After many tournaments with civ drafting, the alternative format free hidden pick, no repeat has truly returned with NAC3. Considering the importance of that tournament, it seems likely that this isn't an isolated incident but rather indicative of a shift in opinions.
Obviously the previous drafting system has been criticised a lot here on aoezone: clunky, time consuming, civ wins, less competitive etc.
However, I feel that the hidden pick format has a lot of downsides as well: abundance of mirrors (which imo are a bit boring, although others might see them as a test of true skill), but most importantly the absence of a great many civs.
I as a viewer personally find this to be a huge shame. At least in NAC3, there seem to be a couple handful of "meta" civs, which get used almost all the time. Even mirrors are fairly common. Sure, civs like Vietnamese got the odd pick, but that is a very rare exception. Aside from that, civs that are often considered "bottom tier" like Khmer, Vietnamese, Teutons, Turks etc get almost never used. I cba to do the exact statistics, but in any case the civ diversity has gone down compared to drafting.
Now I get that drafting might be obsolete, but couldn't there still be alternatives to a pure "free hidden pick, no repeat" format?
- How about having like alternate games of "free pick" and "free pick from a selection of the 10 or 15 bottom civs" (previously determined)?
- And/or having "weak civ mirrors" as determined games within a set (eg game3 = turk/viet/khmer mirror or so). I know I am against mirrors as well, but it's still better to see the "weak civs" at all imo.
What do you think? I know some tournaments have tried sth like this before (two pools), but maybe it could become more common and also used in bigger tournaments?
Obviously the previous drafting system has been criticised a lot here on aoezone: clunky, time consuming, civ wins, less competitive etc.
However, I feel that the hidden pick format has a lot of downsides as well: abundance of mirrors (which imo are a bit boring, although others might see them as a test of true skill), but most importantly the absence of a great many civs.
I as a viewer personally find this to be a huge shame. At least in NAC3, there seem to be a couple handful of "meta" civs, which get used almost all the time. Even mirrors are fairly common. Sure, civs like Vietnamese got the odd pick, but that is a very rare exception. Aside from that, civs that are often considered "bottom tier" like Khmer, Vietnamese, Teutons, Turks etc get almost never used. I cba to do the exact statistics, but in any case the civ diversity has gone down compared to drafting.
Now I get that drafting might be obsolete, but couldn't there still be alternatives to a pure "free hidden pick, no repeat" format?
- How about having like alternate games of "free pick" and "free pick from a selection of the 10 or 15 bottom civs" (previously determined)?
- And/or having "weak civ mirrors" as determined games within a set (eg game3 = turk/viet/khmer mirror or so). I know I am against mirrors as well, but it's still better to see the "weak civs" at all imo.
What do you think? I know some tournaments have tried sth like this before (two pools), but maybe it could become more common and also used in bigger tournaments?