The online trading card game Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game was exclusively available to former subscribers of the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided. In August 2008, the initial game set, Champions of the Force, was launched, followed by the game's first expansion, Squadrons Over Corellia, in December of that year. A second expansion, Galactic Hunters, followed in March 2009, with Agents of Deception in June 2009 and The Shadow Syndicate in September of that same year. A free trial mode with limited content was made accessible to non-subscribers through the game client, which was available for download on the official game website.
Players had the ability to acquire virtual cards and engage in trading with other players. Each set contained a maximum of 300 cards, and new sets were introduced every few months. Upon signing up, both previous and existing Galaxies subscribers received a complimentary 58-card starter deck; additionally, all active subscribers received five free 15-card booster packs each month, with the option for all players to purchase additional packs.
A non-subscriber had the option to subscribe to Star Wars Galaxies for a minimum of one month using the trial mode. This provided access to all gameplay features and allowed trading with other players. While suspending the subscription would halt the delivery of free monthly packs, access to the complete game content remained.
The trading card game, together with the Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG, ceased operations on December 15th, 2011.
The game featured four distinct archetypes: Jedi, Rebel, Imperial, and Sith. Each archetype possessed a unique avatar that symbolized the player's character. A deck was restricted to cards matching the archetype of the player's avatar. However, "generic" cards existed, not affiliated with any specific archetype, and could be included in any deck.
Other card types included units that fought alongside the avatar; items that granted various bonuses to the player avatar; tactics representing one-time surprise actions during combat; quests representing missions undertaken to progress in the game; and abilities used to complete quests.
Key game mechanics involved cost, which had to be paid to play a card; power used to cover the cost; strength and defense used to determine skirmish outcomes; damage used to inflict greater harm on enemy units; health representing the amount of damage a unit or avatar could withstand before being destroyed; and the level of abilities, which was used to complete quests.
In addition to the main deck, each player had four quests with level numbers of 2, 4, 5, and 6. The quests with level number 2 were automatically played at the game's start. At the beginning of a player's turn, if an active ability was in play, it could be applied to one of the quests, placing tokens on it equal to the ability's level. The first player to accumulate tokens equal to a quest's level completed the quest and replaced it with the next quest in sequence. The game's objective was to complete four quests before the opponent; alternatively, the game could be won by eliminating the opponent's avatar. To prevent this, players could deploy units to quests (both their own and their opponent's) to both raid (attack) opponent's units and avatar, and defend their own avatar from attacks.
- Tutorial / Demo game – A comprehensive guide covering all fundamental aspects of the game, allowing players to engage in a match as a Jedi against a Sith AI opponent, utilizing either starter or pre-constructed decks.
- Practice game – A practice match against a human opponent, using either the Jedi or Imperial starter deck.
- Scenarios – Story-driven matches against an AI opponent with significantly enhanced decks. Each new set expanded the Light side and Dark Side campaigns with 5 new scenarios for each campaign. Each scenario had 3 difficulty levels, with bonus reward cards awarded for completing each level.
- Skirmish – Allowed players to evaluate their new decks against AI opponents.
- Standard game – A fundamental game against a human opponent.
- Heroic encounter – In this cooperative story-based mode, four players collaborated to defeat a single AI opponent with an exceptionally powerful deck. Each heroic encounter was inspired by heroic encounters from Star Wars Galaxies.
- Official tournaments – Required an entry fee for participation but offered prizes to the winners.
The game also incorporated Loot cards, which were rare cards for special items, such as the Muur Talisman, randomly found within booster packs. These cards could be exchanged for in-game items in Star Wars Galaxies. Initially, there were 26 such cards, with additional cards made available through special promotional events.
- Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game official website on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game Wallpapers on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Trading Card Game on the SWG Wiki