It feels like it was just a couple of weeks ago that the first Galactic Championship was announced, even though we’ve been preparing for months, and here we are now.  The event has come and gone, and the first Star Wars Unlimited Galactic Champion has been crowned.  Filip Szkudlarek emerged victorious with his Mother Talzin deck defeating Ian Klein and the Bothan Network’s Kylo Ren – We’re Not Finished Yet in a tense three game final.  

It was a well deserved win for Filip, and he should be very proud of how he performed.  His team, Enigma, should also be proud of the work they put in.  We highly recommend following their YouTube channels for Swu-SwoopRacers and Thorkk.  Swu-Swoop Racers is Filip’s home channel, so please give him a sub and see what he’s got to say.

The Galactic Championship was Awesome!

While we all know there were issues (which we’ll talk about in a future article), we should not lose sight of the fact that this was a really fun weekend.  Let’s focus on some of the things that made it great…

Venue

The room for the event was impressively huge.  It could have been laid out a little better, but there was plenty of space for whatever people needed.  The full size X-Wing, TIE Fighter and Falcon cockpit were so cool to see.  Plus R2-D2 was there in the photo area and rolling around the convention floor.  FFG really nailed the photo-op area. 

Las Vegas.  This is going to be hit or miss for a lot of people.  But without a doubt, Las Vegas provides no shortage of hotels, restaurants and activities. With next year’s Galactics returning to Vegas, it should make it even easier to navigate the area having learned our way around this year.  That said, we also look forward to a future Galactic Championship in Europe (no such thing has been announced, we are just hoping).

People

Everyone at the event was great.  We had no negative experiences with anyone, and barely heard of any from anyone else.  Everyone we interacted with was really nice.  There were players from all over the world and everyone got along.  We talked to so many people who were not only fans of ours, but just fans of the game.  It was that common love of the game and Star Wars that made the whole experience really special overall.  

Part of what made the experience great for our group was the reactions people had to the porg tokens and poker chips that we gave away.  There were a few that actually squealed with glee.  Then as word of our swag got out, people started running up to us and asking if we were the guys from Porg Depot.  The bright orange shirts with the logo on the front were a pretty good sign but it was still nice of them to ask.

It was great to meet folks that had already been reading our content.  Equally fun was getting introduced to those that had never heard of Porg Depot before and explaining who we are and what we do.

Artists

A follow up to all the amazing people were the incredibly generous artists that were in attendance.  Every one of them was friendly and seemed happy to be there, surrounded by people who love and play with their art work.  While we didn’t interact with all of them, the ones we did were so nice and signed whatever they were asked.  It was a long way to come for some of them, so we definitely wanted to thank them for all their time.

Main Event

There were nearly 2,000 people playing on day one on Friday.  That’s an incredible number and a great sign for the future of the game.  The event started approximately on time, which is an impressive feat itself.  The rounds went smoothly and there were plenty of judges working hard to answer any questions or issues that came up.  

We also have to acknowledge the main stage where the feature matches were played.  It was absolutely incredible with production values through the roof.  We can’t give FFG enough credit for that.  It was even a “crazy coincidence” that Mike Gemme (aka Bobby Sapphire from KTOD) just happened to be selected for the round one feature match.  What are the odds!?

Side Events

There is plenty to discuss on this topic in our follow-up article, but let’s focus on the good…

People who played in the Super Sealed events really seemed to enjoy them.  The 12 packs made for some fun deck building and fun sounding games.  The ticket return was also great.  There were plenty of larger premier events for those wanting something more competitive without the full day commitment of the main event or open event on day two.  There was also a constant stream of draft pods ready to kick off.  You could draft eight hours a day if that’s what you love to do.  The ticket return on those wasn’t great, but if you just love drafting, you would be completely satisfied. 

