The first good unicorn character deserves his own topic!

At first glance I didn't gived him the right attention, but thinking about his possibilities:

- He is a 5/4 character while unopposed, and seems the best target for movement tricks, you can use the movement to guarantee you will win and get the pride. As a lion player I really hate the pride trait, but i think it fits much better on unicorn movement strategy, also being a 4 cost uni would be able to invest at least 2 fates on it, and the pride on Shono will really mess up the opponents strategy, you can send a little scout, if the opponent undercommit you move shono, win and honor, if he overcommit you mess his board and save shono for another conflict.

- Great synergy with movement tricks, moto juro and the one from phx pack.

- Good defender. Can use his ability bowed.

- After the pride, I am ready will be really good.

I see him as the central character of the new unicorn, the char uni needed in the core set.

Lion splash will support unicorn strategy with a legion of one, guard duty, FGG, ready for battle.. And of course we expect some good stuff in the packs.

Yes it'll be exhilarating getting a Unicorn character with decent stats for once. 7 strength for 4 fate is about par for the course, so that's exciting and finally we get an ability that directly helps win conflicts.

What Unicorn is missing the most (after raw stats, of course) are in-clan ways to Honor, Attachment control, Event control, etc. All of our tools currently come from splashing.

I think Shono is one of the best 4 drops in the game.

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The first good unicorn character deserves his own topic!

Come on now, Border Rider is arguably the best 2 drop in the game.

Is there a pic of the card somewhere?

4 minutes ago, LordBlunt said:

Is there a pic of the card somewhere?

https://l5r.gamepedia.com/Shinjo_Shono

37 minutes ago, GoblinGuide said:

I think Shono is one of the best 4 drops in the game.

Come on now, Border Rider is arguably the best 2 drop in the game.

OK sorry, the first good unicorn that dont die for assassination

38 minutes ago, GoblinGuide said:

I think Shono is one of the best 4 drops in the game.

Come on now, Border Rider is arguably the best 2 drop in the game.

I'd trade Border Rider for (in no particular order):
Cautious Scout
Brash Samurai
Daidoji Nerishina
Niten Adept
Vanguard Warrior

How soon we all forget about Neguri and Juro....

Getting board advantage with Unicorn is not an easy feat. Shono will be an absolute beast with a resolved Cavalry Reserves, or Charge into the right situation.

I don't know if Shono even cracks the top 5 for Unicorn.

7 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

How soon we all forget about Neguri and Juro....

Getting board advantage with Unicorn is not an easy feat. Shono will be an absolute beast with a resolved Cavalry Reserves, or Charge into the right situation.

I don't know if Shono even cracks the top 5 for Unicorn.

Juro and Neguri are both good characters, but Shono is better. They both have the exactly same probelm of many uni cards, they dont do much alone. Many times moto Juro is just a 5/2 blank, neguri is understated. you will need the X or Y card to make them really good.

I don't see this in Shono. He is a threat in both MIL and POL, and the Pride will punish and force opponents to make hard choices. Juro cost 5 and is not a threat in POL conflicts, you can try to bluff with him sometimes but a smart opponent can let you waste some cards. I like Juro but I dont think he is next to the best 5 cost characters in the game.

And the coolest thing in shono is that he synergizes with Juro and Neguri, and with many other uni cards.

As a Lion I imagine a deck were Shono is the guy you will want to invest, and Juro (as toturi) is the guy you will Charge.

A legion of one and banzai puts really pressure on every attack in the captive audience deck, and now pride shono can be the oportunist guy, waiting your wrong move to get his glory.

Shono seems quite good. I think the pride is what makes him for me, but his abilities are also going to be useful in threatening second conflicts. If you can't draw out their threats with a bluff on your first military attack and don't have a Captive Audience in hand, you can still threaten your political conflict. If honored, he's 5 political himself, and he'll grant +1 political to each of your cavalry as well. I like it, but definitely best in wide cavalry decks.

On the other hand, I see Pride hurting him more often than helping. Unicorn really doesn't have many great tricks it seems like to me, and can quickly find an opponent outmatching them. I'd like to see more 'surprise maneuver' cards like Cavalry reserves from Unicorn. A 'charge' that flipped up cards in provinces would be nice.

2 hours ago, Ishi Tonu said:

How soon we all forget about Neguri and Juro....

Getting board advantage with Unicorn is not an easy feat. Shono will be an absolute beast with a resolved Cavalry Reserves, or Charge into the right situation.

I don't know if Shono even cracks the top 5 for Unicorn.

