Michael: Hello and a happy first day of summer! Michael here. Today, I am back with some Misrecarded content (for the first time in 6 months btw), focusing on Uneven Contest – an objective with 15 words on it and 2 lines of text.
For the first time in the history of Misrecarded, I will be focusing on an objective card. Which means I need to come up with an entirely new format but like that’s fine. Also this is my personal first non-domain card…
Anyways, let’s get started with Evening – or unevening – the playing field!
GOOD MORNING
Cause odds and evens and even-ing is like evening…haha…
First of all, Uneven Contest is an end phase. This is pretty important to take into account because end phases have some criteria for viability. We’ll just keep this in mind for now.
Next, the scoring condition is holding each odd-numbered treasure token. Multiple things to dissect here. First of all, the word ‘each’ means we must hold at least one token, and holding each odd-token means you will need to hold at most 3 tokens. We can use this metric to compare later.
Holding a treasure token seems really simple but it does force us to consider this card in conjunction with flip tech such as Crumbling Mine or the Nexus of Power plot card.
Finally, this card is worth two glory, which is the average glory for an end phase objective, which is nice.
Turns out analyzing only 15 words was a lot easier than analyzing The End is Nigh haha.
ENDING THE CONTEST
Being an end phase objective, we want Unequal Contest to meet one of the following criteria:
a) Be autoscore
b) Require little to no opponent interaction
OR
a) give you a dedicated gameplan
b) not require too much risk
c) reward you for achieving the plan
Uneven Contest is leaning more towards the second group, it is by no means autoscore. Or is it?
Against a Nexus/PnP player whose life goal is to score Strip the Realm by it’s alternate condition, Uneven Contest can potentially read ‘hold one token, gain two glory’. This is quite autoscore, most of the ‘hold 1’ objectives in this game are worth only 1 Glory (such as Hold Objective X). Notably, Hoarder’s Hovel from Realmstone Raiders is an exception.
In the ‘flip fanatic’ matchup, Uneven Contest becomes really easy due to your opponent doing the hard work of flipping all tokens for you (jumping a little ahead here but like it’s pretty obvious).
However, let’s pretend we are playing into Mr. Meta and his ES/NoP Stalkers. Mr. Meta wants as many tokens face up as possible for easy inspires and to make Supremacy as well as being covetous easier.
Mr. Meta’s plans coincide make our Uneven Contest fall into a really bad version of a Category II end phase. It meets criteria A and C – it definitely defines a gameplan and gives a very decent reward of 2 Glory, but how risky is it to run into Mr. Meta’s 3 Hammer 3 Damage Cleave-Trok? Pretty risky, i’ll let you know!
In another hypothetical scenario, we can be playing against a BA/RF player. They just want to charge stuff and could usually care less about your objectives or delves, which promotes Uneven Contest into a good Category II end phase. It still meets criteria A and C, but now it’s a lot less risky to go and visit every odd token becuase chances are those tokens are uncontested! At the very least, those tokens are no more dangerous than the rest of the board cause oh my days headlong charge why are you in the game and you too wings of war why is there like 60 plus two move effects they should all be restricted
This puts Uneven Contest into the ‘imaginary numbers’ category of end phases. It changes depending on what you are playing against!
EACH AND EVERY ODDITITY
In a standard game of WHU, there are three odd numbered treasure tokens. Luckily, this number is manipulatable.
As we went over in the previous section, we could hold between 1 and 3 Tokens to score this card. Holding 1 is ideal but we can get away with holding three if we have multi move shenanigans or if our opponent is playing RS and is easy to overrun. Last edition we had Supremcy but it literally read ‘hold three tokens’ which was very scorable but the issue was you didn’t need to hold specific tokens, just any three. (also we had Tactical Genius which was worse supremacy but played similar to Uneven)
Holding every odd token is a matter of luck. Standard token placement will see 2 tokens on each side with one in neutral territory. Chances are, you will have one in easy reach, one that is easy to contest, and one that is pretty difficult to reach. However, it could be that all three tokens are SUPER easy to reach, or that your territory only contains tokens 2 and 4. Which sucks.
