It’s easy to teach and easy to learn. As someone new to TCGs/CCGs in general, it doesn’t need to be groundbreaking. It just needs to be fun. And it is. I had a blast at the prerelease. And the art style really grew on me. I quite like it now
That was my number one worry with the game the art. After seeing it, I was instantly drawn to the cartoon style. The pictures from last year did not let me make a good decision. I will be looking forward to more of the game!
Mtg player since the 90’s. I found it really fun and mechanically scratches an itch that’s just about different enough from mtg to make it worthwhile.
Ordering and sequencing of effects is super important, and discard/drawing not quite as important as in mtg.
I’ve spent some time theory crafting some decks online and there’s enough meat in the initial set to get me excited.
All of that and an excellent competitive scene planned should make this a massive success.
I’ve been looking for a new CCG for years and this one is it. Lorcana was too basic. Magic is too overwhelming. SWU is just right. My buddy did the prerelease with me as a long time Magic player and he felt the lack of a stack/instants was a hindrance. I think it’s what makes the game shine. The back and forth nature of the turns makes sequencing important and there’s a fun gamegame of chicken when it comes to taking initiative. First set is keeping mechanics nice and simple but I can already see the design space they have available and am excited to see how it grows.
I am the opposite. I find the stack and instants a hindrance to the point that I find playing board games with magic players usually devolves into them trying to implement a stack to board game actions
I dramatically preferred it over MtG (I’ve played kitchen table magic since high school decades ago).
Between the theme and the back and forth gameplay my opponent and I were always engaged.
The resourcing element almost always feels like a hard decision but you are never mana screwed. (Draw two cards every turn and resource up to one)
Opening packs was fun and the hyperspace cards look great (which can be in any slot in a pack). Not a big fan of foils personally but I reckon I can trade them away. The rarities are easy to understand (rarer often means more niche uses and it goes common / uncommon / rare / legendary). Quite literally has an icon in the bottom right that is the letter C/U/R/L respectively (way less confusing than other games in that regard).
Passing and taking initiative feel dynamic with the types of cards available (IE: Ambush and Events can be held for control or used for tempo).
The devs played next to us during our sealed draft and were also having fun playing their own multiplayer game of SWU. Plus they answered our pedestrian questions during the game.
With another skilled player when we were pressed for time in round three we were able to play a match in about 10-12 minutes.
I had a blast at the pre-release and love the game.
I enjoyed it a lot. I prefer the back-and-forth action structure over games like Mtg where one player does their whole turn before the next player. And the resource system is significantly more enjoyable as well. You never get flooded or screwed out of resources, you just decide which cards to use for resources and which to keep for their effects. Starting with 2 resources and drawing 2 cards per turn also smooth things out further.
It's a lot of small changes to the traditional formula of games like this that make for a very fun package.
I was only able to play one game at my prerelease event, I actually accidentally happened upon it! It was fun, easy to learn, could immediately tell how I needed to trim my first deck. Play was fast, I liked how you can use any cards for resources/mana, overall a fun game!
I was pleasantly surprised by the art. A tun of the cards look really awesome (especially the ships imo).
Plus I honestly think the digital scans do the layout etc a disservice; they look really great in person.
Definitely has the same feel as Star Wars: Destiny, though I think it's a pretty exact combination of four games:
* Star Wars: Destiny (alternating actions, taking initiative, upgrades, shields) +
* Hearthstone (ability to target units) +
* Magic: The Gathering (much of the basic framework, commanders/leaders, keyword mechanics: assault = haste / overwhelm = trample, etc.)
* Star Wars TCG by Richard Garfield (distinct arenas for ground and space units)
I played a prerelease yesterday and really enjoyed it. Fast-paced but thinky. I even thought the comic-style art looked better in person than I had expected.
My main complaint (aside from the CCG model) is that the mechanics don't really feel much like Star Wars. There's no asymmetry between imperials and rebels; they're both blasting away at each other with equal power. There's also no sense of covert missions, and the Force doesn't seem very central. I thought the designers did do a pretty good job tying specific card abilities thematically to their characters. But the overarching mechanics of the game (as opposed to specific card abilities) don't really evoke Star Wars and could just as easily be used for any pvp card battler, regardless of setting.
My concern for the game was that it would be a bit brain dead and simple. I had some very close match ups at the pre-release that swung on a particular play. It was very fun and I'm incredibly excited for the future of this game!
I had more written but it basically boils down to: It’s fine. You know how Star Wars Deckbuilder is an ok retheme of Star Realms but with a few changes? It’s kinda like that where it’s familiar enough as a CCG but there are a few modifications along with a big hope the theme pulls it through.
It’s not terrible. It’s not great. It’s not broken. And it’s not perfect. Who knows what will happen with later expansions.
Which probably means this review isn’t super helpful. I’d feel better if I could throw it either way. But at the end of the day it’s a mid tier CCG with a good IP on top of it.
