When Star Wars Unlimited starts on March 1st as part of the week-long pre-release phase, fans of the new trading card game will be able to open the first boosters in the event box. It is particularly important to recognize when you have a particularly rare card in your hands.
It’s no secret that there will be many rare cards in Star Wars Unlimited: Fantasy Flight Games let the cat out of the bag very early in the marketing phase and provided information about the rarity levels and their approximate pull rates. Until now it was all gray theory, but on March 1st it will now become practice for many fans. By purchasing the so-called pre-release boxes you will be able to open the first boosters – and you should be one thing above all: careful!
From ordinary to “secret”
There are a lot of little details behind Star Wars Unlimited that show that the makers of the new trading card game have really put some thought into it. This starts with the nature of the booster packets. The bags are also made of strong (and coated) paper, so they protect the cards, but are comparatively easy to tear open. This is especially important because you don’t accidentally damage cards when you open one of the boosters.
The rarity of the Star Wars Unlimited cards can be seen on the bottom bar – this is a “rare” that is within the count, so it is not a hyperspace version. Photo: Volkmann
The first set of Star Wars Unlimited – The Spark of Rebellion – basically contains 252 cards. To recognize rarity and other details, all you need to do is look at the bottom edge of a card. You can see a code there to identify the set – in the case of Spark of Rebellion, this is SOR-DE (Spark of Rebellion, German localization). There are also two marker cards that have special codes: SORT01 and SORT02.
However, there are also cards that are outside the count. These are the so-called hyperspace versions. All of these cards feature a special and borderless design that features hyperspace stripes. Basically any type of card can be a hyperspace card. This distinguishes this version from the showcase cards, which are only possible for leaders.
Fantasy Flight Games has kept a big secret about the showcase cards. Only one of these rare cards is even known: Leia Organa. The leader card not only has an adapted design, but a completely unique one.
Hyperspace maps with the alternative background are counted above number 252. Photo: Volkmann
Fantasy Flight Games provides players with all relevant information about the individual cards on the sidebar: In addition to the information about the set – after all, there will be many more waves of cards in Star Wars Unlimited in the coming years – there is also a symbol that indicates the Rarity indicates:
- C – Common
- U – Uncommon
- R – Rare
- L – Legendary
- S – Special (Special cards from the starter set)
Why all the drama? The value of the cards rises and falls with the condition. Even the smallest scratches can therefore mean a reduction in value for particularly rare treasures. Today it is almost common practice in the scene to have rare copies of cards “graded” before being sold. Service providers provide the cards with a “grade” regarding their condition upon request – and for a small fee. The following applies here: the better, the more money you can get for a card.
Because you never know what’s inside when you rip open the boosters, you should be particularly careful. This especially applies to the last two cards when viewed from the cover image of the booster: these are the foil card (last in the pack) and the rare card (such as a rare or legendary). Here you should carefully move the top cards or look at the cards from the pack in reverse order.
The pull rates for Star Wars Unlimited
What is particularly interesting is that Fantasy Flight Games revealed early on how rare individual card levels and the special variants of the cards are. The publisher refers to a perfect probability distribution – theory and practice will therefore differ significantly from one another. The approximate pull rates for Star Wars Unlimited are still exciting.
CommonUncommonRareLegendaryHyperspaceShowcaseProbability9:13:11:11:82:31:288The numbers indicate how the cards of a rarity are distributed among the number of necessary boosters
It is important to know that the rare cards, one of which is included in each booster (Rare), can also be a legendary card – namely in one of eight boosters.
To make the system a little more complicated, Fantasy Flight Games has integrated the foil and hyperspace levels as a combination. This then results in further degrees of rarity or pull rates.
Foil Hyperspace + Rare/LegendaryHyperspace + Foil + Rare/LegendaryProbability1:11:151:50The numbers indicate how the cards of a rarity are distributed among the number of necessary boosters
Hyperspace cards are not rare in the boosters overall, but the chance that they are rare or even legendary cards with a special design is significantly lower.
When opening the booster, your eyes should land on the symbol, then on the edge and finally on the card to see whether it is a foil version. The showcase variants should catch the eye anyway.
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Last updated on March 1, 2024 / Affiliate links / Images from the Amazon Product Advertising API. Images from Amazon PA API.
2024-03-01 03:39:28
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