Images credited to Fantasy Flight Games
Getting Ready For JTL Season
I hope everyone had a great time at the Jump to Lightspeed Pre-Releases this past weekend. Maybe you were able to pick up one, or both, of the new Star Wars Unlimited (SWU) Spotlight Decks.
As I mentioned before, these are meant to be a step up in complexity and competitiveness from the beginner decks that came in pairs in the first three sets. Neither deck is going to waltz into the meta and trounce Sabine ECL, but maybe with my help and few extra cards you can avoid getting rolled at your LGS and understand some more in-depth rules interactions that you might not be used to.
Han3 and Boba3 Spotlight Decks
According to the Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) livestreams, this is going to be it for a while with these two powerhouses in Star Wars lore to be represented as leaders in SWU. Might as well make them the first leaders in their new pre-constructed decks then! Boba’s deck wants synergy with non-combat damage to push out indirect damage, and Han’s deck is built around odd-cost cards to pump odd-costs units (very flavorful and clever mechanic based on the famous Han quote, “Never tell me the odds.”). Let’s tackle the decks and look some relatively inexpensive cards to push the power levels of these decks up a bit.
Push That Non-Combat Damage and Nested Abilities
Spotlight Boba wants the player to deal one or more non-combat damage so you can exhaust your leader and deal one point of indirect damage to your opponent. First, what is non-combat damage? It’s any damage that you do to a unit or base that is not done by “combat damage.” I know you’re asking, “well, Dan, what’s ’combat damage’ then?” Fortunately, I’m a level one judge and I would quote Comprehensive Rules 4.0 (3/7/25) 1.8.9.10 “‘Combat damage’ is damage dealt during the second step of an attack. Combat damage is both the damage an attacker deals to a defender/base, and the damage a defender deals to an attacker.” I’d also point to 3.C. “‘Combat Damage’ is damage dealt during the ‘Deal combat damage’ step of an attack. Damage dealt outside of this step during an attack is not considered to be combat damage. Damage dealt by triggered abilities is not considered combat damage.” Then you’d reply, “sweet! Thanks… but can I get an example?” Readers, you know I got you.
Every card type in SWU has at least one card that deals non-combat damage. Yes, you heard that correct. Even bases have a card that deals non-combat damage. An event card like Bombing Run does non-combat damage. Units have many cards that deal non-combat damage. ISB Agent is one example, but don’t forget that a card like Boba Fett – Disintegrator has an On Attack ability that causes non-combat damage. Confused? I can understand that. Let me explain a bit which will also be important for both of the Spotlight Decks.
Having these multiple triggered effects could result in what they call in the Comprehensive Rules (CR), “nested abilities.” CR 4.0 defines it in 7.6.E as “if an ability instructs a player to take a modified action, any abilities triggered during or as a result of that action are considered nested abilities” (bolded by me). If you’re like me, reading that might not be intuitive, so let me narrate an example with the Boba Fett and Han Solo Spotlight Decks.
- You control Fifth Brother and your opponent has a Clone Deserter and a Greedo.
- You declare an attack with your Fifth Brother and choose your opponent’s Clone Deserter.
- Your Fifth Brother’s On Attack ability becomes active and you choose to use it because it has “you may” and so you deal one damage to Fifth Brother and one Damage to Greedo. Greedo is defeated. Fifth Brother now has Raid 1.
- The active player, which is you because you because you declared the attack, chooses which player resolves their triggers go first. You choose for you to resolve your trigger first.
- You elect to use Boba3’s “When you deal non-combat damage” trigger. You exhaust Boba3 and deal one indirect damage to your opponent.
- Your opponent elects to apply the one indirect damage to their Clone Deserter.
- Greedo’s “When Defeated” ability triggers.
- Your opponent discards a card from their deck, and that card is Waylay, which is not a unit, so two damage is dealt to your Fifth Brother. Fifth Brother now has Raid 3.
- Combat Damage is dealt simultaneously. Clone Deserter deals two damage to Fifth Brother and Fifth Brother deals five damage to Clone Deserter. Both are defeated.
- You collect the bounty from Clone Deserter. You draw one card.
Everyone still with me? Great. As you can see, these decks are a step up in complexity to the rules compared to the Beginner Decks.
Let’s move onto the decks since we just tackled some of the rules.
