not be that hard to find... and create the pack of 4 cards accordingly, and also define weather a card is "1st pack" or "2nd pack"...

To be more clear:
~> there are cards that are "1st pick NO MATTER WHAT"
EX: Horn of Plenty, Altar, Philo Stone, Bow...

~> there are cards that BECOME "1st pick NO MATTER WHAT" if a certain Mage or place of power is at stake
EX: Cup of Fire, Calice, Dragon's Tooth, Demons, Animals...

~> there are cards that BECOME "1st pick NO MATTER WHAT" if a certain number of other cards are also into the mix.
EX: Dagger, Hellmachine, Fountain...


BUT... if one player is given a "better look" depending on the order they see the cards, it creates a HUGE advantage... Added to that the random ordering of deck, with possible one starting with the dream hand, and the other with their 2 "master cards" at the end of their deck... in a game that ends up being a race, what's the point? Sophisticated die toss?


Nowadays, with algorithm etc., it would be so manageable to just lessen the randomize effect that reduces too many games as a glorified die toss with delayed result. Clicking know for sure that there is no chance whatso ever to swing it... what's the point?... Who wants to see a tennis match of an asmathic kid against Jokovich? xD


DECK ORDER:

It could also made MORE symetrical if each picked card during draft is getting the same "rank" inside all players decks.
~> if one's 1st pick is in their 1st hand?... same thing for ALL the others etc.

[Iltisman]

Nice idea. As for me, I would already be delighted if Dragons Lair would not be available or at least more expensive. This card truely kills almost every game. I dislike it so much that I almost never go for it (even if I have the chance). I rather loose without it. Besides, if you occasionally manage to win without Lair against someone with it, it is so much more rewarding and I think it teaches you a lot more about the game.

Bottomline, if anyone wants to change anything about this game, I think they should start with Lair.

[Uowca1]

If I understand correctly BGA doesn't implement house rules (likely due to legal reasons). So without authors permission you will not get such draft option and I suspect Tom Lehman wouldn't aprove this draft option as official (because that would sort of aprove of the idea that there is a relevant density of useless cards).

There is another best of 3 mode in the rulebook that involves an interesting open draft on the same cards, that would be very nice to have implemented.

Also to the 2 people responding, it should tip you off that you are not particulary high rated players, specifically because you don't have full understanding of the game and it's strategy. Suggesting balance changes while being 300 elo rated in a low randomness game is wild to me.

I can understand Iltisman's opinion at leats because DL is the simplest of the effective strategies so on low level it might indeed feel oppresive, because people can't execute any other strategy properly. But that whole elo system for cards is just pointless.

[LikeTheSandwich]

I agree that one of the biggest issues, maybe THE biggest issue, is the POPs. So many of them can be obtained round 1 and sway the game significantly. I quite dislike it myself. Honestly I've been thinking about trying to make my own game of a similar vein, but POPs are either more expensive or don't come out until round 3 or something to balance them better, and then to not have Philosopher's Stone and other cards that are a virtual guaranteed win. Basically I want a similar style of game, but building a better engine is usually what wins.