It is a day long awaited.

While a ton of fun stuff has occupied our attentions in the last couple month, and we’ve found a lot to report on…there’s nothing quite like new cards. Spoilers have begun for the next set of Star Wars Unlimited, and the GarbageRollers couldn’t be more pleased to jump back into some good old fashioned card previews!

In case you missed it, here’s the article that FFG dropped talking about Set 2. It has plenty of fun spoilers from the upcoming starter set! Read on for our first thoughts and impressions.

Justin – I like the 3/6 body over the 2/7 Imperial Official body that comes with Tarkin and Krennic. Where I think Gideon will end up shining is when paired with blue as a control style deck (assuming he doesn’t get a lot of set 2 help in red/yellow and double green still isn’t quite there yet). Important to note his ability isn’t a static +1/+0 to 3 cost or less units, it is also only when attacking an enemy unit. Superlaser Techs hitting for 3 are going to be a lot of fun though! Overall he seems like a fun starter leader, and should continue the trend that Set 1 made of relevant leaders to the metagame.

Tyler – Ok, let’s get this out of the way for Set 2 leader spoilers right now- Boba is over the curve and probably comes out a turn sooner than he should. So, when we talk about leaders, I’m not going to start by saying, “Well, his stats and ability are worse than Boba’s…” Instead, let’s pretend the Set 2 meta is a beautiful world where Boba has been balanced and we can consider other villain midrange options.

First, I like that he’s an Imperial and an Official. Both have great use as far as catching buffs and enabling Emperor’s Royal Guard. Second, Overwhelm is a new trait for a leader which enables plays we didn’t have before, namely with upgrades. I could totally see putting Entrenched on this guy and crushing my opponent’s base through their units. Third, the leader side should help a lot with trading into powerful early game units like Battlefield Marine or Sabine. Those 2/3s that have gone out of favor could make a real comeback. All in all, I’m hopeful for Gideon!

Jayson – Now this is a Villain/Green leader that appeals to me! Extra reach on a stick is great- this is instantly one of my favorite Leader abilities in the game. I’m really interested if the pieces will come together, since Gideon has a lot going on. He seems like he wants to aggressively swarm…but those attack bonuses are contingent on trading. He’s got Overwhelm…but not with a very high attack. He’s in a color that likes to ramp…but he’s built around buffing little guys. And 5/3/6 is solid, but not earth-shaking.

So many little contradictions. Not devastating ones, just the kind that make me wonder what he looks like in his final form. On paper, I like him a lot, but it feels too early to tell what his ceiling is, and therefore too early to predict whether he’ll find a truly great deck.

Justin – Is this the Thrawn deck we wanted all along? I’m interested to see how hard they lean into the upgrade synergy for him in Set 2. There’s a lot of potential tempo play with Mandos abilities, but we’ll have to wait and see if the Hero Cunning card pool can get enough help in Set 2 to be more relevant as well.

Tyler – Upgrade synergy! I’m excited for this. As you’ll see below, some of his key support cards are Blue, so we’re leaning into the largest pool of available upgrades. Exhaust effects are powerful and give Mando a good leader and unit side. What will make or break him, however, will be the effectiveness of the “Bounty” cards coming in the set. If you’re going to spend early turns playing upgrades- they better be cheap and effective.

Jayson – Mandalorian decks are like guaranteed to be super duper fun. So pumped to play pimp my ride on every single unit. He’s also cohesive. Upgrades and exhausting are very natural bedfellows, as they’re both oriented around gaining tempo. 6/4/7 compares poorly to Boba, but at this point, what freaking doesn’t? Mando brings great tools for racing to the table, and already seems to have a more defined gameplan than his Hero/Yellow buddies Han and Jyn. I’m not guaranteeing that he’s better than those Leaders. I’m just saying that he’s clearly got a vision, and that bodes well for a SWU Leader so far.

