Good to see several Ide cards but not nearly enough Battle Maidens!!!

On to the cards

I Am Ready - I find it an odd card to have influence because of the restriction of only Unicorn characters. Other than that it adds some more untap effects although I'm not particularly sure it will come up that often. Some Unicorn decks or players will want to have a turn or two to 'save' up some characters for a big push and this does give them some room for a surprise second attack or defense.

Meishodo Wielder - A cost efficient character when you have the first player token but I feel the biggest problem is that lack of the cavalry trait. Even without it I suspect he'll see play just because of the 1 cost option that isn't terribly hard to obtain.

Moto Horde - Expensive use for 6 military that is definitely helped by another event in the preview. Honestly, the no attachments except weapons ability is more of a penalty than a benefit as I would have loved to give them a Tattooed Wanderer.

Moto Youth - I really like this guy for his cheap cost, that bushi and cavalry trait, and the buff during the first mil conflict. Even without the buff during the first mil conflict, he's versatile enough. About as staple of a card for the Unicorn as you can get.

Captive Audience - I'm sure a number of different clans will really love using this card and the ones that do won't necessarily care about the loss of 1 honor for that effect. Even with this card in you deck, I still wouldn't abandon political skill, and I would really think about using this or one of the other splashable clans (i.e. Dragon giving both the TW and Let Go).

Ide Messenger - I'll start by saying that this doesn't feel very Ide to me. I do like that she's cheap on the influence side but potentially costly for her and that ability. I actually wish her ability could either move a character you control to the conflict or back home.

Spyglass - Hmmmmm, dat Gaijin trait is nice. The card does reward you for the movement mechanic of the game but it really wants you to set up multiple triggers to really mitigate the fate and card cost. I almost wish it had no stat bonus but cost 0.

Ide Trader - This really could have had the cavalry trait but I do like how his ability helps to mitigate some of the fate/card costs of the other Unicorn cards. He even helps out with military conflicts if need be and supplies a needed courtier trait.

Shinjo Tatsuo - He's really an investment of your fate for a below stat character. However, that ability is pretty fantastic just for the ability to drag another character. He can even send himself and another bowed for the various conflict effects of the other Unicorn cards. FFG needs to go over the article and change that point that he has to spend a fate to use his ability. IF he did make you spend a fate to use his ability, I'd never use him.

Giver of Gifts - Meh really but he does gives more courtiers to the Unicorn. I really wish he could have also given the cavalry trait too. His ability can be useful but you're paying 3 fate for it and I'd rather use that fate on better characters or events.

Favored Mount - Giving cavalry is nice and the movement ability is worth using it alone.

Born in War - Expensive attachment but +4 or +5 military is huge and even better on some of the untap characters. Border Rider just gets better and better.

Cavalry Reserves - Oh geez. This card is just silly with some of the effective, cheap cavalry characters the Unicorn have access to. It does have a middling influence cost but there isn't enough cavalry for the other clans to abuse this yet.

Golden Plains Outpost - Good enough of an ability to warrant the 0 strength bonus to the province. Movement abilities are rather nice to have and getting it on the box is fantastic. It's limited for military conflicts only but you're likely to see two of those every turn anyways, if not three from Captive Audience.

Shinjo Al - Not the biggest fan of the ability but it's not terrible. The most likely result is killing a character that blocked the military attack. With I am Ready and Breakthrough, you could really do some damage to the other player.

The Unicorn look to be doing rather well, besides from the lack of Battle Maidens, and are in one of the better spots going forward. Going with 1 core set alone, I'd probably pick them with a splash of Dragon, Lion, or Crab. Probably just Dragon for the two cards of the TW and Let Go.

Just now, Horvagab said:

Giver of Gifts with Dragon looks nice. Not sure if Conflict though?

Nope, it's Dynasty.

Just now, Horvagab said:

Giver of Gifts with Dragon looks nice. Not sure if Conflict though?

Dynasty courtier.

57 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

The art on Born in War is kind of ...adorable ??

