It's up. Any thoughts on it?

Still depressed.

Being forced to mention a Lion splash card is pretty sad for an article of this type, but what else is he supposed to write about? Unicorn needs major help.

Well, a big part of the article is “This is what we need now/want to see in the future”...

I think that speaks by itself...

I'd argue that the selection of a keeper role to continue playing "core set" Unicorn strategies is one of the reasons Unicorn has not found much success. Granted, Keeper Initiates and Satoshi might be the best characters Unicorn have access to at the moment, but, I wouldn't mind seeing what sort of shenanigans could be done with some extra fate, Pathfinder Blade, Kami Unleashed, etc.

It's an interesting read for sure, if only to help illustrate the somewhat avoidable pitfalls of playing Unicorn and the problems they face from a design standpoint.

Playing with event driven combos is somewhat silly, in an environment in which the successful decks are the ones that are able to counter key events or protect their own important events. While I acknowledged the strength of FGG, to not bring up the ways to use it most effectively and/or protect it seems like a bit of a mistep.

To me, the article almost suggests that Unicorn players are not very foward thinking, which couldn't be further from the truth. Some of the most creative decks I've played and played against have been Unicorn. But there is no real discussion about any of the other pairings, so we are essentially left with "splash lion and cross yer fingers for FGG"

If I'm being honest, I'm a little disappointed in this article, but, I don't really blame the author. Unicorn design has not really advanced much since core, so he very well may be right to just play all the FGG's you can fit into the deck and hope for the best.

That really hasn't been my experience with Unicorn, since the first dynasty cycle was complete, but, maybe I've been doing it wrong all this time.

5 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

I'd argue that the selection of a keeper role to continue playing "core set" Unicorn strategies is one of the reasons Unicorn has not found much success. Granted, Keeper Initiates and Satoshi might be the best characters Unicorn have access to at the moment, but, I wouldn't mind seeing what sort of shenanigans could be done with some extra fate, Pathfinder Blade, Kami Unleashed, etc.

I wanted to say the same thing, but thought I may be thinking the "grass is greener".

I'd kill to have almost any seeker role.

27 minutes ago, caseycheesecake said:

I wanted to say the same thing, but thought I may be thinking the "grass is greener".

I'd kill to have almost any seeker role.

To be fair, little was known at the time the choice was made and I think there is some merit to having access to that extra influence, however the article does little to expand upon that. Most of what I feel makes the Unicorn so unique from the other clans is how much their style of play can change based upon which clan you splash. Unicorn/Lion plays almost nothing like Unicorn/Crane or Unicorn/Crab or Unicorn/Phoenix..........etc. With the exception of Phoenix, the clans are very firm in their identities so whatever you splash in there just enhances what those clans already do well, or, covers up some holes. With Unicorn, they have such a "blank slate" ( the nicest way I could describe their lack of quality in-clan cards ) that when you splash cards from another clans it has a bigger impact on what that deck can do.

I would have liked to see the author expand upon the influence boost of the keeper role, beyond "Cav Reserves and FGG is sweet, m'kay"

What about Pacifism/Talisman, or Unicourtier builds with Crane/Scorpion, or Crab tricks like Rebuild/Yurt. I've done about all I can to try and get people to think outside the box with Unicorn (and I'm not even a Unicorn Clan loyalist), but, nobody is going to take me seriously until I have an important win or hatamoto title backing me up. That's fine, I get that people wouldn't really want to follow the ravings of an unproven lunatic like myself, but, here was a chance for someone in the Unicorn community that has some clout and all we got was a quick player intro and recap of some strategy that is long since outdated.

I personally think that the Lion splash is a red herring. I believe that the better deck is the satoshi deck with talismans, yurts, pilgrimage, and the crane splash for political rival, steward of law, and admit defeat (some may say that disdainful remark is better but I disagree)

It's a deck that plays incredibly differently from Brandon's unilion swarm deck though. Im often aggressively passing with only one character purchased (a first turn Satoshi is a godsend) so I can spend my fate on Charge, Cav Reserves, and Political Rival.

Still, Unicorns biggest weakness is the HEAVY reliance on actions from the conflict deck. We really only have 2 characters at the moment who have an action to do something to the opponent: Warrior Poet and Moto Negui. That's pretty bad action economy in my opinion.

Also, calling in favors hurts when they steal the talisman because we can't play it again til their character with the talisman leaves. Why is that even a thing...

It’s an interesting article and it’s got people talking about it in a critical (but positive) way which I think is a good thing.

Personally I disagree with the author that go-wide is the only option for Unicorn: I’m increasingly going the tall/narrow route in order to leverage that fate advantage that is one of Unicorn’s strengths (and an often forgotten one at that).

The problem is though that the author is a World-renowned Hatamoto who has achieved success and i’m....not, so the evidence so far does seem to support his view!

I’ve experienced some (very relative) success with Crane splash including 3x Political Rivals. One of the main problems though is having Talisman stolen, like the previous poster said, plus Rivals are very weak to any trick that can pull them into a military conflict. Another problem is that there is very little my deck can do to disrupt or hurt the opponent. So i’m considering other splashes.

