A Fated Confrontation

May 27, 2026 | Written by Peter Schumacher

Back in April, we revealed the first look at Ashes of the Empire, the thrilling next set of the Star Wars™: Unlimited trading card game. In that first look, we showed off some of the exciting new things introduced in this set, including a pair of new Spotlight Decks that will release alongside it. These pre-built, ready-to-play decks feature Luke Skywalker and Emperor Palpatine as leaders, and they're here to usher in the new set by embodying Ashes of the Empire's 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, out-of-the-box experience for anyone who wants to pick one up and start playing. Today, we're taking a deeper dive at all the new cards you can find in the Ashes of the Empire Spotlight Decks, so without further ado, let's start with a look at Palpatine!

Scheming his way to victory as a Cunning and Villainy leader, Emperor Palpatine (Ashes of the Empire, 15) enters the scene with a playstyle that highlights one of the key new elements of the set, Advantage (Ashes of the Empire, T02) tokens! On both his leader and his unit side, Palpatine can grant a number of Advantage tokens to a friendly exhausted unit equal to the number of other units you control. Since each Advantage token provides a (temporary) +1 power boost to the upgraded unit, you'll want to get lots of units in play to help maximize the effectiveness of Palpatine's ability. This means that low-cost units like the Ant Droid (Ashes of the Empire, 116) and Forest Patroller (Ashes of the Empire, 96) get a little extra value for helping you build up your board quickly. Some low-cost units can even create their own Advantage tokens, such as the Ferry Droid (Ashes of the Empire, 218), the Helix Starfighter (Ashes of the Empire, 221), and Rukh (Ashes of the Empire, 36).

Rukh also exemplifies another new mechanic of the set, the Support keyword. This keyword lets you pull off some pretty impressive action sequences during a game: for example, if you play Rukh to attack with an Emperor's Champion (Ashes of the Empire, 193), you could take advantage of the Champion's Shield token to safely attack into a problematic enemy unit. If that enemy unit is defeated, then Rukh's ability will allow you to give 3 Advantage tokens to a unit, which could be Rukh himself or another ready unit that can immediately make use of them.

The Support keyword in general is particularly valuable while you have Advantage tokens. Since those tokens are temporary, you'll want to be able to attack with them as soon as possible, but because of Palpatine's playstyle, you also want to consistently get more units into play. With the Support keyword, you can essentially do both at once, which means even something as simple as a Flanking TIE Interceptor (Ashes of the Empire, 215) can still boost your action economy. It also means that units like the Emperor's Messenger (Ashes of the Empire, 189) can be a fantastic card to play on your second turn, since they can help you get your momentum going quickly while also providing a benefit that you'd want to use multiple times. At later parts of the game, the Gozanti Assault Carrier (Ashes of the Empire, 99) can surprise your opponent with an unexpected Sentinel, while The Great Mothers (Ashes of the Empire, 101) can turn the attack of even a weak Ant Droid into something deadly.

Returning to the topic of Advantage tokens, Palpatine's deck has plenty of more sources that you can combo with your Support units. Shin Hati's Fiend Fighter (Ashes of the Empire, 191) can grant 2 Advantage tokens to another unit on its way out—3 tokens if it gets defeated by something like the action on 8D8 (Ashes of the Empire, 118). Once you have a sufficient board state built up, play the Executor (Ashes of the Empire, 197) to grant all of your other units an extra Advantage token. Combine that with the ability of Moff Jerjerrod (Ashes of the Empire, 94) and watch the Executor's power climb to truly staggering heights.

By now, we've covered all the offensive options in Emperor Palpatine's pre-built deck, but what the deck's defenses? Since Advantage tokens go away after their attached unit attacks or defends, you'll need an answer to your opponents who will simply throw their weaker units into your boosted ones to clear out their Advantage. Thankfully, Palpatine's deck has plenty of ways to adapt to your enemy's tactics. Moff Gideon (Ashes of the Empire, 97) is a low-cost Sentinel unit that can also recover a non-unique Imperial unit from your discard pile upon his defeat, potentially allowing you to refresh a previously-disrupted strategy. In a similar vein, the Bothan-5 (Ashes of the Empire, 128) can capture your own units as they're defeated, ensuring you'll be able to replenish your forces once the ship leaves play. If your opponent tries to block your Advantage-boosted units with Sentinel units, you can play Hold Them Off (Ashes of the Empire, 139) and take advantage of your unit's booster power to clear out your opponent's side of the field. If you need an emergency Sentinel of your own, you can play Nowhere to Hide (Ashes of the Empire, 198) on one of your own, non-attacking units, or you can use it to lower the power of an enemy unit you were planning to attack anyway.

