The Star Wars: Unlimited card Boba Fett (Collecting the Bounty) is now suspended from play in Premier format. The announcement, which may well be the first of its kind for the fledgling trading card game, was “a development mistake,” lead designer Danny Schaefer wrote in a blog post published Wednesday. While the card is not being banned outright, it will have limited utility starting Nov. 8.
According to Schaefer, the Boba Fett card in question — a leader card — was included in the decks of 55% of winners in a recent competitive tournament. For a game with 54 different leader cards at time of publication, that represents a significant design issue. Schaefer writes that the decision to suspend the card was not taken lightly, but was preferred to alternate methods, including an outright ban or retirement, as is common in competitor Flesh and Blood.
“He is the most severe power level outlier and his power level issues are exacerbated because he’s a leader,” Schaefer writes. And he’s correct: Every time players sit down at the table, they have their choice of leaders, which begin every game in play on the table. Leaders also set the tone for the entire rest of the deck.
“Leaders carry special weight in this game because they define archetypes, because you have guaranteed access to them in every game, and because a deck can only ever have one leader,” he writes. “Boba Fett’s combination of stats and ability have proven to be too far ahead [preventing] other midrange leaders […] from being viable in the metagame. Regardless of what specific card choices in these decks shift from set to set, it would likely remain optimal to have the Boba Fett leader at the helm.”
Star Wars: Unlimited launched in March 2024 to near universal critical acclaim. Reviewers, including here at Polygon, lauded developers at Fantasy Flight Games for the TCG’s fast and powerful gameplay. Mashing up a beloved IP with a novel two-lane style of combat, with ground and space forces segregated to separate sides of the battlefield, remains a winning combination.
Schaefer left the door open for Boba Fett (Collecting the Bounty) to return from suspension at a later date.
News of the suspension comes during a period of transition for TCGs globally. Not only were more new, high-profile TCGs launched in 2023 and 2024 than in years past, 800-pound gorilla Magic: The Gathering is also making big changes in how often it reinforces its own unique narrative with its biggest fans. The Magic community was also recently sent reeling because of card bans, which lead to threats of violence, including death threats against volunteers.
Polygon has reached out to Fantasy Flight for additional clarifications, and will update this story accordingly.