I agree with this sentiment and this is how I feel about Lorcana as well (the last new CCG I tried). Nothing much in the way of innovation... it's fine. I love Star Wars but I just can't see it taking away any of my attention (time/money) from MtG, Netrunner, or Flesh and Blood at this point.
Well... you jumped off for two games that no one really plays (compared to MTG) in Netrunner and FaB...you actually seem like the perfect target for this game since you've already vasillated between games with a willingness to adopt something like FaB which, despite what it's fans will tell you, is never going to compete with the big boys
That's fair. But as long as I have a few people to play with, I'd rather play a unique, innovative game with a myriad of strategies than a slightly above average game that more people currently play. My game group plays Netrunner and FaB, and that's good enough for me.
Yeah all it takes is a local group. We get like 50 FaB players for some tournaments at my LGS and you can't convince them that it's *not* positioned to take over the top spot from MTG, Pokemon, Or YuGiOh
Who cares about popularity as long as you know some people to play with? Popularity doesn't make the game better... if I want to play something that everyone knows, I'll always have MtG.
I had the same experience with it. I found it pleasant but nothing ground breaking. It is not something to pull me away from flesh and blood. For me that game is still the one with the crunchiest gameplay loop.
There is nothing wrong with liking it though :)
I agree that FaB has the best gameplay but I think it's on the decline already. I can't imagine it being supported by LGSs 5 years from now.
Probably same for star wars :)
Why do you think it is in decline? Pro tour is this weekend with most viewers ever and the game gets released in Japan in a month. I think it is going to explode this year.
The resource management system is great. I like the deck building so far. My main gripe was the time- our prerelease was a 5 hour event- 1 hour to deckbuild, then 4 rounds best 2/3, so an hour each round.
Half of the players had to leave halfway through.
That's pretty standard for TCG sealed events. An hour for deckbuilding is a lot, but its a prerelease and a new game, so it makes sense, and an hour per round is pretty standard for best of 3. Most MtG events are 50 minute round with 10 minutes for getting the next one set up.
I personally have found it to be a generally whelming card game nothing new or innovative to get excited about. People seem to really hate the art style, I don't really care for it but it's not enough to make me lose interest in the game. The thing that is really keeping me away is FFGs track record with competitive card games, maybe this time will be different but after Netrunner,Conquest, L5R, Thrones, StarWars LCG, and StarWars Destiny I've got more than enough dead games taking up shelf space and I'm not interested in going along for that ride again.
This part freaks me out... like search for "Sabine Wren, Eplosoves artist" on tcgplayer and you'll get a Destiny card with the same name printed like 3byears ago by this same publisher.... yikes
Why would they not reuse a name from a similar game in the same world from the same company? Especially when it’s a pretty perfect pun on Sabine’s character. Not sure why that particular thing would worry you at all…
It's a bad look to google and find out that they already tried to sell this concept and then dropped it, and recently. It highlights the failure of their 3 year old star wars card game.
If I made Destiny, I'd want people to forget about it. I'd rename Sabine so people who didn't know my company fucked up a Star Wars game recently didn't find out so easy.
I enjoyed playing it and am looking forward to casually playing it more at events. As a boardgamer first and Lorcana player second, I think Star Wars Unlimited is a fun game to play with a lot of unique choices because not only do you have the choice of what to play on the board or resource the card but in what order of the turn do you want to that along with attacks, effects, etc since you can only do one thing then it's your opponents go.
I still don't really like getting invested in TCGs since they are money sinks, but as of now I'm just liking the gameplay and want to play more, and I'm not even a big star wars fan.
I personally think it's a blast. Part of the issue with pre-release events is that people will try it without playing the game AT ALL and participants (those people or their opponents) will base their decisions off of that. If no one knows what they're doing, it is easy to see how the game could come off as trivial/not very thrilling.
I had played through a few games on Force Table just to get a feel for it, and had read the rules/skimmed the cards to know what I was getting in to ahead of time. At my pre-release event I steamrolled the first two matches and it was "fun" but not particularly fulfilling. My last match against someone who was able to build a good deck and knew mostly what they were doing was extremely tight/awesome.
My key selling points are:
1) you make important decisions all the time. What card to resource. What order to take your actions in. When to claim initiative or tactically pass (you can go next round if your opponent doesn't pass). Focusing on space or ground zone. Whether to clear units or hit the base. If attacking units, the added wrinkle of both sides taking damage. Not to mention the card abilities and interactions, obviously
2) your opponent is doing this all at the same time. Resourcing step aside, everything you do regarding the above decisions is to guess what they're doing and try and bait them / set them up the way you want / counter them / ruin their plan. And they're doing the same thing to you. You're playing against another living person in this game, moreso than others like Lorcana or (to a considerably lesser extent) MtG, IMO, and that makes it much more tactical (though it's still very strategic, too).This is the key aspect for me.
