A Message from the Team

December 31, 2025 | Written by the Star Wars™: Unlimited team

Two years.

It's incredible to think that the Star Wars: Unlimited trading card game has already been out for nearly two whole years. As we look back on an amazing second year—and look forward to the exciting things to come in 2026—we asked members of the team to share a few words with you all as a fitting way to close out this chapter of the game. Read on to see what everyone has to say!

From Jorge Zhang:

Thank you for having faith in your friends on the Star Wars: Unlimited design team! Seriously though, I am so grateful for your trust in us and your support of the game in our second year. Seeing all of your creativity was a huge highlight for me, and I really enjoyed people telling me about their cool deck at various events over the year. Year 3 is only bringing more great stuff, including my favorite card in the game, and I can't wait to see what you all do with it!

From Elijah Montoya:

WOW. It's crazy to think that I've been a part of the Star Wars: Unlimited team for over a year now! In my first year at Fantasy Flight Games, I've had the pleasure of meeting a ton of our amazing fans. I can tell you from the inside that everyone here absolutely cares about delivering the best game they can. I'm so excited for all of you to see what we've been cooking up. Some gnarly cards are coming, trust me.

I would like to share a genuine thank you with our players. Seeing your love for the game is wonderful fuel that keeps me going each day. One of my fondest memories playing Star Wars: Unlimited this year was at the Regional Qualifier in Minneapolis. I spent two days playing Twin Suns back-to-back, all day, each day, but don't worry—it was all by choice. Initially, I thought I'd only play on the first day and skip the second, but the fun I was having with you all pulled me back for more.

Next, I have to give a shout-out to the fierce competition I witnessed at the first Galactic Championship, not only on the main stage but also across the table from me. I brought a bell for people to ring if/when they bested me in a Designer Duel, and that bell rang a lot! Cheers again to anyone who stomped me that weekend. It's nice to be humbled by so many of you!

Can't wait to play more of you in the future.

From Mercedes Opheim of the Visual Team:

Jump to Lightspeed triggered a visual leap forward for the game!

With the introduction of the Carbonite edition, our Art and Graphic Design teams were pushed to new heights. The introduction of Prestige cards was a proving ground and a chance to level up on a technical level by tackling serialized cards and multiple treatment tiers for the first time. Edge-to-edge art and minimal yet embellished metallic ship plate framing presented a thematic opportunity but demanded tight collaboration between teams that had rarely worked this closely before.

By the time Legends of the Force and Secrets of Power launched, our systems were dialed in—and creativity exploded! Diptychs, triptychs, cards that spanned shared backgrounds, holographic renegades, and bold propaganda posters set incredible new benchmarks. During this era, the Art and Graphics teams began their evolution into a powerhouse unit, and it has been my honor to see them through it all.

Huge thanks to the fans who fuel our imagination. You've seen what we've done—just wait until you see what's next.

From MJ Cutts:

Over these past two years, I've found myself most thankful that Star Wars: Unlimited—beyond creative or competitive satisfaction—reminds me to talk to people. We draft regularly at my place, and what a pillar of stability that is! Those monthly games mean regular socializing, and they mean making certain I see otherwise-busy friends.

All that good, social stuff also comes with the community, of course. I had delightful food and conversations in Vegas with several podcasters; I ate cookies with a fan who just happened to be a fellow vegan and a professional baker; and as the lead designer on Homeworlds—our upcoming set next holiday—I got to enjoy watching a playtester turn purple, shouting “I've never been so excited to lose!”

I can only cherish those memories because of this game. So, thanks to all the friendly players out there, and here's hoping I hoard even more friends and anecdotes next year.

From Joe O'Neil:

This year of Star Wars: Unlimited has been surreal. The game feels more established; we've been around long enough to develop a devoted community, and I've been lucky enough to both engage with and contribute to that community now.

Since the moment I started work on Legends of the Force, I knew its release would be huge for me. It's a great personal achievement, but it's also been surreal seeing what the set means to fans, and I've never felt more connected to them than now. I've loved watching the community react to big reveals like Darth Vader (Legends of the Force, 37) or Darth Revan (Legends of the Force, 17), having some fans tell me Gungi (Legends of the Force, 93) is also their new favorite, and most of all just playing the game with fans and losing to so many cool and creative decks that they built.

My highlights of the year are hard to pick because there are so many. Working with John Leo on this set is easily one of them. Legends of the Force would not be as powerful, impactful, and fun as it is without his influence, and I hope my influence on his baby, A Lawless Time, does the same. The Galactic Championship itself was also filled with highlights. The whole design team watched the finals together in what turned out to be such a nail-biter close match. I was surprised with how much fun it was to engage with the trading side of the community. My goal was to eventually get a copy of every showcase from Legends of the Force, which I thought was probably too difficult to actually achieve. I came to the Galactic Championship with 4 Showcases, and I left with 14. It was such a good way to connect with so many different people and collect mementos of those experiences.

