Ever since its first release back in spring of 2023, Star Wars™: The Deckbuilding Game only steadily continued to grow. So far, we’ve seen five total factions join the game’s roster: the Rebels, the Empire, the Republic, the Separatists, and the Mandalorians. Now, it’s time to unveil the game’s sixth faction: the scallywags of the Outer Rim. It’s time to bring in the Pirates.
Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the Pirates Faction Pack for Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game!
As the game’s second faction pack, this expansion provides everything you need to add the Pirates faction to your collection. Featuring a plethora of plunderers and a slew of scoundrels, this expansion is packed to the brim with pirate characters and ships and is a must-have for any fan of the game. Also included are tools and rules for the three-player free-for-all mode, just like the Mandalorian Faction Pack that came before it.
Also like the Mandalorian Faction Pack, the Pirates Faction Pack is not a standalone product. You’ll need either the original edition or the Clone Wars Edition of Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game in order to play.
Now, with all that out of the way, let’s check out what this expansion has in store!
Pillage and Plunder
As a single-faction expansion, the Pirate Faction Pack provides everything you need to play as the Pirates faction in the game, including 10 base cards, 10 starter cards, 30 galaxy cards, and their own Force track.
As with all factions, the Pirates starter cards have the exact same distribution of abilities and effects as before. They begin the game with their deck consisting of two Pirate Crew cards, seven Pirate Shuttles, and a single Boatswain. These give you the same starting point as the rest of the factions, but beyond those, everything changes.
Fittingly for a bunch of spacefaring scallywags, the Pirates faction introduces the new “plunder” keyword to the game. Whenever a unit with plunder participates in an attack that damages the opponent’s base, that opponent reveals cards from the top of their deck equal to that unit’s plunder value (which is the number following the plunder keyword) and then discard them. For example, the Keteerian Crewmate has plunder 1, which means the opponent would only reveal the top card of their deck, while the Gran Marauder would cause the opponent to reveal the top three.
Naturally, each plundering pirate has its own secondary effect that triggers based on what cards are revealed during the plunder. The two units we mentioned before—as well as others like Trandoshan Raider and Pirate Dropship—grant scaling benefits depending on the number of units you revealed. Some pirates grant more unique benefits, such as Brutus, who gives you a card if he plunders a unique unit, or Vane and Captain Silvo, who can grant you the rewards on the cards you plunder. Forcing your opponent to discard cards from the top of their deck can often lead to them having to reform their deck during your turn, and naturally the Pirates faction has abilities that take advantage of this as well. The Pirate Speeder-Tank triggers its ability if its plundering makes your opponent reform their deck, where the Cumulus-Class Corsair and Pirate Frigate capital ships can give you benefits on any turn that you do so.
The rest of the Pirates faction continues to support this plundering playstyle in synergistic ways. The Scurrg H-6 Bomber can deal direct damage to your opponent’s capital ships, which can help you punch through a blockade and get at their base quicker (remember, the plunder keyword only works when your units attack and damage the base). Many of the faction’s units have the Scoundrel trait, which allows the R-41A Starchaser to draw you an extra card and keep your turn going. This combos especially well with Gunter, who can already draw you a card on his own and sometimes even draw two, if your opponent has to reform their deck during your turn. Since the Pirates like to attack hard and fast, you’ll want to get them online as quickly as possible, and that’s where Gorian Shard and the Onyx Cinder come in, giving you the tools to get your engine going.
Every Crew for Themselves
As we mentioned earlier, and just like the Mandalorian Faction Pack before it, the Pirates Faction Pack also comes with cards and rules to support the three-player free-for-all mode.
We went over how the three-player game mode works in the Mandalorian Faction Pack announcement article, but we’ll repeat the gist of it here in case you missed it or need a refresher:
To set up a three-player game, each player randomly divides their faction’s galaxy cards in half, mixing them together with the cards of each neighbor so that there’s a separate galaxy deck for each pairing of players (see the diagram above). You then add 15 three-player-exclusive neutral cards (which we’ll preview in a moment) to the neutral cards from either core set of Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game, then distribute those 45 cards up evenly among the three galaxy decks.
Once everything is set up, play proceeds much like a regular one-versus-one game, but with a few key differences. First of all, each player now has two galaxy rows to work with (one for each neighbor), which opens up a lot more possible interactions and can change up certain strategies. You can attack either or both opponents’ bases during the same turn, but you can only assign each unit/capital ship to one opponent at a time, so you’ll have to carefully manage the tools you have at your disposal in order to come out on top. Finally, in order to win a three-player game, you have to destroy five enemy bases instead of three. Not only that, but you need to take out a minimum of two bases belonging to each opposing faction, so you can’t focus your fire on just one enemy all game!
To help facilitate a three-player game, the Pirates Faction Pack includes a set of special, three-player-exclusive neutral cards, which we mentioned above. Among these are neutral base versions of Rishi, Xorrn, and Arvala VII, which players use in place of their normal starting bases. (Keep in mind that, since these are neutral bases, they don’t actually count toward the “two per faction” requirement you need to win!) Just like the Mandalorian Faction Pack, there’s also a Pyke Repulsor Train, which is a special unit card that stays in play and can be attacked for an extra card draw each turn.
Finally, there are the 15 “three-player only” cards we mentioned earlier. These get mixed into the galaxy decks at random, each featuring various scoundrels, scallywags, or stowaways that may have found themselves on a pirate ship at one point or another. The young Fern, Wim, Neel, and KB all play off each other in helpful ways, while Migs Mayfeld gains attack power to reward you for investing in neutral cards. The Quarren Freighter can be given to an opponent in exchange for an extra card, which makes it a useful negotiation tool—or a handy way to block the leading player from attacking the base they need to win! Ranzar Malk provides some handy resources and can pull a neutral card from your deck, and if that card happens to be Fennec Shand, then you can use her to snipe a card from any galaxy row (including the one set between your opponents) for a reward that can keep your momentum going. Utilize these pirates and outlaws to the best of your ability and be the first to claim victory in this free-for-all!
Stealing Victory
With the addition of the Pirates faction into the mix, Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game is only getting bigger and better. Look forward to expanding your collection and adding these scoundrels to your games when the Pirates Faction Pack arrives in stores January 2027.
You can preorder your own copy of the Pirates Faction Pack (SWG05) at your local retailer or online through our webstore today!
Written by Peter Schumacher