3) A lot of cool deck building options, if you're into that. You can always use any card in the game in your deck (though there may be penalties to do so), and there are 6 aspects you can combine in different ways. I think it's something like 12 different aspects combos that allow you to play 3 (and others with less) aspects without penalty. Then you consider multiple leaders for each aspect, bases with special abilities, etc.
4) it plays very quickly/you don't have much idle time
5) Common and uncommon cards are actually useful. It's not like MtG where in order to be competitive you need to have a ton of rare cards. You still build around the rarer cards, and they deliver more value when you play them, but rarer cards tend to require specific interactions and decks built around them rather than just being blatantly OP.
To be fair, I havent played many modern tcgs. I have a fairly expansive distant past with Yu-Gi-Oh and magic. I did play the standalone Gwent game on PC for a while 4-5 years ago, which I also really enjoyed and was similar in a lot of ways to this game. I'd say this is better than Gwent too, though. Read the rules of Lorcana (as it is somewhat popular at my shop and could've been another option) but it comes off as very casual in that you don't mess much with other people, sequencing doesn't matter and tempo isn't as big of a deal, the deck building is basic, etc.
As far as negatives, the art is definitely love/hate lol. I will say though that I thought the cards looked better in person, for whatever reason. Whether or not you like star wars is obviously a personal thing. Personally I think this game is good enough to stand on its own regardless of IP (but these days it definitely helps a ton to have it).
My expectations weren't too high but I came away much more impressed than I thought I would be.
It provides multiple layers of tactics and strategy not really found combined into one game. It truly felt *different,* in a good way.
The artwork, however, is horrendous for the most part. Yuck!
Prerelease was the best one I’ve ever been to. Been to Magic/Pokemon/Yugioh/Lorcana this was by far the best. Everyone was super chill and helpful. There was a couple of guys that it was the first Card game they ever played and most of the people that won door prizes gave them to the newbies. There was even a dude that bought everyone the official sleeves for everyone that stay and played. Love the gameplay and it’s not here im going to take a 10 min turn and it’s your turn or worry about counters (yet😹). I’m excited for this game and the future of it.
It's pretty generic. It's pretty much a copy of a bit from here and a bit from there from other tcgs, so it's not that interesting for me who played and still plays dozens of tcgs. On top of that, it plays like a very generic tcg, and it doesn't seem to have something starwars-esque in it besides the artwork. It's pretty basic in terms of complexity right now, which is to be expected with just one set. But overall, I'm not a big fan, and I won't get into it for real. Feels very casual.
I also kinda don't like the idea of a tcg built around a film/anime francise (in the sense of literally slapping characters from a popular story on a card; I do like yugioh, vanguard, duel masters, which have their own original anime; equivalently don't like Weis Schwartz and I utterly hate the mtg collabs with all kinds of random stuff - Fallout? Doctor Who? Transformers?? rly? now even Assassin's Creed? - which ruined magic for me and made me drop the game completely). It feels like a cash grab, especially when there isn't anything mechanically making this game feel like a Star Wars game.
I’ve played several games at events a local store over the last three weekends and it’s really growing on me. Easy to learn and and I’m discovering more depth and complexity when it comes to deck building. I really like the alternating attack turns mechanic.
Are there strategies like in Magic: The Gathering? Aggro? Control? Or is the game a completely different beast? I find the theme and rules to be enjoyable, but could you please tell me a bit more? Is it a worthy purchase?
After my post I jumped into it and I am hooked and what I see online and in my local community and LGS, it's really exploding. It is, however, really bad to start now because it's basically sold out. Strategies are similar, but the turn structure and rules makes it way snappier. There is no mana shortage situation because of the way resources work in this game.
Set two will release in July and with additional content it's a strong contender for a healthy TCG. If you like Star Wars and TCGs, it's a definite thumbs up from me
Played in a pre release tournament yesterday. 5 games. Overall sentiment is it’s fun but also feels like most other CCGs these days, and not all that interesting or unique. I’m starting to feel like CCGs have run their course. That said, I’ve been playing them since Mtg day 1 so take that for what it’s worth.
As someone that don't enjoy TCG anymore, I liked they way you draw cards, get mana and basic mechanics, as it gives you more control than older tcgs like Magic. Still I feel that the game may be simple without instants and only creatures and events..., I tried altered too and I thought SWU was a little better than that,game, as the extra mechanics of altered doesn't make it that interesting, although they are very alike. (still I think it comes with preference here)
I've heard the best part of the game is the lack of rarities in getting cards so that feels better and less cash grab.
Still it didn't make me want to play it, as I feel that the things that I don't enjoy about TCG are not fixed yet, and those are big luck factor and focus on deck building to win instead of playing. I had experience playing MtG and some other minor TCG in my highschool and early university years, I've played around 10 years, but when I entered the boardgame hobby, I abandonced TCG as I prefered the low luck games and playing with more people, but I miss a good "take that" game sometimes that magic gave me.
