Star Wars: Unlimited A Lawless Time Sealed Box Pre-Release Event

There comes a time every spring when the people get riled up as the first day of warm weather arrives. Long stretches of frigid temperatures suddenly break into a highly anticipated 65 and sunny, and the energy and excitement is palpable. In New York City, in the density of the concrete jungle, this effect is amplified: the denizens of the Big Apple are not just excited, they are downright feral. It truly becomes a lawless time.

And in Star Wars: Unlimited, we are at the dawn of our own Lawless Time. The release of the first set of the game’s third year marks the arrival of new cards, new leaders, new mechanics, and new double aspects. But more importantly, rotation is here, thawing out the long frigid winter of a Han1 meta. 

As the people of New York enjoyed this warm weather, gathering to consume their favorite beverages and celebrating together, so too the Star Wars: Unlimited community of NYC gathered in Queens for Neutral Ground Gaming’s “sealed box”

pre-release. 6 packs and 30-card decks were not enough; 32 players sank their voracious appetites into a full booster box and a 50-card minimum deck build, with 5 rounds of Swiss building to a top 8 draft.

This format is a unique one in the SWU world, started by shop owner Nieves with set 5, Legends of the Force. It has been embraced by the NYC scene. With a full day of snacks, drinks, and lunch included in the ticket purchase, the day became a party atmosphere, with players ripping an abundance of packs and reveling in the fresh breath of air of the new Lawless Time set. Pre-event, tables were abuzz with discussions of top leaders, aspect pool strength, recapping other traditional

pre-releases over the weekend, hopeful pulls (Zeb), and premiere deck ideas. 

The calm before the storm

The drama started in Discord with about 24 hours to go before the event. With planned prizing ramping up to 2 full cases at 32 players, the entry count had stagnated at 31 for a few days. About an hour before the start time of 11:00 AM, Thomas hopped over from Neutral Ground’s other event, a traditional 6-pack

pre-release aimed at less experienced players, jumping into the deep end of the SWU sealed pool and getting us to the full 32. Thus made it the largest single-flight

pre-release in NYC for the set. 

Our Community MVP, Thomas

With the player pool content with that cliffhanger solved, and sated with complimentary coffee and breakfast, we sat down to begin. Nieves announced the winner of a door prize raffle, which delivered the best moment of the day. The winner was Dylan, our local community’s resident Real Life Good Guy/Discord Troll, and the tables reacted accordingly: with a full-throated chorus of boos at Dylan’s fortune, which then broke into laughter and applause. 

Deck building began at 11, with 90 minutes to construct a premier-legal pile. I missed out on good top end, so I did the prudent thing and built a Vel Sartha/Command mid-range fest. I went 1-4 in Swiss. I stole a few games throughout the day, consistently would get through the mid-game in a good spot, but could rarely close things out. My close friend Dakota — also my “SWU Sherpa,” he who brought me into this game’s galaxy — pulled a Vel showcase and made the Top 8! 

By the time we reached Top 8 cut, the plan was to hold a draft to crown a champion. But at this point it was almost 6 PM on a Sunday night, and the prospect of four more hours was daunting. So the eight players agreed to chop the two-case prizing. Andrew Banuchi, of NYC’s Team Bodega Loth Cats, who recently won a showdown with a Luthen Rael Tarkintown brew, and Alex Ayza (MaClunky Gaming, Top 8 at Milwaukee Sector on Yoda DV) were the top finishers at 4-0-1. Both ran a Vel Sartha/Cunning list, although neither had pulled a Liberty as a finisher; that is a testament to their strength as deck builders and players to finish so strongly without their aspect’s biggest bomb. 

Both Andrew and Alex were multi-time attendees of the NGG sealed box event. Alex appreciates the competitive nature of the event, an elevated challenge compared to the normal friendly pre-releases. Andrew highlighted the complexity of the deck building challenge, matching the best leader to the deepest pool when building the 50-card deck. 

Both of these dual interests were echoed by Tyler Mersing, also of MaClunky Gaming and the Underwhelming Barrage podcast. Tyler also finished in the Top 8, but with a uniquely compelling Saw Gerrera Vigilance build, utilizing the double aspect cards to build back the loss of an alignment aspect and using Saw’s deploy as a finisher. This was Mersing’s second big box event, and he called it “the second most fun way to play SWU, with 3x3 being the most fun.” Tyler loves that a big field with big pools delivers so many unique decks to play against; “it’s by far the best pre-release you can have.”

I asked these accomplished players how they thought the sealed meta might shake out for A Lawless Time. Alex highlighted the importance of initiative in the Vel mirror match-ups, which will likely make up a strong percentage of games in the competitive format. For Tyler, the translation isn’t as strong, since the deck building is so different compared to the typical 6-pack format, but the competitiveness and the ability to get experience with the cards is worthwhile. For Andrew, the importance of Zeb unit, Mastery upgrade, sentinels, and savvy choices with the splash base will all carry into his future competitive sealed events during the LAW season. 

Of the 32 players in the event, 26 reported their leader and base combo, and decks. 18 out of the 26 were running Vel Sartha (10) or Hera Syndulla (8), and only four reported villainy decks. Half of the reported ten Vel Sartha decks were paired with a cunning base, and four out of those five made the Top 8. Saw Gerrera proved to be an underrated choice; losing an alignment aspect is balanced out with the addition of a third aspect’s vanilla cards. The two Saw decks finished 6-3-1 combined, placing 6th and 10th. Vigilance is clearly the favored aspect of the set, as 20 of the 26 reported decks ran a blue leader or base. With the best leader, a healthy dose of sentinels, some killer multi-aspect cards, some great events, and arguably the card of the set in Mastery, blue will carry the day in sealed events for A Lawless Time.

Throughout the day, a number of themes rang out: the generosity and deft community-building of Nieves, an absolute mensch and a pillar of the scene.

Vigilance has the best pool of cards and pairs well with Yellow in heroism. Run Zeb if you get it, add in all your Masteries, and pray for a Liberty. 

And attend the next sealed box event if you’re in NYC, or make one in your community!