Trojan Horse

This is a work in progress. Opinions on what to change most welcome.

This is not a rush deck. There are merits to Wham Bam Two Turn Slam, however it also has consistency issues, and is a bit of a one trick pony, with no Plan B. Probably half the reason Unicorn has the rep it does.

This deck plays a longer game, often allowing an opponent to over-commit and/or under-fate in an attempt to break your provinces. If they do this, let them; losing a couple or even three provinces is not a big deal if it gains you board, card and fate advantage. Then you hit back.

Way of the Unicorn is a fantastic card in this context (it's not a rush card imho, but actually a control card). The 1 fate swing is not to be sniffed at, and can potential be larger with fate off rings. Additionally, nabbing the Void ring two turns in a row (combined with the mild fate choke) really helps clear the board for the following turn. In other situations having first shout at a different ring can be just as important (water can sometimes lead to tap-outs whatever your opponent does, given that you can commit most of your units to the conflict after the fact). Finally, it's an excellent finisher. It's not going to be that uncommon for both players to break the 3rd province on the same round. WotU gives you first dibs on a Stronghold attack next round, which might well determines who wins.

This deck shines at three things:-
1) Forcing over-commits
2) Economy advantage and shrinking the board (void ring is your friend, though don't miss opportunities to use the water ring to open up your second conflict)
3) Breaking the Stronghold in even games (WotU FTW!)

You're aiming for the win around Turn 4 usually, which is roundabout where your economy advantage pays off, especially if your opponent has been lured into inefficiency themselves as a result of your move shenanigans. It can still come earlier (even the famed Turn 2), as in other Unicorn decks, and might come later in other situations. The Void ring is pretty important to this strategy, as it can create clear boards on key turns.

I was playing this with 3 x For Greater Glory, but I think Dragon adds some control options that Unicorn lack, especially against voltrons. I've only played twice with Dragon so far but have been really impressed with the toolbox options it gives me.

I'm on the fence with Tatsuo. Movement is great for forcing over-commits, but there's a lot of it already and his stats are just bad. At 3 cost he'd be fantastic, at 4 he's just a bit naff. I'm tempted to replace all 3, maybe with Keeper Initiate (though Initiate risks bad flops combined with all the holdings). He was really useful in the a recent game I played though and so many of our other tricks don't work on political. He can also pull in bowed characters for triggers (Poet, Spyglass, Trader, Utaku buff).

Regarding Conflict Cards I've left out. I understand why people love Rout, but I don't like leaving those characters ready. This isn't a rush deck after all. Fallen in Battle is another card I just don't have space for. I know a lot of pony players prefer it to Assassinate, and I do find myself burning honour rapidly, but Assassinate can still be game-changing (and can occasionally generate actual hits for Altansarnai's ability, though I guess FiB does that too). I've cut it to 2, but it's so good I'm tempted to put the 3rd back in.

I really like Iuchi Wayfinder, but he was my final cut to get down to 45 because you can usually (currently) play around face-down provinces and he doesn't do much if you get him late. The other cut I made was down to 2 Favoured Mounts. They synergise beautifully with the deck concept and a horse is a trader's best friend, none of this dog nonsense, but there are times they aren't that useful.

This deck really boils down to timing a lot of the time (part of why WotU is good). For the love of pony, put Entrenched Position under your Stronghold because Captive Audience is a thing. People who don't do this confuse me.

You will get some flops that seem terrible. I've played a single Utaku Infantry with 1 fate on it before, didn't work out too badly in the end. Phoenix might have a card that pretty much says on it 'lose to win', but Unicorn can do it just as well.

Imho people under-rate Unicorn because of nonsense group-think and because they think they are a brainless rush faction. There are loads of shenanigans available to Unicorn, it's simply that the cards don't give you a paint-by-numbers guide of how to use them, you actually have to think about it, which is great! They are very much a "whole is greater than sum of their parts" faction.