Actually, I take that back. I am saying he’s better than Jyn 😂

Justin – This somewhat teases at the potential of 3 cost or less leaders in the future given its non-leader tag. The 4 cost is steep outside of the blowout potential of hitting a heavily upgraded unit, so I’m not sure we’ll ever see this card beyond the side board unless we have a heavy Mandalorian upgrade meta. Dodge this!

Tyler – Another card that will live or die by the effectiveness of Bounty cards. If you can load up a unit to get 2+ upgrades on it at time of death, then you’re in over-curve territory. Don’t forget that Experience and Shields count, so common scenarios like killing a unit buffed by Wing Leader will get you an effective trade.

Jayson – I’m a little whelmed by this one, given that it literally has to trade down according to its own text. It should be amazing in the starter deck matchup though, where the experience token kicker will be all but guaranteed, and if Bounties become prevalent it could be stellar. It also makes Tarkin, uh, very sad.

Justin – We have the common 3/4 stat line found on 4 cost space ships here yet again with a couple of decent abilities with potential. Restore 2 never hurts, especially when you can 2 for 1 a space ship with ECL on top of healing your base for 2. The real question will be how impactful the When Played ability ends up being, and my early guess is not much outside of Mandalorian decks.

Tyler – Without the “When Played” this an under-curve 4-cost unit. So, for the third time in a row, I have to say that playability depends on the effectiveness of early-game Bounty cards. Even at worst case tho, this unit will trade well into 3-power space staples like Green Squadron A-Wing or Consortium StarViper.

Jayson – Blue units and Restore- name a more iconic pairing. This one seems like it’s pretty solid as long as you’re careful about timing. 4 seems a touch early to be able to guarantee it’s able to get the recursion when played on curve, but I’m pumped to see how many Bounties you can stuff into a deck to get around that.

Justin – While this guy is just a better Cell Block Guard, its interesting to note that this effectively can give you 6 copies of 3/3 Sentinels to pull with Darth Vader’s When Played ability. Whether or not thats enough of a draw to run both will be fun to test!

Tyler – Imperial and Trooper gets my General Tagge sense tingling. Beyond that, it’s got real synergy with upgrades (or even healing?) which I appreciate. Tarkin’s experience could help keep him perpetually growing just beyond the edge of death. There’s lots of hooks to brew with on this guy!

Jayson – A strictly better Cell Block Guard by virtue of doing something, but the ability doesn’t seem like it’ll be crazy relevant very often. I tend to like sending Sentinels into base to get as many instances of damage as possible, whereas Dark Trooper clearly wants to brawl. It’ll be fun to see how it pans out. Keywords are on point and it’s one of the most hilarious Entrenched targets ever.

Justin – Normally exhaust effects in this game cost 1 resource (Exhaust 2 units on Cunning is 1/2 effects, Asteroid Sanctuary for 2 Exhausts and gives a shield, etc), so getting exhaust on a stick each round for 2 seems like a good value that will likely stick around long enough to find that value at 5 health. Is Set 2 where we start to see some Hero Control decks?

Tyler – This adorable guy fills a lot of deckbuilding holes I’ve been staring at. First, he’s a 2-drop Force unit who won’t immediately die so he can consistently enable Force cards in decks like Han/Red that lack enough Force units. Second, a 5-health Force unit round 1 could make for bonkers Jedi Lightsabers round 2. Oh, yeah and he’s got a great ability! Grogu and Mando could be the beginnings of a legit Hero control deck.

Jayson – Hysterical unit. A 2 drop, 5 health Force unit is gonna be great for a lot of decks, and unrestricted exhaust on a stick is a great tempo tool. Seems great. Much woe has already been expressed over the incorrect number of fingers on our boy here, and I’m pretty bummed about that too. This is the kind of stuff that makes me roll my eyes about art. If you support this art but complain about Chewie and Han we ain’t friends.

Justin – The long lost twin brother of Wanted from Star Wars Destiny leaves me really intrigued for what the Bounty design space will look like. While Facebook and Discord have been losing their mind over combos with Superlaser Tech to cheat out leaders early, I’m curious to see where this can find the most impact. Being able to drop a 2 2-3 cost units Round 2 can be pretty powerful, but will the card disadvantage be worth it?

