In the past on Fridays, we would scour the holonet and post a detailed list of all the Content put out for the game in the past week. Now we point you over to SWUHolocron who does a much better job than us keeping track of all this content posted daily! You can check this link for videos and this link for articles! They also have a comprehensive list of all Content Creators that have posted content for Star Wars Unlimited found here. There’s a ton of other great resources on their site that I encourage you to look around!

This Friday we take our first look at one of the members of the competitive community for Star Wars Unlimited with John Tatta!

John Tatta (TD_Tatta)

Tell us about yourself! What are your hobbies? What do you enjoy outside of competitive card games?

Hi! For starters, like most people I’ve encountered in FFG games over the years, I’m a little older than the average TCG player and have a career job, that I work from home, and a family. I live in West Virginia on the border of WV and PA and have my entire life. Other than playing TCGs, I’m also an avid LEGO collector, Harry Potter wizard, Jedi, and anime nerd. I also enjoy sportsball of all types and a huge Pittsburgh sports fan.

What is your background/experience/accolades in the TCG world?

I started playing TCGs when I was about 12 years old when I was introduced to Magic: the Gathering. This was almost 30 years ago so you can do the math, haha. Magic was still very new at the time and the concept of a trading card game was very appealing to young me. Over the years in magic I realized that I was better than most people and eventually started taking things more serious to satisfy a competitive itch. I’ve played MTG, all variants of Star Wars card games, VS System TCG (both versions), World of Warcraft TCG, Dragonball Super, and a handful of smaller, random games in between. Most recently I’ve played Battle Spirits Saga from Bandai

I don’t love talking about accolades because I hate sounding elitist or anything close to that but I’ve done quite well for myself over the years. I’ve played professionally in MTG, VS System, WoW TCG, and most games I’ve played and have won probably close to six-figures at this point in prize money. I have several top 8 finishes in national and world championships but am often teased for getting second place a lot and never actually winning anything, haha. Still, I’ll take that over the alternative of not doing well at all.

All of that to say that I’ve been playing card games for a very long time, love them, and am very much looking forward to playing against and meeting everyone in Star Wars: Unlimited.

What drew you to Star Wars Unlimited as a game?

The IP is a big selling point for me. As I mentioned, I’ve played every other iteration of Star Wars TCGs and this one caught my eye from the beginning. I absolutely love the dual-lane focus of the game and think it’s “simple to learn, difficult to master” among other things. I used to play another dual-lane game called Elder Scrolls: Legends TCG (digital only game) and was sad when they stopped development on it. To get something similar in physical form, along with the robust organized play already announced, it was a slam dunk for me personally.

Obviously you find yourself much more on the competitive side of the casual <—> Competitive spectrum. Do you still play card games casually with friends/family or expect to with SWU?

Haha, yes, I am definitely a “Spike” player at my core but as I’ve gotten older I’ve become a little more casual and soft. I have an 8 year old son that loves to play games as well so we’ll mess around with Pokemon or another game for fun. I play some “dead” TCGs with friends as well as I do genuinely enjoy the hobby outside of being competitive. With SWU my focus will be on the competitive side of things but I also intend to play locally for fun and try to get as many players involved as I can. In my college days though I would play MTG or VS System like 8 hours per day to prepare for the next Pro Tour event; that’s not a life I live anymore.

What is one thing you hope to see from FFG attached to the Competitive structure (ie. prizing, formats, etc)?

The inner-Spike in me really wants to see cash events for SWU. While that isn’t a deal breaker for me, my team, the True Duelist group, kind of just flocks to cash prize games. Playing with them would be nice but it isn’t a deal breaker for me. Cool promos would also be cool, maybe like acrylic leaders or bases, that’s a cool avenue that they would take.

I would also really like to see large-scale limited events (draft/sealed) at a regional level or higher. In MTG, when they stopped using Elo to determine player rankings, I was top 20 in the world and have just always really liked drafting and evaluating cards in that way. Several games I’ve played over the years have had “multi-format” Nationals or Worlds where day 1 would be standard constructed followed by a day 2 draft or whatever. It was always so much fun so that’s a hope of mine to be able to live that again.

Really though, they’ve been checking every box for me. Robust OP, all levels, multi-day events, etc, etc. I’m just looking forward to 2025 when it really gets into full swing. The first World Championship should be a ton of fun.

What is one specific archetype or playstyle that defines you in card games?

That has changed over the years! Early in my career I always, and I mean always, played whatever control deck was the best. I’ve always felt at home just responding to whatever my opponent was trying to do and winning by just forming whatever gameplan I needed to at the time. As I’ve gotten older, I don’t have the patience for that anymore, unless I have to, and just resort for more aggressive decks. The more time left in the round I have to walk around and stretch, the better!

For SWU I’ve naturally gravitated to Leia and Sabine since those decks accomplish what I like to do the best but I’ve also had a good time with more midrange strategies like Boba Fett and Krennic.

What is your process for building a brand new deck in Star Wars Unlimited?

First thing I try to do is identify the cards that break the rules of the game. Leia allows you to cheat actions and Boba allows you to cheat resources. From there you just identify cards that enhance that strategy even more and decks kind of build themself. I also oftentimes try and build decks around specific cards, and then identify which leader would work best with that. For example, something like Power of the Dark Side, which we recently got. Effects like that are always powerful so starting with that card you can add more removal options and see which aspects you end up in, then pick the best leader for the job.

