Table of Contents
Welcome back!
Happy prerelease week! In less than two weeks, players around the world will begin playing in official events with set two of Star wars: Unlimited - Shadows of the Galaxy - but before that, at the end of this week, players will be battling it out in the sealed arena for the Shadows of the Galaxy Prerelease events.
Overview
Sealed is a format not much talked about due to several reasons but it can be one of the most enjoyable ways to play the game. For those new to the format, you get six packs from a prerelease box. These are simply 6 random packs, but the boxes also include the the-mandalorian-sworn-to-the-creed-shd-18 and moff-gideon-formidable-commander-shd-7 that you may also use. Note that this is the only way you can play with these leaders in a limited format as they are not available in draft. Players then open their packs and build a 30 card minimum deck using the 6 leaders that they opened, and the two promo leaders. Everything else is the same.
What I want to do today is discuss some strategies for Shadows of the Galaxy limited play, and go over the better leaders and cards you should be looking for when constructing your deck. Typically you want to be looking for leaders that have the ability to take over a game on both the leader side and the unit side, if possible, and oftentimes these will vastly differ from what's played largescale in premier.
For example, great draft/sealed leaders from Spark of Rebellion consisted of Grand Moff Tarkin and even Jyn Erso where both of those leaders didn't see a lot of premier play. Set 2 we have some of the same scenarios where someone like Hondo Ohnaka (likely) isn't very good in premier but can have a big impact on a limited game because combat math is so important. The same can be said for Moff Gideon, Fennec Shand, and Cad Bane - all leaders that can take over a game with their abilities.
Straight away I want to discuss the leaders in their respective aspects and talk about why I think you should or shouldn't play them. After that I'll discuss the cards that work best with those leaders.
Vigilance
Gar Saxon
Gar is as "what you see is what you get" as it gets. If you have several upgrades in your pool, he's going to be very good as remember, combat math is king, but otherwise you aren't even playing this over the alternative. Six deploy 4/7 is just okay in the stat curve and I really prefer my leaders to come out earlier in limited anyway but if I get the cards for the deck I'll defintely play him and be okay with it. Note that shielded units are very good with Gar as they have the +1 attack bonus for as long as they're shielded, Cunning has some shielded units this set so look to pair Gar with Cunning.
Key cards:
- brutal-traditions-shd-38
- supercommando-squad-shd-34
- lom-pyke-dealer-in-truths-shd-32
- fenn-rau-protector-of-concord-dawn-shd-67
- jetpack-shd-225
- Rich Reward Shielded units
Qi'ra
While I like Qi'ra a good amount for Premier, in sealed play she is a bit lacking, I think. Her shield ability can be quite good at times but on the other hand you have to mess up your cost curve to acitvate it and your action economy also suffers because of it so you'll just never get initiative which is a pretty big deal in limited play. All that said, she might be a good leader to sideboard into if your opponent has a leader that's hard to remove (Jabba, maybe) because when you flip her she can delete about any leader with the half-health trigger plus an attack.
Key cards:
- hylobon-enforcer-shd-27
- pyke-sentinel-shd-29
- the-client-dictated-by-discretion-shd-31
- embo-stoic-and-resolute-shd-59
- wroshyr-tree-tender-shd-61
- niima-outpost-constables-shd-62
- covert-strength-shd-75
Finn
Much better in limited than Premier, that's for sure. I'm still not sure that he's a sealed/draft all-star, but if you have enough ways to make experience tokens somehow, his ability is very good to turn those into shields. Plus, he has a good body and deploy cost - a 4/6 isn't bad at all. I just don't think that there's enough synergy in the set to really work with him.
Key cards:
- rose-tico-dedicated-to-the-cause-shd-45
- rickety-quadjumper-shd-57
- val-loyal-to-the-end-shd-58
Rey
Now we finally have a blue leader that we're excited about. Rey is extremely good in limited play and does a lot, similar to what Luke did in the SoR pre-releases except in a lot of cases even better. She's large enough to be a nuisance to deal with restore 3 it's going to be very difficult for an opponent to deal 30 damage to you once she's out. She makes all your early drops better and allows you to play some marginal cards, especially in space, because you can add experience tokens to them. She's easily one of the top leaders that you're looking to play, especially if your blue pool is deep.
Key cards:
- concord-dawn-interceptors-shd-42
- village-protectors-shd-43
- follower-of-the-way-shd-56
- niima-outpost-constables-shd-62
- Really anything that is 2 power and a relevant ability
Command
Hondo Ohnaka
I would look to play Hondo if you get enough smuggle cards to use his ability almost every turn in the mid to late game. I don't love him overall but he does has some solid cards you can use with him to make a pretty solid board. Smuggle overall is very powerful and late game when your hand is exhausted you can use Hondo to continue to play units and keep the pressure on with his large backside and experience tokens. Not an S tier leader or anything, but also not one you're too upset to play if the card pool lines up that way.
