Star Wars Unlimited – Shadows of the Galaxy Review
It’s a great time to be a Collectible Card Game player, and Star Wars Unlimited is one of the many reasons. Alongside Lorcana and the upcoming Altered, there’s an embarrassment of riches for anyone with the…riches, to dive in. The latest Two Player Starter Set for Star Wars Unlimited, titled Shadows of the Galaxy picks up where its predecessor Sparks of Rebellion left off, shedding the Episode IV-VI theming for the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, allowing players to take control of Din Djarin himself or nemesis Moff Gideon as they work to destroy their opponents base.
As is the style at this time, Star Wars Unlimited eschews the ageing ‘Mana’ system of MtG for a single universal resource, herein cleverly called ‘Resources’, to propel cards from one’s hand to the battlefield. To end the game, you must attack an opponent’s Base until its starting 30HP is reduced to zero, occasionally wiping out opposing Units across Ground and Space areas which are distinct locations; Ground Units cannot be played into Space and vice versa. Taking inspiration from the ‘Commander’ MtG format, players have a ‘Leader’ card which can be played once each game when their Resource pool hits a certain number. At the start of a turn, players draw two cards from their deck and may place one facedown as a Resource, a design choice which helps put off the top decking issue that can rear its head in other CCG’s a few rounds in. Play goes backwards and forwards until a player has taken the Initiative token – denoting they will go first in the next round of play – and the other has passed.
One of the big twists in SWU is the distinct locations for Units to be deployed – Ground Units and Space Units are unable to attack one another, however both can attack an opposing Base. This requires players to be more judicious with their hand management and deciding which cards to sacrifice as Resources given that failing to engage in one arena can quickly spell doom as you are unable to defend your base or at the very least remove the threats coming from that direction. Of the current crop of popular CCG’s, this tends to make SWU run longer than its competitors but as a result offer a crunchier experience.
These tense decisions occur constantly throughout a session; whether to attack an opponent’s Base or Ground/Space Units, when to take Initiative, whether to try and ride out a low Resource pool to keep more hand options available – each design choice works on multiple levels, both mechanical and thematic, to make a richly rewarding game that will thrill both Star Wars fans and CCG players alike, although I suspect there may be quite a large crossover between those two groups. When to play your Leader is also crucial, and compounds with the ‘draw two play one’ mechanic which starts to really shine once 5-6 Resources are out for each player and a Leader or powerful card can come out each round.
The Shadows of the Galaxy wave introduces a new Keyword and Card type in the forms of Bounties and Capture. Bounty cards can be played under your own or the opposing players Units to provide bonuses or penalties when that unit is defeated. For an aggressive deck or player, loading up opposing Units with a slew of Bounties can trigger some exciting chain effects alongside some great thematic tie-in to the Mandalorian character itself. Capture removes cards from play without defeating them, placing them under a ‘Guarding’ Unit until such time as the Guard leaves play. When this occurs, any Guarded cards return to their owners play area in an exhausted state. The use of theme here is impeccable – each Leader and deck make-up evokes both the faction and background respectively and the lure of Boosters containing new Leaders is strong, although for those on a tight budget there is plenty of game to be found in just the Starter Set itself.
Of course, no CCG Starter Set is complete without a few cut corners. Whilst the included cardboard tokens are serviceable, the official SWU token set which I used when first being demoed the game at PAX AUS 2023 is a big upgrade and almost mandatory for anyone wanting to play seriously – there can be a lot to track depending on the decks in play and the eye-catching acrylics make it far easier to see and more pleasurably tactile.
For some, Shadows of the Galaxy will be a less exciting Starter set when compared to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in Wave 1, but nonetheless it is an interesting match-up – The Mandalorian deck is heavily reliant on placing Bounties, pulling Upgrades and being able to attach them to Units, while Moff Gideon focuses on buffing other Units until they are incredibly hard to defeat without taking heavy casualties. The included Player Mats make picking up and teaching the game to new players fairly straightforward, although some familiarity with card battlers and TCG’s in general will reduce the teach down to a few minutes. With Keywords handily explained on the mat as well, there’s very little reason to dive into the included rule book outside of desperate need for clarification, although a much larger rules compendium is available online which also expands the play modes available with a number of variants such as the Twin Suns mode, which allows two Leaders per player but only single cards of each type in a deck.
Overall, the Shadows of the Galaxy Starter Set is a slightly deeper entry point to Star Wars Unlimited which may lack the thematic allure of the iconic Wave 1 Skywalker v Vader combo. However, it makes up for this with the inclusion of some interesting deck mechanics and new Keyword mechanics that are far better suited to The Mandalorian and Moff Gideon. A great addition to any SWU fans collection or for someone interested in seeing what all the fuss is about, Star Wars Unlimited might become the most popular midway point bridging older styles of CCG with the new school currently making waves.
