Defend and Destroy

July 27, 2026 | Written by Peter Schumacher

Note: Due to a delay in the card database being updated, the links for the cards referenced below are not currently active. Please refer to the image provided at the end of the article to see the cards mentioned. We apologize for the inconvenience and will activate the links once the card database is updated.

Just a few weeks ago, during the Galactic Championship, we unveiled the first look at Homeworlds, the exciting next set of the Star Wars™: Unlimited trading card game. In that first look, we showed off some of the new elements introduced in the set, including a pair of new Spotlight Decks that will release alongside it. These pre-built, ready-to-play decks feature Chewbacca and Grand Moff Tarkin as leaders, and they're here to welcome in the new set by embodying Homeworlds' themes and mechanics.

As with all Spotlight Decks, these decks include cards from older sets mixed in with the new ones to help create a more optimized, unpack-and-play experience for anyone who wants to pick one up. Today, we're taking a deeper dive at all the new cards you can find in the Homeworlds Spotlight Decks, so without further ado, let's start with a look at Tarkin!

Cold, calculating, and ruthless, Grand Moff Tarkin (Homeworlds, 4) enters the set as a Vigilance and Villainy leader. His playstyle revolves around the new Fortify keyword, which allows you to attach an upgrade to your base instead of one of your units. Since Tarkin's ability allows you to ignore the aspect penalties of Fortify upgrades you play, you can stack a big pile of these fortifications onto your base throughout the game. This is something you'll absolutely want to do, since it will take you a while to build up to the 9 resources you need to deploy your leader unit, which is not Tarkin himself, but rather the terrifying Death Star! Arriving on the scene as the game's first true “space leader,” the Death Star is a horrifyingly powerful unit that can instantly defeat an enemy base with 10 or less remaining HP.

With the threat of the Death Star ever looming in the background, your opponent will likely do everything in their power to rush down your base as much as possible. That's where the Fortify upgrades come into play: the Alliance Shield Generator (Homeworlds, 81) can prevent your base from taking a big hit, while the Sinister War Memorial (Homeworlds, 113) can heal up the damage your base takes from smaller attacks. Use the Intelligence Agency (Homeworlds, 205) to disrupt your opponent's plans, and lean on the Carbonite Chamber (Homeworlds, 95) and Tarkin's own signature upgrade, The Tarkin Doctrine (Homeworlds, 206) to slow down their units. And when you need to protect your base more directly with units of your own, you can use the Bacta Tank (Homeworlds, 37) to heal them up or return a previously-defeated unit from your discard pile.

Speaking of units, the ones in Tarkin's pre-built deck are no slouches either, each of them handpicked to help keep your base as healthy as possible. The Clone X Assassin (Homeworlds, 59) can inflict a Weakness (Homeworlds, T02) token onto an enemy unit upon its defeat, both reducing that enemy's power and making it easier to defeat. Vice Admiral Rampart (Homeworlds, 60) can prevent one of your Fortify upgrades from being defeated, and Director Krennic (Homeworlds, 61) can draw you an extra card while your base is fortified to help you get access to your other tools faster. If you're struggling to find a Fortify upgrade, the Remote Scout (Homeworlds, 85) can help you pull one from your deck, and if your base took some hits while you were waiting to upgrade it, the Rho Medical Shuttle (Homeworlds, 63) and Carrion Spike (Homeworlds, 66) can both assist with healing it back up!

The other Spotlight Deck for Homeworlds features Chewbacca (Homeworlds, 9), who rages into battle as a Command and Heroism leader. Where the Tarkin leader focuses on defense and control, Chewie's playstyle is all about offense. His leader ability allows you to attack with one of your exhausted units at the cost of 2 resources, opening up all sorts of new strategies. The resource cost is even dropped once Chewie deploys to his unit side, though you're still limited to using the ability only once per round, and in either case, your exhausted units cannot attack the enemy base.

Still, even if you can only attack an enemy unit with this ability, being able to catch your opponent off guard with a sudden tempo shift is incredibly useful. Your opponent won't be able to simply ignore your exhausted units like they're used to, especially if those units have Overwhelm, like the Hijacked AT-ST (Homeworlds, 121), which boasts incredible stats for its cost in exchange for being unable to ready right away. Coincidentally, the Hijacked AT-ST costs the same number of resources as what you need to control to deploy Chewie, which means you can play the AT-ST and then use Chewie's unit ability to attack with it in the same round. If you want to go even further, on a future round, you could ready the AT-ST with Han Solo (Homeworlds, 170), potentially attacking up to three times with it in one phase!

Being able to attack with your exhausted units is fantastic, but before Chewbacca deploys—and after he is defeated—it can get expensive to have to dedicate 2 resources to his ability each round. Fortunately, Chewie's pre-built deck comes with two different ways to help mitigate this cost. First is Chewbacca's Bowcaster (Homeworlds, 127), which gives you a bit of resource acceleration if you play it on Chewie himself. This means that, even if Chewie is defeated faster than expected, you'll have more resources to work with when paying for his ability on future turns.

The second way to mitigate the cost of Chewbacca's leader ability is to simply have a bunch of low-cost units! Lots of the units in Chewie's pre-built deck have resource costs of 3 or less, and many of them even have abilities that synergize with this cost curve. Leia Organa (Homeworlds, 115) heals your base each time you play a unit that costs 3 or less, while Logray (Homeworlds, 45) punishes the enemy whenever one of your low-cost units is damaged. Ewok Brigade (Homeworlds, 116) and Champions of Endor (Homeworlds, 163) both have solid stats for only costing 2 resources, and if you pair them with Ewok Archers (Homeworlds, 257) alongside Chewie's ability, you could get two attacks from the Archers on the same phase they entered play. These “low cost-synergy” abilities work with token units as well; for example, though Ezra Bridger (Homeworlds, 168) can't benefit from these abilities himself, the Beast (Homeworlds, T03) tokens he summons do fit the bill.

The rest of Chewbacca's deck doubles down on the theme of his units working together. Most units in the deck have fairly low power, but a Trap Field (Homeworlds, 171) can soften up an enemy unit the moment they enter play, making them easier for one of your units to pick off (which they can do even while exhausted, thanks to Chewie's ability). Since the Denroid Wilds (Homeworlds, 29) have the Endor trait, the Village Troublemaker (Homeworlds, 176) is guaranteed to have both Saboteur and Hidden. Speaking of Hidden, Teebo (Homeworlds, 162) can grant the keyword to all of your Ewok units, almost guaranteeing that they survive long enough to perform at least one attack. Even without Hidden, the Adamant Ewoks (Homeworlds, 177) can dish out a bit of damage just from entering play, while Chief Chirpa (Homeworlds, 164) gets a power boost for each other Ewok unit you control. This boost can be even further amplified with C-3PO (Homeworlds, 255), who can not only power up your Ewoks, but also your Rebel units, such as Han, Leia, the Hijacked AT-ST, and—of course—Chewie himself!

With that, you now know all the new cards that you can find within the Homeworlds Spotlight Decks. Check out the image above to see the full card list for each deck, including all the returning cards from previous sets. We've shown plenty of new stuff today, but there's even more to look forward to as we count down the days to the set's full launch in October. Keep an eye out for more previews in the coming weeks!