If you need a more permanent boost to an important unit than what Advantage can provide, play There Is No Conflict (Ashes of the Empire, 199) to power them up (and also clear any negative upgrades that might be hounding them). Once a weaker Imperial unit has attacked with Advantage, defeat it with Long Live the Empire (Ashes of the Empire, 103) to accelerate your resources and help you get your bigger threats out faster. Finally, play Darth Vader (Ashes of the Empire, 243) when you need an impenetrable wall to protect Palpatine himself, and give him Advantage to watch him tear through your enemies!

Standing opposed to both Vader and Palpatine is none other than Luke Skywalker (Ashes of the Empire, 5). This version of Luke is a Vigilance and Heroism leader whose playstyle revolves around keeping his allies healthy. Whenever a friendly unit finishes an attack, Luke's leader side can heal a damage from that unit. If Luke is deployed as a unit himself, he can provide even more healing after every friendly unit's attack, and even direct some of that healing at his base. This healing can give your units a surprising amount of staying power, especially if you're strategic about when to attack enemy units and when to go all-in on your opponent's base. It also allows you to get more mileage out of units that damage themselves for their abilities, such as a Battered Haulcraft (Ashes of the Empire, 71) or Cobb Vanth (Ashes of the Empire, 60). Luke's healing works especially well when those units damage themselves with On Attack abilities, as is the case with his sister Leia Organa (Ashes of the Empire, 59). Since On Attack abilities resolve before the attack and Luke's ability resolves after the attack, you can have Leia damage herself to heal your base and then immediately heal that damage back up. And since Leia has the Support keyword, you can have another one of your units perform that same combo when she enters play!

Leia isn't the only unit with Support in Luke's pre-built deck. Doctor Pershing (Ashes of the Empire, 72) is also present, and his ability appreciates the healing from Luke in order to provide some consistent card draw. With R5-D4 (Ashes of the Empire, 156), you can surprise your opponent by clearing all upgrades from their most threatening unit, which is especially potent if they're stacking Advantage tokens. Speaking of Advantage tokens, Han Solo (Ashes of the Empire, 158), the Alphabet Squadron U-Wing (Ashes of the Empire, 159), and the event Follow Me (Ashes of the Empire, 184) can all grant Advantage to your own forces, allowing even simple units like the Strike Team Vanguard (Ashes of the Empire, 61) or Ewok Warrior (Ashes of the Empire, 166) to punch above their weight. Advantage tokens have even more value on units like Hera Syndulla (Ashes of the Empire, 31), whose ability to heal your base scales to the amount of damage she deals to your opponent's.

The healing from Luke's abilities can help you get the most value out of your units, whether they have Advantage or not. However, sometimes that healing isn't enough on its own to keep up your momentum. Thankfully, Luke's deck has other tools to help shore up its defenses. So long as you control at least one ground unit, the B-Wing Rearguard (Ashes of the Empire, 78) can hold the line in space, and if you attach Luke's Jedi Lightsaber (Ashes of the Empire, 66) onto Luke himself, he can do the same on the ground. If your opponent plays a particularly nasty unit, inflict that unit with The Conflict Within (Ashes of the Empire, 88) to make it too expensive to use, and if too many of your units are wounded, call on Home One (Ashes of the Empire, 65) to heal up your whole board at once!

On the more aggressive side, Green Leader (Ashes of the Empire, 153) packs a decent amount of power for a 2-cost space unit, and its low HP and When Defeated ability mean you don't need to worry about keeping it healed up with Luke's abilities. Combine it with Rash Action (Ashes of the Empire, 162) for some extra offensive power, plus a bit of disruption (if you manage to hit your opponent's base). If you're having trouble getting units on the board because of a pesky enemy, perform a Reckless Sacrifice (Ashes of the Empire, 163) with a unit in your hand to clear the way. Finally, with Luke's father Anakin Skywalker (Ashes of the Empire, 255) wielding a potent Hidden and Saboteur combo while also granting a Shield token to another friendly unit, you'll have everything you need to beat the odds and secure victory.

With that, you now know all the new cards that you can find within the Ashes of the Empire 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 a lot of new stuff today, but there's even more to look forward to as we count down to the set's full launch in July. Keep an eye out for more previews in the coming weeks!