Key cards:
- warbird-stowaway-shd-86
- pirate-battle-tank-shd-89
- collections-starhopper-shd-111
- privateer-crew-shd-113
- commission-shd-127 (if you can support it)
Jabba the Hutt
I can't imagine ever voluntarily playing Jabba in sealed when Hondo is the common and you always have access to Moff Gideon, but if you somehow get enough bounty synergy, and a way to consistently trigger his cost reduction bounty, he can be pretty solid. There's some specific cards I'd look for to do that, which I'll mention, but a lot of the cards that work well with Jabba are 1)another aspect, and 2)rare or higher.
Key cards:
- jabbas-rancor-pateesa-shd-91
- reputable-hunter-shd-117
- discerning-veteran-shd-120
- altering-the-deal-shd-243
Moff Gideon
The Command Villainy leader that you're most likely to play. 5 to deploy, a 3/6 body, and a very relevant combat ability makes him the obvious choice much in the same ways that Jyn was very good in SoR limited. I wish that his leader side gave the attacking units overwhelm, but beggars can't be choosers and we'll take what we can get. It's unfortunate that his ship is a starter only card because that's what we really want to end games.
Key cards:
Honestly, there's no specific key cards for Moff Gideon which makes him so versatile. You want a lot of 2-3 drops in your deck and you're going to want to play it almost like an aggro deck.
Boba Fett
Another 4/7 Boba Fett, how could th-- oh this one is 6 resources to deploy. Jokes aside, while not being as wild as his set 1 namesake, SotG Boba Fett is still quite good. If you get enough Ambush units and Sentinels in Command and a secondary aspect, you're going to have a very solid deck. Much like Moff Gideon who isn't exactly looking for specific cards, Boba just wants units that have key worlds. This includes Sentinel, Ambush, Smuggle, and Overwhelm among the most common ones.
Key cards:
- sundari-peacekeeper-shd-98
- modded-cohort-shd-100
- gamorrean-retainer-shd-112
- weequay-pirate-gang-shd-119
- Ambush units from primarily Cunning
Hunter
I can't in any world ever recommend playing Hunter in limited play. In fact, I'm not even sure why his ability even exists as it doesn't even work well in premier play and likely never will even if you have 6 to 9 copies of the same named unit in your deck. I had high hopes for him when he was previewed but there's literally zero support in the set and somehow less than zero for limited play.
Key cards:
Do not play this leader under any circumstance.
Aggression
Bossk
I love Bossk in the sense that he's a 4/6 for 5 with a very swingy ability but you need some some support for him to justify. If you get the solid Command bounties and a couple of the Aggression ones then I'd consider him pretty seriously. The green ones in particular work extremely well with him and for that reason I'll include those in the key cards.
Key cards:
- bounty-hunters-quarry-shd-123
- price-on-your-head-shd-125
- krrsantan-muscle-for-hire-shd-139
- trandoshan-hunters-shd-140
- guild-target-shd-173
- death-mark-shd-176
Kylo Ren
Listen, I like Kylo for premier, I really do, but for limited play I can't really see him working very well. If you get an insanely aggressive deck with the right pieces to support Kylo (like a Migs) then maybe you can get something to work. Ultimately, a 5/4 (at best) isn't cutting it when you can't immediately give him a lightsaber to protect the frail body.
Key cards:
- guavian-antagonizer-shd-134
- reckless-gunslinger-shd-160
- migs-mayfeld-triggerman-shd-163
- kylos-tie-silencer-ruthlessly-efficient-shd-135 (as you can see you need rares+ to make the deck work)
Bo-Katan Kryze
Hero Aggression has a couple solid choices here as both Bo and Han provide a lot of benefit to limited play. Bo does a good bit of indirect damage in a heavy mandalorian themed set and if your Vigilance pool is kind to you then you can have a pretty sick deck that's going to be hard to beat. The unfortunate part of this is that you are very likely hard stuck to an aggression/vigilance deck with this leader but the plus side is that it's going to be a cohesive, powerful deck.
Key cards:
Mandalorian units in aggression and vigilance with the upgrades to support them. Honestly the deck really just builds itself
Young Han Solo
I think Han is a little worse than Bo in limited play but can still be very good if your top end is heavy. What you look for in a Han deck is just high end cards that have relevant abilities, or even shields, sentinel, other keywords that have big game impact, and obviously play them a turn earlier. It's not going to help you too much if you just have random units in your deck that don't do much. It's also worth noting that Han does help you make sure that you play a unit every turn on curve if you want to rather than underdrop or potentially miss out on advancing your board. Ultimately I'd rather play Bo in this format but Han can be very good as well.
