- 3/5Huge stats and the Cavalry keyword are solid, but nothing incredible.– 2/5I think you end up playing this card because you need a character that is a big ole ball of stats. Unfortunately, I don’t think he is a very good big ole ball of stats so his long term value is very low in the game at large.- 3/54 for 6 is actually pretty cool, kind of like a 4-cost 4-MIL guy that always comes attached with a Katana. It’s just a huge beatstick though, with nothing going for it beyond that.– 4/5You play this guy because he’s amazing in military. 6 military force at 4 cost is pretty hard not to marvel at, with useful traits. But, the dash political stat and attachment restrictions are a relatively large drag.– 3/5Moto Horde exists to be charged into play or brought back with Cavalry Reserves and that’s about it. It’s impact with those 2 cards gives it a pass for being a very terrible value proposition for 4 cost, otherwise. So long as Charge and Cavalry Reserves is run in your deck, it’s probably worth slotting a couple of these guys.- 2/5Tatsuo is almost the epitome of “too much movement, not enough stats to use the movement on.” Four fate for a 3/3 is tough unless they come with an incredible ability (what up, Niten Master?) and Tatsuo distinctly doesn’t, instead providing something that Unicorn already has a surplus of.– 3/5I think hes decidedly better then Moto Horde, especially if Unicorn gets access to a character worth cheating into combat, unfortunately Unicorn don’t have access to a character like that currently.- 2/5Once again, another movement ability that can’t go home. 4 for 3/3 is quite bad. His ability can only be used from home (Tatsuo can’t already be in the conflict), so it’s a little awkward to use sometimes.– 3/5This guy’s ability tests your rules knowledge. He can’t use it unless he’s out of the battle, which means you held him back after spending the fate on him, and the ability is predictable, making it most likely a relatively small mind game on drawing out an overcommitted defense.– 3/5Yet more movement with this card alongside mediocre stats means I’m generally not super happy to see Tatsuo. Like the Shinjo Outrider, I expect his value to go up with a Stronghold that doesn’t do what he wants to do for free every turn. His ability also has some clunkyness where he and the target you want to move in both need to be outside the conflict, which hurts a bit.- 3/5Altansarnai is in contention for the worst clan champion, but I don’t at all think that means she’s actually bad - with the right combination of effects, she can completely blow out the opponent, and Charge/Cavalry Reserves provide strong options for engaging those combinations. However, her base stats are comparatively low and she suffers from often killing characters that were going to go away anyway.– 2/5Ugh. I want this card to be good. I do. I really do. Occasionally you get some bomb plays off a Cavalry Reserves or a Charge. Most of the time you get a character that isn’t worth hard casting ever. Just a laughably bad example of Cavalry Tax.- 3/5Her ability gets better when going first, and on smaller boards. Unicorn unfortunately lacks additional avenues of character discard like Way of the Crab that would make her ability more painful, so she’s not too great at the moment. In most cases you’ll either not be able to break at all, or get chumpblocked (preventing unopposed) and then forcing your opponent to discard the chump anyway.– 2/5This ability seems great because you get it for doing what you want to do. On a cheaper character or non-clam champion, great. On your clan champion, who has some of the least efficient stats against her peers? Not great. If your opponent plays well, her ability will get rid of a spud body who doesn’t have much use left in the turn anyway. Even if your opponent plays poorly, you’ll often be putting out another card or two to set up her ability to hit the best target possible, which sets your opponent back at the cost of likely card advantage and hurting your own ability to go blitz/swarm, which seems to be unicorn’s best bet out of the core set.– 3/5Poor Altansarnai. One champion had to be on the weak end of the scale, and it happened to be the one in the weakest core set clan (in my opinion). Her ability can actually be quite devastating if you combo it with Assassinations and perhaps even the rogue Fallen in Battle. The problem is her ability requires winning and breaking on specifically military attacks, which means you have at most 3 opportunities for her ability to be relevant during a game (Since you’ve already won when you break the 4th). That’s the best case scenario as well where you never break a province politically which definitely won’t be the case every game. I’m not sure if she’d be really busted if her ability triggered on just military win and not break, but alas that is just not the case. Don’t get me wrong, Altansarnai is still a solid character for the cost but not much beyond that.