I'm struggling to see how to fit Yoritomo in. His stats when non-boosted are terrible for his cost, so you definitely don't want to pay for him outright. Obvious choice is to Charge! him in, but then you'll need to include various other 4 or 5 costers to increase effectiveness of Charge! But if you don't have Charge! in hand at the right time (or if it gets discarded at the wrong time) then you'll end up having to buy your decent characters outright leaving very little surplus fate. Bear in mind too that Charge! and Gaijin Customs cost 1 fate each - I think the idea of Yoritomo on paper is better than it'll be in reality, although we'll have to see.

I think Kudaka will be a much better neutral option for us to use

2 hours ago, Caldera said:

I'm struggling to see how to fit Yoritomo in. His stats when non-boosted are terrible for his cost, so you definitely don't want to pay for him outright. Obvious choice is to Charge! him in, but then you'll need to include various other 4 or 5 costers to increase effectiveness of Charge! But if you don't have Charge! in hand at the right time (or if it gets discarded at the wrong time) then you'll end up having to buy your decent characters outright leaving very little surplus fate. Bear in mind too that Charge! and Gaijin Customs cost 1 fate each - I think the idea of Yoritomo on paper is better than it'll be in reality, although we'll have to see.

I think Kudaka will be a much better neutral option for us to use

3 hours ago, Caldera said:

I'm struggling to see how to fit Yoritomo in. His stats when non-boosted are terrible for his cost, so you definitely don't want to pay for him outright. Obvious choice is to Charge! him in, but then you'll need to include various other 4 or 5 costers to increase effectiveness of Charge! But if you don't have Charge! in hand at the right time (or if it gets discarded at the wrong time) then you'll end up having to buy your decent characters outright leaving very little surplus fate. Bear in mind too that Charge! and Gaijin Customs cost 1 fate each - I think the idea of Yoritomo on paper is better than it'll be in reality, although we'll have to see.

I think Kudaka will be a much better neutral option for us to use

Yoritomo will not be a first turn buy, you should probably mulligan him hard if you see him in any opening flop. Ideally you buy on turn 2 or 3 after you've had a chance to build a slight fate advantage. As an example if you are going into turn 2 having carried over 3 fate (a not unusual occurrence for many deck archetypes) you now have 10 fate to work with for the turn. Buy Yoritomo with 2 fate, you still have 3 in the pool so his stats are a 6/6. Odds are you will get fate for first pass since he is your only buy for the turn so now you're at 4 fate and he is a 7/7. Claim fate from a ring and you are back at 5 fate and he is an 8/8 body. He will lend himself to a more conservative fate approach where you are playing more like a Crane of Scorpion stocking fate for big conflict turn plays so will require you to invest more heavily in high impact conflict characters and events, but there is merit in that build. And as mentioned above in Unicorn he gives purpose to things like Gaijin customs. and if you Splash Lion with him he is a great target for things like a Sashimono and Ready for Battle since one of your opponents strongest plays will likely be to try and bow him ASAP.

I think he will fit better in non-Unicorn decks (Crab, Crane and Scorpion seem like the best fits), but I think there is an arguments for trying him as another big cruiser in Unicorn.

Agreed with Schmoozies. Yoritomo will take thought, planning, and as always some luck to play properly. But when he does... he will be a beast. With the new Lion stronghold I am actually learning to play a little more conservatively with my fate in a fake wide strategy. Even without fate tricks other than Charge my midgame fate pool can suddenly skyrocket for a turn or two since I can get by on free characters. I plan to experiment with a one drop Yoritomo to see I can make him work with Spiritcaller and Charge. I can see the fate strategy going similarly for wide Unicorn, since there will also be fake wide tricks among the Unicorn. So maybe a two copy Yoritomo build.

Personally in my Lion deck I am dropping Satoshi for Kudaka. Some of the wide Unicorn cards require Shugenja IIRC. Shugenja is more valuable than courtier unless running Forged Edict, the stat line is better, and I tend to use her ability more often to force my opponent into less than optimal ring choices to attack or defend on. I feel like the same is going to be true for Unicorn. The current cycle is actually creating some big similarities between the two clans, more so if the rumored stronghold is true.

So far playing against some Unicorn in Jigoku, I feel like Breath of the Kami is already helping. If Unicorn get their the first conflict going a Shiotome Encampent can turn it into a steamroll. They need a few more of their cards, but I believe they will be solid by worlds this year.

3 hours ago, GM81 Protocol Droid said:

So far playing against some Unicorn in Jigoku, I feel like Breath of the Kami is already helping. If Unicorn get their the first conflict going a Shiotome Encampent can turn it into a steamroll. They need a few more of their cards, but I believe they will be solid by worlds this year.

I like that I can do a different Phoenix splash with Unicorn and use Wholeness of the World to retain a military ring so I have encampment turned on while I'm in my first battle.

12 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

I like that I can do a different Phoenix splash with Unicorn and use Wholeness of the World to retain a military ring so I have encampment turned on while I'm in my first battle.

