By Ryan Segal
February marked the beginning of the Players Championship season, as the race to Minehead in November got underway.
James Wade was out of the blocks faster than anyone in Halle 39, romping home to the maiden title of the season.
After a three year wait for his previous PC win, it was only a matter of months between that accolade and this, as he fended off Nathan Aspinall in the final to add £15,000 to his ranking.
Players Championship 2 didn't quite see that success replicated, with Charlie Manby, Gary Anderson, Adam Paxton, Owen Bates, and James himself all reaching the L16.
We then looked to the first European Tour Qualifiers of the season, with Thomas Lovely making it through to ET1, and Jeffrey De Zwaan making it through to ET2, defeating Mensur Suljovic in an all Unicorn affair to seal his spot.
Whilst some people may see Valentine's day as an occasion for love and romance – we see it as a day for darts, with Gary Anderson and Ian White flying out to Denmark for the Galactic Darts Showdown, showcasing Unicorn on the Hillerød.
The floor events were coming thick and fast, with Wigan then playing host to PC3 and PC4.
It was more floor success for The Machine, as he reached the Semi-Final at PC3, alongside Tom Bissell, with Bizzness recording his best run in the PDC in what we all hope is a tone-setter for the season.
That run also moved James onto 999 wins in Players Championship events – a statistic that still holds true at the time of writing, due to his opening round loss at PC4, and withdrawal from the next two events.
We've got the fanfare ready to go, mind.
The standout member of Team Unicorn at PC4 was Callan Rydz, with The Riot following in the footsteps of The Machine and Bizzness to reach the Semi-Final.
Between the end of PC4 and the ET3 Qualifier, we showcased our stunning Prodigy darts.
The Prodigy range are 95% tungsten, with a striking blue navy coating – Designed for those starting their darting journey, the grip is such that players of any experience can thrive using them.
Check them out via our website.
Back to Robin Park, we had a trio of players come within a whisker of ET3 qualification – and a quartet in the final round of Qualifying for ET4 – with Thomas Lovely being the success story of the day, adding ET4 qualification to his ET1 qualification the previous week.
We then took time to recognise the early season achievements of Tom Sykes.
Having been knocking on the Pro Tour door like the intruder in Men at Work's 'Who Can It Be Now?', The Castleford Tiger was one of just seven players to have won all of his L128 games in the first four events.
No-one disputes his worthiness, but it certainly doesn't hurt to prove it.
Before the opening jaunt to the continent, we then took the time to once again share another special dart from our range – The Iris.
The Iris is like no other dart – Reflecting our belief that every player is unique, the DNA coating means no two sets look the same, whilst all having stunning and intricate sharkfin machining, and a milled vertical cut.
You can get yours direct from us.
The gates were then called – as we flew out to Poland for the inaugural Poland Darts Masters.
The ET ribbon was cut for the season by Cameron Menzies – and he didn't half do it in style, smashing in 9 x 180s in 10 legs as he beat former European Champion Ritchie Edhouse 6-4.
Thomas Lovely didn't quite find the same fire in his defeat to Wessel Nijman – but the Cammy bus kept on rolling, as he demolished Unicorn Teammate Wade 6-0, with a 99 average and a 50% success rate on the outer ring.
That was as far as he would progress, but a superb start to the ET season for our Cammy nonetheless.
Whilst the glitz and glamour of the ET was taking place, the first batch of 5 Development Tour events was taking place back on the shores of Blighty.
Our highest achiever of the weekend was Charlie Manby, who reached a Final, Semi-Final, and Quarter-Final.
Owen Bates and Henry Coates both reached a Quarter-Final apiece.
Back to Players Championship action, and we had our second event win in the first five events – as Ross Smith produced his typical PC magic to win.
An 8-2 win in the final with a 104 average capped off a superb day for Smudger, with that average being one of three to cross the three figure mark en route to his eighth ranking title.
We then officially announced the arrival of David Sharp to the team, in the wake of the 36 year old gaining his maiden tour card.
He celebrated the feat with a run to the Quarter-Final, alongside Smudger, who was just a few wins short of going back to back.
We then ended the month by announcing another new signing, as 'Hillbilly' James Hurrell joined us after leaving Mission.
March is another busy month for Team Unicorn – and we can't wait to see what awaits.