We had the chance to sit down with one of the Senior Game Designers for Star Wars Unlimited, Jeremy Zwirn, and ask him some questions! As avid enjoyers of Star Wars Destiny, we were very curious to see how Jeremy’s design experience there translated to Star Wars Unlimited. Keep reading to find out!

Tell us about yourself Jeremy, what does JZ do besides formerly winning world championships in card games and now designing them? 

In addition to designing games, I love to play them, especially board and card games. I own hundreds of games, but never enough time to play them! Even though Minnesota can have long winters, I also love spending time outdoors. I especially enjoy going on bike rides all around the beautiful Twin Cities and try to go on a 100-mile ride at least once a year. 

What most excites you about Star Wars™: Unlimited? 

Being a part of such an amazing community. It’s great to see passionate people of all types enjoy interacting with the game, whether it’s playing, collecting, or talking about it. I love meeting players from around the world at events and hearing their stories. 

What does an average week of working on Star Wars: Unlimited look like for you? 

Lots of meetings! I work remotely but often go into the office twice a week to playtest. A typical week also includes designing/tweaking cards, building decks, and reading playtest reports. 

In case people weren’t aware, you were the lead designer for the last half or so of Star Wars™: Destiny. How did that experience translate to designing Star Wars: Unlimited? 

That experience helped inspire some of the mechanics in Star Wars™: Unlimited, such as the action system. One thing Star Wars: Unlimited is better suited to do is fit more units in each set, especially spaceships. Star Wars is full of compelling characters and it’s great to have more opportunities to feature them. 

Were there any specific lessons you learned designing Star Wars: Destiny? 

Draft and Sealed are fantastic formats to play card games. The original design for Star Wars: Destiny didn’t include those formats, which made it challenging to add them later to the game. We made sure to incorporate Draft and Sealed into Star Wars™: Unlimited from the very beginning of its design, and that gave us time to make those formats really shine. Draft is my favorite way to play Star Wars: Unlimited! 

Is there one specific card you designed in Star Wars: Destiny that you would like to translate to Star Wars: Unlimited at some point? 

There are many cards that I’d like to incorporate into Star Wars: Unlimited in some way or another. I helped design the plot card type in Star Wars: Destiny, which allowed you to start the game with one plot in play often giving you a cool ability. My favorite plots were the missions that gave you a major goal while telling a great story, in particular, the two that could win you the game: Construct the Death Star and Destroy the Death Star. 

It was mentioned previously by one of the designers that rare bases were a late add in the design process. Are you happy with where you landed on them for set 1?

Overall, yes. I like the variety and strategy the rare bases provide, while still making the common bases a viable alternative for some decks. I think  Energy Conversion Lab is a staple, but overall the rares offer a unique alternative to the commons.

Any chance the traits on bases will come in to play in future sets? 

Star Wars: Unlimited has a deep well of design space, and over time we’ll be exploring it. One of the most challenging things as a designer is knowing when to save a good idea for the right time, even if that means years later. 

It seems likely that Common bases will be featured in every set to accommodate limited play. Is the Common base a static 30 health base forever, or might we see more design space explored there? 

There’s room for exploration. 

The way rare bases work feels vaguely familiar to Plot Cards in Star Wars: Destiny. Were they any part of the design inspiration? Will we potentially see bases with over 30 health at some point with negative effects? 

Plots inspired rare bases to some degree as both begin the game in play and provide a wide array of design possibilities. It’s natural to explore what bases with more than 30 health could look like. 

Now that you’ve been designing card games for over 7 years, do you feel your design experience or previous competitive card game experience dictates more decisions in the design process? 

My design experience has been more valuable during the design process. Working on several different game lines over the years has given me invaluable knowledge I’ve applied to improve my design skills. However, years of being a competitive card gamer have been more valuable during the development process. 

Some people in the community have speculated that as the best card game player on the design team, since Cunning is your favorite aspect, it is the most power-pushed aspect. How would you respond to that sentiment? 

Cunning has a lot of strong cards but so does each other aspect. Currently, the most powerful decks are arguably Sabine Wren/Command, Boba Fett/Command, and Iden Versio/Command. Cunning is only represented in one of those decks while Command is featured in all three. 

It’s been said previously that the design team are more cautious with costing draw effects and tutors. Why are exhaust effects more aggressively costed when compared to card draw? 

Efficient card draw and tutors can make games too consistent by allowing players to find their key cards during every game, and some degree of variance is a good thing. Also, sometimes there’s an ebb and flow to costing effects; some, such as card draw, may be pushed more aggressively in the future while others may be toned down. 

What kinds of pivots are available for future set designs if negative meta implications were to become obvious early in a set? Is the team able to adjust previously finalized designs based on things like tournament results? 

We work on sets years in advance of their release, and one drawback of that is that it’s very difficult to adapt future sets to the current metagame. Once a set has been finalized, we cannot change any cards in it due to tournament results, and we must rely on other tools to impact the metagame, when necessary. 

What would be your elevator pitch to competitive card game players on why they should consider playing Star Wars: Unlimited? 

While easy to learn, Star Wars: Unlimited is hard to master. Deckbuilding, resourcing, and sequencing are just a few important things the game provides that reward skillful players. 

You’ve described yourself on stream previously as a “slow player.” As a competitive player, does that impact your decision for a deck to run at a tournament knowing a slower control style deck might not make time many rounds? Or do you buckle up, play faster, and make it work if it’s the deck you think is best to bring to a tournament? 

I’ll try to make it work if I think it’s the best deck to bring. If control decks are highly prominent in the metagame, I’d bring an aggro deck to not only help with potential time constraints but also for a likely good matchup for me. 

What card have players loved that most surprised you? What card that they weren’t fans of? 

I didn’t realize how many players would love I Am Your Father, especially playing against it by yelling “nooooooo!” Some players aren’t fans of powerful cards they play against repeatably, such as Energy Conversion Lab. 

What is your favorite card in the game that you have designed (if unreleased, set # and card # please!) 

This is always a tough question to answer! This time I’ll go with Darth Vader unit. He’s strong, thematic, and fits well in both midrange and control decks. 

What sets Star Wars: Unlimited apart from other Trading Card Games to you? 

Star Wars: Unlimited blends many great mechanics, like the action system, resourcing, and multiple arenas, with an amazing theme. 

What advice would you give a new player on jumping into Star Wars: Unlimited as their first competitive card game? 

To check out the Garbage Rollers! Honestly, there are so many great content creators for Star Wars: Unlimited, and many of them provide good suggestions for beginners. Also, go to local events, such as prereleases, to meet other players in your area. 

What is your favorite thing about working at Fantasy Flight Games? 

Working with so many talented and passionate people! 

If you had to spend a week locked in a basement with only tabletop games and 1 other person involved in Star Wars: Unlimited, who would it be and why? 

I get this question all the time so that’s easy: Xander Tabler. I’ve enjoyed playing many tabletop games with him over the years, especially when we’re traveling together for events. Hey Xander, can we make this a reality? Livestream it? 

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Big thanks to Jeremy for answering all our questions and giving us some insight into the design proces! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Thanks for reading!