Summary
Leaders are one of the most important parts of aStar Wars: Unlimited deck. Not only do they help pay for the Aspect Cost of the cards in your deck, but they also act as powerful Units that can be Deployed for some on-the-field advantages. Twilight of the Republic introduced 18 Leaders that open the door to some unique strategies.
There are Leaders that switch between different Aspects and others that can make some of the most expensive cards easier to play. With iconic characters from the Star Wars prequels making their debut as Leaders, some are far more powerful than you would expect.
8Chancellor Palpatine, Playing Both Sides
Heroism And Villainy In One Card
Chancellor Palpatine is an odd Leader since he cannot be Deployed like all the other cards in his category. However, while he loses the ability to fight on the field, he also gives you significant gains. He counts as both a Heroism and Villainy card, giving you access to a new level of deckbuilding.
If your Heroism Units are defeated, you get to draw a card and heal two damage from your Base. Then, Palpatine flips to Darth Sidious, letting you use Villainy cards at base price. When you play a Villainy card, you also get a free Clone Trooper Token. Both you and your enemies get their Bases damaged by two. In a sense, this creates a doomsday clock where your opponents will eventually see their Base trickle down to zero HP.
7Quinlan Vos, Sticking The Landing
Matching Card Costs
Quinlan Vos has great use in both the early game as well as the late game. If you match the cost of your Units with the cost of the Units on your opponent’s side of the field, you can deal one damage. This makes it easier to take down weaker Units at the start of the game or even finish off others later on.
This ability becomes more flexible when Quinlan Vos Deploys at five resources. His power then becomes three and his HP seven. His ability also changes, so he doesn’t need to exhaust to deal the damage. This damage is also easier to trigger, since you no longer have to play cards with equal cost, just cards that cost more or the same.
6Obi-Wan Kenobi, Patient Mentor
Protecting The Field
If you’re looking for a powerful Jedito heal your Units, then Obi-Wan Kenobi, will make for a great Leader. Sporting both the Vigilance and Heroism aspects, Obi-Wan can heal one damage from a Unit for free, giving them just a bit more strength to keep fighting.
Obi-Wan can come out at six resources and has Sentinel, which allows you to force your opponent’s hand into attacking him. With four power and seven HP, Obi-Wan can be difficult to beat over. This staying power is also helped by the fact that he can heal other Units including himself, while also dealing an extra bit of damage to another each time he attacks.
5Count Dooku, Face Of The Confederacy
Funding The Separatist Alliance
Count Dooku is a Command and Villainy Leader that acts as support for your Separatist cards. His Action allows you to play other Separatist cards from your hand while giving them Exploit 1. This keyword allows you to defeat a Unit on your side of the field to reduce the cost of a card by two.
He Deploys at seven resources and gains five power with nine HP. Count Dooku also gainsthe Overwhelm keyword. If Count Dooku attacks, the next Separatist card that you play gets Exploit 3. This means it gets a discount of six resources if you’re willing to defeat three of your own Units. Good thing Droid Tokens are as expendable as they are.
4Maul, A Rival In Darkness
Overwhelming Power
Aggression and Villainy are perfect ways to describeone of the best Star Wars villains. Maul has a free Action that lets you attack with a Unit and give it Overwhelm. Combined with a powerful unit on the field, and your opponent will be in big trouble.
Maul comes out at six resources with a very impressive power and HP of six. This makes it the perfect card to have Overwhelm. However, as a Leader Unit on the field, it gives all of your other friendly Units the keyword as well, which can flip the game in your favor as your opponent takes all the excess damage towards their Base.
3Yoda, Sensing Darkness
Sculpting Your Hand And Healing Your Base
Yoda is a great card for modifying your hand. Yoda can use his Action for free if a Unit leaves play. This allows you to draw a card and put another one from your hand on the top or bottom of the deck. This is useful for crafting your hand and future draws.
At seven resources, Yoda can Deploy, giving it a power of four and an HP of nine. Yoda also gets Restore 2, so each time this Unit attacks, you can heal two damage from your Base. It also has an ability that triggers when Deployed which lets you discard a card directly from your deck and defeat a less expensive enemy Unit. This makes it perfect for control strategies.
2Ahsoka Tano, Snips
Stronger With Allies
Ahsoka Tano is a fantastic Aggression and Heroism leader because she has an Action that doesn’t cost anything to use other than meeting the conditions on the board. This Leader lets you attack with a Unit while giving them a plus one in power.
Ahsoka works well with Twilight of the Republic’s increased Unit creation. Getting three Units on the board is not as difficult as it seems, with many cards being able to create Clones or Battle Droid Tokens. This card can come out at five resources, making her a fairly cheap Leader to bring out. Ahsoka also gets a power boost, making her a five power and six health card.
1Anakin Skywalker, What It Takes To Win
Turning Your Base Into A Well Of Power
Anakin Skywalker is a must-have Leader for Aggression decks. Anakin turns your Base into an additional resource by dealing damage to it in exchange for power. This is fantastic for powering up low-cost Units that enter the game early while giving them extra power to mow down other weak early-game cards.
It comes out at six resources with a power of four and an HP of seven. While on the field, it gains Overwhelm and will get a power boost of one for every five damage to your Base. So, the same damage you used to power up your cards can now work towards powering up Anakin.