- 4/5Iuchi Wayfinder is an amazing card to draw in the early game. In the late game it can be lackluster, but with blowout provinces like Restoration of Balance, Shameful Display, and Endless Plains in the game you might really want this one as insurance - and if more cards like that get printed, this could end up being a 5/5.– 5/5While this card has decreasing value as the game progresses, its ability to prevent you from being blown out by walking into a bad province can decide matches on its own. This card will become even more valuable as the game matures and province selection becomes even more open. I would play this with 0 stats. It also has 2 important traits.- 4/51 for 1/1 is pretty meh, but the ability is actually very useful, particularly in certain matchups like Dragon where there are extra provinces like Restoration of Balance for which information is crucial.– 5/5One of the cards that makes you want to splash unicorn, it lets you effectively “turn off” otherwise once per game provinces like elemental fury. Doesn’t guarantee the other choice is better, but you can play around a specific ability really hurting. Being a cavalry shugenja is also really good in clan.– 4/5For 1 cost, getting 1/1 in stats is the standard fair for a conflict character with a good ability. The ability on Iuchi Wayfinder is pretty much always good, allowing you to better plan your conflicts and not be taken off guard by the very swingy provinces such as Shameful Display. One of the best cards to splash out of Unicorn as well, due to being a 1 cost Shungenja in addition to its inherent usefulness.- 1/5Bad stats, expensive, and this ability is something that you have much better sources of already. Instead of paying two fate for a bad character so that you can then spend another fate to move in (three fate total), why not pay one fate for a Favored Mount?– 2/5I think this is the only card in the game that I have not seen on the table. Obviously cheating a character into a combat that couldn’t get there otherwise is a very strong play but only Crab has one of those characters currently.- 2/5Terrible stats at 2 for 1/2, with an abiity that costs 1 fate just for something Unicorn already swims in, a movement to conflict (but not home!).– 2/5Very inefficient stat wise, and requires a large investment for a movement.– 1/5I loathe giving a card such a low rating, but comparing this card to Favored Mount is just sad. You need to pay 2 fate to get the same military, but get 2 extra political, skill and then pay 1 additional fate to move in someone. If you want to do this in two turns, you need to invest 2 extra fate (1 on the Messenger itself, 1 for the ability). In comparison, Favored Mount gets you the repeat move in and the 1 military for 1 fate, with no additional fate costs each turn, at the cost of 2 political skill and the flexibility of choosing your target each time. This card just isn’t worth it.- 4/5Favored Mount is an easy splash for increased movement, provides a nice little stat boost, and has some extra synergy within Unicorn thanks to providing the Cavalry trait. Strong both as a splash and in faction.– 3/5A very strong 3. Bestows a trait, a mil, and a decent ability. Pairs very well with the games premier attachment.- 4/5To be honest, it’s probably a 3/5 within Unicorn, but gets 4/5 for its value in other clans as a splash. At only 1 influence, it’s a flexible surprise movement ability that can combo with other stuff like Watch Commander/Guest of Honor. The +1 MIL is actually relevant, too.– 5/5You splash unicorn for primarily this, wayfinder, and spyglass. The stat buff is good too. Solid card.– 3/5A solid attachment for Unicorn allowing them to have EVEN MOAR MOV3MENT!!!! Outside of Unicorn this attachment gets nice extra value as a surprise reinforcement in a conflict or a means to counter send home effects. Overall, Favored Mount is good, but not great.- 5/5Spyglass is one of the best cards in the game, providing huge card advantage if left unchecked, especially if given to a character that has movement abilities or can otherwise participate in multiple conflicts in a turn.– 5/5Card Advantage wins games. This card generates absurd CA. It also provides 1 pol. This card cannot stay on the table or you will more than likely lose the game if your opponent can trigger it twice repeatedly.- 5/5If you can use it twice per turn, for maybe 2 turns, this card is just game-breaking. It’s not even that hard to do either, between any kind of movement like Favored Mount/Favorable Ground and ready effects. Prime target for attachment control, but you just jam 3 anyway because it’s so good. Oh, it also gives +1 POL.– 5/5Probably the 1st reason you splash unicorn. Drawing cards up to two times a turn for sending the attached character to conflicts is great. With the SH, more easily triggers twice, and can draw you multiple cards with multiple copies or in combination with Ide Trader.– 5/5The best Unicorn conflict card in terms of raw value. On a character with multiple fate alongside some ready or movement shenanigans, this easily draws you 2 cards a turn for 1 fate which is not matched by any other economy card in the game, really. This card is another fantastic card to splash outside of Unicorn as well.