Twilight of the Republic – Prerelease Box Experience
Star Wars Unlimited has launched its third wave of content, Twilight of the Republic and with it came a chance to try my hand at constructing a deck using the games Prerelease ‘Sealed’ format. A way to get players excited before a full launch, the process itself can be a little complex for a first timer like myself who hadn’t yet constructed a deck for Unlimited, relying on pre-cons for the games I’ve played thus far.
Fortunately, publisher Fantasy Flight Games provides the Prerelease product line which is designed for this purpose, but it’s easy enough to replicate without buying the dedicated box – players use six booster packs, each containing 16 cards, to create a deck following a few adjusted rules. Each deck must contain a Leader and a Base card, of which you will have six of each after opening your packs, with a potential to pull multiple of the same. After selecting a Leader and Base to decide on the Aspects the deck will use, players will select a minimum of 30 more cards, much less than the 50 required for the standard deck construction. Aspects govern what cards can be put into a deck without paying an extra cost to play them, with a decks Aspects determined by the Aspect symbols on the Leader and Base cards. The included pamphlet in the Prerelease box guides players though this process, but it’s also handy to have the Quickstart Rules from a Starter Set nearby to double check some of the requirements.
After considering my options carefully, I decided to have a bit of fun with the passive ability provided by the Leader Nala Se, which nullifies the aspect penalty for playing Clone type cards. This meant the normal ‘+2’ Resource cost penalty for playing an Aspect not on my Leader or Base was of no consequence and I could leverage the high amount of Clone type cards I’d pulled from the six boosters in front of me. This majorly streamlined choosing the other 30+ cards in the deck, with some suggestions from the Prerelease guide helping shape the rest. One way in which this format differs from the standard deck construction in the game is the number of cards required; the Sealed format allows for a deck of 30 cards and any number of each card withing, while 50 is the required number in the standard Premier format and a limit of three copies of any individual card. Testing out the deck, it could clearly benefit from some streamlining and an overall card economy rebalancing due to a high number of cost 5 and 6 cards that I tossed in. But rather than a way to build the most effective deck possible, this is a way to fast-track a unique deck before an event at a Friendly Local Game Store and as such the Sealed play format is sure to find a number of fans. It’s also a process that can make splitting a Booster Box with a friend a more attractive prospect, allowing each person to prep two separate decks to play around with provided the motivation for buying said Boosters isn’t purely speculation.
Having often been bewildered as to why people would buy hundreds of dollars of cards in the hopes of finding just a handful, this sort of Sealed format has helped me to better understand some of the appeal, especially as a way to get some enjoyment out of the process itself. It strikes me that Sealed is also a great way to avoid the expensive meta decks that can rule a competitive scene or a significant skill gap between placed, and instead balances things out with luck of the draw – ideally, a skilled player should still be able to build an effective deck, even if someone else manages to pull a few excellent cards from their boosters, but it will take a lot of their edge off.
I don’t think going the Prerelease box is one I’d recommend to make a start into Star Wars Unlimited, as it’s really only friendly to those who have at least played a few games previously. As a result, total newcomers would be better served with a Two-Player Starter kit which is now available in three varieties to suit a players preference for a particular Star Wars era. However, as a way to feel out a new wave of content it’s a lot of fun and if your local store is hosting an event for the next wave, maybe put your name down if playing a Sealed game with a janky new deck you made in half an hour sounds like fun.
Twilight of the Republic Prerelease was reviewed using products kindly supplied by PR.
