Hey Everyone! Time to have a bit of a discussion on L5R! This time related to a clan I have been enjoying quite a lot lately, Unicorn!
Now, Unicorn is widely accepted right now as the weakest clan competitively and by looking at tournament results... this is unfortunately true. There is a change coming though. The current Elemental Cycle is releasing cards that are giving them a nice power boost and a definitive playstyle is starting to come into its fullest. Here I am going to discuss my deck I have been working on in order to make them competitive and no longer "weak". I normally break down the entire deck on fiverings.db but it causes a massive wall of text so instead it will be broken down here. Here is the deck link:
https://fiveringsdb.com/decks/a5de09fa-8251-11e8-9ce5-8e1ccf16fca4/view
Ok so first of all, I title this deck "Conquest Tempo: The True Nature of Unicorn." Allow me to break that down... Unicorn I strongly believe have been made with a blitz deck in mind. Now up until this point the best example of this style we have is wide-Lion (playing many small characters to overwhelm your opponent). This style was very effective in Lion but has fallen out of favor as the current card pool has not favored it well. With the recent stronghold release for them that is changing, but so is the meta for the entire game. Until now, this game has "control" as the strongest playstyle which has caused Scorpion and Crab to be incredibly strong, winning most Kotei events and smaller tournaments. Unicorn has VERY little control built into its core cards causing it to be weaker than other clans in this respect. The main thing they are supposed to do is move around... ok... cool.. but that does not help them win conflicts. Other clans have more ways to add strength to their characters or shut yours down, allowing them to gain the upper hand. We are now finally gaining tech to do a sort of different control.. province tempo. I believe this form of blitz it where Unicorn were designed to shine and are only just now reaching that point. This style will be where it is common to see two province fall per turn. I will break down each card. Note that this deck tries to max out copies for highest reliability. Anything that is not 3x is either not necessary (needing a better card to be released) or just more situational.
GENERAL PLAY
- Pass early in the Dynasty Phase. This is mainly to deny your opponent resources, but if they know you want to pass early they have to try and do so, possibly setting up a poor board state. Shinjo Scout and Sneaky Shinjo play into this tactic.
- Attack First. You want to control which rings are available and who has the most broken provinces. You have several cards that want to be first and this is key to maximizing them. Way of the Unicorn is the key card in enabling this.
- Bid high, but Cautious. Turn one you want to bid 5. This maximizes your card potential, but later turns be careful. If they bid low turn one and drain your honor you will have to be a bit more conservative. Use the earth ring and Spyglass to help draw when able. Always calculate how much honor you can afford to lose. If you need to bid 3 or 4 to avoid high honor loss, don be afraid to. Against possible honor decks, bid a bit more conservatively, but never 1 if you can avoid it.
- Attack the rings your opponents want. If you have fate on characters, attack void. If you need cards, attack earth. If you need honor, attack air. Attack the other rings as the situation calls, but think it through. Use the threat of bowing with water to force them to commit, or use fire to dishonor their high glory characters. Here we have to be flexible and attack appropriately. Other than the crab holding, it is better to do a faint or lose a conflict and give up a ring if it denies them the ring effect. Be careful with this as it can grant the favor.
- Try to deny the Favor. Do not go out of your way to win it, as Unicorn has a hard time competing, but try to at least deny it in order to shut down key cards like Censure.
- WATCH YOUR HONOR. The biggest weakness of this deck is its susceptibility to dishonor and control. You can over spend your honor and lose if you are wasteful.
- Plan for cancels. This deck is very susceptible to its events being shut down so plan for it against clans like Scorpion and Crane.
- Prepare for Cavalry Tactics. It is the biggest swing in this deck. Don't worry about losing a few characters early or only playing one larger character during the first round. This deck wants to have a few cavalry card in the discard and if you don't send enough there it wont be useful. I will label key target later.
- Understand the deck's economy. This deck usually can end up swimming in funds but don't let that fool you. You will burn through them fast during crucial turns (Cav Tactics costs 3 Fate).
So Unicorn is a Keeper... for this deck we will almost never get the benefit from defending Void (I haven't yet). Void is not relevant for this deck at all. The influence boost is the only useful thing from this as many cards I would rather have are Seeker only. Hopefully we will get a role change to Water this year, but we will have to wait and see.
Ok so this stronghold is considered the weakest in the game and for good reason. +0 strength means very few attacks will fail against this stronghold. At that point, you can assume you have mostly lost the game. So the point is to kill your opponent BEFORE you get to that point. No tournament round should go to time with this deck. Now the 10 Honor is also a bit rough, so you will have to watch your honor losses in this deck.
Now where this Stronghold shines is in its ability. Your opponent can't use cards like
Rout to send you home as you will just come right back
as long as you are cavalry. This doesn't always come into play but you can do some really crazy tricks with it. I will mention some later.
As our Air province, people will be like "WHY ARE YOU RUNNING THIS CARD!?" but the answer is simple: You will not be defending many conflicts and the other Air provinces you want to be able to defend to gain their effect multiple times. We are planning on these being broken so this is an effect we want. So far it has been a great province for me.
Our Earth Province, this one is the only one you want to possibly defend. Use
Talisman of the Sun to move the conflict here. This provinces value is that it takes two breaks. Against other conquest decks or in situations you are a province behind, this helps you catch up by buying time. Don't waste too many resources defending it if you can avoid it, but consider the options.
This is our Stronghold province. It is our last ditch effort to stop the opponent from winning by drain their hand. No as good against voltrons (one super biffed character) but is good asnt many decks as people tend to attack with multiple characters on the stronghold.