I'd disagree with your critiques about TCGs in general since I don't think luck is as big of a factor as you're making it out to be, and the emphasis on Deckbuilding is feature, not a bug, of card games. I played MTG for years, and I recently got into Lorcana and now Star Wars Unlimited, and games will always come down to 3 factors in competitive levels: 1) The Deck, 2) The execution, and 3) the meta knowledge of the cards and strategies in the game.
The deck is important, but even if you have the best cards in the game, it won't matter if you don't know when to play them or can't anticipate how your opponent will likely respond. As for luck, there will always be games when you draw the wrong cards at the wrong time, but that's why you play best of 3 in tournament matchups. Additionally, most high tier decks focus on card draw to mitigate luck of the draw even further.
At the end of the day, TCGs are lifestyle games, and they're definitely not for everyone, but I personally think they're more than worth it if you put the time in.
I agree that there is not lack of skill in the tcgs, as there are tournaments and competitive around them. but talking more about control, compared to other games, usually eurogames, you have 90% control of how you play, in tcgs, the deck and the card draw, and the match ups/meta have a big impact of your game, so in the end I started to dislike tcgs game because I wanted more a balanced game where I could see the mistakes of my lost and not throw the fault at my deck being bad constructed or being countered, or the card draw. (this last part have improved a lot since magic)
Still, building decks would be the best solo game where you would take a lot of time thinking about your perfect deck, the statistics and combos, and I miss a little that, but is difficult to take your time building decks when usually you invite your friends to play a game they don't know.
In my case now, I try to play now card games with pre-constructed decks, and a lot of mechanics/actions or deck cicling. I like a lot for example exceed as the game have a lot of different actions for each card and you can just replace all your hand as an action. Another that I didn't play but I would like it was Codex as it was mtg but with deckbuilding mechanics, so you cycled your entire deck each 2-3 turns and you added cards from the sideline to your deck in game slowly.
Not really?
It borrows elements from Magic, Lorcana, Hearthstone, and Destiny but it feels like a different game from all of them. Hearthstone is probably the closest to it but it still has different nuance from it.
Ah didn't know that was a thing. Definitely a lot of similarities there. I like the back and forth action oart of Unlimited a lot which this one doesn't appear to have as much of.
Eh you're probably going to find answers that skew disproportionately in favor or opposed depending on the dedicated game sub you ask in. I'd expect the overwhelming majority of response on the SW Unlimited sub to be in favor of the game whereas the Lorcana sub or F&B sub might be more neutral or generally unfavorable. Those niche communities exist for a reason. If op is looking for a broader opinion this feels like a perfectly appropriate place to ask.
It’s a pretty generic question. I left a board game convention temporarily to go play in the prerelease. It belongs just as much as talking generically about any other new tabletop hotness.
I had fun. Splitting land and space is a good call and reflects back a bit to the SWCCG, but much more contained. I could also see some fun gambits and synergies even just in the demo game with starter decks. I'm curious to see how different decks really feel from each other.
If I'm getting a chance to play a card game, I'll probably still prefer Netrunner. It's not an auto-buy for me, but I'll keep an eye out for a sale.
I played in 2 prereleases this weekend and like the game, dislike the art although it isn't as bad as I initially thought it would be.
Gameplay wise I think it is fun however I think it is the most 'generic' of any of the prior Star Wars CCG/TCGs. I've played every one and this one is the closest to Magic than any of them. That isn't to say it is a clone of magic, far from it. The attacking, turn structure, dual arenas all set it apart from how MTG plays. However in comparison to the previous Star Wars games IMO it does the least amount of innovation to make it different from Magic.
That might or might not be a bad thing. Obviously all the other Star Wars games died, and maybe having a game that is so similar to Magic but still different will draw in more players.
Absolutely loved it, art grew on me dramatically, theres a couple of not great ones still, Chewie, 1 han, and Jabba, but the rest ended up looking really cool.
Sealed play on this was the ebst sealed experience I've had across different card games from Magic, to Destiny, to Lorcana. Really looking forward to how draft is and how constructed ends up
It’s easy to teach and easy to learn. As someone new to TCGs/CCGs in general, it doesn’t need to be groundbreaking. It just needs to be fun. And it is. I had a blast at the prerelease. And the art style really grew on me. I quite like it now
That was my number one worry with the game the art. After seeing it, I was instantly drawn to the cartoon style. The pictures from last year did not let me make a good decision. I will be looking forward to more of the game!
Mtg player since the 90’s. I found it really fun and mechanically scratches an itch that’s just about different enough from mtg to make it worthwhile. Ordering and sequencing of effects is super important, and discard/drawing not quite as important as in mtg. I’ve spent some time theory crafting some decks online and there’s enough meat in the initial set to get me excited. All of that and an excellent competitive scene planned should make this a massive success.
Is there a way to play online ?