- 2/5This card can give +4 MIL for two fate. That’s not really very good, and in later conflicts it’ll give less than that. In an environment that had attachment recursion or fewer discard effects this might be strong, but right now it’s highly constrained.- 2/5While adding up to 4 to your math, the ubiquity of attachment hate makes this card weak in a game with 1 cost attachments providing 2.- 2/52 cost attachments are bad due to attachment control yada-yada. This one at least is rather resilient to Calling in Favors (it’ll drop off unless Scorpion has a Cavalry from Favored Mount or something). Best case it gives +4 MIL for 2, which is decent until you realize Banzai! gives 4 for 0 fate and 1 honor.– 1/5High cost for steadily decreasing bonus, which caps at 4 and will be at least 1. Not very good without attachment protection cards in circulation.– 3/5This is a decidedly average effect for a 2 cost attachment but can be a nasty surprise. Unfortunately, attachment hate is really easy and (somewhat) popular at the moment, which makes this card one of those 2 cost attachments that doesn’t feel strong enough to risk getting Let Go or Calling in Favors’d.- 1/5IMO terrible, probably one of the worst cards in the game? The fact that the conflict occurs immediately means you don’t have time to play I Am Ready or similar effects to stand up the guys who just attacked. There are some niche situations where this card could be strong, especially if there are large amounts of fate on valuable rings, but that doesn’t happen so often and a lot of the time this is just going to clog your deck. I hope I’m wrong, because the concept here is very cool, but I don’t see this really doing anything much of the time.– 2/5Extremely limited and Narrow with a marginal effect.- 2/5Pretty great in conjunction with ready effects like Border Rider and something like Captive Audience to really put the screws to your opponent on the game-winning turn. Unfortunately the plan is easily foiled by your opponent defending any one of the two province-threatening challenges, which makes it too much of an all-in to be any good.– 1/5If this card lets you close out a game, chances are your opponent is losing anyway. This card does NOT let you get a pre-conflict phase, so you have enough bodies to reasonably take a province against your opponent in a political conflict, assuming your first conflict was military. That means the SH is turned off and you didn’t get a chance to put on nifty attachments like spyglass to rebuild your hand after playing this card.– 1/5Spending a card to go directly to your next conflict after breaking simply isn’t worth it right now, and I’m not sure if it every will be. The main benefit of attacking again is to get a second ring declaration or try and tempo a win if you break their 3rd province and somehow can also threaten stronghold. The narrow benefit combined with the limited requirement of breaking a province (see: Altansarnai) makes this card a non-starter and easily binder fodder, in my opinion.- 4/5Captive Audience can produce huge swings/reversals in the right circumstances, especially against political-favored clans. This can also be a crucial tool for defeating Kuroi Mori - Lion and Crab in particular have serious issues with breaking Kuroi Mori on a stronghold thanks to its ability to swap the conflict to political, and Captive Audience can counter that. However, this is also– 5/5Amazing card right here that can create huge swings in combat math.- 5/5Extremely impactful ability that has relevance in skill calculations, on top of negating or enabling certain conflict-type dependent abilities. Dash Military characters are immediately sent home bowed, and anyone who has lopsided POL/MIL is punished. For the low, low, cost of 0 fate and 1 honor, the ability is downright amazing.– 3/5This is arguably one of the reasons you splash unicorn, because it turns off Bayushi Shoju’s ability, one of the best in the game, and can send home and bow people with a dash military stat. Good for unicorn because they have few political leaning characters with a number of dash political stat characters.– 5/5If Kuroi Mori has taught us anything, it’s that switching the Conflict type mid-conflict whenever you want is a very powerful effect and Captive Audience is no exception to that precedent. Paying 1 honor is a very low cost to outright flip the tables on a conflict, which is why and when you play this card. This is yet another reason for any military leaning deck to be considering the Unicorn splash carefully.- 4/5Imagine Against the Waves except it can’t be used to bow, but it works on any Unicorn character and you pay in advance. That’s a pretty solid card! The Unicorn restriction means that it won’t be very strong as a splash, however.– 5/5Ready effects are amongst the best effects in the game and this one being mostly unconditional(outside of having payed for the cost earlier.) makes it one of the best of those effects. Also baiting a void ring and then readying a character with 1 fate is super tech.