To better the chances of getting odd tokens we have to look towards other deck pairings cause the only support CtC has for this card is Visions of Ruin (which tbf is very good support). The three decks that immediately jump out are ES, PnP, and NoP.
ES has the best ploy in the game for reaching odd tokens and this is Switch Things Up. Literally uncontestable for this spot. It also has a bunch of other tech to hold tokens better, which obviously make Uneven Contest easier. Settle In, Sidestep, The Extra Mile and Great Speed all make Uneven Contest a lot more uneven (in your favor).
PnP is less about getting to the odd numbered tokens and more about making less odd numbered tokens. Crumbling Mine is a slighlty worse Switch Things Up as while it does flip a token down it doesn’t do anything if an enemy is on the aforementioned token. PnP also has Sidestep and Great Speed as well as Wary Delver which also allows for a little worse version of Emberstone Sentinels’ package of cards. Still helps with scoring!
Finally, Nexus might be the best option for Uneven Contest simply due to it’s plot card. Chances are your opponent won’t flip BOTH even tokens (and if they do, chances are it is not the optimal move) which allows you to start the game with at least one and possibly two odd tokens on the board less. Next, Nexus has some GODLY power cards for Uneven Contest. Pilfer, Move at the Opening, and Into the Deepwoods all help score Uneven but there is also INSANE synergy with I Like Those Odds giving you two save for doing what you already want!
Personally, for minimzing the amount of effort to score this card, I find Nexus the most effective. Emberstone Sentinels is very close behind and PnP is also nice but mainly for it’s synergy with the objective deck and not the power deck.
Outside of deck and warband support, the best way to make Uneven Contest easier is to simply delve an odd numbered token the millisecond you acquire it. This makes Uneven Contest closer to Broken Prospects than Iron Grasp or Supremacy because the former cannot be denied via driveback while the latter two can. Uneven Contest becomes infinitely easier if you delve odd tokens cause even if you do get killed or pushed off, you won’t need to retake the token! Unless your opponent ovverruns. Then you cry.
I HATE TAKE & HOLD
I dislike Take & Hold ever since I brought ES/CtC Cyreni to Worlds 2024. However now I must revisit this atrocious archetype to place Uneven Contest on a certain power level. I will compare it to other ‘hold treasure’ end phases only. Here is a list:
Hold Treasure 3-4 (and 1-2 and 5): These cards serve completely different purpose than Uneven Contest. Uneven is more of a ‘Category II’ end phase from the section above while these three are more Category I. I personally would opt for the low risk, low reward of these three but if you built your deck with Unequal Contest in mind, it is infinitely stronger cause chances are it has more synergy with the rest of your deck.
Winner: Deck-dependent.
Slow Advance: Oh, Unequal Contest by a mile. Same glory reward but Unequal Contest can be made like 60x easier. Also Slow Advance can brick on arrival due to bad token placement while with Uneven you can blame luck.
Winner: Uneven Contest
Iron Grasp: Uneven and Iron Grasp play similarly where you want to minimize the amount of tokens you hold. Iron Grasp’s condition is wayyy easier, though.
Winner: Iron Grasp
Supremacy: Technically speaking, the average number of tokens you need to get on for both cards is two. But Uneven Contest rewards less glory while also having more setup as you have to at least visit three tokens.
Winner: Supremacy
Broken Prospects: Visit three tokens is a common theme here and Broken Prospects doesn’t care about which while also having an alternate condition to visit only one. However, it does all have to be in one round while Uneven is the whole game.
Winner: Broken Prospects
Torn Landscape: This is the closest card we see to Uneven Contest. You have to get on three tokens and flip them face down. The advantages of Torn Landscape are that you don’t have to visit any token in particular, while Uneven Contest doesn’t REQUIRE you to delve them making it better for denial (and tie breakers). In addition, Torn is a common pick, making it a high-priority denial card, while most people don’t target-delve vs. CtC. In addition, Torn has worse synergy with double-move and pushes because you can only delve once a power step, which gives the edge to Uneven if you build the deck around it.
