#mlp:ccg

[thegeneralsnotebook]

Adventures in Deckbuilding #233: Princess Twilight Sparkle, There's A Spell For That! (Purple/Orange Midrange Farm) [Core]

Princess Twilight Sparkle, There’s A Spell For That

Say It Again Slower

When New Dawn first launched, an Orange/Purple aggro deck strikingly similar to this one was my go-to, featuring the original Legacy Leech as a way to supercharge Princess Celestia, Restricted Section and gain a pile of AT into the midgame. Alas, some people decided that we can’t have nice things, and the deck in its original form fell by the wayside. But I’ve certainly never forgotten it, and so looking at this Mane for this stage of the journey, I decided to take a look back and see if I could make something of it again.

Notably though, as referenced by this post’s title, despite featuring broadly the same star cards as its predecessor, the strategy and flow of this deck are going to be very different from the original. That original deck was aggro to its core, and this one is leaning much heavier on the idea of being a slower, more controlling deck in the early game. So the theory goes, after we’ve spent the early part of the game loading up the discard piles with control Events, we can do the same thing as before and charge into the midgame with superpowered Celestias.

Naturally, thus, this isn’t an aggro deck anymore. It’s kind of a mish-mash actually, so I guess midrange is the only label that can be honestly applied. It’s equipped to play slowly if necessary with delaying events that can trigger Tempest Shadow and a good supply of Orange Events for Apple Bloom as well. Once we banish a big pile of Events, we can transition into a midgame that’s going to consist of about equal parts Farm and Aggro. Both gameplans should be supportable with the cast of Epic Troublemakers and Problems we’ve got in here. Yes, it’s a Control Problem deck, without doubt, but the idea is that if we don’t have a 10+ power Celestia on the field, then we’re playing Control anyway, and if we do, then we can confront anything in that deck.

As was true in the original, Orange and Purple get a big boost from having lots of Events in their deck in terms of deckbuilding, because that means we can include Torque Wrench and basically be set in terms of Resource removal. With the amount of attachment Resources White is using these days, one also shouldn’t forget that she gets counters whenever an opposing Resource leaves play for any reason, not only when she was the one that made it go away. Mysterious Disappearance as the only other Resource removal is there for pesky Resources that are otherwise difficult to get rid of by Friend-based methods, and so obviously can be sideboarded if you don’t expect to run into any of those.

Tempest Shadow was a card that lots of people told me to put in the old deck originally, and I’ve finally redressed that wrong. As this Mane is generally easy to flip, getting to Unity 10 Purple should represent no challenge at all, and if we do then our key disruption Events on the opponent’s turn get, well, even more disruptive. Plus no one complains about Prepared as a keyword, and it’s even more useful in this deck than it would have been in the original, with actual Troublemakers to hide behind.

The Event suite has changed from what the deck used to have, mainly as we needed to shift more Orange Events in to give Apple Bloom a reasonable chance of getting used. She can be a real terror for opposing decks with only a few characters, or even just those with key activated abilities that require an exhaust. Put that together with the fact that the Orange Event suite we have is composed of some standout Events, and it’s a strong package. Those Purple Events that we are left with are also among the standouts of the colour.

Notable to discuss when using this Mane is when we ought to be revealing the top card of our deck in search of that discount. My gut instinct says that, just as the strategy of the deck changes dramatically as it transitions from the Control early game to the Aggro/Farm midgame, so too should this be the moment when hiding info from the opponent becomes less important than being able to play cards as efficiently as possible. But it’s possible that play experience may produce a different optimal strategy.

As I mentioned, the original version of this deck was one that I dearly loved to play with. I expect that I will get some experience with this one as well at some point or another in the future. And I have a feeling that I will find it just as enjoyable, though perhaps in a slightly different way. These two colours are just destined for great things in my eyes whenever they pair up.

There was another big gap in this series, but I really want to finish this thing up once and for all. The truth is, I have an idea for another weekly series that I want to start running, but I’m not going to be able to start it until I finally clear out the backlog for this series. So onward we go, next week with Rarity, Fashion Mogul!