Nergui is a 2/2 with a pretty good ability - limited to MIL only. Juro is one of the WEAKEST 5-drops in the game with an ability that does not help win conflicts. His best purpose is Spyglass-draw...

I'd say Nergui is my favorite Unicorn unit at the moment. Which is like a Lion liking Master of the Spear the most. That's how sad Unicorn is right now.

4 hours ago, caseycheesecake said:

I'd trade Border Rider for (in no particular order):
Cautious Scout
Brash Samurai
Daidoji Nerishina
Niten Adept
Vanguard Warrior

And IMO, out of this list, Cautious Scout is the most efficient character, whose power rivals the rest due to its blanking ability.

You can take my Adept and give me a Cautious Scout and I’ll rock the town with that card. It will also garner a great deal of ‘attention’ from your enemy, but that’s expected. The other 4 just don’t bring a chill to your opponents’ hearts.

Apologies. My statement was a bit to general. I should have prefaced it with "IMO" or "my top 5"

The problem I have with Shono is that he is built for what the Unicorn are "supposed" to do and not for what they actually can do.

He's a good card for sure, but I'm not sure Unicorn can get maximum value from him in their current state.

Of course I'm willing to accept the fact that I may just not be suited to play Unicorn in the same fashion as most others do. My evaluation is based on what has been successful for me.

11 hours ago, L5RBr said:

Juro and Neguri are both good characters, but Shono is better. They both have the exactly same probelm of many uni cards, they dont do much alone. Many times moto Juro is just a 5/2 blank, neguri is understated. you will need the X or Y card to make them really good.

I don't see this in Shono. He is a threat in both MIL and POL, and the Pride will punish and force opponents to make hard choices. Juro cost 5 and is not a threat in POL conflicts, you can try to bluff with him sometimes but a smart opponent can let you waste some cards. I like Juro but I dont think he is next to the best 5 cost characters in the game.

How are Juro and Neguri not good on their own? Neguri just needs to solo attack and your opponent needs to decide between going unopposed or committing at least two characters. She's like a reverse Doji Challenger.

And Juro is a decent MIL attack with the option to bail if your opponent commits heavily and then either defending or doing POL. And he can keep you from losing honor from not opposing.

Shono's the one who needs other characters since unless he's unopposed he can't activate his ability and unless those characters are Cavalry he's only giving +1 skill.

Also, how is Juro not a POL threat? 2 skill is great for attacking into Feast or Famine or Art of War while keeping the risk of accidentally breaking them low. Admittedly becoming a 0 when dishonored is not ideal, but he has the option to bail if that happens.

Shono is a really good dynasty card and not in a Unicorn sense of the word.

I made the experience that moving (and Unicorn in general) works best if you have small units and one big character buffed up with Spyglasses etc.

This card fits this role perfectly and you can even use your movement tech to boost your crew if he is bowed (and get a honored status for your voltron character).

The strengh of cards are hard to assess with different costs, but Nergui is easily the best Unicorn card that costs 4+.

Neguri and Juro are decent dynasty cards that are only praised because they are purple.

I dunno.........

I just kind of automatically compare him to Honored General and there are a lot more hoops for the point to jump through to get a slightly better effect.

I'd probably put Shono in as a 2 of. For now, Juro and Neguri still get x3 inclusion status, IMO

I'm of the opinion that Shono is a nice compliment to Unicorn's other working components. She's not an answer, in and of herself, but she builds upon Juro, Nergui, and the 1 & 2 drops. Unicorn's strength lies in the bluff, the mind game, and the switcheroo. Where you think I'm going may be where I'm going, or it may be elsewhere. ? This conflict, the next, and the next turn - that's what you need to worry about.

I know, Unicorn isn't there yet. But we're getting some tools, and are darn fun to play. My favorite (latest) build is Juro, Nergui, and cheap guys with Lion splash (Ready For Battle, Legion of One). Shono slots in by replacing Utaku Mediator probably. Then again, there'll be 6 in 6 at the time, so who the heck knows.

@FunTimeTeddy Uhhh... Just to be clear, Shinjo is a man, and you keep referring to him as a woma... I mean, I’m all for inclusiveness and transgender rights, but I’m not sure Rokugan is ready for that yet. You’ll need quite the powerful magic to make that happen...

On 19.4.2018 at 6:45 PM, caseycheesecake said:

I'd trade Border Rider for (in no particular order):
Cautious Scout
Brash Samurai
Daidoji Nerishina
Niten Adept
Vanguard Warrior

As a Dragon player I would trade Niten Adept with Boarder Rider.

