July 31, 2026 | Written by Jack Broomell

The 2026 Galactic Championship has come to a close, concluding an incredible season of Star Wars™: Unlimited Organized Play!

Players from across the globe gathered in Las Vegas for a weekend filled with ways to connect, collect, and compete with other members of the community. From the Last Chance Qualifier kicking things off on Friday to the final match of the championship itself, the weekend had no shortage of memorable moments.

After three days of competition, James Rimas has been crowned the Season One Galactic Champion!

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COMPETE

The weekend began on Friday with the Last Chance Qualifer, giving players one final opportunity to earn a seat in the main event.

The LCQ started with 1,486 players, and only 46 players were able to move on and earn a seat in the main event! With the final seats filled, all eyes turned towards Saturday and the start of the main tournament. If you want to go back and watch the games from the Last Chance Qualifier, you can do so here: https://youtube.com/live/J1rYkLLXUFk?feature=share

The main tournament featured 543 players and kicked off Saturday morning. This year, there was a twist in the tournament: players now had to start off the morning with limited play!

The first three rounds of the main tournament utilized the draft format, requiring players to build their decks on the spot and adapt to the cards available to them. Every pack and every choice carried the potential to shape their tournament run. To start the tournament, we featured Mike Gemme, a player who won a limited Sector Qualifier and a limited Regional Championship along with finishing first on our leaderboard in Season One!

Following those three rounds of draft, players switched gears and transitioned to Premier for the remaining five rounds of the day. The change in format gave players the opportunity to put their constructed decks to the test, with each round becoming harder as the best players rose to the top.

After those eight rounds on Saturday, we were down to 75 players who qualified for Day 2 of the Main Event on Sunday. The remaining players once again started off with three rounds of Draft gameplay before shifting back to Premier for the final two rounds of games before a cut to the Top 8. Check out all of our Saturday gameplay here: https://youtube.com/live/SBBh3mR_VyQ?feature=share

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In the end, players went through six rounds of draft and seven rounds of Premier gameplay. If a player qualified through the Last Chance Qualifer, like our finalist Cody Hill, you can add an additional eight rounds of Premier games to that list!

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With our cut to Top 8, the stage was set to see who would become our next Galactic Champion. Let us check out what deck each of those players brought to the tournament and what matchups we might see:

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SWH_GC26_Top8Decklists_5 Michał Waślicki.jpg

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SWH_GC26_Top8Decklists_6 Zachary Lavarenne.jpg

SWH_GC26_Top8Decklists_7 Nicky Morgan.jpg

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After an incredible run by each player, we had James Rimas rise to the top after only dropping one match all weekend! After securing the title of Galactic Champion, we grabbed James for a quick interview, and this is what he had to say about his win:

“I’ve dreamed of this moment for a long time. From the start, I realized that Cad Bane was the best leader, and I was one of the few players who stuck with him. At the end of the day, you just play the best cards, that’s always what you do, right? I put in a lot of work preparing for the draft portion of the event with my team and relentlessly tested all of the matchups. I’ll probably put the trophy somewhere in my room. One of the things I loved most about this Galactic Championship was meeting new people. I found a lot of people who are just like me, and I even got to meet some of my teammates in person for the first time!”

If you missed any of the action on Sunday, you can watch it all happen on our YouTube channel to see how James pulled out a victory in the finals with 29 damage on his 30 health base! Watch it here: https://youtube.com/live/YyJW-cm6KGk?feature=share

Before we move on we want to take a moment to celebrate our winner of the Galactic Open, Simon Harvey, piloting The Mandalorian leader with the Colossus base to victory!

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Lastly, a big congratulations to Filip Szkudlarek and Carson Caruso for winning the Red Eternal Open and Blue Eternal Open respectively on Sunday!

CONNECT

Of course, the Galactic Championship was about more than just the main event.

Throughout the weekend, the CONNECT space gave attendees the chance to experience the many different sides of the Star Wars: Unlimited community.

Fans could attend a variety of panels featuring members of the team and community to hear directly from the people who help make this game as amazing as it is.

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The Artist Alley gave attendees the opportunity to meet the talent artists whose work has helped bring the game to life. Fans could meet the artists, see their work up close, and even get their favorite card signed!

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At the Designer Depot, attendees could challenge a designer or developer from the team. They could learn more about how their favorite set, leader or unit were designed and what goes into designing each and every card in the game.

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Lastly we had the Content Creator Zone as another hub of activity over the weekend. It brought creators and fans together in one place. Attendees were able to interact with the people that make content each week for this game and connect with other fans.

Whether you came to learn something new, meet an artist, challenge a designer, see your favorite creator, or simple spend time with other fans, the CONNECT space had something for everyone!

COLLECT

For attendees who were looking to commemorate their time at the Galactic Championship with something tangible, the COLLECT space offered plenty of opportunities to add some items to your collections!

The Pin Passport encouraged fans to explore all different parts of the convention, such as attending a panel, visiting the stores, getting cards signed by artists, and enjoying many parts of what makes this event so special.

Speaking of attending panels, by doing so, you could also collect special promo token cards from the weekend. These were given out for attending panels and featuring the Mandalorian token unit, Spy token unit, Advantage token and Credit token. These cards serve as a reminder of the event and make sure all of your decks have style to them!

And, of course, the Merch area gave fans the opportunity to pick up Star Wars: Unlimited apparel to bring home as mementos of their time at the Galactic Championship. From hats to hoodies, from water bottles to backpacks, everyone could find something to wear and remember the weekend by!

Galactic Report

During the event on Saturday, our Brand Ambassador, Wesley Mouri, presented the latest Galactic Report. In this presentation, we recapped what we have done in 2026 so far, gave a first look at the game’s next set, Homeworlds, and revealed the names of the three sets coming in 2027!

If you want to dive deeper into Homeworlds, check out our first look article or watch the trailer on our socials.

Looking ahead to 2027, we cannot wait to share more about Legacy of Skywalker, System Overload and Galaxy at War in the future! For now, our focus will be on Homeworlds, followed closely by Icons 2027 Edition.

A Season To Remember

The Season One Galactic Championship was the culmination of an incredible year for our Organized Play program.

Over the course of the season, players traveled to local stores for Planetary Qualifiers, traveled far to Sector Qualifiers and Regional Championships, and through it all earned points for their chance to compete in the main event and a spot on the biggest stage. The Galactic Championship brought those journeys together for one final weekend of glorious competition.

It was a weekend celebrating the players who spent the season competing at the tables, the artists who helped bring the game to life, the designers and developers who continue to shape the game, the content creators who share their passion with the community, and of course, the fans who continue to play, connect, collect, compete, and support Star Wars: Unlimited! This community continues to be one of the best parts of this game, and we are grateful to everyone who plays. We literally could not do this without you!

To everyone who joined us in Las Vegas, THANK YOU! The season may be over, but the journey of Star Wars: Unlimited continues!

We cannot wait to see you at the Season Two Galactic Championship from May 21^st to May 23^rd in Anaheim, California! If you missed any of our updates regarding changes coming in Season Two, check out our article going over them here: Star Wars: Unlimited | Shifting Seasons

Get Ready for Galactics

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