Winner: Deck-dependent
Set Explosives: Both cards can be made easier by delving but really Set Explosives wins because its more of an Iron Grasp clone than a Uneven Contest clone.
Winner: Set Explosives
Hoarder’s Hovel: Visit a specific token is a common theme here, and while Uneven requires you to visit three tokens, Hoarder’s Hovel typically needs one specific treasure. This means it’s easier to deny but also that it’s easier to score if you do something like go on guard. Also the glory is the same.
Winner: Hoarder’s Hovel
Roused Violence: Similar to Torn Landscape, this becomes really warband dependent cause if you can raid like 6 times a round consistently than obviously Roused Violence pulls ahead. If you can’t, Uneven is better. In a vacuum, Uneven Contest is more consistent assuming NO attacks connect while Roused Violence pulls ahead if everything hits which means these two cards are quite equal in power.
Winner: Matchup dependent.
Closed Down: You again have to visit a specific token and hold it down but the hard part is getting United after. Uneven Contest can technically be scored with just one fighter, while Closed Down usually needs at least two or power card support (or getting tabled support). Still, holding one token is more easier than holding three. Uneven Contest has the HUGE advantage in it technically being forceable, while Closed Down can be denied by an opponent just never standing on a token!
Winner: Uneven Contest (but it’s like rlly close)
Skin of their Teeth: You need to hold two tokens vs. hold 1-3, but you need to be damaged. Getting damaged is way easier than visiting three tokens in my opinion.
Winner: Skin of their Teeth
As a general trend, Uneven Contest pulls ahead in that it cannot really be force-denied like some other cards but it’s win condition is really quite difficult compared to alternatives like Iron Grasp or Supremacy.
UNEVEN MATCHUPS
As you may have noticed, a large number of cards said ‘depending on the matchup’. Uneven Contest is arguably one of the most game-dependent objectives in the game. It can be a second Spread Havoc in one game, or it can be harder than scoring Trial of the Tempered against Thanatek’s Tithe.
Let’s start with the worst matchups were you will cry if this card enters your hand. The first sign of this card becoming questionable is if you are playing against a talented player. Uneven Contest is typically a misrecarded card, so most people don’t bother memorizing it. They will see CtC and think, “lol, this guy has 6 glory from EPs and only Set Explosives is deniable, i’ll focus on that”. Unluckily for us, Set Explosives happens to have the same requirements as Uneven in that we need to hold treasures for both. A player who dedicated wayyyy too much time for this game might say ‘oh, there’s no reason NOT to delve, he might have Uneven Contest so i’ll deny it’.
The decks which mess us up are obviously other hold decks. They will delve stuff for no reason other than ‘I need to hold’. This also applies to ourselves playing PnP because of the threat of Strip the Realm (though it would be rlly funny if an opponent forgot to delve and gave you Strip, Torn, and Uneven). Raging Slayers also sucks to play against cause of their passive crit making Standing Fast nigh impossible.
Warband wise, we hate seeing Starblood Stalkers for their insane The Diviner ability and their high save. Really, anything with a high save sucks. Thanatek’s Tithe is unironically one of the best warbands against Unequal for their ability to retake and hold stuff. Spiteclaw is also insane.
Against the three stuff above, Uneven Contest becomes pretty bad. Luckily, so does most of it’s competition. And it’s not unscorable – it’s just much harder. At the end of the day you can always luck out and get all three odd tokens on your side of the board so even the three matchups above find it difficult to deny.
The GOOD matchups are players who as I said before cannot be bothered to memorize the entirety of the Underworlds DB database.
Deck wise, Raging Slayers is on one hand really bad but also allows for super easy retakes due to the force driveback. So it really boils down to the player again. We also love playing against PnP because as said before they are delve fanatics and will do our hard work for us. But the BEST matchup is Nexus of Power. Use their plot card for your advantage, flip two odd tokens in the back of your board, and refuse to elaborate further. It’s such a power move. But generally just getting access to two less odd tokens as the game begins is super nice.