Our void province. This card is decent as it helps insure that our economy keeps going which allows us to play our more expensive characters and conflict cards. Has been really good against other "wide" decks.
Our water province is focused on killing voltrons. Unfortunately if they attack with chump this can be taken down easily. Use the Talisman to get away from it if you can since it trigger on declaration not flipping face up.
This card can be really good and even moved to defend, but really you want this guy as an attacker or Cav Tactics target. He doesn't bring anything special other than pure strength. Is an option to take out if better things come along.
One of our best 2-costers. This is a perfect character to attack with political to scout the province then un-bow when you go home. If they choose not to defend, you can use Captive Audience to switch the conflict type then start using your moving shenanigans to bring enough strength to break the province. Super solid card for this deck.
This card is super good for countering cards that you know can hurt you if you dont act first. Use this to Assassinate, Rout, or Strength in Numbers a Key target before they can do something or switch the conflict type with Captive audience before they can use things like Court Games. This card will become more important as we get more control cards.
This is probably the best character we have. You can do a lot with him. I have used him to make a person over commit, then he backs out only to attack again next conflict winning. Put the Spyglass on him for max value.
One of our few control pieces. He is really good against most other clans with the exception of Scorpion and Crab. Their low glory makes him not very good so he is only a 2x.
In the theme of "attack first," this guy plays right into it. If it is the first military conflict and you Cav tactics one or two of these guys, that is quality.
Decent for the cost, but nothing special. Watch for opportunities to use the ability, but one of the cards to remove if something better is released.
One of the "pass first" cards. Can be better than it looks. When you pass first it essentially was free. one of the best turn 1 or 2 cards.
The contender for "best Unicorn character." This guy is great for both skill value and his abilities. getting him honored can be a big deal and since this is a "wide" deck his ability is golden.
A card I am still testing. It plays into "pass early" but really I can't tell how much value he will really be as he is 1 of the only 2 non-cavalry characters in the deck. More testing is needed but the potential is there.
Our other non-cavalry card, but this guy is actually amazing in this deck. He is frequently a 3/3 and in conflicts with Cavalry Tactics (not on him, he isn't cavalry) he can be so brutal. Easy to get rid of, but such a low investment for such a large threat. I want to see this guy mid-late game.
A decent character in general, but the key card against other "wide" decks. Use her late if you can to maximize how many characters can be affected by it.
This card is actually more for bringing allies home in order to maximize movement tricks. Has been quite useful. Never forget about it as it can be really useful to cause an opponent to over commit and use up resources only to have you back out of the conflict in order to counter attack.
One of the best cards for unicorn and one desperately needed. It is usually quite easy to obtain a military ring if you attack first, which is what we wanna do. This helps contest favor or defend in order to not lose honor.With Captive Audience, you can use this for a two province break turn.
This card is only to contest the favor and tax the opponent if her tries to break the province. Whether or not you keep it at the end of the turn depends on your board state. Many times, though, it isn't worth it and you will discard it for more cards to play next turn..
This is a card that almost all decks need to carry. It can be dangerous honor loss, so use sparingly and only on characters that you need to remove in order to break a province.
A very standard card that you need to have in the deck to be able to win military conflicts. You can split it between multiple characters if you are worried they will remove one of them. Again, just be careful with the honor loss.
A massive tempo swing if you can get this to go off. The key here is attack with all but one character in order to break, then attack with the single character and use Cavalry Reserves to reinforce. This is a very card heavy combo as usually it requires Breakthrough, Captive Audience, and Cavalry Reserves to work. It is super satisfying when it does work.
This is a card most use defensively but I strongly believe it is for the offence. Attack with political if you have this in hand and expect your opponent to either be bewildered or worried.
Ok so this card is for when the stars align. Don't rely on it, but it can be incredibly useful when it works, particularly with Cavalry Tactics.
This is the main reason for the Lion splash. This deck has no answer to bowing control making this card super necessary to avoid problems. You don't usually have to worry too much about using it, but do think if it is necessary to keep the character un-bowed.
Since this deck wants to take a province before your opponent can, don't be too concerned with sending someone home. As long as you take provinces before they do, their counterattack will not matter.
Another card like Rout. Use these to get rid of key personalities getting in your way of breaking a province. This is usually good against everyone, with a few exceptions with phoenix. It is particularly good after an opponent has invested a lot into buffs only to have their character sent home.
This is actually a card I am considering making a 3x. It allows you to attack without worry that your opponent will attack twice after you have spent all your resources. You cannot use this in conjunction with Breakthough so plan your turn out carefully.
A key card in this deck. You want to be first player as much as possible. This plays into all the strengths and tactics of this deck. Mulligan for at least one copy.
A card that is normally frowned upon, but is good here. As you want to be the first attack this will almost always be +4 value. Be careful against Let Go and Calling in Favors, but otherwise so good for this deck.
Standard strength buff that is a flex spot for other cards in the future, particularly new upcoming fire spell.
One of the best cards in Unicorn, this allow you to draw quite a few cards if used right. Moto Juro is the best target for this.
A defensive card that can save you in a lot of situations. Use it primarily to position on public forum to prevent the province break. Also can be used to move away from the stronghold.
The best "scouting" card we have. Use it to determine where to attack and where to avoid. Don't forget teh stronghold as that will be unavoidable an you may want to at least be prepared.
So that is the deck overall. I will be testing it out and continuing to improve it over time so stay tuned to the fiveringsdb deck for updates!