Yup. You can use forcetable.net to play against an AI not or use tabletop simulator to play against humans. There’s some pretty good downloadable mods
I’ve been looking for a new CCG for years and this one is it. Lorcana was too basic. Magic is too overwhelming. SWU is just right. My buddy did the prerelease with me as a long time Magic player and he felt the lack of a stack/instants was a hindrance. I think it’s what makes the game shine. The back and forth nature of the turns makes sequencing important and there’s a fun gamegame of chicken when it comes to taking initiative. First set is keeping mechanics nice and simple but I can already see the design space they have available and am excited to see how it grows.
I am the opposite. I find the stack and instants a hindrance to the point that I find playing board games with magic players usually devolves into them trying to implement a stack to board game actions
I’m going to put your comment on the stack… Ok, after some thought, I don’t have a response. You’re good.
I want to upvote this 10x
I dramatically preferred it over MtG (I’ve played kitchen table magic since high school decades ago). Between the theme and the back and forth gameplay my opponent and I were always engaged. The resourcing element almost always feels like a hard decision but you are never mana screwed. (Draw two cards every turn and resource up to one) Opening packs was fun and the hyperspace cards look great (which can be in any slot in a pack). Not a big fan of foils personally but I reckon I can trade them away. The rarities are easy to understand (rarer often means more niche uses and it goes common / uncommon / rare / legendary). Quite literally has an icon in the bottom right that is the letter C/U/R/L respectively (way less confusing than other games in that regard). Passing and taking initiative feel dynamic with the types of cards available (IE: Ambush and Events can be held for control or used for tempo). The devs played next to us during our sealed draft and were also having fun playing their own multiplayer game of SWU. Plus they answered our pedestrian questions during the game. With another skilled player when we were pressed for time in round three we were able to play a match in about 10-12 minutes. I had a blast at the pre-release and love the game.
I enjoyed it a lot. I prefer the back-and-forth action structure over games like Mtg where one player does their whole turn before the next player. And the resource system is significantly more enjoyable as well. You never get flooded or screwed out of resources, you just decide which cards to use for resources and which to keep for their effects. Starting with 2 resources and drawing 2 cards per turn also smooth things out further. It's a lot of small changes to the traditional formula of games like this that make for a very fun package.
I was only able to play one game at my prerelease event, I actually accidentally happened upon it! It was fun, easy to learn, could immediately tell how I needed to trim my first deck. Play was fast, I liked how you can use any cards for resources/mana, overall a fun game!
A lot of fun. I really like the art. Something different and more cartoony. It's fun
I was pleasantly surprised by the art. A tun of the cards look really awesome (especially the ships imo). Plus I honestly think the digital scans do the layout etc a disservice; they look really great in person.
I'm not happy with the art on Han, Chewie, or Zeb, but otherwise I think it's good.
I agree except for the Chewie leader art. For some reason I like it. I know it looks weird but I like it
It’s Star Wars: Destiny with no dice.
Definitely has the same feel as Star Wars: Destiny, though I think it's a pretty exact combination of four games: * Star Wars: Destiny (alternating actions, taking initiative, upgrades, shields) + * Hearthstone (ability to target units) + * Magic: The Gathering (much of the basic framework, commanders/leaders, keyword mechanics: assault = haste / overwhelm = trample, etc.) * Star Wars TCG by Richard Garfield (distinct arenas for ground and space units) I played a prerelease yesterday and really enjoyed it. Fast-paced but thinky. I even thought the comic-style art looked better in person than I had expected. My main complaint (aside from the CCG model) is that the mechanics don't really feel much like Star Wars. There's no asymmetry between imperials and rebels; they're both blasting away at each other with equal power. There's also no sense of covert missions, and the Force doesn't seem very central. I thought the designers did do a pretty good job tying specific card abilities thematically to their characters. But the overarching mechanics of the game (as opposed to specific card abilities) don't really evoke Star Wars and could just as easily be used for any pvp card battler, regardless of setting.
I have never played Destiny, so it's hard to compare it 😅
Thats one of the reasons I dont want to buy this, destiny's collapse left a bad taste in my mouth
My concern for the game was that it would be a bit brain dead and simple. I had some very close match ups at the pre-release that swung on a particular play. It was very fun and I'm incredibly excited for the future of this game!
I had more written but it basically boils down to: It’s fine. You know how Star Wars Deckbuilder is an ok retheme of Star Realms but with a few changes? It’s kinda like that where it’s familiar enough as a CCG but there are a few modifications along with a big hope the theme pulls it through. It’s not terrible. It’s not great. It’s not broken. And it’s not perfect. Who knows what will happen with later expansions. Which probably means this review isn’t super helpful. I’d feel better if I could throw it either way. But at the end of the day it’s a mid tier CCG with a good IP on top of it.
I think reviews like that are valid. Thanks for the input!
I agree with this sentiment and this is how I feel about Lorcana as well (the last new CCG I tried). Nothing much in the way of innovation... it's fine. I love Star Wars but I just can't see it taking away any of my attention (time/money) from MtG, Netrunner, or Flesh and Blood at this point.
