I don't necessarily think destructive event cards are the solution, but I have one that might work. I know this has been said before, but I will say it again. Make the discarding start higher (say 24) and keep it that way for the remainder of the war. It will move much faster that way.
I agree. We originally had a fixed number but started using the current system to prevent teams from losing too early and to increase the intensity as the event goes forward. It might sound good on paper but it's not that great in reality.
Main issue I think is the fact that teams who do well during round 1, don't get a big reward for it. Every win should be equally important I think, so I vote for going back to a fixed number.
The 24 you suggest sounds good to me.
Teams that do well during round 1 generally end up doing very well in WAR. Entropy in last WAR and Aether in this WAR. In the first round it's about the cards you gain, since you're just getting a feel for other teams' vaults. Losing so many cards early can also mean some players will only play 1-2 games, which I don't think would be much fun for them. (EXAMPLE: Gravity would have been down to 4 players for Round 3, so 4 people would only play 2 matches).
Can someone crunch some numbers on making discards a set 24 cards... how much would that speed up WAR? I ran some really quick, and it didn't seem to do much for speeding up WAR.
I think the other suggestions will do more for making it go faster. (Smaller buffer mainly)
One of the things that made this WAR go longer were 2 of the Event cards. The 'point' one prevented ~120 cards from being discarded. And the 'Shapeshifter' card enabled teams to keep 6 of their better cards just by putting 6 cards in their deck that they were willing to discard.
...as long as their friends go for loyalist and you work it out with 2 other generals.
That's called backroom deals, and they're heavily discouraged.
My idea would help prevent that.. but it looks like no one likes it anymore.