Panels

While we weren’t able to attend anywhere close to all of the panels, everyone we spoke to said they had a great time with them.  FFG gave all attendees a pack of the exclusive token cards, which was very generous. As for the couple we attended:

• Trivia

Nils Schaffer with Holocron Card Hub and Marty Connell with Rolling Dice & Taking Names were kind enough to offer a fun SWU trivia event that got nearly a full house.  The questions ranged from easy to “Who in the world would know that?”.  It was a really fun event and very well run and organized.  Everyone was having a good time and we would absolutely do it again next year.

• Secret Panel

Anytime there are previews people get excited.  Getting to see some new cards was not the best part of the secret panel, but rather hearing from Tyler and Ryan about the themes of the set and their thought process when designing it. Alicia did a great job moderating, as always.  Of course the secret reveals made it onto Discord in about 45 seconds, but it was still fun to be the first group to see it.  

We would have loved to attend more panels, but there was just so much to do.  Thank you to everyone who took time to run and attend the panels throughout the weekend.  Maybe next year you’ll see Porg Depot up there!  Our in-house Porgs are hard at work brainstorming ideas as we speak!

Galactic Championship Loot

Event Exclusive Cards

These were split up into a few areas.  There were the silver packs, the exclusive prize wall cards, and the showcases.

• Silver Packs:  The card art and the foiling treatment look fantastic.  The packs themselves cost 800 prize wall tickets and each pack held 2 cards.  These were a great value and I’d love to see them back next year.
• Prize Wall Cards:  These were similar to the Silver pack cards in that the art was beautiful.  Not quite on the same level, but really great.  These only cost 200 tickets each so they were fantastic pickups.  One side event could get you a playset of Mace Windu’s or whichever one you wanted.
• Luke and Vader Showcases: What else can you say other than these are awesome.  There were constant rumors that Vaders were running low throughout the weekend, but they had them both in stock at least through Sunday morning.  If you wanted them, and you didn’t wait until the very end, you were able to get them.  They may not be the most competitive leaders, but it’s Luke and Vader!

Event Exclusive Mats

There was a sea of different playmats available for anyone to purchase for 1,000 event tickets.  They were a little more expensive than people had hoped, but they were all stamped with the Galactic Championship logo and the art choices were excellent.  If you are one who loves a nice looking playmat, you had more than enough choices.  The Chimaera especially stood out as a stunning playmat. 

Also, all premium and VIP registrants were given a Darth Revan mat that was not available on the prize wall but looked excellent all the same.

SWU Merchandise (Hats, shirts, etc.)

While we, regretfully, forgot to grab some shirts before they closed up on Sunday, there were a lot of options to commemorate the occasion.  We didn’t catch any of the costs, so we can’t comment on that, but they had a dedicated booth just for people who wanted it and the gear looked great.

Pin Passport

This was a very fun addition where you could grab a pamphlet that showed all the locations and then you could go around and collect the pins of various characters.  It was free to do, but they would be out of stock quickly, so you had to put some effort into getting them all.  It was fun and they look great.  There was even a secret 11th pin that you had to get from a developer challenge.  It was a nice extra bonus with no additional cost other than some time.  

VIP stuff

While not everyone attended with the VIP badge, those who did expected good value from it.  The registration bag had a similar pin to the standard registrant, but with a small VIP flag at the bottom.  The acrylic bases with the alternate art are very nice.  They were not as thick as we expected, but they fit in a standard slide or snap case, so they were done well.  The art on them looks great also.  There was also an exclusive deck pod included which is a standard Gamegenic deck pod, but with a unique black/gold color and stamped from the championship.  It was a nice inclusion for sure.

Final Thoughts

Overall the event was such a fun time and we’re all really glad we made the trip.  We met so many great people from all over the world and played tons of amazing games of SWU.  Porg Depot had two members get to five wins on day one, so we just missed out on day two.  There was no disappointment from any of us though as we all had a blast.  

We’d like to thank everyone who came up to us either wanting some of our fun porg tokens or just to say hello (and, also generally, to also get some porg tokens of course).  We really did appreciate everyone so much.  We’re excited for next year.  Our Porg travel agents are already pecking away making reservations.  

Stay tuned to Porg Depot for how we think next year’s Galactic Championship could be even better!