Flavorwise, do you suppose that the Giver of Gifts is serving as a clanmate's midwife when she moves Born in War to a newly-played character?

1 minute ago, Ide Yoshiya said:

Flavorwise, do you suppose that the Giver of Gifts is serving as a clanmate's midwife when she moves Born in War to a newly-played character?

An astute supposition ?

I'm still jealous the Ide got TWO cards in the core, and the Kuni only one?

*green with envy*

Well paint me purple and forward my calls to the Lords of Death. These are some thoroughly excellent previews.

Definitely not the Lion swarm, but who needs that when you have the Moto Horde?

Movement tricks were always a favourite back in the CCG (from good old Naizen through to Courage of the Mantis) so I am sold.

My only worry is, with all this movement, how are we going to keep everyone ready?

Just now, Fumo said:

Well paint me purple and forward my calls to the Lords of Death. These are some thoroughly excellent previews.

Definitely not the Lion swarm, but who needs that when you have the Moto Horde?

Movement tricks were always a favourite back in the CCG (from good old Naizen through to Courage of the Mantis) so I am sold.

My only worry is, with all this movement, how are we going to keep everyone ready?

With a horsewhip??

Champion is kind of........I won't say weak.......but maybe more limited would be appropriate. In general she's just killing a character that tried to defend, was bowed, and is going to die at the end of the turn anyway. The upside of the ability is that it somewhat forces people to defend with characters they may not have wanted to defend with in order to prevent a province being broken.

The high base political stat makes her somewhat interesting since she can threaten a political challenge and then switch it to military at the right time.

So far, unicorn appears to have the most potential to do some bonkers combos.

13 minutes ago, Kitsu Seinosuke said:

Can I briefly derail to mention that this always annoyed me?

Every clan worth their ceremonially-purified salt should have cavalry cards. It's not as if it's a secret technique like meishodo or ishikendo. They might not have enough to build a deck, but they should be there. If they were there, then splashing Unicorn to help them would be enormously flavourful. Sadly they aren't there, so as you point out, the splash can't be made as easily.

It's early yet.

I wouldn't be surprised if Agetoki has cavalry when his card hits

or Hida Tsuru.. you get the idea

2 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

An astute supposition ?

I'm still jealous the Ide got TWO cards in the core, and the Kuni only one?

*green with envy*

I'm sure we'll both get enough support to give our families a deck presence by the end of the first Dynasty cycle! Both seem like utility families though, so they might be a little wonky until the cardpool grows significantly.

6 minutes ago, Fumo said:

Well paint me purple and forward my calls to the Lords of Death. These are some thoroughly excellent previews.

Definitely not the Lion swarm, but who needs that when you have the Moto Horde?

Movement tricks were always a favourite back in the CCG (from good old Naizen through to Courage of the Mantis) so I am sold.

My only worry is, with all this movement, how are we going to keep everyone ready?

I am ready, for starters. The benefit of all your movement abilities is you can commit a small force to the first conflict, and only move in more characters as needed to ensure the win/province break. Then you can use whatever is left for your second conflict. Once you have some discard building, you can also pull out that Cavalry Reserves for a huge bonus on the second conflict, too.

8 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

An astute supposition ?

I'm still jealous the Ide got TWO cards in the core, and the Kuni only one?

*green with envy*

because the Ide are better

1 minute ago, Ide Yoshiya said:

I'm sure we'll both get enough support to give our families a deck presence by the end of the first Dynasty cycle! Both seem like utility families though, so they might be a little wonky until the cardpool grows significantly.

We have one advantage over the Ide.. we are a shugenja family

*rubs hands together and cackles *

14 minutes ago, Kubernes said:

not nearly enough Battle Maidens!!!

At least we got Utaku Yamino. It's a start.

Ok, FFG. I have made my Unicorn deck, splashing Lion. Now release the game so I can build and play with it! XD Man, october is so far away. T_T

2 minutes ago, RandomJC said:

because the Ide are better

Pfft

Go polish your 'spyglass' handshaker???

Congratulations to all the ponyfolk. Your clan looks fascinating, fun to play, and fun to play against.

