As a disclaimer, I must say that I never play with proxies. Either I have the cards I need, or I don't use them. So all my knowledge about the game is based in reading what others say and my own studying the cards and figuring out what deck I can build for Unicorn.

While I'm happy with Unicorn (3 cores?), using deckbuilder at cardgamedb, I find myself having an easier time creating Dragon or Crane decks than Unicorn ones. I had some doubts about Unicorn but the more I look at the cards and theme, the more I hope for something really different in the Dynasty packs. The whole "go first" doesn't convince me and having cards that are only good when that happens is meh to me. The current cardpool doesn't help. The whole "Move! Move! Move!"? I really like it. Problem? Moving people doesn't win battles or destroys provinces. In early oldL5R I could destroy 3 provinces because cavalry and then be unable to destroy the last one because of useless bodies that only offered force (back when Kamoko was the only force 4 character).

So I sit down and start writing what I think of each card by its own. Here you have the Dynasty characters. Tell me if you see any pattern. Oh, I know that Unicorn depends on Conflict cards to do stuff. So do other clans. But there seems to be an imbalance in Unicorn case (imho).

Aggresive Moto
Pros: above average Military (for Unicorn)and cheap; strong against dishonor.
Cons: cannot defend; under average Political (for Unicorn); blank card that only provides force.

Border Rider
Pros: awesome ability.
Cons: under average Political (for Unicorn).

Giver of Gifts
Pros: interesting ability; above average Political (for Unicorn).
Cons: no cavalry; weak to dishonor.

Ide Trader
Pros: above average Political (for Unicorn); good ability.
Cons: under average Military (for Unicorn); no cavalry.

Meishodo Wielder
Pros: sometimes it's cheap for what it actually does.
Cons: no cavalry; blank card that only provides force.

Moto Horde
Pros: Immune to opponent's non-weapon attachments; above average Military (for Unicorn)
Cons: cannot partake in Political conflicts; immune to your non-weapon attachments; blank card that only provides force.

Moto Youth
Pros: cheap.
Cons: unreliable ability; blank card that only provides force.

*Shinjo Altansarnai
Pros: above average Military and Political (for Unicorn).
Cons: unreliable ability; weak to dishonor; expensive and unique; blank card that only provides force.

Shinjo Outrider
Pros: very good ability.
Cons: weak to dishonor; blank card that only provides force.

*Shinjo Tatsuo
Pros: above average Political and Military (for Unicorn); very good ability.
Cons: weak to dishonor; expensive and unique; blank card that only provides force.

Utaku Infantry
Pros: cheap.
Cons: no cavalry; unreliable ability; blank card that only provides force.

*Utaku Yumino
Pros: situational but interesting ability; Battle Maiden.
Cons: very weak to dishonor; blank card that only provides force.

Warrior Poet
Pros: good ability against swarm.
Cons: weak to dishonor; ability only works while present.

The Swift Magistrate of Tears of Amaterasu does stuff to the opponent in battle at least, even if it affects me too. XD It also continues the trend of Unicorn personalities having 2 as the most common strength while most other clans are at 3.

All that said, in any tournament, I'm playing Unicorn. I just hope that I can offer some fun games to my opponents even if I'm fated to lose.

Note: I've had little experience with the new Unicorn.

I feel they may be the Jinteki of L5R.

Out of the Netrunner core set, Jinteki had a great feel, but was just missing that one key something.
As such, they seemed below the power level of the other factions. (Only just, but definitely noticeable).

They got their time to shine, as will the Unicorn.

Hey fellow Uni! First of all, wanted to say thank you for sharing your thoughts; I think there's a lot of good stuff in here! Overall I think you've hit the nail on the head with your assessment. That being said, I will now unveil my rough draft theorycraft of how best to succeed with Unicorn out of the core. Granted these could all be the ravings of a mad man, but I figured I'd might as well share.

