Fantasy Flight Game has revealed the fifth set for the Star Wars TCG, Star Wars Unlimited: Legends of the Force. Legends of the Force introduces new mechanics that will let players harness the light or dark side of Force and expend it for game changing effects, and will go on sale on July 11 2025.
The main new mechanic the set will introduce to Star Wars Unlimited is ‘the Force’. This is represented by a token – you can create one, and only one, Force token at a time, in various different ways.
You can then ‘use the Force’ to power up certain abilities, discarding the token. Unlike Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game, the Force isn’t something the players share and jockey for control of – each player can have their own Force token.
The easiest way to get hold of the Force will be through one of the set’s common bases, such as Shadowed Undercity or Jedi Temple. These are fragile, with just 28 HP, but whenever you attack with a Force unit, the base will let you create your Force token.
An article on the Star Wars Unlimited website shows what you can achieve with the Force, with examples from the two new spotlight decks for the set. One is led by Dath Maul, Sith Revealed, while the other is led by Qui-Gon Jinn, Student of the Living Force.
Darth Maul deck
The previews for the Maul deck show some extremely powerful top-end cards. Savage Opress is a massive unit with nine attack and Overwhelm, that costs just six resources – but unless you use the Force when you play him, he deals nine damage to your own base. If you can make it all the way up to eight resources to play Darth Sidious, you can use the Force to activate his apocalyptic ‘When Played’ ability, which defeats each non-Sith unit with three or less remaining HP.
The non-unit side of Maul also has an ability that requires you to use the Force and exhaust his card, which deals one damage to each of two targets – the same ability appears on his unit side and triggers when he attacks. You don’t have to target enemy units with this. The new Scimitar space unit goes from three to six attack as long as it’s damaged.
The deck also contains another card that gives you the Force, Drain Essence. This is a force ability that costs two resources, deals two damage to an enemy unit, and grants you the Force as a little bonus. This feeds into the incredibly aggressive strategy of the deck, which seeks to wipe enemy defenders and crush their base with Overwhelm damage.
Darth Maul’s Lightsaber is here to help with that strategy. This gives any ground unit it’s attached to four extra attack and two extra defense. If, when you play it, you strap it to Darth Maul, he can immediately attack, and he gains Overwhelm for the phase.
Qui-Gon Jinn deck
Not as many cards that use the Force have been revealed for the Qui-Gon deck so far, but like Maul his non-unit side has an ability that requires you to use the Force and exhaust his card to activate. It also appears on his unit side, triggering after he completes an attack and survives. The ability lets you return a friendly unit in play to your hand, and then immediately play another unit that costs fewer resources for free.
This feeds into a strategy of bouncing units to your hand to clear damage from them and reuse their ‘When Played’ abilities. The previews show a neat little package of cards that synergise with this kind of back and forth shuttling.
Anakin Skywalker, Force Prodigy is a one resource Force unit. He enters play with a shield counter and the new Hidden ability, which means he cannot be attacked during the phase he is played. It’s very hard for your opponent to remove him without a direct damage card, meaning he can attack and give you the Force – and thus use the ability on Qui-Gon’s non-unit side.
Obi-Wan, Protective Padawan has defensive stats, and gains Sentinel for the phase whenever a Force unit is played. The cheap unit Refugee of the Path can then give a Shield token to a Sentinel unit when it comes into play. As both Anakin and the Refugee are one resource units, not only are they cheap to play again after Qui-Gon bounces them to your hand, they’re very easy to play for free using the second part of Qui-Gon’s ability. This means they can come into play at unexpected times, suddenly turning Obi-Wan into a Sentinel or granting him a Shield token.
Qui-Gonn Jin’s Aetherspite is an interesting new space unit, which has an On Attack ability that lets you activate the next On Played ability you use this phase twice. That could be the On Played ability on the new Stinger Mantis space unit, which deals two damage to an exhausted creature. And then you can Obi-Wan it back into your hand, and do it all again!
Other cards
The video trailer for the set, which you can watch below, hints at some other characters who will feature on cards: Chirrut Îmwe, Mother Talzin the witch of Dathomir, Mace Windu, and the Porgs. It would make us very happy if the Porgs became this set’s breakout card for tournament play.
The key art for the set, meanwhile, also features Yoda, Ahsoka Tano, and Baylan Skoll. Clearly this set hops around in the timeline a bit!
The Force is a fairly simple new mechanic with a lot of potential, letting the designers effectively tack on a little extra value or a little extra cost to a card without having to pay it off immediately. Existing Force units will synergise with the new Force-generating bases, but unless future sets print more ways to spend the Force, cards from Legends of the Force are going to be very interdependent.
Can’t wait for the new set? Our guide to the best star wars board games has loads of great recommendations. Also, check out the Star Wars Legion roadmap of new releases – they have us incredibly excited, so much so we have a whole article explaining why 2025 is the perfect year to start playing.
Source: Wargamer
