I played through 4th Edition and then quit until late last year when a buddy was in town and discovered my Alpha cards while looking for something in my garage. We made some decks and had too much fun, so we bought some of the new boxes and have been running occasional mini-drafts with a few other cigar-smoking friends. Great way to kill a Saturday
The general thing you're talking about is called Elder Dragon Highlander, a variant that sounds interesting but that I've not tried.
http://www.dragonhighlander.net/rules.php