... I had not thought of this one yet. Thank you for my secret weapon this weekend.

Combine that with a Display of Power, and you have some gas with Talisman to keep your Shiotome Encampment protected.

3 minutes ago, sndwurks said:

... I had not thought of this one yet. Thank you for my secret weapon this weekend.

And Kiyoko Kosori w/ Kudaka for some fun Fate generation. Y'know, for when we get Yoritomo.

I had thought about Wholeness of the World briefly when running though the different variations of my Uni-Chicken build for the Seattle Kotei and ultimately in that deck it was just a little boost to keep the favor, no not worth a slot. Now that Unicorn actually have a card where having a ring matters, it changes things a bit. I had been experimenting with running Way of the Unicorn again as I believe there is increased value to going first and retaining fate as I think Unicorn needs to play characters like Meishodo Wielder and Shinjo Scout to play to their strengths that are now a bit more fleshed out. While I still may circle back to Way of the Unicorn in decks that don't run Phoenix, I do like the option of having and unbow available before any conflicts occur. It's also one of those cards that can lead to mistakes by your opponent if they are not paying attention. "Oh when did you get a military ring............ohhhh yeah, oops"

It still might end up being one of those things that just a little too cute to be good, but, I think it's worth testing.

Nice to see the new additions to the Unicorn, especially the new stronghold coming with Elements Unbound.

I have stopped playing fairly quickly after the release of the Core set when I realised that, no matter I will do, I will get trashed by any clan, using any strategy, unless the player was making massive mistake. And that impression is confirmed from the statistics from the Toshi Ranbo season.

Now, I might be tempted to start again.

The AEG team(s) always had the same favorites: Crane and Lion. And it seems that the FFG design team has picked up their favorite: Scorpion.

1 hour ago, Utaku Ryukko said:

The AEG team(s) always had the same favorites: Crane and Lion.

???

I always love those tinfoil theories about design team having favorites influencing the balance. It's stupid, even if they have favorites there is no way they would care if their favorite clan is broken or not, ofc they would want balance to exist because they want players to keep playing their game. It's business.

On 6/30/2018 at 6:02 AM, Ishi Tonu said:

I had thought about Wholeness of the World briefly when running though the different variations of my Uni-Chicken build for the Seattle Kotei and ultimately in that deck it was just a little boost to keep the favor, no not worth a slot. Now that Unicorn actually have a card where having a ring matters, it changes things a bit. I had been experimenting with running Way of the Unicorn again as I believe there is increased value to going first and retaining fate as I think Unicorn needs to play characters like Meishodo Wielder and Shinjo Scout to play to their strengths that are now a bit more fleshed out. While I still may circle back to Way of the Unicorn in decks that don't run Phoenix, I do like the option of having and unbow available before any conflicts occur. It's also one of those cards that can lead to mistakes by your opponent if they are not paying attention. "Oh when did you get a military ring............ohhhh yeah, oops"

It still might end up being one of those things that just a little too cute to be good, but, I think it's worth testing.

I have not been a fan of shinjo scout, but its been good with way of the unicorn (I'm running 2 x)

Shinjo Scout is pretty much a Meishodo Wielder - a 2-cost that sometimes costs 1. The main difference is Cavalry on the Scout, which more than makes up for less POL. WotU and a good suite of Conflict characters (to pass first in Dynasty more often) both give Scout more consistency.

Now is a good time to pick Unicorn up as they're starting to get a fighting chance in the competitive scene. I doubt we'll see any Unicorn Kotei wins this year but at least we should see some Pony players making the cut by performance instead of just being the best of a weak Clan.

I believe Shinjo Scout and Sneaky Shinjo are almost essential at this point. They are the only positive tempo plays Unicorn have. Neither is great but they are, IMO, necessary in most standard Unicorn builds, because there are no better options that allow for tempo plays.

It's also a little unclear as to how people with adapt to swarming decks as the only fate efficient option is Assassination and if you run into a Crab splash Unicorn with Watch Commander, that could put a lot of honor pressure on someone.

I think Dragon can be an option for splash now. If we change the stronghold, with Hawk Tatto and other cards we can keep move. Maybe not the best, but it is an option (and I think this card will be restricted in the future).

The only two cards I am still thinking about is Ide Trader and Giver of Gifts: Ide trader can make much fate now, with other cards who let us move around. Giver of Gifts can be helpful if you play with many attachment.

Is Shinjo Scout really that playable? So, let's say I buy it with no fate. My opponent just passes. Now it's just a 2/1 for 2. Crap.

Let's say I buy it with fate, to use next turn. Opponent Assassinates. Now it's a dead 2/1 for 3. Extra crap.

I think the ideal use is to play it when you can either pass or play out more stuff. If they pass, you are now free to pop your yurt and get a big advantage in board presence. If they don't, you pass and rely on conflict characters and cav reserves.