My thesis, if I were to call it that, is sort of at odds with your opinion on the movement mechanics, and it is as follows: Unicorn win off the backs of movement by dictating the engagement. If I were to rephrase it to add additional clarity, I would say that Unicorn utilize active, rather than purely reactive, control to always have the upper hand in a conflict. What specifically it is that Unicorn control are not their opponent's options (that falls under the strengths of both Crane and Scorpion), but instead their assets (in this case character commitment, fate spending, and card usage). In essence, movement overcomes the slightly disadvantageous stat averages on Unicorn cards by always giving them a slight advantage in choosing their battles and knowing what needs to be and can be committed.

To further flesh this out, I am going to suggest (likely without ample testing but w/e, I'm posting a hot take) that Crane is the best splash for Uni out of the starting gate. Why? Simply to further establish their dominance in dictating the flow of conflicts and to force opponents into wasting resources. I don't think this pairing will overwhelm with numbers or power cards, necessarily, but I do believe it will win by playing a smart game where it gives the opponent no good choices. Example: utilize movement mechanics, the return home ability of Favorable Ground, and Admit Defeat to present your opponent with 3 terrible options (defend with no characters and potentially lose a province to one guy for nothing, defend with one and risk Admit Defeat causing a province destruction-- possibly after you've boosted that character to try and win the conflict, or commit lots only to have the Uni player pull back their single guy and have yours go home bowed for almost no gain).

I feel this also complements the clan's flavor very well and will be a joy to play. This isn't a Lion style brute rush with little in the way of guile, it is a guerilla war where you draw your opponent into sub-optimal card/fate use and give them nothing in return (note that all the movement tricks don't cost any fate or card expenditure.) That's a really broad overview of my ideas, if anyone would like more detail I can pop something out during the day tomorrow or something *shrugs*

As someone who defiantly wants to start playing unicorn at release, there are noticeable weaknesses in Unicorn's game in what they lack on their cards. As the OP so clearly pointed out, most of our cards "Provide force" and need to break provinces with (IMO) sub-optimal stat lines and point costs. (BTW we have way too many 3 cost characters). Like many of the other clans, this might mean our theme of movement and force have not matured yet, and perhaps need to wait a few card expansions. Many fellow Unicorn refuse to run their 'Way of' card due to the slim benefit it holds so far in practice.

Getting back to what we lack, our dynasty cards provide no means to interact with the honor pool, or an opponents honor pool + honor our own characters who some are very susceptible to dishonor. Due to this deficiency I would suggest that Lion would be the best splash for Uni to provide honored blade to gain an edge through honor with our military victories. Ready for Battle also helps us negate the many card effects that bow us either in political conflicts or when we are forced to defend with one character to save honor. For Greater Glory is a fantastic way to gain an edge on the battlefield if it is not negated by an event.

Another area that Unicorn are completely empty on is the lack of discard abilities (Sincerity, Courtesy, etc.) These small words make a huge impact, but I cannot find one card (Pride included) that have these. Instead we have recursion through calvary reserves which is a very thematic card... yet the times I've had this card negated by opponent effects is very high (Losing 3 fate is a tide turner). This brings me to my next point - When we do commit to a conflict, we cannot interact with enemy event cards. We have no way to 1. bow to negate, sacrifice, or some way to get away from events. Our splash cards have to make due to mimic the other clans ability to persevere under events. (Maybe thematic?)

I find that playing Unicorn will be an uphill battle from the start that relies on making use on neutral and splash cards more than any other clan in the game to make up for the abilities and events we lack. One mis-action by moving forward or not-committing at the right time could spell demise for the entire round at the hands of other clans who have far greater ability to change the board state and affect aspects of Ring/Honor/Dishonor/Bow/ that Unicorn lack.

I look forward to the bowling shirts you discord guys are making though! Woot Woot!

