Images courtesy of Fantasy Flight Games
It’s hard to believe that Star Wars Unlimited has only been around for a year; Fantasy Flight‘s trading card game (or TCG) set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away quickly found an audience and asserted its place among the biggest card games on the planet, feeling in many ways like it had always been a part of the card game landscape. Jump to Lightspeed is the fourth set for Star Wars Unlimited, and and for the first time features a focus on vehicles, with a new keyword: Pilot/Piloting.
We’ve already taken a look at what cards you should be checking out if you want to upgrade the Jump to Lightspeed Spotlight Decks, but what about the cards that collectors can’t wait to get their hands on from the fourth Star Wars Unlimited set? Let’s find out what Jump to Lightspeed cards are the most sought after!
10. Major Vonreg – Red Baron – Showcase
If you haven’t previously heard of Major Vonreg, that’s not surprising in the slightest; he’s a major antagonist in the little seen animated show, Star Wars Resistance. Despite being a lesser known character, his Leader card, at least in its Showcase form, is sought after enough to have made it to the list of the most wanted cards from Jump to Lightspeed.
He has some excellent abilities too; not only can he exhaust to play a vehicle unit directly from your hand, and give another unit a Power bonus, but he deploys very quickly too (after you have just four resources in play). He’s versatile as well, able to be deployed as normal or deployed directly to a vehicle without a Pilot, which then adds a Power bonus to another unit upon attacking.
9. Captain Phasma – Chrome Dome – Showcase
Many of the cards on this list take advantage of the new Pilot abilities which have been introduced in the Jump to Lightspeed set. That’s not the case for Captain Phasma, who can take advantage of the First Order classification, and deal damage to a base when on her Leader side, then deploy with just five resources in play.
On her unit side, she can deal one damage to a unit on attack, as long as you’ve played another First Order card on the same phase. That’s not all; one damage can be dealt to a base if you deal one damage to a unit in this way too!
8. Poe Dameron – I Can Fly Anything – Showcase
Hotshot X-Wing squadron leader Poe Dameron is next on our list, and of course it’s another card which takes advantage of the Pilot keyword. Interestingly, he can be flipped to his unit side and attached to a vehicle as a Pilot even before he’s technically able to be deployed, which should make for some very interesting plays in the current meta.
However, his stat bonus when used in this way isn’t all that impressive, with +2 Power and +1 HP to the unit he’s attached to; given that he’s able to Pilot so quickly, it may well give players a decent advantage very early in the game, and he can still be deployed “properly” at a later stage too.
7. Kazuda Xiono – Best Pilot in the Galaxy – Showcase
Major Vonreg isn’t the only character from Star Wars Resistance to make their presence known in Jump to Lightspeed; nor is he the only character from the show to make it onto the list of the most wanted cards from Star Wars Unlimited’s fourth set.
Kazuda Xiono, also known as Kaz, is a pilot for the Resistance, and his card, upon attack, can remove all abilities from as many friendly units as the player chooses. Kaz is also another Leader who’s very quick to deploy, with him able to enter the ground arena after four resources are in play under his owner’s control.
6. Admiral Piett – Commanding the Armada – Showcase
There’s a fun fact about Admiral Piett, which speaks volumes about how expendable the military are under Darth Vader’s command: he’s the only Imperial Officer to appear in multiple films in the original Star Wars trilogy. Appearing in both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Piett is promoted to Admiral by Vader after his predecessor is, shall we say, rather swiftly “removed” from his position by the Dark Lord of the Sith.
Piett’s ability allows him to bring Capital Ships into play for less than their printed resource cost; he also has a pretty high 7 HP too. This being his Showcase variant, like many of the other cards on this list you’re unlikely to encounter this particular card in a deck. Of course, that scarcity is what helps it get to this position on the list of the most wanted cards from Jump to Lightspeed!
5. Boba Fett – Any Methods Necessary – Showcase
Boba Fett has been one of the most popular characters in the Star Wars saga ever since his first appearance, as a bounty hunter of few words, in The Empire Strikes Back. He’s also been a very popular character in Star Wars Unlimited too, and his Any Methods Necessary card is the third time Fett has appeared as a Leader.
