It might be surprising to learn that Star Wars Unlimited only launched in March 2024, such is the speed at which it’s become such a popular and vital part of the Trading Card Game (or TCG) sector. Though only two sets have been released so far (Spark of Rebellion and Shadows of the Galaxy), the third set, Twilight of the Republic, is almost here, and it’s bringing two new keywords to the game.
Bounty and Smuggle were previously introduced in the Shadows of the Galaxy set, joining a relatively modest set of easy-to-understand keywords from the debut set, Spark of Rebellion. Twilight of the Republic, with its focus being the Clone Wars era and its battles across the galaxy between the Republic, bolstered by the militarized Jedi Order, and the Separatists, aided from the shadows by the dark machinations of the Sith, with figureheads such as Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress functioning as the more visible faces of the dark side.
The Twilight of the Republic set features two entirely new keywords: Coordinate and Exploit. Let’s take a look at each of them, and how they work in-game.
How Does The Coordinate Keyword Work In Star Wars Unlimited?
When a card has Coordinate, it gains a bonus when you control 3 or more units, including the one bearing the Coordinate keyword. In the example of the Ki-Adi-Mundi card above, once you have three units in play under your control, with both Ground and Space units counting towards the total, you’ll be able to draw two card every phase, once your opponent plays a second card. Note that this bonus only applies as long as you have 3 or more units in play; as soon as this total drops to 2 or less, the Coordinate keyword’s bonus will no longer apply.
Sometimes, Coordinate may grant a unit an extra keyword, rather than an ability. For example, the Luminara Unduli card shown above gains the keyword Grit, as long as you have 3 or more units in play under your control. Grit, a keyword which was first introduced in Spark of Rebellion, gives a bonus of +1 Power for each point of damage on the unit, to that unit only.
Cards may have other keywords in addition to Coordinate, but these will apply whether or not you have 3 or more units under your control. For example, Kit Fisto, as shown above, has the Saboteur keyword, which allows Kit Fisto to ignore any units with the Sentinel keyword, and immediately destroy the Shield(s) of the unit it’s attacking, before dealing damage.
This is separate to Kit Fisto’s Coordinate keyword, which gives him an ability that triggers on attack. As long as you have 3 or more units in play under your control, Kit Fisto can deal 3 damage to a ground unit when he attacks, prior to dealing attack damage to a chosen target, and to a different target than the one chosen for his attack, if his owner chooses.
You’ll find Coordinate on the many Jedi Knights in the Twilight of the Republic set, but other types of unit have the keyword too; it’s also worth noting that if you have multiple cards with the Coordinate keyword in play, each of them will activate and apply their bonuses, as long as you have 3 or more units in play across your Ground and Space Arenas.
How Does The Exploit Keyword Work In Star Wars Unlimited?
A card with Exploit will also be accompanied by a number; this number denotes the number of units under your control which may be defeated to use Exploit on the card, which reduces the cost of playing the card by 2 Resources per unit defeated. For example, the Asajj Ventress card above would normally cost 4 Resources to play. If, however, you defeat one of your units in play, its cost will reduce by 2 Resources, and it’ll only cost 2 Resources to enter the Ground Arena. If you defeat two units under your control, the Asajj Ventress card will not cost any Resources to play.
The Exploit number can, of course, differ; for example, the Squadron of Vultures card shown above has Exploit 3. This means that you can defeat up to 3 units you have in play under your control, to reduce the cost of playing Squadron of Vultures by 2 Resources per unit defeated. Note that, while the Exploit number may change, the reduction of Resource cost per unit is always 2. So for Squadron of Vultures, if you defeat 1 unit, its Resource cost to play is 4, if you defeat 2 units, you’ll pay 2 Resources to play it, and if you defeat the maximum of 3 units, it’ll cost 0 Resources to play.
Just as is the case with Coordinate, cards with Exploit may have other keywords that are unrelated to the Exploit ability. For example, the Malevolence card above has a Restore keyword and a When Played ability too; neither of these affect the Exploit keyword. On Malevolence, the Exploit value is 4, meaning that you can defeat up to 4 units you have in play, reducing the cost to play Malevolence by up to 8 Resources. Though this means you can’t play Malevolence for ‘free’, it does reduce the cost massively, and if you can, or are willing to, defeat the maximum 4 units allowed, it’ll only cost 1 Resource to play.
So that’s how the Coordinate and Exploit keywords work in Star Wars Unlimited; we also have new Token Units and much more to look forward to, when the Twilight of the Republic set is released, on November 8th, 2024.