By Any Means Necessary – The Boba Fett Spotlight Deck
Leader and Base
Boba Fett – Any Means Necessary
Ground Units (16)
1 IG-88 – Murderous Phlutdroid
1 Boba Fett – Fearless Bounty Hunter
Space Units (20)
3 Fett’s Firespray – Feared Silhouette
1 IG-2000 – Assassin’s Aggressor
1 Fett’s Firespray – Pursuing the Bounty
Events (14)
That’s all the cards in the precon deck; so what budget adds can give this deck a power boost? I’m opting to lean a bit into cards that can cause non-combat damage, and push a bit more into the space arena.
Out:
Ground Units (4)
Space Units (7)
1 Fett’s Firespray – Pursuing the Bounty
Event (1)
In:
Ground (6)
1 Boba Fett – Feared Bounty Hunter
Space (4)
2 Punishing One – Dengar’s Jumpmaster
Event (2)
2 Waylay
I’d much rather trade out Snowtroopers and General Pryde for lots more non-combat damage, plus bodies with Gunslinger and Guerilla Soldiers. Four indirect damage on turn two when you have synergy with Boba3 and Guerilla Soldiers, and it’s very easy to line it up where your opponent has to take some of the damage to their base and then you can ready the unit to swing for another two combat damage. Punishing One readies if you defeat an opponent’s piloted vehicle, and Fang Fighter is great for toasting your opponent’s pilots. Last, Ruthless Raider is just a great card.
If you have the budget, Boba Fett – Disintegrator, as mentioned earlier, is great card too.
May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor – The Han Solo Spotlight Deck
Leader and Base
Han Solo – Never Tell Me the Odds
Ground Units (24)
1 Admiral Ackbar – Brilliant Strategist
1 Huyang – Enduring Instructor
2 Leia Organa – Pilots, To Your Stations
2 Ezra Bridger – Resourceful Troublemaker
2 BoShek – Charismatic Smuggler
3 Chewbacca – Faithful First Mate
1 Clone Commander Cody – Commanding the 212th
1 The Mandalorian – Weathered Pilot
Space Units (15)
2 Blue Leader – Scarif Air Support
3 Shuttle Tydrium – Fly Casual
3 Millennium Falcon – Get Out and Push
Events (11)
3 Waylay
This deck wants synergy with odd-costed cards, and in a Premier deck you kinda want to have multiples of the cards you really want to increase the likelihood of drawing them.
Out:
Ground Unit (5)
1 Admiral Ackbar – Brilliant Strategist
1 Huyang – Enduring Instructor
1 Clone Commander Cody – Commanding the 212th
1 The Mandalorian – Weathered Pilot
Space Unit (1)
Events (1)
In:
Ground Unit (4)
Space Unit (2)
Event (1)
Advanced Recon Commando is an incredibly efficient odd-costed card, and the Peacekeepers are fantastic with having a slew of keywords to deal and heal damage. Look, I really like those unique cards I’m pulling from the deck, but relying on odd-cost cards I feel like we just have to streamline this deck. Patrol Wing is top of the curve, and it lets you get in some bonus damage if you have the initiative and is pretty beefy to put pilots on.
If you’re looking for some pricier cards to get, take a peek at Han Solo – Has His Moments, and maybe Aayla Seecura – Master of the Blade.
Everything Is Related
The Boba3 deck is probably the one that will have more impact out the gate, but I promise you Han3 will only get stronger as more odd cards are printed. Also, I only looked at the aspects that the decks came with. If you switch to Aggression with Han3 you get access to cards like Biggs, Senatorial Corvette (I don’t know why that is my favorite card from TWI), Cassian, and Red Three. Get out there and experiment and let me know!
I hope the deep dive into the rules helps. I find knowing the intricacies of how something works helps me perform better when operating the equipment… whether that’s an SWU Premier deck or a Boeing 737. Please feel to reach out if you got any questions in that arena, too. If I don’t know, I’ll look it up or reach out to other judges. I promise I won’t just make stuff up to look cool (except when I’m writing fiction).
Be cool to your fellow players, be cool to your judges, hydrate, eat well, exercise, and wear clean socks. Hit me up anytime on Bluesky @TheFlyingWriter or Reddit at u/TheFlyingWriter
Want more SWU content? Check out our guide to the multi-player format, Twin Suns.
