UFS 101: A Guide for the First-Time Player
by Jonathan Ledezma
Collectible Card games can be intimidating. Once you've opened up your first starter and stared at your new UFS cards, you might think: "What are all these symbols and numbers and what do they all mean?" Next, you might unfold the rules to see if you can make more sense of it all. Still a little foggy? The following points should give you a number of helpful pointers and some guidance on where to go from here.
Find a Friend: The first step that I recommend now that you have some cards is to find a someone whom you have a good connection to and look over the rules together. We all know that two heads are better than one. So, if you have a group of friends, this would be best.
Learn the Game: After you've found an opponent, learning how to play is the next step. Look over the rules section entitled "The Cards". This will give you a good idea of the card components and layout. Review the different card types to familiarize yourself with your new cards. Once you have reviewed the various card layout and types, we will need to sharpen your basic skills.
To hone those skills, examine the Rules Overview. This better will explain the rules and how gameplay flow. Next, you should read over "The Turn" section. Once you have a rough idea of how to play the game, then you can embark upon your path to become the ultimate Universal Fighter!
Now that you have reviewed the rules, it's time to study your cards. Knowing what you're playing with is very important when it comes to deck construction. Building your strategies and combos is enjoyable and is rewarding when you are able to pull them off successfully. Your best bet is to find the cards you plan to use the most and then acquire a play set (4 copies) of them. Utilizing play sets increases your odds of pulling the cards you need for your combos!
Recommendations: For the time being, try to ignore the abilities on all of the cards and focus on the basic flow of playing cards, attacking, and blocking. Ignore the resource symbols as well. These will come in handy later for deck construction and card-play. You can't become a master without understanding the basics. Once you have a firm grasp of the fundamentals, move onto using the abilities in their appropriate time, per the rules, and begin following the resource chain guidelines.
Online Demo: If you would like further rules and gameplay clarification and would rather see some interactive battles, check out our online demo! This will help out the more visual learners.
Join the Community: Now that you know the game better and are on your way to becoming more accomplished in combat, the next thing you should do is to get involved in the UFS community along with your friends. Find your local Core Hobby store using our handy store locator to find a store near you. Contact them and find out if they run UFS leagues. Leagues are a casual play environment in which you can get FREE promos just for showing up to play. Once you have feel more confident, then you can start considering the tournament scene. Tournaments are more competitive so make sure you feel more prepared to face the challenge before you show up to one of these types of events. Tournaments also offer FREE promo cards, but are normally awarded to the victors.
The other great place to get involved would be our online community here at Fantasy Flight Games. We offer updates about promo cards, set release information, promotions, spoilers, and information about our events on the UFS Forums. This a great place to be able to interact with UFS players from all over the world and also to learn from some of the veteran players who have been playing since day one. There is a Q&A forum where we have official moderators who can help answer any of your questions about card interactions or rules. There is also Deck Building thread for players to showcase their new decks and get their friendly advice on their creations.
I hope that you find these tips helpful and I look forward to seeing you in the UFS arena!