2 hours ago, twinstarbmc said:

Is Shinjo Scout really that playable? So, let's say I buy it with no fate. My opponent just passes. Now it's just a 2/1 for 2. Crap.

Let's say I buy it with fate, to use next turn. Opponent Assassinates. Now it's a dead 2/1 for 3. Extra crap.

Playable, yes. Consistently useful ability, no. If you are going first in a turn, Scout is your first purchase, and your opponent passes right away then either they have plenty of Conflict characters in hand (maybe confident in their ability to draw some) or they're so worried about you getting Fate back that they're misplaying. There are other times you may need to buy Scout without being able to trigger its ability and it has decent stats for the cost. Much like Meishodo Wielder it's definitely better to buy on certain turns but it's not always as obviously discounted as MW. Putting a fate or two on Scout is risky at the same level as doing so for all other 1-2 cost characters. It's not like Scout is so good that you need to keep it around as long as possible to maximize extra value and I'm happy if Scout takes an Assassination hit instead of one of my future Border Riders. IMO it's an okay card that's worth trying, not necessarily building around or milking the ability for all it's worth.

15 hours ago, BCumming said:

Playable, yes. Consistently useful ability, no. If you are going first in a turn, Scout is your first purchase, and your opponent passes right away then either they have plenty of Conflict characters in hand (maybe confident in their ability to draw some) or they're so worried about you getting Fate back that they're misplaying. There are other times you may need to buy Scout without being able to trigger its ability and it has decent stats for the cost. Much like Meishodo Wielder it's definitely better to buy on certain turns but it's not always as obviously discounted as MW. Putting a fate or two on Scout is risky at the same level as doing so for all other 1-2 cost characters. It's not like Scout is so good that you need to keep it around as long as possible to maximize extra value and I'm happy if Scout takes an Assassination hit instead of one of my future Border Riders. IMO it's an okay card that's worth trying, not necessarily building around or milking the ability for all it's worth.

Yes.

It can be very strong with a conflict deck full of characters, so you can play them thanks to the extra fate.

It is an ok card, I like it. For sure we have better, but it is not so bad.

For Shinjo Scout you need to have at least 2 Way of the Unicorn in your deck, and you never play him if you're go second.

The ideal scenario is you're going first, play Shinjo Scout with one fate, they play one character, you pass and play Sneaky. Then at the end of the turn, Way of the Unicorn and go first again. You already have Shinjo Scout out and first dibs at fated rings.

If your opponent immediately passes, thats fine, they didnt play any chars and will need to rely on conflict characters. You play yours out, maybe that Battle Maiden that you normally wouldnt play out.

Having these Way Offs in your deck also means Wielder is being good value for you.

18 minutes ago, Hos said:

For Shinjo Scout you need to have at least 2 Way of the Unicorn in your deck, and you never play him if you're go second.

The ideal scenario is you're going first, play Shinjo Scout with one fate, they play one character, you pass and play Sneaky. Then at the end of the turn, Way of the Unicorn and go first again. You already have Shinjo Scout out and first dibs at fated rings.

If your opponent immediately passes, thats fine, they didnt play any chars and will need to rely on conflict characters. You play yours out, maybe that Battle Maiden that you normally wouldnt play out.

Having these Way Offs in your deck also means Wielder is being good value for you.

My problem is, I'm am always, and I mean always , playing against Scorpion. And so far, my record is 0-and-N, where N is the total number of matches we've played together. More often than not, he will pass out of spite, and have NO problem roflstomping my sorry ***, and it's getting REAL old, yo. Now, I haven't had a chance to update my Unicorn deck (waiting to obtain all 6 packs before I do that), but it doesn't matter what I play, he just wins, and I hate it.

Sorry for the out-of-place rant. ?

5 minutes ago, twinstarbmc said:

My problem is, I'm am always, and I mean always , playing against Scorpion. And so far, my record is 0-and-N, where N is the total number of matches we've played together. More often than not, he will pass out of spite, and have NO problem roflstomping my sorry ***, and it's getting REAL old, yo. Now, I haven't had a chance to update my Unicorn deck (waiting to obtain all 6 packs before I do that), but it doesn't matter what I play, he just wins, and I hate it.

Sorry for the out-of-place rant. ?

New packs will make the Scorpion match up a little more tolerable as they don't deal well with repeated pressure and throwing 3 military conflicts at them can really mess with their plans.

On 8/4/2018 at 12:31 AM, twinstarbmc said:

My problem is, I'm am always, and I mean always , playing against Scorpion. And so far, my record is 0-and-N, where N is the total number of matches we've played together. More often than not, he will pass out of spite, and have NO problem roflstomping my sorry ***, and it's getting REAL old, yo. Now, I haven't had a chance to update my Unicorn deck (waiting to obtain all 6 packs before I do that), but it doesn't matter what I play, he just wins, and I hate it.

Sorry for the out-of-place rant. ?

I do understand how you feel.

I never won against Lion. Never...