By Andrew "DOOM" Speirs
This article is here to serve as an evergreen resource for every Star Wars: Unlimited player, from Casual Sundays to Sweaty Saturdays, and from X-3 drops to Day 2 qualifiers. This is for you.
There are four fundamental pillars to Star Wars: Unlimited. Two are constant, built into the game mechanics: Resourcing, your first and often most critical choice each round, and Sequencing, which is arguably the easiest to misplay and the hardest to master. The other two pillars are conceptual, varying based on your cards, deck, match-up, and meta: Value, defined by the utility gained relative to your investment, and Tempo, the player's perceived lead in the game.
My goal is to help any player see these concepts in a new way to allow them to think for themselves. To teach someone that a specific card or combo is powerful is giving a man a fish. Showing someone the way to think about specific concepts is teaching a man to fish. I want you to learn how to fish.
Resourcing
Resourcing is the foundation of Star Wars: Unlimited. Without proper management, your strategy can fail before the game even begins. Players start with six cards, may mulligan for a new hand, and then must resource two cards. Consequently, your first in-game decision is Resourcing. We recommend taking your time here every round. This initial choice is often the most difficult, as there is no board state to analyze. Success requires understanding your deck and your opponent's matchup. Start building a turn-by-turn strategy based on the leader and base your opponent has revealed.
Resourcing Checklist
Early Game
- What is my deck's game plan in the MU?
- How many of Z card do I have in my deck?
- What turns are the most important in this MU?
- What are the odds I draw a card to play on X turn (curve missing from hand)?
- Do I hold on to this late game threat/win-con? Will I draw another when I am ready/needing to play it?
- Is any card irrelevant in this MU?
Mid-Late Game
- Your hand and current resources
- Both players' discard piles and the active board state
- Remaining cards in your deck
- Immediate goals for this turn versus the next
- Is this card relevant in this MU?
- Does it help my current situation?
- Can I play it this turn?
- Does it answer something I expect my opponent to do?
- Can my opponent easily answer this?
- How soon can I play this card?
The above isn't an exhaustive list but rather something to get you started. The best way to get better at Resourcing is doing it consciously every match. Using the time where you draw those 2 cards a turn to take a deep breath, look up at the board, look at your opponent, think about the game and what both you and your opponent want to be doing, then back to your hand. Evaluate each card and the hand as a whole without forgetting all the context you just took in. Effective Resourcing sets the stage for your round, but knowing what you can play is only half the battle, as you must also determine the perfect order of operations through Sequencing.
Sequencing
Sequencing is the order of operations that drives your path to victory. It's somewhat the framework of each game. While basic principles exist, the logic varies by the action. Consider these fundamental Sequencing rules:
- Attack before playing a second unit to maximize board impact.
- Avoid using removal on units that are already exhausted if other priorities exist.
- Prioritize taking the initiative if you need to lead the next turn with a specific ability.
Sequencing is an ever-changing flow state. Even with perfect cards, the wrong order can result in a loss. Before acting, ask yourself the following questions.
- What is my goal this round?
- What is my opponent's goal this round?
- If I do X how will my opponent respond?
- Am I building to lethal?
- Am I on the defensive?
- How do I deal/prevent the most damage on base?
- Do I need to protect/defeat any specific units?
- Is there anything I can bluff?
- What are the cards that can stop my goal?
Asking yourself questions like these can help you figure out which order to play your cards and take your actions. There's a nuance that is hard to put into words that can only be learned by getting reps with your deck. Setting traps, putting out bait, bluffing. These can only be done when you know your deck inside and out. You can accomplish these nuanced higher level Sequencing tricks even better if you also know the deck you are playing against to a similar level. Mastering the order of your actions ensures you extract every ounce of utility from your cards, which brings us to the importance of evaluating the objective Value of every play.
Value
Value is simply put, card advantage. But some cards are worth more than others. In Star Wars: Unlimited, value follows core TCG principles: you pay "X" in resources to receive "Z" in utility; whether as a unit, event, or upgrade. However, SWU introduces a unique factor: the Leader. Because your leader functions as a consistent, "free" unit or ability, you must always evaluate a card's Value in the context of your specific leader pairing.
Value can determine the winner as much as Tempo. A high-Value card can generate a Tempo swing and pull you back from the brink of defeat. To evaluate cards, consider these markers:
- High-Value Characteristics: Over-stated for their cost, "when-played" abilities, or flexible events that remain useful throughout the game.
- Low-Value Characteristics: Abilities that require multiple turns to activate, under-stated stats, or expensive, niche upgrades.
The Value Market
Value is not determined in a vacuum. Your deck, your opponent's deck, and the current meta form a "market" that dictates card Value. A card that is powerful in the late game has zero Value if your deck cannot survive long enough to play it. Likewise if a card can be answered before you extract the Value from it, its Value decreases dramatically. If your best card/combo is countered by the most played deck of the event, the overall Value of that card/combo isn't nearly as high as you'd think. Focus on identifying which cards provide the best Value in specific matchups rather than viewing them in isolation.
