Star Wars Unlimited Secrets of Power Spotlight Deck – Chancellor Palpatine

Fra Star Wars Unlimited:

Concocting diabolical schemes as a Vigilance and Villainy leader, Chancellor Palpatine (Secrets of Power, 1) showcases the set’s new Plot keyword front and center. We touched on his playstyle during the first look article, but as a quick refresher, Palpatine’s leader ability lets him skim the top 5 cards of your deck for a card with Plot, reveal it, and add it to your hand. A card with Plot can be played from your resources (paying its cost) whenever you deploy your leader, making your deployment turn even more explosive and impactful than usual, especially since you can use Plot to play multiple cards at once! Palpatine takes this a step further with his unit ability, which gives you a sizable discount on the first card you play using Plot when he deploys. This can allow for a devastating turn when he finally takes to the field, bringing two or maybe even three cards into play that your opponent suddenly has to deal with!

Naturally, Palpatine’s pre-built deck comes with a plethora of Plot cards to support his playstyle, each with different, useful tools to help you build your path to victory. Cad Bane (Secrets of Power, 34) can immediately take out a low-HP unit, while Sly Moore (Secrets of Power, 33) can reduce your opponent’s offensive power for the entire phase. If your opponent has multiple threats on the field, playing a Dogmatic Shock Squad (Secrets of Power, 36) can surprise them with an unexpected Sentinel, which can be made even more of a problem with some Armor of Fortune (Secrets of Power, 70) equipped. If you need quantity more than quality, you can play the unit version of Chancellor Palpatine (Secrets of Power, 82) to net yourself some Spy (Secrets of Power, T01) tokens and give them Sentinel, and you can even call on Mas Amedda (Secrets of Power, 84) to boost their power. And speaking of power, the leader version of Palpatine is no slouch himself as a unit, especially when he unleashes his Unveiled Might (Secrets of Power, 123)! With so many Plot cards in your pocket, you will inevitably be unable to play them all at once; fortunately, all you have to do is declare that When Has Become Now (Secrets of Power, 245), and you can unveil your Plot whenever you want!

While Palpatine’s deck primarily revolves around his Plot cards, he will still need some tools to keep your opponent occupied while he schemes behind the scenes. Fortunately for him, he has a large number of Official units at his beck and call to help with exactly that. With just a few Spy tokens in play, a Corrupt Politician (Secrets of Power, 79) becomes an annoying blocker for very low cost, and Nute Gunray (Secrets of Power, 31) can give any of those spies Sentinel if the Politician ends up defeated. Meanwhile, Major Partagaz (Secrets of Power, 81) slowly gains power with every Official unit that attacks during the phase (including Spy tokens), making him especially dangerous when paired with the likes of Dedra Meero (Secrets of Power, 87), who can Ambush in and create a Spy token at the same time! As if that weren’t enough, the ISB Shuttle (Secrets of Power, 83) can replace a defeated unit with a Spy token on entering play, while I Am the Senate (Secrets of Power, 92) can create 5 at once, giving you plenty of targets for Vice Admiral Rampart (Secrets of Power, 85) and Budget Scheming (Secrets of Power, 124) to boost your offensive power. Finally, after your Spy tokens have softened up the enemy, call on a Political Bully (Secrets of Power, 241) to finish the job and help you take control of the battle!

Speaking of control, the remaining cards in Palpatine’s deck help him keep the battle under control as he manipulates his officials and sets up his plots. Cards like Dhani Pilgrim (Secrets of Power, 55) and The Chancellor’s Shuttle (Secrets of Power, 27) can provide some much-needed healing during the early game, and the latter can even boost another unit with an Experience token on its way out. These cards also make great targets for the new “disclose” mechanic, which has you reveal them to your opponent to pay for an ability. Neither the Pilgrim nor the Shuttle will give away your ultimate plan, leaving you free to disclose them for cards like the Cantwell Arrestor Cruiser (Secrets of Power, 37) and Charged with Murder (Secrets of Power, 76), both of which can remove a key threat from play. Perhaps the best card to disclose, however, is Retaliation (Secrets of Power, 77), as you will show your opponent exactly what will happen to their units if they dare to strike your base. Even the most stalwart of foes will have to think twice about attacking your base with their leader when the threat of Retaliation hangs over their head!