It’s also interesting that Boba Fett’s first Leader card in the game, Collecting the Bounty, is so far the only card that’s been suspended from Star Wars Unlimited organized play, due to its overwhelming success in tournament play. So how does the latest card, Any Methods Necessary, fare in terms of its in-game abilities?
Well, this Boba Fett card is another with an excellent set of abilities; it can deploy as normal after five resources are in play, or can deploy as a Pilot instead. He bestows a decent +4 Power, +4 HP upon the vehicle he Pilots, making it pretty worthwhile to attach him when deploying. Especially as, when doing so, he’ll deal four points of damage divided between any number of units too.
Though this Showcase variant is the most wanted version of the card, this particular Leader card’s standard variant is the card which heads up one of Jump to Lightspeed’s Spotlight Decks, making it far less costly to acquire!
4. Grand Admiral Thrawn – …How Unfortunate – Showcase
Speaking of popular characters, the first major, new antagonist in the post-Return of the Jedi stories was Grand Admiral Thrawn, who appeared in the 1991 novel, Heir to the Empire. Though that novel, its sequels, and all other Expanded Universe content, as it was known, was rendered non-canonical by Disney once they began producing new Star Wars sequels and prequels themselves, Thrawn was brought back into continuity via the animated show, Star Wars Rebels (and has since appeared in live action too, in the Disney+ show, Ahsoka).
He’s appeared in Star Wars Unlimited before, too; in Jump to Lightspeed, however, his ability is an interesting one, allowing units to use their When Defeated abilities twice before being removed from play. Deploying after six resources are in play, he’s mid-range in terms of tempo, but has good stats, with 4 Power and 7 HP.
3. Fireball – An Explosion With Wings – Serialized
Star Wars Unlimited felt like it was built from the ground up for playing, rather than having a focus on fancy, collectible cards. Of course, with any TCG there are cards which both players and collectors are keen to get their hands on, with each card, in every set, having an extended art and foil variants, for example. Showcase cards, the rarest card type in the game, have always tended to be the most wanted cards in any given Star Wars Unlimited set.
However, that has changed with Jump to Lightspeed, which introduced Carbonite Booster packs. These packs only contain rare and special variants of cards in the set, making them highly collectible. They’re limited too; they will only be printed for a short amount of time, which is sure to drive up prices for the cards on the secondary market.
Carbonite Boosters introduce serialized cards to Star Wars Unlimited for the first time; these are cards which are printed in such limited quantities that each is individually stamped with its own number. Fireball, the ship piloted by Kazuda Xiono, features on this particular serialized card, with only 250 copies of this variant in print.
2. Darth Vader – Victor Squadron Leader – Showcase
Our number 2 spot is occupied by Darth Vader, in his Victor Squadron Leader incarnation. A Leader card which can create TIE Fighter tokens and deploy as a Pilot, it’s a card which is likely to prove very popular over the coming months, even in its standard, Common variant. However, it’s this incredibly rare Showcase variant that fans are most keen to have in their collections!
1. Victor Leader – Leading From the Front – Serialized
Of course, it’d be easy to fill this list with serialized cards, given their limited numbers; no doubt these are likely to become the overall most wanted cards in Star Wars Unlimited over the next few years. For now, however, our number one spot is occupied with the Victor Leader card in its serialized form, of which there are just 250 in print. This card features Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced Prototype on the attack, in the Death Star trench at the Battle of Yavin.
It’s a fantastic card, with gorgeous art; you’re not likely to see this in the wild, however, but you may well come across its standard, non-serialized variant. Paired with Darth Vader’s Victor Squadron Leader card as it deploys, Victor Leader is a great unit, especially as it gives every other space unit on your side +1 Power and +1 HP!
So there we have it, the full list of the most wanted cards from Jump to Lightspeed. As I’ve noted throughout, all of these cards are available as standard variants, as you’ll see on our full list of Jump to Lightspeed cards, so don’t be too disheartened if you don’t find any of these incredibly rare cards for yourself. For more on the set, take a look at our delve into Star Wars Unlimited’s top meta cards, and whether or not we think Jump to Lightspeed enhances them.
Finally, if you’re still hungry for more lightsabers, blasters, X-Wings and TIE Fighters, take a look at our history of Star Wars CCGs.