I look forward to destroying you on the field of battle.

The thing that I think scares me most is if Unicorn can get Moto Horde, I Am Ready, Captive Audience, and Cavalry Reserves in their starting hand and/or first couple draws, they can easily use Moto Horde in 3 Military conflicts in 2 rounds. I know they're not necessarily guaranteed to do that, but with hard mulligans and aggressive draws, it's definitely possible. An unprepared opponent could find themselves losing against this barbaric horde very quickly...an unlucky and unprepared opponent may even lose by the end of the second round. Unless I'm just severely overestimating the efficiency of this deck.

44 minutes ago, Stone37 said:

I was just about to make fun of the idea of a "Unicorn" clan in an Edo period inspired card game, but then I read the article.

Eh, Rokugan is no more medieval Japan than Dungeons and Dragons is medieval Europe. There should be no expectation of anything other than the occasional borrowed trapping.

Shinjo Altansarnai, the sniper!!! Unicorn seem to be a blitz type deck, at least out of the core.

Pretty stoked about the spoilers, to be honest. The conflict cards are all "playable"; very few restrictions, a lot of cheap costs, many help win conflicts. That leads to a nice fluid style of play, constantly throwing cards into conflicts. It's the total opposite of Phoenix, where everything is potentially powerful, but very conditional. Plus you get some nice bombs; Cavalry Reserves is insane (imagine comboing with For Greater Glory, many of the cavalry are bushi, too) and Art of War is easily +4/+5 Mil in one card. The movement abilities will make them tricky, and they have a decent amount of well-balanced characters. Plus, Captive Audience, wahoo! The only real letdown is Altansarai; good, not great, and impossible to pronounce. I can live with it.

My name is Casanunda, and I approve of this Unicorn.

On topic, I have to say that this clan look really, really strong. Like meta-dominant strong.

I mean sure, switching political to military will be a huge game-changing event, but while it is undoubtedly good, it's basically "play event = win conflict unexpectedly", and there's no shortage of effects like that. You're trading a card for an advantage, and when 1 honour = 1 card in explicit rules, we're basically talking a cost of 2 honour to flip 1 conflict. That's decent math, and this card is strong, but not the reason I'm saying this clan will be meta-dominant out of core.

No, what I'm talking about here is sheer efficiency on cost to strength for the characters. 1 for 2/2/1 on the Meishodo Wielder? 3 strength for 1 cost on Moto Horde?

That sort of stuff WINS GAMES. For sure, there are ways you have to play them to make use of them at full potential, but LCG history tells us that (cheap cost + efficient stats + drawback) makes for the best cards in the game. These cards are the ones that will make Unicorn the dominant clan of the core meta.

15 minutes ago, Prepare for War said:

Eh, Rokugan is no more medieval Japan than Dungeons and Dragons is medieval Europe. There should be no expectation of anything other than the occasional borrowed trapping.

It's one of the major strides the Story Team has done to make sense of the old lore. We became the Unicorn Clan during our time abroad, presumably in a part of the world where unicorns are an actual thing. It remains to be seen if we have literal unicorns in our supply (we did in the Old Legend as evidenced on cards like The Blessed Herd).

11 minutes ago, Prepare for War said:

No, what I'm talking about here is sheer efficiency on cost to strength for the characters. 1 for 2/2/1 on the Meishodo Wielder? 3 strength for 1 cost on Moto Horde?

Yeah and combined with Way of the Unicorn and Breakthrough it really mounts up a fierce offense from this clan... Its gonna be scary.

27 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

Pfft

Go polish your 'spyglass' handshaker???

just easier to see your taint with.

25 minutes ago, Kitsu Seinosuke said:

Congratulations to all the ponyfolk. Your clan looks fascinating, fun to play, and fun to play against.

I look forward to destroying you on the field of battle.

Ha! We shall see.

12 minutes ago, RandomJC said:

just easier to see your taint with.

Ha! We shall see.

How like a barbarian to mistake the taint for sheer unadulterated awesomeness ??

*FLEX*!!