26 minutes ago, Virtigo said:

*Snip*

I'm gonna play whimpy devil's advocate and say that technically Unicorn have a sub par interaction with honor gain/loss in that they are slightly better at card draw and so can bet low more often XD definitely not particularly strong, but it is there

Just now, Zetsubou said:

I'm gonna play whimpy devil's advocate and say that technically Unicorn have a sub par interaction with honor gain/loss in that they are slightly better at card draw and so can bet low more often XD definitely not particularly strong, but it is there

Point taken. Spyglass works wonders with border rider, but I might call this a bandaid for our lack of honor interaction.

3 minutes ago, Virtigo said:

Point taken. Spyglass works wonders with border rider, but I might call this a bandaid for our lack of honor interaction.

Ide Trader is another source of draw! It's for sure just a band-aid, but I could actually see it maturing into a great alternative honor path. Incidentally, enhancing this style of honor generation with Duelist Training is another interesting idea I had for the crane splash

1 hour ago, Bayushi Shunsuke said:

Note: I've had little experience with the new Unicorn.

I feel they may be the Jinteki of L5R.

Out of the Netrunner core set, Jinteki had a great feel, but was just missing that one key something.
As such, they seemed below the power level of the other factions. (Only just, but definitely noticeable).

They got their time to shine, as will the Unicorn.

Same thing with the Night Watch in AGOT 2e edition.

7 minutes ago, Zetsubou said:

Ide Trader is another source of draw!

Ide Trader can be a fate dump, too. Then every time he uses his ability basically pays for another turn in play. Not saying that's a good idea when we only get 2-3 peeps a turn, but it's an option.

Unicorn is, imo, one of the more difficult clans to play in either single core or constructed.

Most of their characters are as you point out, under-stated for their cost. However, I do believe that Unicorn have the largest upside of any clan. FFG went away from the Old5R Unicorn tactics of sleezing unopposed provinces and instead have turned them into the "party crashers clan." They just show up and swing the game in a major way.

The trick is in the timing and baring out the gate cards so you can swing there game into your favor.

Just give me Moto Hordes ALL DAY

Unicorn is plenty fun to play, and can hold it's own when you get the right draws. People mostly play too cautiously with them, from what I see. I think in order to be good with them, you need to be on the edge and take risks, like reflected in their province - which in turn take a character away that could potentially defend in future turns. It's really all about face value. and by that I mean, how hard you can keep punching people in the face , and keeping them in a defensive position. I think that's the point of staying 1st player as well.

Just as a side note, not every Unicorn character is good right now, or even worth running. I personally think that Ide messenger, Aggressive Moto and even Shinjo Tatsou are not viable at the moment due to their costs and lackluster abilities / constrictions when comparing to other characters.
Swift Majistrate is a blessing for the clan.
And honestly, the characters with the best actions are 2 costers and will easily die to assassinates.

So how do you play them at the moment? GET THAT HORDE OUT, YO.
Use them cavalry plays with cheap characters like Moto Youth, and get some attachments on them. Giver of gifts to keep those attachments around. Born in War those battle maidens and see people's faces melt.
LOVE THE HORSES WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND THEY WILL PROVIDE, just like jesus.

I recently played Unicorn and the main problem seems to be that your body count is super low so the movement tricks actually do nothing. You need at least two bodies to initiate conflicts, and you are usually left with 1 insignificant peep that can move in and surprise your opponent, wow so powerful.

That and also the conflict deck is painfully weak. And Dynasty Characters seem to be understatted for some inconcievable reason?

And no protection from dishonor. So yeah they don't look too great.

BTW Aggresive Moto is an epitome of bad card design. He has 1 drop stats for 2 cost with a downside.

7 hours ago, Virtigo said:

Point taken. Spyglass works wonders with border rider, but I might call this a bandaid for our lack of honor interaction .

emphasis mine

I think that is the core of it: Unicorn is Clan made primarily of gaijin and gaijin culture, therefore Honor is not as important a concept to them as it is to other Clans, and it is reflected in the mechanics. This new edition of L5R sees a lot of fluff, a lot lore, turned into something concrete. FFG did a great job in ditilling the flavour of the game and its Clans into actual mechanics, therefore, Unicorn does not intereact with honor the same way most Clans do because they are removed from the concept for the most part. Remember the fiction, read the excerpts on the Clan in the LtP and it will be clear that it works as intended.