[diamond-song42]

Card Shark 122: Alicorn Amulet

Happy 2021 everycreature! I know it’s been a while since the last Holiday Dumpster Fire Shark - and my website still isn’t finished yet - so you may be asking yourself, “what in Equestria is happening?!”

Well, I’ll tell you what’s happening. University has, as usual, been hectic. Building a website with many multilayered tags for organization purposes is harder than it sounds. I’ve also been applying to internships as they are vital in the field of work I intend to enter - and got approved for one starting this June, which I am over the moon about! But add all that to some stressful family and social events - surgeries, layoffs, online feuds - and you have another extended Shark break!

So because of that, I have a new plan. I am going to finish the Holiday Dumpster Fire Card-a-Thon, even though we are well past the holidays. I also have a certain card I want to write about for my birthday, even though it will be long past my birthday. After that? I’ll see where my writings and the cards take me.

But with that comes an announcement. This will be the final Shark I post to The Di-Light Zone.

I have decided that since we are moving on to cards labelled as legal in the current Core format, it would be fitting to continue writing about them on the new site. I don’t know when everything will be finished, but I want everyone to know that Card Shark has never left my mind. During class sessions, showers, viewings of my favorite shows... I’ve thought about how I don’t just want to end Card Shark. I’ve fostered it for too long to let it go this easily. And because of that, I cannot wait to share with you all this archive of writings that I have been working long hours on!

Now to continue with business as usual one last time here in The Di-Light Zone. Today we’re covering Marks in Time with a Resource that seems like a prime farming tool... I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of it. Let’s pick apart the “Alicorn Amulet!”

Just put one of these on and you too can be a highest level unicorn! There aren’t a lot of Resources you can play on Troublemakers, and this one might be the most powerful of them all. This costs 1 AT, 1 Purple req, and 1 White req, which is... amazingly cheap for a Resource of this rarity. You play the Amulet on any of your Troublemakers. (No opposing Troublemakers will be sporting this thing!) There are two parts to this Amulet: first, it makes the host Troublemaker Epic and gives it +3 power. Epic Troublemakers can be challenged by either player and are usually associated with big villains like the Pony of Shadows or the Legion of Doom. By itself, that is pretty great. You can turn non-Epic Troublemakers into Epic Troublemakers to farm for your own gain. But then there’s the other part: during your Main Phase, you can pay 1 AT to move that Troublemaker. Moving a Troublemaker can be useful when your opponent sets themselves up to continually confront a Problem and avoid your Troublemaker. And just to recap, this can all be done for a minimum of 1-2 AT. THAT is scary. A smaller Troublemaker like Winterzilla can be boosted to 7 power while a higher Troublemaker like the Pony of Shadows (even if it is already Epic) can be boosted to 10. You can get rid of your own Troublemakers and get points when your opponent doesn’t want to. And you can play leapfrog with a Troublemaker, jumping from Problem to Problem. It’s a pretty ingenious farming technique, especially if you use Troublemakers that benefit you and you wouldn’t normally use for farming. There’s a reason this amulet is Unique.

So where has this thing been on the competitive scene? Frankly, besides the Resource removal, I don’t see many technicalities that could be wrong with it. It’s easy to play, it’s cheap, and it’s got a fun niche! Yet I think the biggest problem facing this card is that it is too niche. Besides already-Epic cards, most commonly seen, useful Troublemakers only have a maximum of 0-1 bonus points. I rarely see any farming technique use Troublemakers with less than a 2 point turnout. And the few non-Epic Troublemakers that have at least 2 bonus points don’t exactly have a lot going for them in what they do. The first Pony of Shadows can frighten a Friend at its Problem. Grumpie Pie is coming close to hitting a lot of banlists. The goal of The Smooze, Creeping Crud is to stick around and repeatedly flip off any opponents who try and defeat it. Timberwolf... well, we don’t talk about Timberwolf (at least until I write a formal Shark on it). Even if played on an already Epic Troublemaker, depending on the Troublemaker, the extra power can be easy to overcome. Regardless, if played on the right Troublemaker, I still think this could be a threat against certain decks.