What's even more exciting than all this is knowing there's so much more amazing stuff coming down the road, and I can't wait to experience it with the community all over again.

From John Leo:

Folks are always asking me, “what's the best part about being a game designer?” My answer's always the same: the people. Whenever I go to a new city and play Star Wars: Unlimited, I ask my opponent to sign a card for me. Maybe a base, maybe a common from their collection, whatever they want. Every Star Wars: Unlimited player has a story, and I know a lot of them by heart: Anthony, who found the game at a time in his life when he needed community more than ever; Hannah, whose control deck is the terror of the casual Wisconsin scene; Kat, who works at an LGS in the UK and collects the cards featuring her favorite characters; 9-year-old Paul from France, who demolished me in a Designer Duel despite neither of us sharing a common language. For me, these memories are a record of the connections I've made through this game. Ask me to show you my collection sometime.

The connections we make aren't just with fans, though. Often, it looks like late night playtests with the legendary Jeremy Zwirn, or guzzling coffee with Joe O'Neil while we worked on Legends of the Force. (Did you really think the Anakin Skywalker (Legends of the Force, 70) unit could be designed by uncaffeinated people?) Or guzzling even more coffee with Joe while we worked on A Lawless Time. (If you liked the designs in Legends of the Force but needed a little more [REDACTED], we've got plenty in store for you.)

For me, the end of the year is often about looking forward and backward. I'm looking forward to this game taking its next big strides; the sets coming out in 2026—A Lawless Time, Ashes of the Empire, Homeworlds, Icons—are all, as we say, bangers. We'll be seeing some unbelievable cards and some incredible creativity from the team—cool characters, great art, exciting mechanics—but what I'm most excited about is playing the cards with you, the players. Games are just a tool for getting people to sit across the table from each other. See you there.

From Michael Dunsmore:

Huge thank you to all the players and fans of Star Wars: Unlimited. It is amazing to see how the community has grown. Highlight of the year for me must be the first Galactic Championship. I was lucky enough to spend most of that weekend just playing games with our fans, meeting wonderful people, and hearing their Star Wars: Unlimited stories, like a gentleman who was able to bond with his autistic brother by playing this game, or a cosplayer who had lovingly matched their deck and all their gaming accessories to their costume.

While Secrets of Power is one of my favorite sets to date, giving players new intriguing options to interact with their opponents, I am also super excited for what is coming in the third year of this game. We continue to build on what makes Star Wars: Unlimited great while finding fresh ways to surprise all our fans with exciting new content and further explore the multiple ways you can play this game.

From Ryan Serrano:

To everyone who's supported Star Wars: Unlimited over the course of the past two years, from content creators to PQ titans to casual kitchen-table fans: thank you, thank you, thank you! It's such a privilege to be able to make this game for such an imaginative and passionate player base, and I've loved seeing so many different deck brews pop up from week to week.

I can hardly believe we finally released Secrets of Power this last November. It was the first set I co-led with Tyler, and it's still surreal to see folks opening packs and playing cards that have words I put on them. I'm so excited to share the first set I led, Ashes of the Empire, with you all next summer—each set is only getting more polished in terms of art and mechanics, and there are some things I will be so happy not to have to keep to myself anymore.

There are a million tiny moments that have made these first sets special to me, from resolving complicated rules questions to seeing young fans designing their own cards with paper and pencils. I'll leave you with something I've said in several interviews: one reason I knew this game was special was that, on being hired, I noticed that the designers all still wanted to play more games even after our workdays were finished. I'm happy to report that going into 2026, even after doubling our team, we're still playing Star Wars: Unlimited all the time, and we hope you'll join us for many more years of this awesome game!

From Tyler Parrott:

Here we are, at the end of the second full year of Star Wars: Unlimited. And yet for some of you, it's been even more than that, as our journey of marketing and demoing the game began in 2023. Thank you all for going on this ride with us over these past years, and I can't wait for ya'll to see where we're going.

I'm feeling particularly grateful right now, with Secrets of Power having just released, because I've been waiting so long to share this set with you. It was an idea I had wanted to make from the beginning, a set all about interpersonal intrigue. Finally getting to see my vision, fully executed (in large part thanks to the ideas and diligence of Ryan Seranno and the rest of the team), and in players' hands is so rewarding. I hope you take great joy messing with your opponent's plans and springing your carefully-laid plots on them.

As we go forward into the coming year, with A Lawless Time, Ashes of the Empire, Icons, and Homeworlds, you're going to find exciting new gameplay puzzles to solve, brand-new cards for beloved characters (old and new!), and a brand-new metagame that's grown so much from where we started in Spark of Rebellion. It's crazy to think about how much we've grown since Danny, Jeremy, and I designed the beginning of this game. I'm partial to Ashes of the Empire and Icons, since I was more heavily involved in the designs of those sets, but I have personal favorites in every set coming out next year. And I look forward to seeing which ones are yours!