However, Unicorn is the Clan of adaptability and they have a Rokugani ancestry, therefore, in the furure, we will probably see honorable characters, with high Glory, in the form of Utaku Battle Maidens, as well as ways to protect Unicorn characters from Dishonor.

Interesting discussion on the Unicorn. After their Kiku Matsuri performance, I became intrigued with the idea of 'figuring them out'. Here are my thoughts:

Unicorn seem to have two modes: All out Military or Balance. I prefer the latter because I think the former makes them too brittle. One cancelled event or key misplay and they are in tough to recover. What's more, a more balanced opponent (Dragon) can threaten both conflict types, resulting in lost tempo. In that sense, overwhelming Military skill seems a surplus that isn't required. You only need enough to win a given battle.

As such, key decisions were made when forming this deck: I don't use Aggressive Moto, Moto Horde, Cavalry Reserves, Breakthrough or even Captive Audience. It's because the deck lacks consistency in the Cavalry and Bushi traits, and does not rely on Military conflicts. Yes, Captive Audience helps stymie Political opponents, but other cards made more sense to include. In this deck, cards like Shinjo Tatsuo, Favourable Ground and Favoured Mount become that much more important. They help infantry characters achieve mobility -- And that can help win battles at the margins.

A point about Stats: Crunched some numbers and found Unicorn's Fate cost average to be 2.53, it's Average Military skill to be 2.33, and it's average Political skill to be 1.73. Meaning, they are tied in the middle of the pack with Crane and Scorpion for average Fate cost. Dragon and Phoenix are more expensive at 2.57, while Crab and Lion are cheaper at 2.50 and 2.40 respectively. In raw Military skill, they rank 3rd with only Crab (2.71) and Dragon (2.36) as better. In Political skill, they rank 5th, with Crab (1.64) and Lion (1.53) as worse off. Basically, they range in the middle of the pack for both Military and Political skill. Slightly favoured at one, while slightly disfavoured on the other. I would not conclude that to be disadvantageous overall...

The Unicorn characters do lack in-battle abilities though. I find that this is why I favour the Crab splash of Watch Commander. It's so that I can increase the card draw advantage I should have with Spyglass, Imperial Storehouse and Ide Trader. I further press this advantage by bidding low, using the RoE and surprising with Spies at Court. Way of the Unicorn should also help keep tempo on my side. It's all in an effort to limit my opponent's options via honour and discard, tie up his political characters, and then overwhelm in either conflict type when the opportunity presents itself.

Here's the deck (to provide ideas):

(Left side has Fate Cost and Bushi notation)

2F B Border Rider X 3
2F B Shinjo Outrider X 3
4F B Shinjo Tatsuo X 3
5F B Shinjo Altansarnai X 3
3F B Warrior Poet X 3
3F B Utaku Yumino X 3
1F B Moto Youth X 1
1F B Utaku Infantry X 3
2F Meishodo Wielder X 3
3F Ide Trader X 3
3F Giver of Gifts X 3
2F Keeper Initiate X 3
Imperial Storehouse X 3
Favourable Ground X 3

0F I am Ready X 3
0F Banzai! X 3
0F Court Games X 3
0F Fine Katana X 3
0F Ornate Fan X 3
1F Spyglass X 3
1F Favoured Mount X 3
2F Born in War X 3
1F Watch Commander X 3
0F Way of the Unicorn X 3
1F Rout X 3
1F Charge! X 2
0F Spies at Court X 3
0F Assassination X 2

I was thinking about this myself. I think they'd be a lot better if most of their move actions were to or away from conflicts, not just in. Then you can do a total cavalry feint, back out, and then charge the other way...