There’s a lot of ways you can go about building decks in SWU, which I’ve loved. The Leader/Base part of it is intriguing and has a lot of opportunities to flex creative muscles. For me, early on, I’ve just been testing all the new cards as they come and just see which cards or leaders stand out. Something I will say though is I think players are a little too eager to play 25 health bases from the onset.

What does testing for a big card game tournament look like for you?

It involves getting with my team/play group and just bouncing ideas around. I can’t stress the importance of a “team.” Once you have a group of like-minded people, hopefully at the same skill level as you, with the same goals. Things just start to fall into place. What we do is start with what we think is the best deck and then start to jam it into the expected” meta” and see where it’s weak, if it is at all. After that, just making tweaks to the main and sideboard until it’s a complete deck.

Getting repetitions with the deck is one of the most important things you can do to prepare for an event. You oftentimes don’t need the “best” deck to do well at an event, you just simply have to know your own deck better than your opponent, and have a plan for how to win your matchups. I won several thousand dollars in the WoW TCG for playing a deck that was “bottom tier” because people wrote it off and didn’t test against it. Just play what you like and learn matchups and I promise the results will come. You don’t need to play hours on end to prepare for a big event, you just need to prepare efficiently.

What are your goals in Star Wars Unlimited as a player?

Being one of the top players is always a goal of mine. The fact that a leaderboard is going to exist is super exciting to me. That really makes me want to try harder. Just a sense of accomplishment is more satisfying than the prizes that might come with it. Other than the obvious answer though, I just want to see the game succeed. If I can be an ambassador for the game locally, and introduce new players to the game, I’ll be happy.

On a larger-scale, I want to be a player who earns enough points to skip day 1 of worlds and go directly to day 2. Just being a “known” player is fun and I like that in other games I’ve played I’m known but also respected as someone who is helpful and kind to everyone. I may be argumentative at times on discord but in the end it’s because I’m passionate about things and just want people to learn.

Where do you land on purchasing product, singles to build the competitive decks or full playsets? Do you plan on hunting any of the special variant cards?

When I was younger I didn’t have hardly any money outside of tournament winnings and a minimum wage job so I was basically singles all the way. Now that I’m fortunate and do pretty well for myself I buy a lot of product, haha. I don’t have a lot of self-control so for SWU I’ve already pre-purchased multiple cases. I think I might try my hand at a TCGPlayer store as well so a lot of product is needed.

I definitely plan on hunting “max-rarity” for all the cards that I can. Just a fun little goal that I hope to achieve without going too crazy. A minimum goal is just having 3x of every card in base rarity but I don’t think that part will be too hard. Once I have that it’ll just be hunting “hyperfoil” rarity and getting all the Showcase leaders. I’m also incredibly easy to deal with in the secondary market and generally don’t care if I get “max value” for my cards as long as the person I’m trading with or selling to is satisfied and is getting what they want.

Once the game releases, in an ideal world, how often do you see yourself playing draft or sealed vs constructed games?

I’d love to draft once per week if possible but I don’t know if that is possible locally. We’ll have a weekly league night for constructed play here at the local store I attend but I’ll also find other stores nearby that do events. I definitely see myself playing a lot more constructed than anything else, much to my dismay. I enjoy limited play a lot more in a vacuum. I’m absolutely looking forward to the pre-release, though!

What are you personally most excited about for Star Wars Unlimited?

The organized play! OP is the backbone for any game to succeed and it looks like Josh has the right ideas out of the gate. I also really genuinely like meeting new people at events. Most of my best friends in life are people I’ve met playing TCGs so the more I get to meet, the merrier.

I know it’s a year+ away but I’m incredibly excited for the first world championship. I know that FFG will roll out the red carpet for their new baby and the fanfare will be through the roof. That’s something that’s been missing from most of the previous TCGs I’ve played.

What has been your favorite community experience in Star Wars Unlimited thus far?

My very calm and not at all argumentative conversations with Thorrk on discord, of course. On a serious note, I absolutely love the community for the game early on. Everyone is nice, inviting, and eager to learn and play the game. The content creators have been great and I’m so excited for them to grow and continue to make videos. I wish nothing but the best for everyone.

Where can people check you out and follow your journey in Star Wars Unlimited?

It’s been a little while since I made serious content for games but I decided to start things up again for SWU! You can find my videos on YouTube and contact me any time on Discord at TD_Tatta. The channel is going to be more focused on the competitive side of the game but I like to take requests and make competitive versions of some lesser respected leaders. Like I said before, it’s oftentimes not about always playing a tier 1 deck, it’s just about knowing your deck better than anyone else.

It will be gameplay focused with deck discussions but I’ll also be open to collabs, podcasts, or anything else that people want to see. After all, we do this for you, the viewer, more than anything else.

Any final thoughts on Star Wars Unlimited to share with the community?

The only other thing I’d like to say is don’t be afraid to reach out to me for help or advice. I probably have more competitive experience than most anyone else and I realize that can be intimidating to newer players, or just anyone in general. All I want is for people to have fun, reach their goals, and be helpful. Thanks!

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Be sure to check out John on YouTube and Discord! You’ll commonly find him debating Thorrk about new cards in the #previews-dicussion section of the Star Wars Unlimited Community Discord! He’s no stranger to sharing how he views cards, decks, archetypes and is happy to talk SWU with anyone he obliges!

That’s it for today. We hope you got a good introduction to John and what some of the things a competitive-minded player sees in Star Wars Unlimited!