Here’s a few more cards that may or may not be wearing one of Zecora’s doorstops:

*Scootaloo, Creature Catcher. Ok, so I frankly couldn’t find a lot of cards that I thought meshed well with this thing. Scoots here exhausts and lets you play a Troublemaker for free. That’s 1 AT (maybe more?) you can save to play an Amulet on the Troublemaker once it is revealed. Blue/Purple/White just became a more viable option for a tricorn deck with the inclusion of Legion of Doom, Frightful Foes and Being Big Is All It Takes in New Dawn... even if neither of those cards really heavily support Troublemakers. Time to reiterate my Card Shark catchphrase: “Every AT counts”. It’s just a nice little trick to help you keep some pocket change.

*Hoity Toity, Discerning Eye. If Princess Luna, Midnight is any indication, Orange/Purple/White might be an even more viable tricolor combo than Blue/Purple/White. Hoity Toity essentially allows you to recycle Friends and Resources in your discard pile once - if those Friends or Resources would leave play after that, they are banished. I don’t say this lightly: Hoity Toity is one of my all-time favorite MLP:CCG cards. Here, he will allow you to replay Amulets on your Troublemakers. Once one of your Troublemakers is defeated or dismissed, you can just replay your Amulet on the next Troublemaker you play, simple as that! As with any Hoity Toity strategy, I advise two things: one, you need to keep a close eye on your discard pile and make a plan in case your opponent is able to shut down access to your discard pile before you can get to it. Two, I’d run multiple copies of every card in your deck so you have as many opportunities as possible to replay things with Hoity Toity.

*Cozy Glow, Double Dealer/Fluttershy, Pony Pirate/Repulsor Blast/any card that allows you to bypass Troublemakers and confront Problems. The Alicorn Amulet does make a Troublemaker Epic - even if it’s your own Troublemaker, it prevents you from confronting your own Problems. At least it does... when you don’t have any cards like these at your disposal. If you still want to get points off your Problem while your Amuleted Troublemaker sits there, you have several options at your disposal. Depending on your overall deck strategy, you’ll have to pick the option(s) that’s right for you.

Thank you so, so much for reading this edition of Card Shark! It feels bittersweet to say goodbye to The Di-Light Zone... but the magic of friendship will always be strong here. The (not Holiday anymore) Dumpster Fire Card-a-Thon will continue on the new Diamond’s Corner with an Event from Defenders of Equestria that was frankly hard to pick because DoE has so many decent Events. As I’ve said previously, I’ll make a formal announcement here once the site goes live. But until I see you again, my friends, whether on this site or the new one... Diamond out!

[cloudchaserandflitterexplain]

Cloudchaser and Flitter Explain: Harmony

Why Cici! I never…

thought you'd ever catch on. Well done, hehe.

But no! Today's different! Today you're going to do it!

Wah?

We're talking about Harmony abilities today, incidentally.

But I'm no good at this kind of thing...

Give it your best shot! I know you can do it, Cici!

Uhh… hi everypony. Today we're, uh, harmoniously going to…

talk about Harmony abilities?

Aww c'mon, Cici! You can do better than that!

Today we're going to talk about Harmony abilities… harmoniously?

...We'll workshop this later.

I told you I'm no good at this kind of thing, Flitter!

So Friends Forever may have been out for awhile, and we may be a bit late to the party…

We’ve both been a bit busy lately, yeah…

But that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about Friends Forever’s mechanics, right? Starting with… Harmony!

But wait a minute, what I just said doesn’t make any sense! Harmony’s not a mechanic at all! It doesn't actually mean anything!

Yeah, it's kind of like a helper word to let you know at a glance what cards with these kinds of abilities mean. We’ve actually seen it before with Chaos, which also doesn’t actually mean anything. It’s just a reminder that “hey, this card does something in the Flip Zone.”

In this case, Harmony is just telling us “this card cares about other cards with such and such trait.” But it doesn't have any rules text of its own.

If you want, you could completely ignore it.

Well you could, but it's handy to refer to the cards that have it as cards with Harmony abilities. It makes talking about the cards easier, despite not actually meaning anything!

