The time is here! I am putting the finishing touches on this list hours away from my first Prerelease event for Star Wars: Unlimited’s new set “Shadows of the Galaxy”. While Prerelease events are relatively low-stakes affairs that prioritize learning the new set with new and existing SWU players, it never hurts to go in with additional information. Below I am going to list each Leader from the set, and talk about their pros and cons in Limited. So, if you are cramming for the event and trying to get some last minute info, this may be the way to go.
Gar Saxon is a Common card, which means that you will be more likely to run into him. Also, he was designed with the Limited format in mind.
Pro: Upgrade-a-Palooza
Our good friend Gar’s abilities are very Upgrade dependent. In a Limited format for this set, Upgrades play a big role.
Con: Higher Deploy Cost
Gar requires 6 Resources to Deploy. This is a bit higher than other Leaders, especially in a Limited format where ramp and game length are not guaranteed.
Con: Villainous Vigilance
Vigilance in Villainy is not the most impressive group of cards in the set. The regular blue cards help a bit but, other than a few standouts, this is likely the weakest Aspect in Limited.
Qi’ra is amazingly tough with an HP of 8. It allows her to absorb damage from her ability, or to be a good in combat if she can find a weapon to wield.
Pro: Shields and Healing
While the ability may be a little tough to work with in Limited, the fact remains that she can hand out Shields, and can redistribute damage as a kind of healing. With practice, her ability can be very powerful.
Con: Rarity
Qi’ra is a Rare Leader, which means that she is generally better suited for Premier Constructed play. Obviously, she is also less likely to be seen in a pack.
Con: Villainous Vigilance
Vigilance in Villainy is not the most impressive group of cards in the set. The regular blue cards help a bit but, other than a few standouts, this is likely the weakest Aspect in Limited.
Rey is a Common card, which means that you will be more likely to run into her. Also, she was designed with the Limited format in mind.
Pro: Heals for Days
Healing can be a difference maker in Limited formats. With her Restore 3 on the Deployed side, Rey is poised to keep you in the game.
Con: Higher Deploy Cost
Rey requires 6 Resources to Deploy. This is a bit higher than other Leaders, especially in a Limited format where ramp and game length are not guaranteed.
Con: Relatively Low Power
Rey lacks direct attack Power. Her 2 is not the worst on the list (and her ability to give Experience helps), but she is certainly not at the top.
With an Attack Power of 4, Finn can hit pretty hard for a Leader. Not much else to say here other than he’s tough.
Pro: Heroic Vigilance
Where bad guy blue is a little weak, the good guys come in a little stronger. Low cost units with good keywords make this part of the Aspect a bit more palatable.
Con: Rarity
Finn is a Rare Leader, which means that he is generally better suited for Premier Constructed play. Obviously, he is also less likely to be seen in a pack.
Con: Eats Upgrades
Finn’s ability is tough for Limited as it replies on munching on Upgrades. Cards in general are a Limited resource (get it?), so without being able to build from a full card pool this is not an optimal ability for this format.
Hondo’s ability gives you a bonus for something you were going to probably do anyway: play a Smuggle card. This allows you put Experience on your units no matter which side Hondo is on.
Pro: The Bomb Factory
Command in Villainy is LOADED with bombs. Maul, Jabba’s Rancor, and Finalizer are all very powerful. If you luck into one of those cards for your sealed event and have access to the Aspect at cost, look out.
Con: Higher Deploy Cost
Hondo requires 6 Resources to Deploy. This is a bit on the high side for Leaders, especially in a Limited format where ramp and game length are not guaranteed.
Con: Common Card, Rare Ability
Hondo’s ability may work with no exhaustion and it does have a good benefit, but how many times during a game can one afford to pay the Smuggle price? This ability will likely only fire off once (or maybe twice) a game… if that.
Jabba is large, and has the HP to prove it. His ability to soak up damage will be impressive. Any opponent is going to have to come up with an answer that isn’t just brute force.
Pro: Those Abilities Tho
Jabba’s abilities are all… pretty great in set (and probably even in Premier). Saving one resource on a Unit can be huge, and getting that benefit for something you would be doing anyway (defeating or capturing a Unit) is sweet. His deploy ability just allows you to capture a Unit, no muss and no fuss. A strong suite of abilities for the big worm.
Con: Sky High Deploy Cost
Jabba is expensive. At 7 resources, he is not going to hit the field early in the game. In Limited, where ramp can be scarce, a player may have to wait 6 rounds to get him out the honest way.