- 3/5If Unicorn ever gets a character worth standing repeatedly, this card will actually be pretty good. Right now it’s roughly a 1-cost ready event that forces you to pre-pay the 1 fate in advance, which makes it slightly telegraphed if the opponent is keeping track. You better be doing something really good with the Ready though, since you’re frontloading the extra use of the character now at the cost of its use in subsequent turns.– 2/5This card is terrible out of the core environment, because you’re spending fate and then removing fate investment to unbow people for what is assumedly a winnable subsequent conflict. But, you’re stealing from your future self for this barring you splash Lion and got For Greater Glory off.– 3/5I originally really liked this card, but I found myself more lukewarm to it after playing as often your best characters are the ones with no fate that have been building for a few turns. This card is still just fine, essentially getting you a turn’s worth of value of a character later (1 conflict) right now at the cost of that turn’s fate. There’s some cuteness as well in using this card to avoid a Void ring effect your opponent declares on you, which makes me smile when it happens.- 2/5Usually, going first is okay but not particularly worth it. However, Unicorn’s mobile playstyle often benefits from playing second, because your opponent really has to worry about how much defense to commit to conflicts. As it stands, the “go first” cards Unicorn has access to aren’t particularly amazing, and while this does mean you have a better chance of passing first to gain a fate and have your first choice of rings, it isn’t at all clear to me that that’s worth a card slot at present.– 2/5Hopefully they will make more cards that synergize with this card.- 3/5Going first is kind of a theme with certain Unicorn cards like Meishodo Wielder and Moto Youth, so this enables that. If you’re somehow exactly tied on provinces and need to strike first next turn to win, then this is also pretty good. If there’s a particularly juicy ring available next turn, then this also lets you get first dibs on it. Indirectly, this also should help give you the fate from passing first, which is actually pretty clutch if it made the difference. It’s probably still better, however, to just play something that straight up wins conflicts.– 1/5Very conditionally useful. You never want to draw this except after all conflicts have finished in a turn in which you were first player, because it does nothing until the end of your “first player” status turns.– 2/5Going first is almost certainly an advantage outside of the first turn of the game (free fate too strong), as it lets you get first claims on important rings and/or rings with fate built up on them as well as extra tempo to gain a passing fate. Unfortunately, I don’t think Way of the Unicorn is worth a conflict deck slot for that benefit, especially because drawing it while you are already second player means you have to wait 2 full turns before you can get value out of it.- 4/5This is a hugely impactful event, and while it can be crushing to get this cancelled the impact of this card can be massive. Unlike Scorpion’s Ambush, using this doesn’t require cards in provinces or conflict characters, making it much less situational.– 4/5This card can win games if it isn’t cancelled. Just need a decent way to fill up the discard pile quicker.- 2/53-cost event, so watch out for those event cancels. This lets you dig for only Cavalry characters and only out of your dynasty discard pile, so it might take some setup. The payoff seems great (3 for 6!), but if you factor in the fact that you usually would play fate on big/strong characters to get double use out of them, then the ‘6’ you get now is actually an inflated value, since they will always die without any additional fate on them in the fate phase. Also only works on MIL, not POL.– 3/5Recursion is good. No restriction on number of bodies is great. Trait and conflict type restrictions lower the rating, though they may not be debilitating. However, the high fate cost as an event makes it very high risk in an environment where 2 event counterspells exist. Also, current target availability can be very unfavorable. But, you run it because blitz/swarm seems the only real strategy in the core only environment.– 5/5Cavalry Reserves makes Unicorn’s finishing pushes very scary and difficult to stop outside of an event cancel or an overwhelming defensive force or effect. It turns out paying 3 fate for 6 fate worth of Cavalry units usually ends up being at least 6 skill and averages 8 or 9 in my experience which is a very strong bargain, especially when played in multiples. I find that Unicorn relies heavily on this card to win games, however, so against decks that have event cancels and know they need to save them for this it is a very steep uphill battle for Unicorn to win right now. That said, this card is ridiculously powerful and an obvious staple for any Unicorn deck running lots of Cavalry units.