Just think about all the times you’ve talked about Chaos abilities in your games! Probably loads! It’s a nice short hand.

Though I guess in this case that could get a bit confusing considering we have a format named Harmony too…

You can usually understand which is being talked about through context, though, so it's not a terribly big deal.

Like when I say I'm playing my Harmony Griffon deck, you'll definitely know I'm playing a deck that has a couple griffons in it in the Harmony format and not a deck that has a bunch of Harmony Griffon cards!

...You did that on purpose.

Sure did!

Anyway, the point is that Harmony isn’t actually a mechanic. And there’s no one way that Harmony works; the cards that have it are all pretty different from each other and use it in different ways.

Which means that despite the fact that there are a lot of cards with this helpful word, there's not that much to talk about.

But there's still a bit! So let's keep talking!

To start with, we've got seven different traits with this not-keyword: Pegasus, Earth Pony, Unicorn, Griffon, Dragon, Changeling, and last but not least…

Alicorn!

Alicorn barely even counts...

There's a card with Harmony Alicorn, so it definitely counts!

Yeah, a card.

Still counts!

So each of these traits got a bit of help in making tribal decks a bit more fun.

“Tribal” meaning a deck that focuses around a specific trait and uses a lot of bonuses for using as many Characters with that trait as possible.

I think it's called that because of the three pony tribes before the first Hearth’s Warming? I'm not sure.

Something to look into later for sure!

Now if you're like me, your first thought on seeing Harmony was a keyword from Crystal Games…

Teamwork!

Ungh, I'm getting Carbo-Loader flashbacks…

Teamwork and Harmony go hoof in hoof because they're both tribal mechanics, and teamwork before was already on Pegasi, Earth Ponies, and Unicorns so it's basically like doubling your fun!

Or it would be if there were more than like 2 good teamwork cards or 3 good harmony cards…

Oh shush.

In general, Harmony cards all go great with other Harmony cards for the same trait, but there's nothing saying you have to use them.

Yeah. Take Fume, for example. He has a pretty strong Harmony ability, allowing him to exhaust a lot of opposing characters and then keep them exhausted via his other ability. He’s honestly a card with a lot of potential.

Buuuuut... there really aren’t any other Harmony Dragon cards that go super well with that particular ability. So you could get away with just running whatever dragons happen to be best for the deck rather than trying to cram in a bunch of Harmony that doesn’t really help out much.

But on the flipside, you absolutely could just include them all and have fun with all their synergistic effects! I know I have.

Yeah, but that’s what you do every set. Take your favourite cards and play with them.

Well, so do you!

I do not!

Wait, do I? I play with the cards that help me win but…

Those are my favourites! Woah.

Well, blowing Cici’s mind is usually the sign that we’re about done for the day!

Huh? What does that mean?

Don’t worry about it.

Also feels like we just got started.

Well, we did say there wasn’t that much to talk about...

Can you think of anything else to say?

Hrm…

Well, I think it’s worth pointing out that some cards with Harmony are good even if you don’t get to use them with their Harmony effect.

Take Unsatisfactory Work. It’s clearly much better if you have a Pegasus, but if you don’t have one? It’s still pretty good. Kind of like a Yellow Napcakes, though not quite as good.

Though considering how strong Napcakes is, being almost as good is still very good.

And if you do have a Pegasus, it’s super charged and ready to return any opposing Friend to the opponent’s hand, whenever you want!

And the reverse is also true. Just because you have a lot of cards of a particular trait doesn’t mean you have to cram in Harmony cards to go along with them.

I’ve got a decent Pink deck with lots of Earth Ponies but I’m not about to put Sorry Stamp in it over a card like Belly Flop or Foodfight!. It may work best with Earth ponies, but as expensive as it is makes me not really interested.

Awww, but Sorry Stamp is so fun…

Especially if you bring your own stamp to use on your opponent’s forehead!

You keep that away from me!

Don’t worry, Cici.it’s just a prop. I wouldn’t stamp you without your permission.

Good.

No, I have way better ways to tease you.

Uhhhh...

And with that, I think we’re done for the day! For reals this time.

