Star Wars: Unlimited Breakdowns - Cunning Aspect Leaders

Star Wars: Unlimited is coming, and we’re breaking down the available leaders for each aspect, as they get previewed so you can be ready to hit the ground running when the game drops on March 8. We’ll be updating this article as more cards get previewed over the coming weeks so make sure you check back every so often to see what awesome new synergies are available.

OTHER ARTICLES:

Play Formats & Deck Construction
Aggression Leader Breakdown
Vigilance Leader Breakdown
Command Leader Breakdown
Booster Contents & Variants

The CUNNING aspect is all about surprising your opponents with tricks that can derail their gameplan in the moment. You’ll find the AMBUSH keyword at home here, allowing you to attack an enemy unit in the same action that a unit is played, or exhausting your opponent’s units to get the drop on their base. Let’s jump into their LEADER units to see how they work. 

NOTE: You may notice a little code at the end of the title of a card that says SOR# then a three-digit number. This is so you can easily search the cards we’re talking about in card databases like SWUDB.com. The SOR is the set code for Spark of Rebellion (the first set releasing in March 2024) and the three digits is the Collector Number for that card.

Han Solo, Audacious Smuggler (SOR#017) is the most CUNNING a leader can be. He lets you throw an extra resource onto the battlefield for a turn to get a little bit ahead, before forcing you to defeat a resource you control at the end, meaning it’s only a temporary buff, but there is one sneaky advantage hiding under the surface here, in particular, if you team him with COMMAND and add Home One, Alliance Flagship (SOR#102). Did you drop a key card like Leia Organa, Defiant Princess (SOR#189) as a resource earlier in the game? Now you can defeat that resource at the end of the turn, and the next turn, get her back on the board when you play Home One. Look, I’m not gonna explain it anymore. The folks over at Garbage Rollers did an awesome write up on how Han and Home One can make a great deck, go check it out at https://garbagerollers.com/2023/10/25/deck-tech-home-one-derby-revised/ 

Boba Fett, Collecting the Bounty (SOR#015) is an interesting take on everyone’s favourite bounty hunter. He allows you to open up a few more resources each turn not necessarily to accelerate, but instead to open up your options for cheap events to turn the tide of battle. With the recent previewing of Jabba the Hutt, Cunning Daimyo (SOR#181), this deck is primed for the cycle of playing cheap trick EVENTS and readying RESOURCES to do it all again. Game Designer Jeremy Zirwin has built quite the cool deck around the CUNNING aspect to give Boba some aggressive options with some hand-control thrown in with the use of Cunning (SOR#203) and Bodhi Rook, Imperial Defector (SOR#201) to peek at and discard from an opponent's hand, while using SHIELDED units and trick events like Shoot First (SOR#217) to keep the opponent on the back foot. Check out his breakdown of the build at https://starwarsunlimited.com/articles/built-by-the-masters

Ah yes, the supreme commander of the Imperial Fleet, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Patient and Insightful (SOR#016) is quite the option for a CUNNING leader. He looks at what your opponent has coming on the next turn, he can exhaust enemy units based on what is sitting on top of either deck, and when he’s deployed, he has quite the big booty, with a health pool matched only by Chewbacca, Walking Carpet (SOR#003) who actively WANTS to be attacked. His ship, Chimaera, Flagship of the Seventh Fleet (SOR#185) gives you the ability to name a card to discard from your opponent’s hand, so pairing it with Viper Probe Droid (SOR#228) is a given. Given the slower play pattern, you may want to pair him with VIGILANCE to utilise removal like Takedown (SOR#077), and Count Dooku, Darth Tyrannus (SOR#038) as well as decent SENTINEL pieces like Academy Defense Walker (SOR#037), Cloud City Wing Guard (SOR#063), and System Patrol Craft (SOR#066). You could also utilise a control card like Regional Governor (SOR#062) to prevent a key piece from appearing on your opponent's battlefield, and manipulate the top of your deck with Inferno Four, Unforgetting (SOR#031). 

Jyn Erso, Resisting Oppression (SOR#) may be the leader that sneaks out the win in a few matchups. While not being overly strong in comparison to other LEADERS, her action ability comes without a condition or resource cost, meaning your units may be able to stick around a little longer when dishing out attacks. This will help primarily in the early game, where having a cheap unit stick around after their first attack can mean a world of difference. I can see her pairing with AGGRESSION to get access to those cheaper early units like Sabine Wren. Explosives Artist (SOR#142) and Green Squadron A-Wing (SOR#141), or even devoting her entirely to the CUNNING aspect to utilise the hand-control of Cunning (SOR#203) and Bodhi Rook, Imperial Defector (SOR#201). I still don’t know if she’ll be ground-breaking in the constructed format but in a limited format capacity like DRAFT or SEALED, her common-rarity means she’ll be easy to find, and her ability will definitely give you enough of an edge to survive the earlier turns of most aggressive builds to build into an overwhelming board state.