Con: Rarity
Jabba is a Rare Leader, which means that he is generally better suited for Premier Constructed play. Jabba is the main exception to this rule, but then there is the fact that a player is much less likely to see him in Limited play. Don’t plan on the Hutt man, in other words.
Good Ol’ Gids is very good at the strategy that, in my mind at least, wins the most Limited games: fast and wide. Having lots of smaller units join the fray quickly is a great way to overwhelm your opponent. Gideon can do this literally with his abilities as, while he’s deployed, all Units costing 3 or less gain Overwhelm and +1 Power. This can add up quickly.
Pro: Guaranteed
Moff Gideon will likely (Showcase aside) never be available in Limited outside of the Prerelease events. But, because you know that you’ll have him, you can plan ahead a little to both use him and face him.
Con: Ability Ceiling
Gideon’s ability is great (see the Pros), but it literally comes at a cost. The flip side of his affinity for small and fast means that larger Units, including Bombs, get priced out and will receive no benefit at all from Gideon.
Con: Restricted
Sure, it’s fun to play with Leaders you will typically never see in other Limited formats. The downside is that you cannot really learn to play him in Limited as it will be exceptionally Rare outside of these events. You are not likely to ever draft this Moff, so enjoy him while you can.
Boba Fett’s ability triggers from playing Units with Keywords. You were probably already going to play Units with Keywords. Might as well take that +1 Power on top of it.
Pro: Some Disintegrations
Boba has a pretty strong attack for a Leader, with a Power of 4. He can hold his own on the field, or punch in a bit of extra damage to the base when needed.
Con: Higher Cost
This Boba Fett requires 6 Resources to Deploy. That is a bit on the high side for Leaders, especially in a Limited format where ramp and game length are not guaranteed.
Con: Exhausting
When he’s not Deployed, Boba’s ability requires him to Exhaust to only provide +1 to a friendly Unit this phase. It’s a lot for a relatively small payoff.
Hunter is a beast for a Leader. With 5 Power and 8 HP, he may be the best all around Leader on stats.
Pro: Rarity
Because this card is a Rare, you are less likely to get stuck with him using up more than one Leader slot at your Prerelease.
Con: Much Higher Cost
With great statline comes great deploy requirement. Hunter needs 7 resources to deploy. In Limited, that’s a tall order.
Con: Blah-bility
So, not only is his ability to swap resources for duplicate Units in play bad, it is very difficult to pull off in Limited. Hunter should likely be avoided in Limited play.
Good ol’ Boss K has a great ability for in-set Limited play. Being able to exhaust to add a damage to a character with a Bounty is cheeky, especially when Bounties are used to balance out higher Power numbers on some Units. You can also give one of your Bountied Units a quick shot in the arm. Being able to collect a Bounty twice while on his Deployed side can also be a choice ability in Limited.
Pro: Lower Deploy Cost
It’s all in the name there. Only requiring 5 Resources to deploy is fantastic, especially with his statline. You should be able to Deploy him in most games in Limited.
Con: He’ll Be Everywhere
If you are the sort of player who enjoys having something different in your deck, Bossk is not that something different. You’ll be seeing a lot of him in Limited play.
Con: Cold Blooded
There is a certain temperature below which cold blooded metabolism just won’t work. The reason is that all chemical reactions slow down as the temperature is lowered, so at low temperatures, all the chemical reactions in an organism slow down. So yeah.. look. Bossk is really really good in Limited.
Kylo Ren is speedy. You can deploy him at only 4 Resources. This fits in with his Aggro-At-All-Costs aesthetic.
Pro: Hits Hard
Kylo’s Power is 5 when he’s deployed. That ain’t nothing, especially when combined with his quick deploy.
Con: Glass Jaw Matt
Of course, as with all things, great power comes with a cost. In this case, it’s Kylo’s HP of 4. He likely won’t be on the field all that long.
Con: Risky Ability
Kylo has a strange requirement for an “Ability” in that he loses Power for each card in hand. When building a deck for him this will work well due to the synergy with other Kylo cards. For Limited, however, it’s a problem.
Aggression is a great Aspect in this set, and Heroic Aggression may be a wampa hair better than Villainy.
Pro: Ping Damage
On attack, Bo-Katan can throw out a Shield-popping damage, or one damage to put a Unit over the edge. If you manage to have a Mandalorian Trait Unit in your deck, it gets even better. Direct Damage is very good in Limited.