Later Everypony!

Later.

[aquamarinnesart]

WIP with Twilight!

Oh I love this sweet girl.

My DeviantArt! My VK group! Support me on Ko-fi!

[ask-bronycan]

Event Spotlight - MLP: Collectible Card Game

Thanks to our friends at Connection Games, we’ll be hosting a plethora of CCG events in the Skyview Pavilion!

If you haven’t played before, you can learn the basics of the CCG, and even take part in a free practice tournament! Card packs will be made available for purchase.

For those looking to test their skills, we have some options for you. First, a harmony tournament to put your best deck forward for a chance of glory (and prizes). Second, we have a sealed tournament to build a new deck from the ground up and take you to the top! Finally, we have a Block Tournament, which only allows cards from the four latest sets for the ultimate trial. You will need to pay a fee to participate in these tournaments. Please check our online schedule for more information.

The Skyview Pavilion is located on the 8th Floor Plaza, in the east building. The elevator that will take you there can be found in the far east hall of the venue. Best of luck to all players!

Register for BronyCAN 2017!

[asksprite]

Finally got off my ass and got some proper card storage. Turns out I had far less than I had realized.

Ended up organizing them all, each separated by the tags of what they are in their piles. 

And then the one random spot of handbooks and playmats for rookies trying to learn. 

[piratedashmod]

oooooh I got one! How would you like to see the MLP fandom grow in 2018? More of what, less of what? And what advice would you give to me, or any of your followers, to make this community better in the coming year? (as a seasoned veteran of the community?)

First, two things:

I had to open my laptop to answer this because this might get long

I’m honored someone wants my advice on this ;~;

This is a tough one and the answer might not be so simple.  I’ve pondered that first question and I just don’t know how to answer that.  Because I don’t think it’s going to grow in numbers.  And I’m not sure how it will grow in maturity.  Have we reached our peak in that?  Or is there ways to improve it?

The one thing I want to see more of...ask blogs.  The Tumblrpon community just isn’t the same anymore, and it’s a shell of what it once was.  I know some blogs still update, but there’s really very few long-standing ones anymore.  I’m guilty of PD not updating as often as I used to.  Same with Mic and Mari.  I’m going to try and get better on that in the new year.  But the show has given us so much great content from the past two season and the movie for ask blogs.  And no one’s really taken charge to make the characters all their own!  It’s frustrating in a way.  And that’s even with a trend going towards OC ask blogs being enjoyed more.  So...more ask blogs.  And I’d like to see a podcast or two pop up again.  Hell, I kinda want to do one with someone about the show.  We all know there’s going to be content for years to talk about.

Less of?  Youtube.  Let’s be honest.  The Youtube reviewers bring nothing substantial to the community apart from being nitpicky about the show with cringy OCs to go along with it.  The react videos are scripted too?  That’s not authentic or entertaining and it wasn’t that entertaining to begin with.  The ones that use Youtube as a platform to make a name for themselves in the fandom just need to be taken down a peg, to be blunt.

Advice that I could give?  Just keep creating.  Keep drawing and making comics and characters that people love and enjoy.  Because people love seeing those stories and embracing the characters, which means they embrace you in a way.  And be involved in the fandom outside of it.  I do that with MLP:CCG and I’ve made friends and relationships that I never thought was possible.  I have two communities in the fandom that accept me as part of their own, and that’s pretty neat.

And finally, go to Bronycon if you can.  Meet these people, hang out with them, trade sketches with them, have dinner with them.  The friendships will mean more if you can meet in person.

[delanyu]

Here we Special Beam Cannon which is an event card, meaning that it can only be played during the phase which is stated on the card and then is discarded. In the case of this card it can be played during the players main phase and when it is played it allows the player to choose and banish any resource in play, whether it is their own or the opponents. It’s a pretty straightforward card and there is not much more to say about it, at least on the game play front. The name is a pretty obvious reference to the english dub of Dragon Ball Z in which a character name Piccolo has an special attack named the very same thing.