Sadly they aren't. I think Unicorn will just have to wait for Dynasty to be great. Should probably splash Scorpion to get the best of what you can. Build with courtiers and do 3x forged edicts, 3x fiery madness, and 3x calling in favors. Basically lie cheat and steal you're way to the top for now lol

18 hours ago, Virtigo said:

1) Getting back to what we lack, our dynasty cards provide no means to interact with the honor pool, or an opponents honor pool + honor our own characters who some are very susceptible to dishonor. Due to this deficiency I would suggest that Lion would be the best splash for Uni to provide honored blade to gain an edge through honor with our military victories. Ready for Battle also helps us negate the many card effects that bow us either in political conflicts or when we are forced to defend with one character to save honor. For Greater Glory is a fantastic way to gain an edge on the battlefield if it is not negated by an event.

2) I find that playing Unicorn will be an uphill battle from the start that relies on making use on neutral and splash cards more than any other clan in the game to make up for the abilities and events we lack. One mis-action by moving forward or not-committing at the right time could spell demise for the entire round at the hands of other clans who have far greater ability to change the board state and affect aspects of Ring/Honor/Dishonor/Bow/ that Unicorn lack.

1) I thinking an ability like Soshi Illusionist belonged in Unicorn. Something to say "we aren't dishonorable, we just have different customs" after they get dishonored. I hope they get a courtier in a future release that has this. It would do a lot to protect the Unicorn from dishonor, and I think it is thematic that they claim their "gaijin traditions" that Rokugan people don't understand to brush off dishonor.

2) Unicorn is not unique in lacking event cancels. Only Scorpion and Crane have it, and both of those have limitations. Crane has to have more honored characters, and Scorpion needs a courtier they can dishonor. These aren't the most difficult limits to make - but its not like Dragon, Lion, or Crab are all cancelling events too. The Unicorn are not alone.

46 minutes ago, shosuko said:

I was thinking about this myself. I think they'd be a lot better if most of their move actions were to or away from conflicts, not just in. Then you can do a total cavalry feint, back out, and then charge the other way...

Sadly they aren't. I think Unicorn will just have to wait for Dynasty to be great. Should probably splash Scorpion to get the best of what you can. Build with courtiers and do 3x forged edicts, 3x fiery madness, and 3x calling in favors. Basically lie cheat and steal you're way to the top for now lol

I feel Scorpion splash is not very good, the main card - forged edict is particularly weak in a faction with only 2 courtiers.

That being said I have no idea who they should ally with.

@Anemura That is a pretty cool deck idea but wouldn't it work better in a faction that has a way to support honor gameplan, like Crane for example? Or Lion? I just feel there are stronger clans that can utilize this archetype. Also helps that their champions can trigger earth twice.

10 minutes ago, shosuko said:

I think they'd be a lot better if most of their move actions were to or away from conflicts, not just in. Then you can do a total cavalry feint, back out, and then charge the other way...

Or if you could declare conflicts without initially assigning anyone, old school style.

Or if you had more bodies so that moving in to win a battle didn't mean moving absolutely everyone you have in play.

The Unicorn feel designed under a different rules system. We have a system that intentionally limits the number of people in play and a clan mechanic that is only effective with more people in play. The mechanic is fighting the fundamental design itself.

To put it another way, I could argue that playing a conflict character during a battle is more effective than the Unicorn movement tricks at the moment. Both a conflict character and a move-in action provide an additional warm body. My conflict character is not in play for my opponent to see when declaring defenders. My conflict character doesn't sacrifice my existing board state and ability to participate in future conflicts (this one may be a false comparison.) My conflict character may have an action that is useful to win the battle.

Both provide the same amount of punishment for poor defense, but one method is superior and is available to every clan, and the other is a telegraphed hog of strategic resources only available to Unicorn (for now.) In defense of cavalry tricks, the skill numbers on cav personalities tend to be higher than those on conflict characters.

11 hours ago, Iuchi Toshimo said:

Or if you could declare conflicts without initially assigning anyone, old school style.

No you can't. You must always assign at least one body to declare an attack. Now, you can always send a little spud and only bring backup if there's a real defense.

