Just over a year since its initial release, Star Wars: Unlimited has grown into quite the compelling TCG. With its first year under its belt, all eyes are now on year 2, and while previously there was a heavy focus on ground battles, Set 4 – Jump to Lightspeed – brings the focus up to the skies, with a large emphasis on starfighters, transports and capital ships that make up the iconic Star Wars galaxy.
In a way, this shift to including more cards that can play on the Space side of the table is an exciting, welcome change. Previous sets certainly had a real focus on the Ground side, and I’d say that’s where 75-80% of our combat time was spent, with the occasional Space Unit to keep an eye on. This is due to Star Wars: Unlimited’s core rule, where Ground can only attack Ground, and Space can only attack Space. Now, with Jump to Lightspeed, the balance is changing, and that makes for more dynamic fights.
While this feels different thematically, the mechanics introduced this time are not as game-changing as in prior Set releases like Twilight of the Republic. Star Wars: Unlimited is still growing overall, and I think the shift in focus to Space Units broadly does do enough to make Jump to Lightspeed feel just as important, though.
The new keyword that is there, Piloting, will make Star Wars fans happy from a lore point of view, as it means you can have Han Solo flying the Millennium Falcon, for example. Memorable characters in their most famous rides certainly aren’t going to change the game, though, but the Pilot trait means they can be played as an upgrade on a friendly unpiloted Vehicle unit. As an example, a hero like Chewbacca could either be played as a unit for 5 resources, or as an upgrade for 3 resources with Piloting that gives a Vehicle unit +3/+3.
“…if you don’t focus on Space, your base will take a whallopping and it won’t be pretty.”
This adds some interesting tactics to how Space Units work broadly, as it gives them a potential bolstering, making them stronger; there are also additional abilities that take place when using Piloting, depending on the card. Of course, the risk is that if the Vehicle leaves play, the Pilot leaves play alongside it, so you’re choosing to make one unit much stronger, but having a lower volume of units than if you’d chosen to play it separately.
Indirect damage is also new in Jump to Lightspeed, and when being dealt it, you can assign that much unpreventable damage, divided however you choose between your base and units you control. Given its unpreventable, shield tokens and other effects don’t stop it from getting through; this is similar to how Trample works in Magic: The Gathering, although the fact that you’re able to share the damage between multiple options (rather than just copping it at the base) does change it somewhat. TIE Fighters and X-Wings also feature as new Tokens.
All in all, Piloting is the one you’ll need to get your head around, with even most Leaders deploying as Pilots as well, making the potential of Space battles very powerful; put simply, if you don’t focus there while your opponent does, your base will take a whallopping and it won’t be pretty. That said, some Pilot units feel designed solely for that purpose, making them relatively ineffective otherwise to play on their own. That’s okay, of course, as it’s the equivalent of having upgrade cards in your deck (that need to be attached to something else), but it’s worth keeping that balance in mind when building. Some new bases also allow you to play with deck size, with varying health on each, which is an interesting wrinkle.
Jump to Lightspeed has made some changes in how you’ll actually be collecting, too. Spotlight Decks are pre-built decks that feature five exclusive Special-rarity cards and include powerful leaders like Boba Fett and Han Solo with unique abilities. These replace the previous Two-Player Starter packs that we’ve seen previously, and I think it makes sense for the Sets to head in this direction, so that existing players can choose to get a single deck with a hero they care about and test out the new mechanics, rather than one designed more for learning how to play.
There’s also Carbonite Edition Booster Packs, which feature special foil treatments and limited-run variants. Sure to be a hit with collectors, this adds some more variety and rarity to specific cards, with new Prestige variants as well. As Star Wars: Unlimited continues to release new Sets that show off its cartoon aesthetic artwork (which still pops off the cards and looks great overall), it’s great to see them presenting their expansions in different ways, especially one like this that includes characters from all through Star Wars history.
Once again, it’s easy to get lost in this world, and a singular-but-meaningful – mechanic is sometimes all it takes to really change the game, for the better.
Star Wars: Unlimited: Jump to Lightspeed is available now in all good hobby stores.
Star Wars: Unlimited – Jump to Lightspeed packs were provided by Fantasy Flight Games for the purpose of this coverage.
About the Author
Luke Mitchell
he/him
Luke spends his time making radio, playing video games, binge-watching TV, getting unreasonably invested in wrestling, hosting bear events and hanging out with his beautiful pets.
