Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I found it to be very fun and have already made some great friends and even made my first TH-cam channel with some friends I met playing the game!
I'm a HUGE fan of Legends of Runeterra, and in my opinion, this game took the best aspects of LOR and figured out how to bring it to life in a physical game while mixing it with the best parts of other games. It's a huge win. The snappy actions, and the passing mechanism are truly what makes LOR special and I love that they brought it to SWU. I also like how you can ignore the units if a Sentinel unit isn't out and just go right for the base. That creates SO many interesting choices, where in most games, the board needs to be clear to hit the lifepoints or base. Do you just go for the kill or try and control the board and win in bigger swings later? The resource system is also so interesting, because drawing cards in this game is hard, but drawing 2 a turn FEELS great, but still makes resourcing certain cards is a big deal. Haven't been excited about a TCG in a LONG time and I've already purchased way too much haha.
That's a great comparison! I'm glad you mentioned how you choose what you're attacking (unless there's a sentinel in play)--I really like that too. And yes, drawing 2 cards feels great!
I really do enjoy this game. I mainly play board games but i did get into Lorcana and now this game. As of now i like it even more than Lorcana. Star Wars Unlimited is a slightly more complex game but i find it very rewarding to play and i like the shared turn mechanism, split battlefield, initiative, and many more of it. Every little decision in this game matters and every round has tons of possibilities based off of when and what you play.
Hadn't played a trading card game (both for the intimidation and cost reasons mentioned at the end of this great over view video) in decades but on a lark, wife agreed to watch our kids last night so I could go out and check a local card store which I saw had a star wars unlimited event scheduled. I played (casually) the decipher Star Wars CCG in the 90s in my early teens so figured it might be nostalgic for me. Unfortunately they were out of starters, but the guy running it lent me the deck he was planning to enter with and ran something else he'd built instead. Was a good time, only real complaint I had was the same one I had with all of these type of games in my youth, which is that control decks are no fun to play against (which is what I faced in the second round). Spending the whole match trying to get enough resources to play Chewbaca only to have him immediately destroyed, along with my entire board, before I could even do anything with him, was less then enjoyable, but I understand its a common card game archetype since they were a thing in the 90s. I don't mind losing, I just want to feel like I actually got to do something. Overall though, seems like a well designed and fun game. The biggest highlights for me were: 1) The 2 cards per turn instead of 1, opening up more options on any given turn, even after playing out my whole hand. 2) The lack of dedicated land so I never got mana screwed (and never felt bad about drawing cards my opponents deck countered as I could convert them to resources) 3) The semi-simultaneous turns that meant there was no sitting around waiting for your chance to do anything. 4) The fact that every card seems to have like 4-5 variations for collectors to chase (borderless, foil, promo, borderless + foil, and alternate art) in addition to the regular cards seems like it could, in theory, keep the price down enough on the standard cards that it wouldn't be prohibitively expensive to just play it as a game, while those who do want to use it as some sort of side hustle have a TON of rare variations to collect/sell. 5) Seems to be well supported by the publisher. I got cards just for being there and playing despite not owning any product. It might just be because I was new and they normally have an entree fee, but they didn't even charge me anything. The 3 random promo booster isn't enough to build a deck from, but its always nice to be rewarded just for showing up regardless of tournament results, makes you feel less like you have to go full Spike to be able to justify attending tournaments. 6) All the art was original. I didn't love all the art I saw, but some was fantastic, and even the stuff that wasn't to my taste, I appreciated that was original and not just screen captures from the movies/shows. Not sure if I'll play again, its pretty hard for me to get away on a Tuesday like I did last night, but given how hard it is to do so it says something good about the game that I'm considering it Can't speak on how fun it is since they didn't have one to sell me, but I was also told the starter contains not one but two decks, meant to be balanced against each other, so I could see myself buying just that and pulling it out on game night just like any other pre-built deck card game.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts after this initial experience! I also really like the fast turns, drawing 2 cards per round, and the resource mechanism.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it, I'm also hoping to get the duel decks soon and give it a try. The mechanisms look really quick and clean, easy to teach/learn. But, I imagine it would become more satisfyingly complex when all put together. Certainly a hallmark of a promising card game I would think! And agreed, I also tend to just buy a single product to keep it on the shelf like any other board game. It's a great way to still enjoy collectable card games and not have to 🔥the wallet collecting, lol.