Con: Synergy Required
While direct damage Abilities are always nice, the fact is that Bo-Katan needs Units with the Mandalorian Trait to shine. She’s underwhelming in Limited unless you have a really lucky set of packs.
Con: Rarity
Bo-Katan is a Rare Leader, which means that she is generally better suited for Premier Constructed play. She will also be much less likely to be available for Limited events.
And Han doesn’t get paid by the hour. His Ability allows for some amazing ramp with Units. Couple with an Ambush Unit, and it really shines.
Pro: Aggression is Good
Seriously, I don’t know if there is a better Aspect and Leader pairing than most Aggression Leaders and the red cards. Han is no exception.
Con: Pyrrhic Victories
Dealing damage to your own Units can backfire, especially in a Limited world with so many Bounties.
Con: Common and Common
If you are the sort of player who enjoys having something different in your deck, Han Solo is not that something different. You’ll be seeing a lot of him in Limited play.
Cad Bane’s ability procs off playing Underworld cards, which are plentiful in his Aspect and in this set. That means it should be a factor during the majority of rounds.
Pro: Decision Fatigue
Making your opponent decide where to put damage can be a nice edge. It can tell you a bit about their plans, or at least make them hurt the ones they love.
Con: Weak Power
Cad’s Power of 2 is nothing to write home about. While it is helped by Raid, it does invite attacks directly to this Unit.
Con: Cost
A prerequisite of 6 Resources to deploy is on the high side for Leaders. It’s not unusual that he won’t be able to hit the field until the game is already decided.
Doctor Aphra’s ability is pretty powerful once she is deployed. If she can meet the first check of having 5 or more different costs in her discard, then the +3 Power is handy. Having some limited recursion on Deploy is also welcome.
Pro: Lower Deploy Cost
It’s all in the name there. Only requiring 5 Resources to deploy is fantastic. You should be able to Deploy her in most games in Limited.
Con: … That Hurts To Trigger
Having to mill one card off of your deck per round will add up quickly when you only have 24 cards after drawing your hand. Without building around her, this can be a tricky trick to set up.
Con: Rarity
Doctor Aphra is a Rare Leader, which means that she is generally better suited for Premier Constructed play. She will also be much less likely to be available for Limited events.
Fennec Shand has the ability to grant the best Keyword in the game, Ambush, to any Unit she plays cost 4 or under. It does cost a Resource and an Exhaustion normally, but when Deployed it costs her nothing extra.
Pro: 4 Me It Was Tuesday
A 4 Power can be sneakily good for a Leader.
Con: Glass Cannon Shand
4 for Power is good for a Leader, 4 for HP is not.
Con: Ersatz Sentinel
Given her higher than average power and amazing ability, don’t expect opponents to leave her alone. She will be a target until she’s back off the field.
Lando is speedy. You can deploy him at only 4 Resources. He can be in the game before your opponent knows what is happening.
Pro: What a Shock, Cunning is Good
Cunning might end up being the best Aspect (again) in this set. Cunning Heroism is a great card pool, not to mention the regular Cunning stuff.
Con: This Deal Is Getting Worse All The Time
Lando’s Ability is very situational, and rarely a good deal. It can be used in clutch moments, but losing a Resource permanently can hurt.
Con: Common and Common
Lando is a Rare Leader, which means that he is generally better suited for Premier Constructed play. He will also be much less likely to be available for Limited events.
Mando gets to exhaust enemy Units with 4 of fewer remaining HP just by playing an Upgrade. Then, when Deployed, that changes to 6 or less HP. Good ability for doing something you’ll likely want to do anyway.
Pro: Guranteed
Mando will likely (Showcase aside) never be available in Limited outside of the Prerelease events. But, because you know that you’ll have him, you can plan ahead a little to both use him and face him.
Con: Restricted
Like Gideon, it’s fun to play with Leaders you will typically never see in other Limited formats. The downside is that you cannot really learn to play him in Limited as it will be exceptionally Rare outside of these events. You are not likely to ever draft this Mando, so enjoy him while you can.
Con: Cost
A prerequisite of 6 Resources to deploy is on the high side for Leaders. It’s not unusual that he won’t be able to hit the field until the game is already decided.
And there you have it. A quick bit about all of the Leaders you will see at your Prerelease. Did I miss something important, or get something wrong? Did this list help you in your event, or did it cause you to make a horrible mistake? Let me (and everyone) else know below. Most importantly: Have fun at your Prerelease events!
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