The goal of Unstable Unicorns is to be the first person to collect 7 Unicorns in your play area, also known as your Stable. You do this by gathering up your own Unicorn army and using a combination of magical powers and Magic, Instant, Upgrade, and Downgrade cards to hinder the other players’ progress and destroy their Unicorns. But beware—each player has all of these tools at their disposal as well, and you may just find your plans foiled by a well-played “Neigh!” card.
How and when do I play Neigh Cards?
Neigh cards are played only as another player is attempting to play a card from their hand. They cannot stop any effects of any card that has already been successfully played from a hand. Additionally, Neighs can be played to the instant pile until no one chooses to Neigh or someone plays a Neigh that points out that it cannot be Neighed. If someone attempts to play the Yay Upgrade card, it can be Neighed. If the Yay Upgrade card successfully makes it into a Stable, nothing that that player plays can be Neighed until the Yay is removed or destroyed.
Can I win if all my Unicorns are Pandas (or Otters, or Reindeer)?
No. Several Unstable Unicorns cards cause Unicorns to become a different animal or creature.
These cards all work the same way, but have different themes based on the game expansion or edition. A player cannot win while any of these cards is in their Stable unless they have a Dragon's Blessing Upgrade card in their Stable as well.
Current cards that follow this convention include:
To understand how these effects work, you need to understand how the game counts Unicorns. When a Unicorn card enters a Stable, it is counted as a Unicorn. Unicorn cards outside of a Stable do not count as Unicorns. Certain Downgrade cards prevent the Unicorn card from being counted as a Unicorn as long as the Downgrade card is in effect in the Stable. Your Unicorn cards are no longer considered Unicorns, so anything that would affect Unicorns won't affect your Unicorn cards. Note, however, that they are still considered Unicorn cards.
While this does not sound like much of a difference, it is a question that comes up, and it does affect some card reactions. Examples of card effects that would be immune to this effect are the Queen Bee Unicorn card and the Black Spot Downgrade card.
Do Unicorn cards that are other animals keep their triggered effects?
Yes. Despite no longer being Unicorns, Unicorn cards still have their usual triggered effects.
Can you return a Unicorn card to its original Stable after it is stolen to a Stable that changes it to a different animal?
No. Unicorn cards stolen into the Stable of someone with an active effect that changes the Unicorns to a different animal cannot be returned to the Stable they were stolen from, as they are no longer considered Unicorns.
What are the effects of the Blinding Light Downgrade card?
The Blinding Light Downgrade card’s effect text reads, “All of your Unicorn cards are considered Basic Unicorns with no effects.” Therefore, you can ignore all effect text on all Unicorn cards in your Stable, as well as any that enter your Stable, as long as the Blinding Light Downgrade card is in effect. This effect is continuous until the card is removed from the Stable, destroyed, or otherwise rendered ineffective. Blinding Light works on both Unicorn cards coming into the Stable and Unicorn cards already in the Stable.
How does Blinding Light interact with other card types?
How does the Nanny Cam card affect Random Pull?
Nanny Cam removes secrecy from the player’s hand whose Stable it affects. Because of this, all other players using the Pull effect are granted the ability to choose a card instead when targeting the player under the Nanny Cam effect.