Cunning (Yellow) in Star Wars: Unlimited

How Cunning Plays

Cunning trades cards for tempo. Instead of defeating an enemy unit, it often exhausts it so it can't attack this round, returns it to its owner's hand so they pay for it again, or takes control of it for a while. Exploit Confidence returns a unit with 6 or more power to hand for 2, and Commandeer takes an enemy Vehicle that costs 6 or less, readies it and keeps it until the next regroup phase.

It has the most events of any aspect, more than a fifth of its cards, and the most units with Ambush (attack a unit the moment it is played) and Hidden (can't be attacked the phase it is played). Both reward playing a unit at the right moment rather than on curve, which is the Cunning habit: hold a card until the action where it swings the round.

Its units are the cheapest on average of any aspect, so a Cunning deck often takes more actions in a round than its opponent. Jod Na Nawood is a 3-cost Sentinel who can exhaust every unit in an arena when played if you pay 4 more, yours included, which on the right round leaves the opponent with nothing ready to attack back.

What It Does Well, and What It Doesn't

Cunning by the Numbers

Counted from the 1,409 non-leader, non-base cards in the six Premier-legal sets as of October 2026, a reprint counted once. A card with two aspects counts for both.

The most common traits on Cunning cards: Vehicles, the Underworld and Force users, with the most Fringe characters and Tactic events. Of the 344, 144 print only Cunning and fit any deck with a Cunning leader or base; the rest also print Heroism, Villainy or a second style aspect.

Cards That Show What Cunning Does

Each prints the Cunning icon and nothing else, so it plays at printed cost under any leader or base that provides Cunning.

Boba Fett, Family Found

Homeworlds #225

Ambush payoff

Jod Na Nawood, We Don't Want War

Ashes of the Empire #219

Exhausts an arena

Exploit Confidence

Homeworlds #238

Bounce

Commandeer

Jump To Lightspeed #235

Steal

• Boba Fett, Family Found: Has Ambush, and gives every friendly Ambush unit that enters play Raid 1 and Saboteur for the phase.
• Jod Na Nawood, We Don't Want War: A 3-cost Sentinel who, if you pay 4 more when he is played, exhausts each unit in an arena.
• Exploit Confidence: A 2-cost event that returns a non-leader unit with 6 or more power to its owner's hand.
• Commandeer: Takes control of a non-leader Vehicle that costs 6 or less without a Pilot, readies it, and returns it to its owner's hand at the next regroup phase.

5 cards in the Premier sets print two Cunning icons, such as Zuckuss, The Findsman and Libertine, Under New Ownership. To play one at printed cost, your leader and base together need two Cunning icons, which usually means a Cunning base under a Cunning leader.

Cunning Leaders

A leader with Cunning almost always pairs it with Heroism or Villainy. One leader from each pairing, not a ranking; each pairing's page has more.

Han Solo, Never Tell Me the Odds

Jump To Lightspeed #017

Cunning Heroism

Jabba the Hutt, Crime Boss

A Lawless Time #015

Cunning Villainy

• Han Solo, Never Tell Me the Odds: Reveals the top card of your deck, then attacks with a unit, which gets +1/+0 if it and the revealed card have different odd costs. As a pilot, he readies a resource for each friendly unit or upgrade with an odd cost.
• Jabba the Hutt, Crime Boss: For 1 resource, returns a friendly Underworld unit to its owner's hand to create a Credit token. Deployed, he plays an Underworld unit from your hand, and it gains Ambush if you defeated a Credit to pay for it.

Aspect Combinations With Cunning

A deck is usually named by its leader's two aspects. These are the 2 pairings that include Cunning, each with its leaders, signature cards and which base to choose.

The Other Aspects

Frequently Asked Questions