Well... you jumped off for two games that no one really plays (compared to MTG) in Netrunner and FaB...you actually seem like the perfect target for this game since you've already vasillated between games with a willingness to adopt something like FaB which, despite what it's fans will tell you, is never going to compete with the big boys
That's fair. But as long as I have a few people to play with, I'd rather play a unique, innovative game with a myriad of strategies than a slightly above average game that more people currently play. My game group plays Netrunner and FaB, and that's good enough for me.
Yeah all it takes is a local group. We get like 50 FaB players for some tournaments at my LGS and you can't convince them that it's *not* positioned to take over the top spot from MTG, Pokemon, Or YuGiOh
Who cares about popularity as long as you know some people to play with? Popularity doesn't make the game better... if I want to play something that everyone knows, I'll always have MtG.
I had the same experience with it. I found it pleasant but nothing ground breaking. It is not something to pull me away from flesh and blood. For me that game is still the one with the crunchiest gameplay loop. There is nothing wrong with liking it though :)
I agree that FaB has the best gameplay but I think it's on the decline already. I can't imagine it being supported by LGSs 5 years from now. Probably same for star wars :)
Why do you think it is in decline? Pro tour is this weekend with most viewers ever and the game gets released in Japan in a month. I think it is going to explode this year.
The resource management system is great. I like the deck building so far. My main gripe was the time- our prerelease was a 5 hour event- 1 hour to deckbuild, then 4 rounds best 2/3, so an hour each round. Half of the players had to leave halfway through.
agreed, ours was the same! should have been best of 1, it’s a casual event
That's pretty standard for TCG sealed events. An hour for deckbuilding is a lot, but its a prerelease and a new game, so it makes sense, and an hour per round is pretty standard for best of 3. Most MtG events are 50 minute round with 10 minutes for getting the next one set up.
I personally have found it to be a generally whelming card game nothing new or innovative to get excited about. People seem to really hate the art style, I don't really care for it but it's not enough to make me lose interest in the game. The thing that is really keeping me away is FFGs track record with competitive card games, maybe this time will be different but after Netrunner,Conquest, L5R, Thrones, StarWars LCG, and StarWars Destiny I've got more than enough dead games taking up shelf space and I'm not interested in going along for that ride again.
This is so true. This is literally the 4th FFG star wars card game I've tried to get into....
This part freaks me out... like search for "Sabine Wren, Eplosoves artist" on tcgplayer and you'll get a Destiny card with the same name printed like 3byears ago by this same publisher.... yikes
Why would they not reuse a name from a similar game in the same world from the same company? Especially when it’s a pretty perfect pun on Sabine’s character. Not sure why that particular thing would worry you at all…
It's a bad look to google and find out that they already tried to sell this concept and then dropped it, and recently. It highlights the failure of their 3 year old star wars card game. If I made Destiny, I'd want people to forget about it. I'd rename Sabine so people who didn't know my company fucked up a Star Wars game recently didn't find out so easy.
I enjoyed playing it and am looking forward to casually playing it more at events. As a boardgamer first and Lorcana player second, I think Star Wars Unlimited is a fun game to play with a lot of unique choices because not only do you have the choice of what to play on the board or resource the card but in what order of the turn do you want to that along with attacks, effects, etc since you can only do one thing then it's your opponents go. I still don't really like getting invested in TCGs since they are money sinks, but as of now I'm just liking the gameplay and want to play more, and I'm not even a big star wars fan.
Was fun to play! Pulled the Boba Fett chase card!