Key cards:
- heroic-renegade-shd-146
- cassian-andor-rebellions-are-built-on-hope-shd-148
- valiant-assault-ship-shd-151
- desperado-freighter-shd-152
- poe-dameron-quick-to-improvise-shd-153
- wrecker-boom-shd-154 (okay just kidding on those last 2 since they're rare or high but if you do get one of them ... )
Cunning
Cad Bane
Cad is like the Bo-Katan for villainy except he's actually better since there seems to be more Underworld support than actual mandalorian support. The majority of the yellow cards (and units from other aspects of course) are Underworld so in an ideal world you're getting to trigger his leader effect every turn. Note that it doesn't take an action to use his ability. You play an Underworld unit, then exhaust him to make an opponent deal 1. This allows you to stack it in ways that are beneficial to you such as Ambushing first then resolving the ping ability. Cad is likely my favorite leader to play for sealed as there's just so much synergy available to you and the key cards like is just too many to list. I will list a few that might not be super obvious right away though.
Key cards:
- ma-klounkee-shd-229 (this is an underworld card to trigger Cad with)
- criminal-muscle-shd-209 (this can get rid of shields and XP tokens prior to making them ping)
- cloud-rider-shd-210
- smugglers-starfighter-shd-215
- enfys-nest-marauder-shd-219
Doctor Aphra
I'm going to use this time to tell everyone that you're sleeping on Doctor Aphra for premier play. The hard control game that her shell offers is incredibly goos with the built in engine on her leader side. I've had games where I just never deploy her at all and just mill 1 every turn until I don't have a deck. Anyway, she's awful for limited play and I'm sorry if you get a copy of her in your pool. God help you if you get more than 1 as you're just handicapped pretty badly because of it.
Fennec Shand
So I think Fennec is fine for limited play but the leader ability is still tricky to use since paying a resource to give something ambush is a pretty steep cost. That said, Ambush IS the best keyword in the game in most cases so it shouldn't be overlooked. If I get some key uncommons, like Enfy's Nest, then I'll look to Fennec and see what I can make but otherwise I'll look elsewhere. The main issue here is that hero Cunning has 3 leaders that are all a little lacking without the proper support or card pool to make it work so Fennec is just going to naturally be one of the better choices just because she doesn't need a lot of support outside of just "units that cost 4 or less."
Key cards:
"Units that cost 4 or less"
- enfys-nest-marauder-shd-219
- cloud-rider-shd-210
- principled-outlaw-shd-201
- coruscant-dissident-shd-199
Lando Calrissian
How do we make Lando work for limited play? There's a lot of cards that really shine with him, like Zorii Bliss and Hotshot Blaster, but those cards are rare. The Falcon is very good with him as an Uncommon, and the good yellow cards in the set are still good with Lando. I'm not sure he's ever going to be better than just playing Fennec, and I'm already not super high on her to begin with, so Lando is pretty low on the food chain in terms of leaders for set 2 limited. Fortunately Lando is the rare leader of the bunch so in theory you won't have the agonizing decision to play him or not very often.
The Mandalorian
Lastly, but certainly not least, we have the other promo leader. I really like the Mandalorian in limited play but also recognize that you really need the right cards to make it all come together. It's unfortunate that his rifle is a starter card, similar to the issue we had with Moff Gideon and his cruiser, but there's still a lot of upside to what supports him in the rest of the set. Yellow sports some very solid upgrades and naturally we have a lot of support in other aspects as well, particularly aggression and vigilance. His stats are great for his deploy and his ability allows you to get to the late game to drop your bombs. He's also a Bounty Hunter and able to trigger effects that require that trait. I'm excited for Mando.
Key cards:
- coruscant-dissident-shd-199
- principled-outlaw-shd-201
- resourceful-pursuers-shd-218
- jetpack-shd-225
- enticing-reward-shd-222
- relentless-pursuit-shd-232
Conclusion
In closing, I think this format is really fun to play. There's a lot of interaction, there aren't any absolutely broken leaders to contend with (looking at you set 1 Boba Fett), and it's all very thematic. I put the pictures above so a little preview, but I think the best leaders to choose from are Moff Gideon, Bo-Katan Kryze, Rey, and Cad Bane but you can really play with and win with almost anyone.
Good luck in your pre-releases and let me know how you did and if any of this helped!