Tyler – Here’s our Bounty-mechanic fuel! Not bad… This is clearly the floor of what a bounty can be. The answer to “Where do we go from here?” will determine the viability of many of the cards above.

Jayson – Clearly a lot of fun and a high ceiling, but much like Medal Ceremony, I’m curious whether it earns slots over more proactive tools. This is a card that drains a card to play, and then gets you back resources that will require cards, presumably, to spend them on. On paper it’s very card intensive, to the point where I literally don’t understand how you’d play it in, say, a Han deck. Be on the lookout for efficient card draw options to support bounty decks, as I have a hunch they’ll need them.

Justin – Ah, Home Two! I’m not sure you play this card outside of a Moff Gideon deck, but you’re pretty happy with it if you are. There’s also some fun shenanigans to be had with Piett in play when you drop this ship.

Tyler – A starter card that’s Home-One-level-good as long as you’re playing Moff Gideon? Yes, please! The ability to advance your board in space while simultaneously plugging the ground arena with a Sentinel is really powerful, so expect to see it a lot!

Jayson – Play beeg ship. It’s fine. Like most big ships, it’s devastating if unanswered, but also leaves you vulnerable to all manner of blowouts. This is the way. At least Cruiser has a super solid When Played effect just like Home One, and that probably means it’s fine.

I am, as always, very happy for my Beeg Ship friends, who to this point in SWU’s lifespan have been very, very cared for. Good for you. I’m glad you’ve been shown so much love, y’all. Now excuse me while I check out under a rock until Qui-Gon Jinn is spoiled.

Justin – Just like Gideon’s ship above, I’m not sure there’s ever a world you play this without running the Mandalorian. Important to note the reminder text does not mean if you capture something with the Mando leader, it will never be returned since leaders don’t leave play. Choosing the time to play the Rifle will really change the value based on what you can capture and hopefully keep for a while!

Tyler – Capture was an annoyingly effective mechanic in Legends of Runeterra, but in that game you couldn’t directly attack an opponent’s unit. Not sure if it will be as powerful in SWU. I’m kinda stunned this isn’t limited to the ground arena. My opponent plays a Star Destroyer and BOOM, gone. That said, this an expensive upgrade that doesn’t do much if we don’t have Mando out. Mando’s Rifle will be boom or bust depending on play and matchups.

Jayson – Capture is cool- do note that a unit on top of a Captured unit is called a Guarded Unit, and when they leave play, the Captured unit goes back to the enemy battlefield exhausted. In that sense, it really is quite different from removal, and is more a very, very annoying tempo tool. That sure does seem to slot right into the themes of the set, so I imagine several tempo-oriented decks will have legs. This ought to be a solid piece for certain flavors of Mando, and as you can imagine, virtually unplayed elsewhere.

Justin – Boy do the devs love 6 cost blue sentinel units! The obvious synergies with Grogu are cool, but this could also lead to a card like Guardian of the Whills seeing more play. I’m interested to see how many 2 cost units we continue to get that make Mando even more valuable!

Tyler – A six-cost Blue sentinel means we immediately have to compare unit Mando to Obi-Wan Kenobi. And honestly… I can’t decide. Mando has a better payoff now in the form of bigger stats and instant ability, but Obi has the better payoff at defeat. The big question is do we run both? Maybe if Hero control is a real thing in this set, we’ll see them work in tandem.

Jayson – I don’t know how good a blue deck that plays both this and Obi-Wan actually would be, but I sure do know playing into that does NOT sound like a fun time. I think this is super duper solid. Plus- pulling ol’ boy here with U-Wing and slapping him down with a 1 drop Blue or Green unit ought to be a riot. I love his stats, I love buffing little dudes, and thusly…I love the Mandalorian. Will be a very fun pull when we inevitably crack those sweet, sweet Shadows packs!

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That’s it for the initial run of spoilers! What are you most excited about for Set 2? With three new mechanics and a lot of fan favorites, there’s plenty of options!