This topic goes pretty hand in hand with Sequencing, thus Jayson covered a lot of it in Lesson #5 Sequencing. There’s a few more general rules and corner cases to cover, though.

Initiative

There’s a variety of elements that can play into initiative, but the most important one is: taking it gives you the first action of the following round. While this isn’t something that will be of vast importance every round, it can often decide games! If we’re both at 3 hp remaining and each have a unit on board that can do 3+ damage, then whoever goes first wins.

The designers of the game have told us they don’t see going first as an inherent advantage in this game for Round 1, as there is no Second player bonus. In Star Wars Destiny, the second player got a couple extra health points, in Lorcana the first player starts with 1 less card due to not getting to draw. While a lot of the time Round 1 won’t matter, there is a lot of times going first in Round 2 will, and the first player in Round 1 has the advantage of easily taking the initiative in Round 1.

Take this example, Justin opens with a Cantina Braggart and Tyler follows with a Death Star Stormtrooper. Due to the way Raid works, if Justin isn’t the one attacking in this exchange in Round 2, Tyler will get a free value trade removing Justin’s Braggart and keeping his Stormtrooper on the board. Justin incorrectly reads this and chooses to use Sabine Wren’s leader ability allowing Tyler to take the iniative setting up that trade in Round 2. Going first can set-up valuable trades, nullify your opponent’s advantage, or allow you to swing with a unit before an opponent can defeat it.

Another instance of needing to pay attention, and potentially prioritize taking the initiative, is when cards like Star Wing Scout (that care about who has the initiative) hit the table. Card draw is an inherently strong ability in card games. So, if Star Wing Scout is on your side of the table, you’ll want to keep the initiative to make that pesky 4-attack unit painful to defeat! If it’s on the other side of the table, you’ll want to plan ahead to control the initiative, so you can defeat it with no repercussions. Look for ways to get better value from/against units that care about initiative.

Also be on the lookout for situations where simply going first in the next round will allow one player to swing for lethal. This can get complicated with cards like Surprise Strike, Shoot first, Fleet Lt, Snowtrooper Lt, and Snapshot Reflexes allowing players to swing for more damage. If you have no units with restore, ways to heal your base, or ways to remove the units on the opponent’s board, it may be vital to take the initiative to try and draw an out at the start of next round. This will keep you alive!

These are the three initiative guidelines I follow during the game. As the game expands, we will no doubt find more!

Passing

In Star Wars Destiny, passing was a common play for many decks that would like to durdle around for most of a round before unleashing their resources late. In Star Wars Unlimited, since the rules treat “Taking the Initiative” as a sort of second pass action, passing is not something we can do lightly- it might end the round at a disadvantageous time.

There are two big things to consider when contemplating passing. If I’m playing an aggro deck, and my opponent is playing a ramp or control deck that plays for the late game, a double-pass can push the game past the point where I need to win, and closer to the time my opponent can stabilize and win. A low-end, “race to defeat the base” deck like Sabine Wren does not want to give a Vader deck the chance to advance the round and get closer to deploying. Always be aware of when your opponent’s leader deploys and avoid helping them get there faster!

The other thing to consider is: you do not want to pass, and present a double-pass opportunity to your opponent, if they are ahead on value for the round. As referenced in the Sequencing article, in this video Justin has already spent his resources for the round and attacked with a unit. Tyler has spent nothing and deployed his leader without attacking, but chooses to pass. This allows Justin to take the initiative and send the game to the next round without Tyler spending resources or attacking with Tarkin. This was a huge value swing and probably lost Tyler the game. Avoiding these situations is critical!

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Hopefully, these principles will help you see Initiative & Passing as tools to win a game, rather than paths to defeat!