Star Wars Unlimited Set 2 review: Shadows of the Galaxy keeps our new hope alive

Star Wars Unlimited is here to stay. Following up from the expertly balanced and brilliantly designed introduction, Set 2: Shadows of the Galaxy only doubles down on its stellar qualities with hundreds of new cards and exciting mechanics shaking up the meta.

Star Wars Unlimited set the Trading Card Game (TCG) space on fire in early 2024. After years of hard work behind the scenes, the latest attempt at a Lucasfilm TCG finally arrived in stores and it didn’t take long to fly off the shelves.

Set 1 impressed with its remarkable accessibility, simplifying the often overly complicated TCG formula with plenty of unique innovations. Now, Set 2 carries the momentum forward with another batch of incredibly well-designed cards, while upping the ante a little with some game-changing mechanics.

While it’s obviously far too early to predict how the competitive meta may evolve by the time Set 2 is said and done, through our early hands-on experience, it’s safe to say the hype around Star Wars Unlimited isn’t going away anytime soon.

What’s new in Star Wars Unlimited Set 2: Shadows of the Galaxy?

With 262 cards in total – 18 of those being Leaders – and three brand-new mechanics, there’s a great deal to wrap your head around in Shadows of the Galaxy.

The new Leaders present a wealth of deckbuilding opportunities. Some, like Kylo Ren, favor an aggressive playstyle, perhaps one to dethrone Bo-Katan as Set 1’s most rush-heavy pick. Others, like Hunter, require a great deal of strategic thinking, requiring you to plan multiple steps in advance as you seek the upper hand.

All 18 Leaders bring a fresh wave of excitement to the game. Not only can entirely Set 2-focused decks be built around these characters, but it’s also fascinating to consider how they might interact with existing archetypes from Set 1. Chewbacca now has some Wookie friends. Underworld cards now have a home with Cad Bane. There’s no doubt plenty more unique angles no one has even considered yet.

With over 500 cards now in the game and 36 Leaders in which to build around, the variability is almost endless.

Add three new mechanics to those new additions, and well, now you’re cooking. Bounty, Capture, and Smuggle all join Star Wars Unlimited as part of Set 2, and naturally, they fit all too well with Shadows of the Galaxy’s underworld theme.

Bounty offsets your natural order of operations. Where before you might trade first to mitigate damage, now you have to consider a more valuable approach. Can a Bounty be applied before you attack an enemy unit? Greedy? Absolutely. But with game-changing effects like resetting resources or providing Shields to units, they’re well worth considering.

Capture is a hilarious new addition that lets you temporarily disable an enemy unit. Rather than killing it off entirely, by capturing a unit, you’re placing it under one of your active units on the board. The enemy then has to defeat your unit in order to rescue its trapped character. Already through our in-store experience, you can see just how this shakes the entire game to its core. You’re no longer just worried about direct trades, but the possibility of losing all your upgrades if a unit is captured.

Rounding out the list is Smuggle. Rather than playing cards from your hand, Smuggle lets you pop a card down as a resource and pay a bit more for it later in the game. It’s an excellent idea on paper, as you no longer have to worry all too much about hand size. On the other hand, you now have to consider not only what your opponent has in hand, but also what they may have resourced.

While the mechanic feels great to execute, things can get a little tricky when playing in person. As your resource cards with the Smuggle keyword, you have to remember which order you placed them down in. Later in the game, when you want to play those cards, it’s vital you recall their Smuggle cost and where they are. In our early experience, we’ve had to double check where we placed which Smuggle cards, that action alone giving up the fact we even have Smuggle cards to begin with.

With more time and familiarity, the issue could become a non-factor, but for now, it does make things a bit messier than before.

Quality maintained across the board

With Set 1, Star Wars Unlimited set a high bar. Not just in terms of its dazzling artwork and elegant use of space, but through its exceptional balance. Set 1 was just a remarkably solid introduction for any TCG.

Now, Set 2 has shown the developers are able to pull it off consistently. Again, it’s early days yet, but through pre-release, drafts, and a fair few hours toiling away online, it’s abundantly clear the new batch of cards are extremely well-rounded.

You’ve got your almighty Legendaries, ranging from undervalued like DJ to instantly jaw-dropping like the Krayt Dragon. There are completely fresh archetypes to build around in Underworld, Mandalorian, and Wookie synergies. A number of additional direct removal cards keep the biggest threats in check. It’s all just so well thought out, you can tell hundreds of collective hours of rigorous testing were put into the total package, ensuring no outliers spoil the fun.

It’s going to be a thrilling couple of months as new discoveries take hold, new counters to those discoveries lead to even more original ideas, and the meta constantly pushes forward with each weekly event.

Biggest issue facing Star Wars Outlaws

While we’ve praised Star Wars Unlimited for just about everything, there’s one vital element to the TCG still unresolved, as foretold: Stock issues. Be it a mixture of staggering popularity or manufacturing projections being way off, whatever the case is, Star Wars Unlimited is simply a difficult game to get into at this point in time.

Set 1 prices have skyrocketed as stock has run out and with Set 2, the same is happening once again. Even ahead of the official launch we saw one Showcase card on offer for $1,500 AUD.

Some stores have tried to curb the issue by price gouging, offering starter kits and prerelease boxes for double the cost. Obviously, this isn’t a community-friendly solution, but with hype around the TCG reaching a fever pitch, some players are still willing to pay and support these practices.

Fantasy Flight Games has touched on the issue and it’s clear there’s no overnight solution, but it’s nonetheless the biggest problem holding Star Wars Unlimited back today. A lack of starter decks makes it difficult to embrace newcomers. A lack of boosters makes it difficult to craft decks that are even remotely competitive. And with the price of singles only continuing to climb, it’s certainly not a cheap scene to enter if you’re hoping to play properly.

Fingers crossed the developers and manufacturers can help restock earlier Sets while mitigating the issue for future releases. Set 1 and now Set 2 combine for one of the most delightfully rewarding TCG experiences on the market. Here’s hoping more players get to experience it moving forward.

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