Star Wars Unlimited: A Lawless Time Preview Event

At the dawn of a new set of almost any trading card game, up and down the country you’ll find pockets of celebration. Of course, they’re not called that – they’re called fun things like “Store Competitions” or “pre-release events,” but it’s basically the same thing.

Gleeful fans unite to experience the new set for the very first time. And, with the release of Star Wars Unlimited’s A Lawless Time, we hopped aboard a Corellian freighter and headed to an Asmodee-hosted event. 

Taking place at Disney Headquarters, it made for quite the thematic spot in the middle of London. Stormtroopers were poised around the room ready to act on any potential rebelliousness, but thankfully it was just a bunch of press, Star Wars fans and tabletop gaming lovers.

A Lawless Time

The day began with an introduction from Asmodee, which distributes the game itself, including a special video from the Fantasy Flight Games team that creates the game.

A Lawless Time is an exciting set for the players, with a few updates that offer some big changes. 

This set brings with it the first rotation, removing the earliest sets from competitive play, creating a whole new meta.

There was talk of more qualifier games (which have been particularly well attended in the UK), and the “Eternal” format, which keeps every card released legal to play.

New Twin Suns decks are also being introduced, as the multiplayer format is proving to be really popular, with those sets including some exclusive cards. 

A Lawless Time introduces its own changes, though. Now, you’ll get to experience triple-aspect cards, which are powerful cards that offer a big reward if you can build the perfect deck around them.

There are also changes to the booster packs themselves. Keeping to the 16-card booster pack, it was acknowledged that players just aren’t excited about the black-border foils – so they’ve been removed. You can now find non-foil prestige cards, meaning you’re more likely to find a Hyperspace card.

Joining The Card Side

Of course, the star of the show was getting to play the prerelease box – containing six booster packs, two leader cards, tokens, instructions and a deck box – to craft a deck and then face off against each other.

With a huge group of people of mixed experience (from some who will be competing in the Galactic Championships in Las Vegas this year, to others who had never played the game before) it embodied everything we love about the gaming scene in general.

At any kind of event based on a franchise, you run a difficult line of wanting to play cards with new mechanics, the ‘best’ cards you can wrangle, and the cards you love as a fan.

Luckily, I pulled four Podracing cards, even if I didn’t have a strong enough card pool to play them. With Jabba the Hutt as a leader, I lost twice – but give me a few more packs, and I reckon I’d have a perfect deck. That’s how it always begins…

 Welcome To The Rebellion

The truly jaw-dropping moment was the experience of meeting Genevieve O’Reilly, more commonly known as Mon Mothma in the TV series Andor.

The Star Wars actors are no strangers to these events – last year, Alastair Petre, better known as General Drevan, attended a similar event to engage with fans.

O’Reilly spent time with every attendee and signed cards before learning how to play the game herself.