The pre-release events did what you said. We opened those kits, all the packs, and used card to make a 30 card deck. Additionally, we could have more than 3 copies of a single card contrary to standard deck format. And yes, we hardly got through that deck. Mill tactics will probably come later.
The quick, single turns coupled with the 2 lanes kinda gives it a tug-of-war feeling at times which I really liked! I also thought the initiative mechanism was really clever. Adds an interesting decision point of “one more turn or try to get the upper hand next round?” A non-gameplay thing: huge fan of the material the booster packs use. That sort of papery, easy to open stuff. Would love to see that used in more tcgs!
@JameyStegmaier Like you said, the flexibility in the deckbuilding really gives unlimited potential to the game. The back and forth gameplay reminds me of other excellent TCGs like Ashes Reborn and Star Wars Destiny. Sequencing and Action Economy is key in this game, and this tense gameplay makes it fun and exciting for everyone!
I am really looking forward to try this out. Heard that draft is a lot of fun. Not sure if I have enough time and ressources to start playing another TCG. Flesh and Blood TCG is already so time consuming.
That's great! I primarily focus on games at Geekway that I haven't played before...but I like the idea of carrying around a SW Unlimited deck just in case. :)
Was curious to hear what you thought of this one, give you're a fan of MTG and SW:TDBG. I also played a couple of pre-release events of it and thought it was ok, it felt good when playing against someone who you could flow with on taking turns. The decision making when "discarding" for resources was really interesting to me - drawing two then working out what your strategy is with these two new cards. I also got a kind of vibe that TDBG influenced the TCG a little, which I guess is kind of expected given that they're the same publisher. Curious to hear what you think about TDBG vs the TCG.
The two games play very differently, in my opinion, in that the tension of the deckbuilding game comes from the galaxy row, while the tension in this game is focused on the combat arenas. I like that I am a character in Unlimited; I also like the choices about bases in the deckbuilding game.
Played it this weekend. It was the most fun I had playing a card game in a while. My favorite mechanism is the back and forth turn structure.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I found it to be very fun and have already made some great friends and even made my first TH-cam channel with some friends I met playing the game!
I'm a HUGE fan of Legends of Runeterra, and in my opinion, this game took the best aspects of LOR and figured out how to bring it to life in a physical game while mixing it with the best parts of other games. It's a huge win.
The snappy actions, and the passing mechanism are truly what makes LOR special and I love that they brought it to SWU.
I also like how you can ignore the units if a Sentinel unit isn't out and just go right for the base. That creates SO many interesting choices, where in most games, the board needs to be clear to hit the lifepoints or base. Do you just go for the kill or try and control the board and win in bigger swings later?
The resource system is also so interesting, because drawing cards in this game is hard, but drawing 2 a turn FEELS great, but still makes resourcing certain cards is a big deal.
Haven't been excited about a TCG in a LONG time and I've already purchased way too much haha.
That's a great comparison! I'm glad you mentioned how you choose what you're attacking (unless there's a sentinel in play)--I really like that too. And yes, drawing 2 cards feels great!
I really do enjoy this game. I mainly play board games but i did get into Lorcana and now this game. As of now i like it even more than Lorcana. Star Wars Unlimited is a slightly more complex game but i find it very rewarding to play and i like the shared turn mechanism, split battlefield, initiative, and many more of it. Every little decision in this game matters and every round has tons of possibilities based off of when and what you play.
Hadn't played a trading card game (both for the intimidation and cost reasons mentioned at the end of this great over view video) in decades but on a lark, wife agreed to watch our kids last night so I could go out and check a local card store which I saw had a star wars unlimited event scheduled. I played (casually) the decipher Star Wars CCG in the 90s in my early teens so figured it might be nostalgic for me.
Unfortunately they were out of starters, but the guy running it lent me the deck he was planning to enter with and ran something else he'd built instead. Was a good time, only real complaint I had was the same one I had with all of these type of games in my youth, which is that control decks are no fun to play against (which is what I faced in the second round). Spending the whole match trying to get enough resources to play Chewbaca only to have him immediately destroyed, along with my entire board, before I could even do anything with him, was less then enjoyable, but I understand its a common card game archetype since they were a thing in the 90s. I don't mind losing, I just want to feel like I actually got to do something.
Overall though, seems like a well designed and fun game. The biggest highlights for me were:
1) The 2 cards per turn instead of 1, opening up more options on any given turn, even after playing out my whole hand.