Winning the Value Game: The 2-for-1
We have all heard of the "2-for-1", forcing your opponent to spend two cards to answer one of yours, or answering your opponent's two cards with a single one of yours. Winning the "Value Game" means consistently forcing your opponent into low-value exchanges. If you are not careful and lose the "Value Game", you will find yourself digging out of a hole caused by being out-valued round after round. To win the "Value game", use proper sequencing and Tempo to bait inefficient responses, forcing your opponent into suboptimal trades that keep you in control.
Leader as Free Value
Every leader provides "free" Value. Deploying your leader costs no resources and immediately adds a readied unit to the board. Because this is such a powerful action, your goal should be to maximize the Value you extract from your leader's deployment.
Your opponent, of course, is looking to do the same. Factors like posturing, Sequencing, and Tempo determine how much value a player gets from their leader post-deploy.
On the flip side, your leader's passive ability also generates ongoing Value throughout the game. While not all leaders are created equal, many provide powerful abilities that can shape your strategy. By pairing your leader with units that synergize with these abilities, you create a cohesive Value plan, building a deck that is greater than the sum of its parts.
While high-value exchanges can build a sustainable lead, you may often sacrifice pure Value to maintain the pressure and board presence required to control the game's Tempo.
Tempo
Tempo is the driving force behind winning a game. It encompasses everything happening in the game: the units on the board, your available resources, and the actions you can take. For the physics nerds out there, think of Tempo as the sum of potential and kinetic energy.
When a player "has Tempo," they force their opponent to react. A player with several units has lots of Tempo if their opponent has little or none. However, sacrificing Tempo can be a strategic choice: some decks trade early Tempo for a powerful Value play later, which can trigger a massive Tempo swing. While Value rarely costs you Tempo, the reverse is often true. Returning a unit to your opponent's hand is rarely a good Value play but is the first thing many think of when talking of a Tempo play. Does this get any Value? The opponent didn't lose a card but you did, but they have one less unit in play and potentially no longer have the resources to replay it this same turn.
Think of Tempo as the ebb and flow of the game, similar to a tide. It is, plainly, who's ahead in terms of board and pressure. In high-level play, rarely does one player hold a Tempo advantage for the entire match. How to approach Tempo varies by deck and player, yet it remains a constant fundamental.
To gauge your current Tempo advantage, ask yourself:
- Do you have more units or power on the board than your opponent?
- Do you have more health remaining on your base?
- Do you have more cards in hand?
- Do you have the resources to make an impactful play?
If you answered "yes" to three or more of these questions, you likely have the Tempo advantage.
Understanding the current Tempo allows you to respond to the pace of the match, bringing all four pillars together to form a cohesive path toward final victory.
What are we building?
Resourcing is the foundation, Sequencing is the framework.
The Value-Tempo Arch
Without direct card or board state examples it can be hard to fully describe the concepts of Value and Tempo. I want you to think of them as 2 parts of a larger pillar. The Value-Tempo Arch. Using Resourcing as our foundation, the deck and matchup knowledge we've established and the questions we ask ourselves every round, and Sequencing as our framework, thinking about the intricacies of each turn, we are setting ourselves up for success to build a value or Tempo advantage strong enough to end the game.
You can use Value to gain Tempo and vice-versa. Sometimes you need to sacrifice one to establish the other. Much like Sequencing and Resourcing the more you know your deck and the meta, the easier it is to determine which one you should prioritize at the different stages of the game. You may want to bait a high value unit to force your opponent to take a specific line of play keeping your other units safe. You may want to keep the pressure up with cheap units to force a response and create space for your higher impact units. You use your leader ability as a soft-pass to bluff a response you want your opponent to walk into.
The Goal in SW:U is to deal damage to your opponent's base. That's it. It's pretty simple. How you achieve that goal is putting these 4 Fundamentals at the front of every move you make. To keep with my metaphor, the Arch can be built quickly (aggro), slowly and methodical (control), or adaptive (midrange). The stronger the foundation, the tighter the framework, the more easily you can build up the Value or the Tempo to your advantage and win the game.
DOOM('s) Thoughts
These fundamentals are used in every game of SWU you will ever play. I did not want to give you specific examples that will rotate out one day. I wanted to provide you all with something that can be used to spark the thought process in gaining a deeper understanding of these concepts.
I am not a perfect player. I still make resourcing errors, misplay my sequencing, walk into poor value trades, and not pay attention to the Tempo. BUT simply thinking about these fundamentals in this way has made me a better player.
Consistency. Practice. Thoughtfulness.
These are what turn good players into great players. I hope you can use these concepts to improve your consistency. That they show themselves in your practice. That you become a more thoughtful player.
-DOOM
Andrew "DOOM" Speirs is an avid TCG player with over 20 years of competitive gaming experience. With this experience gathered across myriads of different games — from FPS to MOBA and TCG — comes a unique perspective. DOOM is an active pundit/commentator for Star Wars: Unlimited and serves as a Coach for his local SW:U community.