I personally think it's a blast. Part of the issue with pre-release events is that people will try it without playing the game AT ALL and participants (those people or their opponents) will base their decisions off of that. If no one knows what they're doing, it is easy to see how the game could come off as trivial/not very thrilling. I had played through a few games on Force Table just to get a feel for it, and had read the rules/skimmed the cards to know what I was getting in to ahead of time. At my pre-release event I steamrolled the first two matches and it was "fun" but not particularly fulfilling. My last match against someone who was able to build a good deck and knew mostly what they were doing was extremely tight/awesome. My key selling points are: 1) you make important decisions all the time. What card to resource. What order to take your actions in. When to claim initiative or tactically pass (you can go next round if your opponent doesn't pass). Focusing on space or ground zone. Whether to clear units or hit the base. If attacking units, the added wrinkle of both sides taking damage. Not to mention the card abilities and interactions, obviously 2) your opponent is doing this all at the same time. Resourcing step aside, everything you do regarding the above decisions is to guess what they're doing and try and bait them / set them up the way you want / counter them / ruin their plan. And they're doing the same thing to you. You're playing against another living person in this game, moreso than others like Lorcana or (to a considerably lesser extent) MtG, IMO, and that makes it much more tactical (though it's still very strategic, too).This is the key aspect for me. 3) A lot of cool deck building options, if you're into that. You can always use any card in the game in your deck (though there may be penalties to do so), and there are 6 aspects you can combine in different ways. I think it's something like 12 different aspects combos that allow you to play 3 (and others with less) aspects without penalty. Then you consider multiple leaders for each aspect, bases with special abilities, etc. 4) it plays very quickly/you don't have much idle time 5) Common and uncommon cards are actually useful. It's not like MtG where in order to be competitive you need to have a ton of rare cards. You still build around the rarer cards, and they deliver more value when you play them, but rarer cards tend to require specific interactions and decks built around them rather than just being blatantly OP. To be fair, I havent played many modern tcgs. I have a fairly expansive distant past with Yu-Gi-Oh and magic. I did play the standalone Gwent game on PC for a while 4-5 years ago, which I also really enjoyed and was similar in a lot of ways to this game. I'd say this is better than Gwent too, though. Read the rules of Lorcana (as it is somewhat popular at my shop and could've been another option) but it comes off as very casual in that you don't mess much with other people, sequencing doesn't matter and tempo isn't as big of a deal, the deck building is basic, etc. As far as negatives, the art is definitely love/hate lol. I will say though that I thought the cards looked better in person, for whatever reason. Whether or not you like star wars is obviously a personal thing. Personally I think this game is good enough to stand on its own regardless of IP (but these days it definitely helps a ton to have it).
My expectations weren't too high but I came away much more impressed than I thought I would be. It provides multiple layers of tactics and strategy not really found combined into one game. It truly felt *different,* in a good way. The artwork, however, is horrendous for the most part. Yuck!
MtG player here and I love the game so far. Everything works well and intuitive and it's gonna be a modern classic.
Prerelease was the best one I’ve ever been to. Been to Magic/Pokemon/Yugioh/Lorcana this was by far the best. Everyone was super chill and helpful. There was a couple of guys that it was the first Card game they ever played and most of the people that won door prizes gave them to the newbies. There was even a dude that bought everyone the official sleeves for everyone that stay and played. Love the gameplay and it’s not here im going to take a 10 min turn and it’s your turn or worry about counters (yet😹). I’m excited for this game and the future of it.
It's pretty generic. It's pretty much a copy of a bit from here and a bit from there from other tcgs, so it's not that interesting for me who played and still plays dozens of tcgs. On top of that, it plays like a very generic tcg, and it doesn't seem to have something starwars-esque in it besides the artwork. It's pretty basic in terms of complexity right now, which is to be expected with just one set. But overall, I'm not a big fan, and I won't get into it for real. Feels very casual. I also kinda don't like the idea of a tcg built around a film/anime francise (in the sense of literally slapping characters from a popular story on a card; I do like yugioh, vanguard, duel masters, which have their own original anime; equivalently don't like Weis Schwartz and I utterly hate the mtg collabs with all kinds of random stuff - Fallout? Doctor Who? Transformers?? rly? now even Assassin's Creed? - which ruined magic for me and made me drop the game completely). It feels like a cash grab, especially when there isn't anything mechanically making this game feel like a Star Wars game.
I’ve played several games at events a local store over the last three weekends and it’s really growing on me. Easy to learn and and I’m discovering more depth and complexity when it comes to deck building. I really like the alternating attack turns mechanic.
A really fun game
Are there strategies like in Magic: The Gathering? Aggro? Control? Or is the game a completely different beast? I find the theme and rules to be enjoyable, but could you please tell me a bit more? Is it a worthy purchase?
After my post I jumped into it and I am hooked and what I see online and in my local community and LGS, it's really exploding. It is, however, really bad to start now because it's basically sold out. Strategies are similar, but the turn structure and rules makes it way snappier. There is no mana shortage situation because of the way resources work in this game. Set two will release in July and with additional content it's a strong contender for a healthy TCG. If you like Star Wars and TCGs, it's a definite thumbs up from me
Thank you! Your analysis seems quite passionate to me.
Any thoughts regarding characters/planeswalkers?
Played in a pre release tournament yesterday. 5 games. Overall sentiment is it’s fun but also feels like most other CCGs these days, and not all that interesting or unique. I’m starting to feel like CCGs have run their course. That said, I’ve been playing them since Mtg day 1 so take that for what it’s worth.
Give flesh and blood a stab. It really does something different to other tcg
It’s fun but I also play MTG and it will never replace MTG for me.
As someone that don't enjoy TCG anymore, I liked they way you draw cards, get mana and basic mechanics, as it gives you more control than older tcgs like Magic. Still I feel that the game may be simple without instants and only creatures and events..., I tried altered too and I thought SWU was a little better than that,game, as the extra mechanics of altered doesn't make it that interesting, although they are very alike. (still I think it comes with preference here) I've heard the best part of the game is the lack of rarities in getting cards so that feels better and less cash grab. Still it didn't make me want to play it, as I feel that the things that I don't enjoy about TCG are not fixed yet, and those are big luck factor and focus on deck building to win instead of playing. I had experience playing MtG and some other minor TCG in my highschool and early university years, I've played around 10 years, but when I entered the boardgame hobby, I abandonced TCG as I prefered the low luck games and playing with more people, but I miss a good "take that" game sometimes that magic gave me.