2) The lack of dedicated land so I never got mana screwed (and never felt bad about drawing cards my opponents deck countered as I could convert them to resources)
3) The semi-simultaneous turns that meant there was no sitting around waiting for your chance to do anything.
4) The fact that every card seems to have like 4-5 variations for collectors to chase (borderless, foil, promo, borderless + foil, and alternate art) in addition to the regular cards seems like it could, in theory, keep the price down enough on the standard cards that it wouldn't be prohibitively expensive to just play it as a game, while those who do want to use it as some sort of side hustle have a TON of rare variations to collect/sell.
5) Seems to be well supported by the publisher. I got cards just for being there and playing despite not owning any product. It might just be because I was new and they normally have an entree fee, but they didn't even charge me anything. The 3 random promo booster isn't enough to build a deck from, but its always nice to be rewarded just for showing up regardless of tournament results, makes you feel less like you have to go full Spike to be able to justify attending tournaments.
6) All the art was original. I didn't love all the art I saw, but some was fantastic, and even the stuff that wasn't to my taste, I appreciated that was original and not just screen captures from the movies/shows.
Not sure if I'll play again, its pretty hard for me to get away on a Tuesday like I did last night, but given how hard it is to do so it says something good about the game that I'm considering it Can't speak on how fun it is since they didn't have one to sell me, but I was also told the starter contains not one but two decks, meant to be balanced against each other, so I could see myself buying just that and pulling it out on game night just like any other pre-built deck card game.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts after this initial experience! I also really like the fast turns, drawing 2 cards per round, and the resource mechanism.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it, I'm also hoping to get the duel decks soon and give it a try. The mechanisms look really quick and clean, easy to teach/learn. But, I imagine it would become more satisfyingly complex when all put together. Certainly a hallmark of a promising card game I would think! And agreed, I also tend to just buy a single product to keep it on the shelf like any other board game. It's a great way to still enjoy collectable card games and not have to 🔥the wallet collecting, lol.
The pre-release events did what you said. We opened those kits, all the packs, and used card to make a 30 card deck. Additionally, we could have more than 3 copies of a single card contrary to standard deck format. And yes, we hardly got through that deck. Mill tactics will probably come later.
I think the difference is that we made 2 decks from a single pre-release pack. :)
The quick, single turns coupled with the 2 lanes kinda gives it a tug-of-war feeling at times which I really liked! I also thought the initiative mechanism was really clever. Adds an interesting decision point of “one more turn or try to get the upper hand next round?” A non-gameplay thing: huge fan of the material the booster packs use. That sort of papery, easy to open stuff. Would love to see that used in more tcgs!
You know, right after I posted this video, I sent an email to Panda with a photo of the booster packaging, because I completely agree--it's great!
Easily the best TCG of 2024
Thanks for sharing your opinion! What is it that you enjoy about the game, specifically?
@JameyStegmaier Like you said, the flexibility in the deckbuilding really gives unlimited potential to the game. The back and forth gameplay reminds me of other excellent TCGs like Ashes Reborn and Star Wars Destiny. Sequencing and Action Economy is key in this game, and this tense gameplay makes it fun and exciting for everyone!
I am really looking forward to try this out. Heard that draft is a lot of fun. Not sure if I have enough time and ressources to start playing another TCG. Flesh and Blood TCG is already so time consuming.
Want to play a match or two of this game at Geekway 2024?
You just said draft, someone is organizing an 8 player draft on Th morning.
That's great! I primarily focus on games at Geekway that I haven't played before...but I like the idea of carrying around a SW Unlimited deck just in case. :)
Was curious to hear what you thought of this one, give you're a fan of MTG and SW:TDBG. I also played a couple of pre-release events of it and thought it was ok, it felt good when playing against someone who you could flow with on taking turns. The decision making when "discarding" for resources was really interesting to me - drawing two then working out what your strategy is with these two new cards. I also got a kind of vibe that TDBG influenced the TCG a little, which I guess is kind of expected given that they're the same publisher. Curious to hear what you think about TDBG vs the TCG.
The two games play very differently, in my opinion, in that the tension of the deckbuilding game comes from the galaxy row, while the tension in this game is focused on the combat arenas. I like that I am a character in Unlimited; I also like the choices about bases in the deckbuilding game.