Warband wise, elites are nice to play against. It’s way harder for them to dedicate that much fighters to deny this card. Swarms aren’t too bad cause they are very easy to snipe off the face of the earth. Both polar ends of the ‘warband spectrum’ (so swarms and elites) make oddly Uneven even easier.
If we get paired into an easier matchup, we love this card!!! It becomes super easy and as I showed before it’s a really, really strong card at it’s easiest. However, since we rarely have influence over our matchups, we can’t really rely on this. I guess now you know which metas to run this card in. Or if your local meta is ‘PnP/NoP or bust’, counterdeck them with Uneven Contest.
DEXAMPLES
It’s time for everyone’s favorite section!!!
I will give you some ‘optimal’ Uneven Contest decks and do a VERY brief explanation on how to pilot them.
Stalkers are by far the best warband for Uneven Contest for two reasons. One, The Bulwark Celestial. Two, The Diviner. Having a built in delve allows for Kixi Taka himself to ‘solo hold’ two tokens for Uneven, which is a huge boon.
The objectives all try to synergize with Uneven Contest since we will be skittering round the board getting into weird places.
Pretty much every single ploy helps set up Uneven Contest. Even Sunder the Realm! Most of the ploys focus on either displacing enemies or getting to places you otherwise shouldn’t in order to make reaching that one last token easy.
The upgrades are mostly about anti-displacement and combat because you will need to fight for tokens. Hidden tech here includes Stubborn to the End to prevent an opponent from retaking an odd token. Also, I can’t believe I missed Utter Conviction as one of the best ways to hold onto a token!
The gameplan here is really to just play hold, nothing special. Focus on prioritizing Uneven Contest and done!
This deck uses the Gitz insane mobility (of three move) to take very much board control very fast. On paper, it actually is less consistent than the ES/CtC one because some of your objectives contradict each other but it’s definitely better at scoring Uneven Contest!
The objectives tend to focus on holding which is what Uneven Contest wants us to do. We have to leverage Snirk and the Squig push to force some cards but thats ok, it’s what they are for.
The ploys are very nice for Uneven. It’s mainly combat stuff to get enemies off tokens because in theory we shouldn’t have trouble getting to them ourselves (being the Gitz). Still, we run some movement tech and push tech to make sure that we can reach far tokens.
The upgrades do mostly the same thing as the ploys. We must take I Like Those Odds for legal reasons. Other than that, pretty much everything is either combat stuff or ‘im not moving off this token, gg’.
MISRECARDED OR BETTER DISCARDED?
Call me crazy, but Uneven Contest is crazy misrecarded. It’s really just a hold 3 card at worst and a hold 1 at best. People play Torn Landscape, which is arguably the same. I guess most of us hate having to focus on three specific tokens but come on, that’s why token placement is a thing.
I really struggle to see why people play stuff like Hold Objective 1-2 which is a ‘maybe score for 1 glory’ when you can play Uneven Contest which is a ‘maybe score for TWO glory’ (though tbh I would do the same). I really urge you guys to try building a deck or two with this card in mind. Treat it as a Torn Landscape. Yes, your opponent will try to deny it. But does it reward you heavily for scoring it? Of course!
Alas, this article must end at only 3000 words, making it a pretty short Misrecarded. Though to be fair it does only cover 15 words, of which 7 are ‘Score this in an end phase if’.
I definitely will be putting this card in as a ‘maybe’ objective next time I build an NoP or ES deck. Analyzing it really did make it seem viable. Who knows, maybe I’m delusional. I played it before in Pacifist Skaven and it worked quite well so maybe (maybe!) I might be sane after all?
Anyways, thanks a lot for reading! If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of the Misrecarded Series over here. If you have any comments/feedback/questions/want to check up on if i sleep well knowing i wrote this, check out the Staggerers Discord server which is full of nice people all willing to talk about Underworlds! With that, I hope you enjoyed, and hope to see you again soon 🙂
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