Star Wars Unlimited – Ashes of the Empire
Star Wars Unlimited- Ashes of the Empire
As usual, we kick the set off with a new pair of Spotlight Deck leaders. In Ashes of the Empire, our Spotlight Decks feature Luke Skywalker and Emperor Palpatine as leaders, each of them coming with 4 additional Special-rarity cards in their pre-built decks. Like with past Spotlight Decks, each of these decks includes several of the set’s new features while also being optimized to help give their respective leader an advantage in battle.
Speaking of advantage, one of the most notable new features of Ashes to the Empire is the introduction of the Advantage token! This token upgrade takes the place of Experience tokens in this set, and each one provides a temporary boost to a unit’s power that ends after that unit attacks or defends. Because of their temporary nature, multiple Advantage tokens can be granted out at once, such as with the Emperor Palpatine leader’s ability. Arriving in the set as a Cunning and Villainy leader, Palpatine’s ability can grant an Advantage token to one of your exhausted units for each other friendly unit in play, which can really ramp up when you have a big board presence in later rounds.
With such a reliable source of Advantage tokens at his disposal, it’s only natural that the rest of Palpatine’s deck would build off of them. Solid early-game units like the Helix Starfighter can grant themselves Advantage tokens while you’re still setting up, while late-game juggernauts like the Executor can distribute them across the whole field. Both of these units work well when paired with Palpatine’s ability, and when you include Moff Jerjerrod’s ability to double the tokens you create, the attack power of your forces will get very big, very fast!
Of course, gaining tons of Advantage tokens is all well and good, but you’ll want some key targets to actually put them on. That’s where units like the Forest Patroller come in, whose Overwhelm keyword synergizes very well with a large, temporary attack boost. Even if you grant Advantage to the Patroller while it’s still exhausted (through methods like Palpatine’s ability), your opponent will have to think twice about leaving it alone, effectively making it almost a pseudo-Sentinel unit. And speaking of Sentinel, the always-imposing Darth Vader serves as a Sentinel unit whenever he is ready, making him another unit that your opponent can’t ignore. If you pair him with another Sentinel unit, then he can safely build up Advantage tokens while exhausted, allowing you to follow up on the next round with a single massive swing.
Standing opposed to Emperor Palpatine, the other Ashes of the Empire Spotlight Deck has Luke Skywalker standing center stage. Entering the fray as a Vigilance and Heroism leader, Luke’s playstyle is all about healing damage. His leader side can heal damage from your units, while his unit side can extend that healing to your base as well. Having a reliable source of healing tied to your leader opens up all sorts of strategies that use unit HP as a cost, and that is embodied in the rest of Luke’s pre-built deck.
For example, Han Solo has fantastic HP for a 4-cost unit and grants any unit 3 Advantage tokens when he enters play, but he also damages himself when he hits the field. With Luke’s ability to heal units, you can mitigate the downside to playing Han, and since Han has Saboteur, he can ignore any Sentinel units that might get in the way of his attacks. Similar to Han, Luke’s sister Leia Organa also damages herself with her ability, and in doing so can patch up your base. Since it’s only one point of damage and Luke’s ability triggers after a unit’s attack ends, this can essentially be a free heal for your base.
Leia also has the new keyword being introduced in Ashes of the Empire: Support! This keyword activates when its unit enters play, and it allows another unit to attack and gain the supporting unit’s abilities for that attack. For example, when you play Leia, you could attack with Han (if he’s already in play) and let him use Leia’s On Attack ability to heal your base. In a similar vein, the handy droid R5-D4 can let any one of your units clear upgrades from a defender. These are just two examples of how the Support keyword can help you adapt on the fly, as it effectively lets you get access to certain units’ On Attack abilities earlier than you would normally.
Though Luke’s healing can help keep your units around for longer, it never hurts to have some additional layers of protection. Anakin Skywalker can help provide that protection, granting a Shield token to another friendly unit as soon as he enters play. Luke’s ability allows him to keep both his father and the shielded unit healthy, and if that shielded unit is Luke himself, then equipping him with Luke’s Jedi Lightsaber can also grant him Sentinel, forming a wall that your opponent will have to work hard to break through.
With over 260 new cards, Advantage tokens, another new token (that we’ll talk about more later), and the Support keyword, Ashes of the Empire promises to bring all sorts of new strategic elements to the table as we head into the third summer of Star Wars: Unlimited. Stay tuned for more news, previews, card spoilers, and gameplay as we look forward to the set’s release in July!