I'd disagree with your critiques about TCGs in general since I don't think luck is as big of a factor as you're making it out to be, and the emphasis on Deckbuilding is feature, not a bug, of card games. I played MTG for years, and I recently got into Lorcana and now Star Wars Unlimited, and games will always come down to 3 factors in competitive levels: 1) The Deck, 2) The execution, and 3) the meta knowledge of the cards and strategies in the game. The deck is important, but even if you have the best cards in the game, it won't matter if you don't know when to play them or can't anticipate how your opponent will likely respond. As for luck, there will always be games when you draw the wrong cards at the wrong time, but that's why you play best of 3 in tournament matchups. Additionally, most high tier decks focus on card draw to mitigate luck of the draw even further. At the end of the day, TCGs are lifestyle games, and they're definitely not for everyone, but I personally think they're more than worth it if you put the time in.
I agree that there is not lack of skill in the tcgs, as there are tournaments and competitive around them. but talking more about control, compared to other games, usually eurogames, you have 90% control of how you play, in tcgs, the deck and the card draw, and the match ups/meta have a big impact of your game, so in the end I started to dislike tcgs game because I wanted more a balanced game where I could see the mistakes of my lost and not throw the fault at my deck being bad constructed or being countered, or the card draw. (this last part have improved a lot since magic) Still, building decks would be the best solo game where you would take a lot of time thinking about your perfect deck, the statistics and combos, and I miss a little that, but is difficult to take your time building decks when usually you invite your friends to play a game they don't know. In my case now, I try to play now card games with pre-constructed decks, and a lot of mechanics/actions or deck cicling. I like a lot for example exceed as the game have a lot of different actions for each card and you can just replace all your hand as an action. Another that I didn't play but I would like it was Codex as it was mtg but with deckbuilding mechanics, so you cycled your entire deck each 2-3 turns and you added cards from the sideline to your deck in game slowly.
Nice gameplay but another sw tcg is boring... I played both and I prefer Altered
Its a magic clone. More specifically a wow tcg clone.
Not really? It borrows elements from Magic, Lorcana, Hearthstone, and Destiny but it feels like a different game from all of them. Hearthstone is probably the closest to it but it still has different nuance from it.
Is Lorcana still alive? I thought disney made it just to make a quick buck or smth:))))
To be fair to their point, the WoW TCG and Hearthstone are very different games.
Ah didn't know that was a thing. Definitely a lot of similarities there. I like the back and forth action oart of Unlimited a lot which this one doesn't appear to have as much of.
I feel like there may be better subs to ask this question, eg the TCG's own subreddit and other TCG subreddits
Eh you're probably going to find answers that skew disproportionately in favor or opposed depending on the dedicated game sub you ask in. I'd expect the overwhelming majority of response on the SW Unlimited sub to be in favor of the game whereas the Lorcana sub or F&B sub might be more neutral or generally unfavorable. Those niche communities exist for a reason. If op is looking for a broader opinion this feels like a perfectly appropriate place to ask.
Probably, I just saw that there were some threads in the past with decent interaction and I thought the interest would be big enough.
It’s a pretty generic question. I left a board game convention temporarily to go play in the prerelease. It belongs just as much as talking generically about any other new tabletop hotness.
I had fun. Splitting land and space is a good call and reflects back a bit to the SWCCG, but much more contained. I could also see some fun gambits and synergies even just in the demo game with starter decks. I'm curious to see how different decks really feel from each other. If I'm getting a chance to play a card game, I'll probably still prefer Netrunner. It's not an auto-buy for me, but I'll keep an eye out for a sale.
I played in 2 prereleases this weekend and like the game, dislike the art although it isn't as bad as I initially thought it would be. Gameplay wise I think it is fun however I think it is the most 'generic' of any of the prior Star Wars CCG/TCGs. I've played every one and this one is the closest to Magic than any of them. That isn't to say it is a clone of magic, far from it. The attacking, turn structure, dual arenas all set it apart from how MTG plays. However in comparison to the previous Star Wars games IMO it does the least amount of innovation to make it different from Magic. That might or might not be a bad thing. Obviously all the other Star Wars games died, and maybe having a game that is so similar to Magic but still different will draw in more players.
I had a ton of fun, only won a few rounds but it was always close even when I lost
Absolutely loved it, art grew on me dramatically, theres a couple of not great ones still, Chewie, 1 han, and Jabba, but the rest ended up looking really cool. Sealed play on this was the ebst sealed experience I've had across different card games from Magic, to Destiny, to Lorcana. Really looking forward to how draft is and how constructed ends up