Personally I like the Keeper role for Unicorn (mainly for Talisman and the Initiates). However the bigger issue for me is that we’ve got the Void role, where there is already stiff competition for that province slot - thus rendering any Void-only or Keeper-only Void roles inferior (if only Massing at Twilight or Tears of Ameratsu were a different element!). Imagine if we were Keeper of Something Else and could then access more punishing provinces to use with Talisman, like Feast or Famine, River of Gold or even Frostbitten Crossing....

On the Positive side at least its an acknowledgement of the issue? Imagine how much more this would suck if it was an article about how happy FFG was with how the Unicorn currently played.

"[Unicorn] provides you with a puzzle that’s always fun in every iteration."

Probably would've been out of the scope of the article, but it would've been nice if there was a preview in the article to reinforce the "good stuff's coming!" view.

17 hours ago, Ishi Tonu said:

What about Pacifism/Talisman, or Unicourtier builds with Crane/Scorpion, or Crab tricks like Rebuild/Yurt. I've done about all I can to try and get people to think outside the box with Unicorn (and I'm not even a Unicorn Clan loyalist), but, nobody is going to take me seriously until I have an important win or hatamoto title backing me up. That's fine, I get that people wouldn't really want to follow the ravings of an unproven lunatic like myself, but, here was a chance for someone in the Unicorn community that has some clout and all we got was a quick player intro and recap of some strategy that is long since outdated.

The Unicorn discord channel has gone through every combination with a fine toothed comb. The plain truth is that no matter what Unicorn does, they CANNOT be competitive with the dynasty deck they currently have. There's no way around it. The most you can hope for is to have enough satisfying wins, rare as they are, to keep you off the ledge until we get some reinforcements that are actual threats on the board.

Well if I'm somehow lucky enough to win a bid to worlds, I'll play Unicorn there.

.....now if you'll excuse me I have to practice with Phoenix to make sure I have a shot at winning a Kotei and that sexy ticket to worlds.

13 hours ago, Vutall said:

I personally think that the Lion splash is a red herring. I believe that the better deck is the satoshi deck with talismans, yurts, pilgrimage, and the crane splash for political rival, steward of law, and admit defeat (some may say that disdainful remark is better but I disagree)

Still, Unicorns biggest weakness is the HEAVY reliance on actions from the conflict deck. We really only have 2 characters at the moment who have an action to do something to the opponent: Warrior Poet and Moto Negui. That's pretty bad action economy in my opinion.

Also, calling in favors hurts when they steal the talisman because we can't play it again til their character with the talisman leaves. Why is that even a thing...

I agree with all of this (although I'm in the Disdainful camp.)

We depend on conflict cards in an environment where those cards are easily cancelled, removed, or taken. Conflict-combo heavy UniLion seems ill-poised to thrive in that meta, whether we agree that it is the best deck or not. Due to our dependence on conflict cards, these game mechanics that generate counter play for other factions just totally destroy the Unicorn. The Crane variant seems to work best (for me) since it doesn't depend on any one thing that can be cancelled. (Also Steward is a decent counter against Forged Edict.)

On another note, some of our best people are Assassinate bait. Border Rider/Outrider with a few fate and a Spyglass or a Katana would be a powerful advantage if Assassinate did not exist or if it scaled in cost. As of now, it is still too risky to invest heavily in these great characters. It makes our dynasty side weak and inconsistent. I'd pay 3 for a Border Rider just so that it would be safe from a free event card. I understand it's not just a Pony thing. I dislike Assassinate as a concept.

We have the option of protecting our Events/People with Censure or Forged Edict, but since we depend so heavily on conflict cards to win, we have to sacrifice some space dedicated towards winning for these protections. Most Uni decks that run Satoshi can grab the favor with regularity, so Censure is a potentially good addition. In testing, however, the cost outweighs the benefits when you send people to a battle and your opponent eventually outforces you with printed abilities while you pass and watch.

If our people continue to be wet noodles, I want my Uni conflict deck to be incredibly lethal and unpredictable. I wanted my opponents desperately trying to stop all my threats with their cancels. The cards should encourage opponents to over commit or be punished. Cavalry Reserves is a good start.

I'd like to see: Unicorn upgrade to Fallen in Battle that lets us target any character.

A card that moves a unit and gives them a force pump simultaneously.

A way to put Fate on characters that combos with our other cards but can also be exploited to keep them around. (I.e. Put a fate on a character now, they lose all their fate at the end of the next conflict.)

A way to make a unit unable to be targeted.

I think Lion is a great splash for uni.

But really disagree with FGG being a central card, specially in the actual meta, even more in a clan thats probably the worse in counter access.

The cavalry reserves + FGG combo is so hard to achieve after Imperial cycle that the 3 IC does not worth It.

I prefer ready for battle + a legion of one + guard duty + stand your ground.

Crane is good too.