Playing Unicorn means you don't have to over-commit to your first conflict. You only need to bring friends if your opponent actually play cards to prevent you from winning the conflict. And if they commit too much, you'll have plenty of defense later.

Of course, jumping a character in the conflict would be even more impactful. I sincerely hope this is what we'll see in future dynasty packs for Unicorn : more conflict characters and effects to bring bodies from provinces and discard pile.

Moto Latomu (either version) from the old CCG springs to mind ... given that we have a similar effect already in the Ide Trader, I'm sure something will turn up

Played my first game with unicorn yesterday, but it was a real calvary ... especially that one attack with my Moto Horde straight into a Rally to the Cause ...

26 minutes ago, Shinjo Tegi said:

Played my first game with unicorn yesterday, but it was a real calvary ... especially that one attack with my Moto Horde straight into a Rally to the Cause ...

So by real cavalry then, you mean something along the lines of Charge of the Light Brigade?

18 hours ago, BordOne said:

@Anemura That is a pretty cool deck idea but wouldn't it work better in a faction that has a way to support honor gameplan, like Crane for example? Or Lion? I just feel there are stronger clans that can utilize this archetype. Also helps that their champions can trigger earth twice.

The objective of the honour/dishonour sub-theme is a way to increase the disparity in cards drawn, so it's not so much about honour itself. It's about honour converting to cards. The Lion and Crane are generally better at gaining honour. They can then convert that honour into cards during the draw phase. That requires a high bid, however. Sometimes that can net their opponent honour in the exchange. With this Unicorn deck, bids can remain low because the card draw comes by way of Spyglass + Trader + Imperial Storehouse (which is not an auto-include in decks from what I see). That slight edge is further pushed with Watch Commander, Spies at Court, RoE and RoA suppressing card draw. Until the high bid player starts to bid very conservatively.

The Crane can mimic this somewhat with Asahina Storyteller, but he requires set up. By contrast, the Lion tend to bid low regardless because some of their cards 'shut off' when their honour is lower than the opponent.

Widening the lens a bit, there are bigger differences in the deck styles. The Lion play the political side of the game through characters that have disproportionately higher political skill than Military skill(generally). For example, they use Venerable Historian, Ikoma Eiji, Kitsu Spiritcaller and Ikoma Prodigy. All have a Political skill 2 or more points higher than their respective Military skill. In Unicorn, only Ide Trader has the same skill disbursement (favouring politics). So while we know how the Lion forces are going to be distributed, it's harder to gauge where the Unicorn will place most of their forces in this deck style. Especially when Cavalry allows the Unicorn to 'test' defenses before committing in full. The opponent is left guessing.

The trick to it is building the board as wide as your opponent. Almost like a mirror. That way the Unicorn do not lose tempo in the number of conflicts they can participate in.

Not a unicorn player, but here's where I would start.

Unicorn has arguably the most powerful card in the set, in the form of Cavalry Reserves. Build your deck around getting big cavalry guys with 0-1 fate. They die and you recur. Killing enemy people seems like a good subtheme. Notorious trap card Fallen in Battle seems best in Unicorn. I'd probably test a Lion splash, because playing Cavalry Reserves on a bunch of bushi and adding a fate to them seems good. I'd also consider a phoenix splash for pacifism. Switch conflict to military, their guy goes home, win by 5, Fallen in Battle. That all seems pretty good.

I'd try to use my first turn or two to draw cards, crack provinces and get cavalry guys in the yard. After that, I'd start playing Cavalry Reserves for ridiculous value. My "final push" would probably be buying a champ at 0 fate, passing for the extra, then playing Reserves in conflict.

Hope some or all of this is helpful. Remember, there are no bad decks. Only unoriginal deckbuilders.

I can answer this in two words:

Clan unity

I'll play this out and eventually have enough to make a battle maiden deck ... hopefully with paragon.

I can answer this in two words:

Clan loyalty

I'll play this out and eventually have enough to make a battle maiden deck ... hopefully with paragon.