18 hours ago, Tabris2k said:

@FunTimeTeddy Uhhh... Just to be clear, Shinjo is a man, and you keep referring to him as a woma... I mean, I’m all for inclusiveness and transgender rights, but I’m not sure Rokugan is ready for that yet. You’ll need quite the powerful magic to make that happen...

Derp. Well, in this day and age, one never knows. Pronouns are loaded. Also, late night postings after one has had a couple, are dangerous. Wake up *wait* what did I post?

8 hours ago, Ignithas said:

As a Dragon player I would trade Niten Adept with Boarder Rider.

You've got a deal!

Excited for the new Chars. We Uni players need some love on the Dinasty deck and this guy looks good on paper!

On 20/04/2018 at 3:14 AM, shineyorkboy said:

How are Juro and Neguri not good on their own? Neguri just needs to solo attack and your opponent needs to decide between going unopposed or committing at least two characters. She's like a reverse Doji Challenger.

And Juro is a decent MIL attack with the option to bail if your opponent commits heavily and then either defending or doing POL. And he can keep you from losing honor from not opposing.

Shono's the one who needs other characters since unless he's unopposed he can't activate his ability and unless those characters are Cavalry he's only giving +1 skill.

Also, how is Juro not a POL threat? 2 skill is great for attacking into Feast or Famine or Art of War while keeping the risk of accidentally breaking them low. Admittedly becoming a 0 when dishonored is not ideal, but he has the option to bail if that happens.

As I said Juro and Neguri are both good characters and will work well with shono.

But you will need a buff on Neguri to brake a province, so it will always depend on another cards to be truly effective.

Almost the same for Juro, 5 skill brakes a province? yes but 5M for 5 fates generally puts you behind on counts, a 1 fate cost berserker can hold it. Then you use his action and go home, ok its fine but as the main goal of unicorn is breaking provinces then again, you will need more cards to break that province even unopposed.

With the same 5 fates of Juro you buy Shono with a fate, unopposed can brake in any conflict type and, with uni tricks is easier to choose what conflict you're gonna win or loose each turn, get the honored status from pride, so next turn you can have a huge guy (without the need of wasting additional cards), or if your foe didn't defended the first attack you can surprise him with a I am Ready if you see a opportunity to brake the second province that turn.

Now Shono attacking MIL with a fate and Juro in your provinces waiting for that Charge will put defenders in a really hard situation to commit..

On 20/04/2018 at 3:14 AM, shineyorkboy said:

How are Juro and Neguri not good on their own? Neguri just needs to solo attack and your opponent needs to decide between going unopposed or committing at least two characters. She's like a reverse Doji Challenger.

And Juro is a decent MIL attack with the option to bail if your opponent commits heavily and then either defending or doing POL. And he can keep you from losing honor from not opposing.

Shono's the one who needs other characters since unless he's unopposed he can't activate his ability and unless those characters are Cavalry he's only giving +1 skill.

Also, how is Juro not a POL threat? 2 skill is great for attacking into Feast or Famine or Art of War while keeping the risk of accidentally breaking them low. Admittedly becoming a 0 when dishonored is not ideal, but he has the option to bail if that happens.

As I said Juro and Neguri are both good characters and will work well with shono.

But you will need a buff on Neguri to brake a province, so it will always depend on another cards to be truly effective.

Almost the same for Juro, 5 skill brakes a province? yes but 5M for 5 fates generally puts you behind on counts, a 1 fate cost berserker can hold it. Then you use his action and go home, ok its fine but as the main goal of unicorn is breaking provinces then again, you will need more cards to break that province even unopposed.

With the same 5 fates of Juro you buy Shono with a fate, unopposed can brake in any conflict type and, with uni tricks is easier to choose what conflict you're gonna win or loose each turn, get the honored status from pride, so next turn you can have a huge guy (without the need of wasting additional cards), or if your foe didn't defended the first attack you can surprise him with a I am Ready if you see a opportunity to brake the second province that turn.

Now Shono with attacking MIL with a fate and Juro in your provinces waiting for that Charge will put defenders in a really hard situation to commit..

44 minutes ago, L5RBr said:

but as the main goal of unicorn is breaking provinces then again, you will need more cards to break that province even unopposed.

This would be the main point I disagree about.

While unicorn is generally touted as a military clan, incapable of honor or dishonor victories, with only the "province break" win condition to aim for, I have found this to be rather far from the truth.

As such, I don't rate Unicorn characters on raw stats alone, or place more value on the stat to cost ratio than the actual ability on the card.