Tomorrow is Thanksgiving for Americans, so we figured now would be as good a time as ever to reflect on some of the things we’re already thankful for in almost a year of Star Wars Unlimited!

We’ve taken turns passing the potatoes around, and then we’ve weighed in on each other’s callouts. Room at the table for all takes, after all! Gratitude is a precious thing- here’s a little slice of what we appreciate about the game.

Justin – “This Game Is Real Sweet“

Justin – Being an avid boardgamer (I really need to purge my collection down…), I did not expect that after over a year of playing SWU (we started playing as when we could proxy the GenCon demo decks in 2023) I would still be spending all of my free hobby time on SWU! This game is deceptively fun, and I constantly find myself getting sunk deeper and deeper into deckbuilding all the times I shouldn’t have SWU on the brain. I’m scared my brain will one day overload with all the potential combinations of leaders and cards to build with! Consider my brain invaded by this game.

Jayson – Pound for pound I think this has settled into being my favorite card game I’ve ever played, supplanting the likes of Ashes, Netrunner, Keyforge, and even Destiny. It’s about balance, you know? High end matches of SWU tickle my brain and make me feel like a genius when I win, but I can also teach the game to people who have never played a TCG before and they’re able to find the fun quickly. Hitting those marks is actually incredibly difficult, and I think SWU is quietly a triumph of design. Not enough people talk about that.

Tyler – SWU took everything we loved about Destiny and upgraded it. There’s more room in this game for everything we love about Star Wars. Personally, I’m loving the token units we got in Set 3 and every Clone that I manufacture makes me feel a little richer inside. Especially after the Boba ban, there’s a ton of room to play in the deck building sandbox that is SWU, and I’m still loving the game the way I did a year ago.

Jayson – “The Game Is (Mostly) Affordable”

Justin – First and foremost, this is a game which is a blast to play sealed/draft with which encourages a slower approach to growing the collection (and having more fun with it)! Crazy firesale box pricing aside, buying singles for this game feels very affordable, and outside of a few rare cases, meta decks have not come with an insane price tag. The market has really nailed a player-friendly spot and I’m here for it.

Jayson – Every single set I have scaled back my purchasing a little from how much I bought before, and I’m still very much able to build the things I want to build! That’s amazing for a TCG. I really hope that set pricing/distribution gets more protection for the sake of my FLGS, but in the meantime, I’m glad that product and singles both are affordable and plentiful. It is hilarious to me that people try to spin that as a bad thing.

Tyler – The amount of uncommons that have been critical to meta play has been really encouraging to me. Not only can I afford to build the decks I want, but I can also stock extra copies of the cards, so I don’t have to swap them between decks as much. The chase cards in this game (showcases) are for the collectors, not the players and that’s a good move on FFG’s part.

Tyler – “Design Continues to Push the Envelope”

Justin – The basis of set 1 were pretty intuitive. Once you taught people how to get past the chess-like action system, veteran card gamers had no problem grasping the game. Each set since then has come with new keywords, new mechanics, and some absolutely wild card designs! While not every mechanic has been the most competitively viable day 1, they’ve done a good job of pushing some and planting seeds for others that will only grow.

Jayson – I like that they’ve kept things approachable while not exactly playing it safe. Leaders like Darth Sidious and aggressive tech pieces like DJ have shown tastes of what the game can do at the edges of the design space, but I think the real winning touch here is that the first three sets did precisely enough to instill confidence that when it’s time to swing for the fences, the bat’s gonna connect. Like most folks, I fully expect Jump To Lightspeed and it’s inevitable space-deploying Leaders to really shake things up and prove what we’ve already been getting hinted at for over a year- that this design team is on fire.

Tyler – SWU at its core is a simple game, that can be taught quickly. But it’s also a sturdy system that allows the designers to graft on a lot of new content. I’m grateful they’ve continued to add new mechanics like smuggle, bounty, capture and token units. Each of them has been intuitive and rich in its execution. For instance, I didn’t expect cards with smuggle costs outside their native colors (like on Hotshot Blaster). I’m looking forward to another year of exciting new cards!

Justin – “The Dev Team is Flexible and Quick to Admit Mistakes”

Justin – It’s no secret that Boba Fett reached a new level on menace in the Shadows of the Galaxy meta. While the devs could have hit him in the middle of PQ season or decided not to hit him at all, they came with a Timely Intervention to end his foothold on the meta by outright banning him at the conclusion of our first month of Competitive events. Not only did they communicate the rationale well, they were up front about potential other problems the community had been speculating could arise with a nerf and how they had tested it to feel comfortable with just the singular ban of Boba.

This leaves me impressed by the design team and very optimistic about the future of the game!

Jayson – It was touch and go there at times, but I think FFG has earned the 180 it’s done. They’ve taken the rightful skepticism levied at them by those previously burned by their competitive offerings and they’ve turned it into fuel for their best-ever game. A real glow up, and as someone who owes countless hours of joy to this company’s cardboard, it gives me the warm fuzzies.

Tyler – The stream where they announced the Boba ban was the best they’ve ever done. FFG set new bars for communicating with the community, responding to feedback, and admitting mistakes. Danny also talked at length about how they’d tested the change before rolling it out. Was absolute music to my ears.

Tyler – “The Community Is A Positive One”

Justin – Every store weekly or tournament I’ve gone to thus far has been a very fun and friendly atmosphere! Sure everyone is there to win, but everyone is happy to share extra cards, discuss strategy, and build relationships. There’s always going to be some Negative Nancy’s online, but at the ground level of walking into a SWU event there is a good time waiting for all!

Jayson – I’ve been a part of some pretty special card game communities both locally and online over the years, and SWU’s is unique in ways only a Star Wars game can conjure. I’ve definitely seen my share of dust-ups and I do wish folks were a little less prone to complain and doom, but especially at the local level I have had a wonderful time meeting players and slamming games. I think it helps that there’s such a lovely game to rally around.

Tyler – The SWU community is a welcoming, fun group that makes playing the game fun. I had a lot of trepidation when the game began holding cash tournaments. As the financial stakes go higher, the more cutthroat people generally get. Luckily, SWU players have been a chill bunch without some of the drama I’ve seen consume other games.

Jayson – “People Read And Watch The GarbageRollers”

Justin – Wait. Really? I thought it was just Tyler’s Grandma..

Jayson – Being a part of this content team has been one of the most rewarding endeavors I’ve been able to undertake in all my years of playing and writing about games. When I reached out to Justin last year, I just wanted to find a home for my written content. It’s turned into so, so much more than that, and it’s all because you guys care about what we do.

To Justin and Tyler- thanks, boys. And to our audience of rollers- please keep in touch and tell us how we can continue to make the things you want to watch and read. It’s a lot of fun to play games with y’all.

Tyler – This is my first run at being a content creator and I’ve truly enjoyed it. Thanks to Justin and Jayson for bringing their respective expertise to the table. The GarbageRollers couldn’t exist without everyone’s unique perspective. Hell, I might even admit to appreciating Justin’s Sabine play if you put a blaster to my head!

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Happy Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for? May we celebrate many, many Thanksgivings together with the SWU community!