Star Wars Unlimited is a new trading card game created by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) that will pre-release March 1st and officially launch worldwide March 8th. The game is simple, use your units and/or events to attack your opponent’s base. The first player to destroy their opponent’s base wins. The goal of this blog is to get you hyped about this game if you are a trading card game (TCG) and/or Star Wars fan. TCGs are more exciting when there is a community built around them. Although the game developers have done an outstanding job promoting this game, I feel it’s still a bit of a secret. So, allow me to let you in on this little secret called Star Wars Unlimited and give you 3 reasons why this game has pulled me back into the TCG world after a two-decade hiatus.
1. It’s Star Wars
I experienced Star Wars during a time when the Internet was just rolling out where I lived. The word “spoilers” had not yet been coined. So, when Darth Vader said to Luke Skywalker, “No, I am your father”, I was genuinely shocked. Everything about Star Wars had me hooked. The Jedi, the Sith, lightsabers, space battles, droids Chewbacca’s iconic “rrrrrruuuuuurrr” roar, had me sucked into the space drama. What drew me into Star Wars the most was its character arcs. The most iconic moment to me is when Luke throws his lightsaber down when having just defeated his father in a duel in front of the emperor, and when tempted to rule the galaxy by striking down his dad, Luke says “No! I am a Jedi, like my father before me.” That scene showed that winning is not always about being the most powerful. Sometimes winning is about giving up power and choosing what is right over what feels good.
2. Leaders and Bases
I hope I am not getting too mushy gushy because Star Wars Unlimited is for sure about melting the face off your opponent with your blaster or lightsaber. SWU is played with a 50-card deck, one leader, and one base. Most cards have aspects/colors that correspond to a certain play style (red for aggro, green for ramp, blue for defense, etc.). A major part of your deck is which leader you pick. SWU’s first set, Spark of Rebellion features 18 leaders you can choose from. These leaders’ range across different eras of the Star Wars canon. Some leaders are more complex than others, but one thing is for certain, every leader is iconic and offers their own flavor to the game. Are you the one that likes to build up your army and finish the game with a heavy hitter, check out Leah or Tarkan. Do you just want to wreak face by doing as much damage as possible as fast as possible, Sabine and Vader are a great pick.
Each player will also choose a base. Your base is your health tracker. Most bases start with 30. There are some that start with 25 health and have Epic Actions you can perform that makes up for the 5-health deficit. The base also features a single aspect/color. So now you have a leader with two aspects (hero or villainy/color), and you have a base that has a single color. Now you can build your deck to match the colors of your leader and base. But what if you have a card that you want in your deck that is a different color from the leader or base you have picked out? Put it in your deck and just pay the +2-resource aspect penalty. You are not tied to the aspects you pick for your leader and base. The possibilities in this game are truly unlimited.
3. Gameplay
The gameplay of SWU is described as “you take an action; I take an action”. An action can be playing a card, attacking with a unit, use an action ability, or take the Initiative/pass. The player with the initiative gets to go first to the next round. Each round you draw two cards with the option to “resource” one of the two cards. Resource cards are used to pay for playing units, events, or upgrades. The action is fast paced so there is no time to check Facebook in between turns. This allows for fun interaction to be able to respond directly to what your opponent does. Every leader has an Epic Action. Epic Action are one-time Actions that allow the leader to enter the battle and become a unit. This often can turn the tide of battle.
Another unique feature in SWU is the arenas. There is a space arena and ground arena. Space units can only interact with other space units, ground units can only interact with your opponent ground units. There are some exceptions such as star ships that can attack ground units. The two arenas offer some interesting exchanges, and one must be careful to balance their deck appropriately so that that they are not overwhelmed in one arena.
Want to discover more?
Website: https://starwarsunlimited.com
How to play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW2YF6TBHbo