[thegeneralsnotebook]

Adventures in Deckbuilding #232: Queen Chrysalis, Overt Operations (White/Blue Midrange) [Core]

Queen Chrysalis, Overt Operations

Relay Race

I was thinking that I was probably going to follow up the last entry with another deck showcasing a piece of Prize Wheel 2, but instead a different bug bit me this week. Actually, if you were paying attention to the most recent Meticulous Talks stream, you would have gotten a small sneak peek of the thoughts in my head, as I talked about the seeming potential in combining Blue and White to make a Midrange-style deck.

As I said then, Blue is and has always been a great aggro colour, with much synergy for confronting Problems quickly mostly due to the necessity of a deck doing lots of confronts and faceoffs having good solutions for moving characters around. White, as a colour with a lot of deterrent cards that put roadblocks in the way of the opponent without sacrificing a lot of tempo on your part, seems like a good fit here. White is able to bring hard removal and slightly better Resource removal to the deck as well. So the deck that I theorised then was a solid midrange that used Blue cards to confront Problems and force faceoffs, and White cards to slow down the opponent.

The part that I didn’t mention during the stream was that I was thinking of doing a lot of this with Hats. Looking through the cards, I was extremely surprised at the number of Accessories that Blue has available to it, and indeed they’re some pretty good Accessories too. Golden Horseshoe often sees play in Blue decks on its own, and Daring Do’s Safari Hat, while it didn’t quite make the cut in this deck, was a very strong contender. Wedding Ring is a wonderfully cheap card for the free moves that it provides, plus the potential Experienced power. But the card that really ties the whole deck together is Coco Pommel, because with her on the field we can make some really spectacular conga-lining happen.

Consider, after a DFO, we reattach Golden Horseshoe at the start of our turn, which triggers a move. In the Main Phase, the shod character can pull another character, potentially activating more moves with Wedding Rings involved and pulling a Fleetfoot at the end of everything. That can be a lot of AT saved, enough to confront one Problem for free, perhaps. (In Adventure, a Cybernetic Limb Actuator might be all we need to confront the other Problem as well, though admittedly the Wedding Rings only work once per turn.)

As always, cutting down a Hats deck was hard. Playtesting (which I did manage to do for this deck, for once) seemed to hint that I want even more Accessories than this, as I had a hard time drawing any of them. But I’m really not sure where to make changes. Remembering that our Mane is unlikely to flip early, the entry structure is hard to change, as we actually don’t have that many paths into White early on. Much of the utility that shows up elsewhere in the deck is also stretched thin, with only three pieces of Resource removal, not many options against Troublemakers, and just a few pieces of removal. Plus, I really felt the need to include Beat The Rush because the power of Immediate-speed movement gets greatly multiplied when we have our Resources in play. That card effectively becomes an anti-Troublemaker tool when it can effectively pull three or more characters to a Problem before the Challenge step.

A lingering uncertainty also remains with the Mane itself. I’ve never really figured out when the best time to flip Chrysalis is. Three AT is a big investment, especially for a quicker deck like this one, effectively cancelling your own ability to do anything else for the rest of the turn. Perhaps with time I could figure it out, or (more realistically) if I was going to play this deck seriously I would just use a Blue Mane. That would also free up a bit of deck space from not having to include the Blue entry as well.

Overall, though, I’m very intrigued by this concept, and I think that I want to explore it further, albeit not with this Mane. Sorry, Chrysalis.

Next week, we move back to Purple, to close out the triple for Princess Twilight Sparkle, There’s A Spell For That!

[diamond-song42]

Card Shark 121: Flitter, Flutterer

Happy Christmas Eve and welcome back to Card Shark! I’ve been hard at work on my new site... which means the Holiday Dumpster Fire Card-a-Thon is going to continue into the new year! I can’t wait for you all to see the grand new site when it is complete. For now, as I await Santa’s arrival, I focus on a High Magic card that may, unfortunately, be on the naughty list this year. Let’s take a look at “Flitter, Flutterer!”

I know I’m definitely on a couple naughty lists since I’m featuring this card in the Holiday Dumpster Fire Card-a-Thon. 3 AT and 2 Pink req nets you this 2 power Pink Friend. High Magic has a series of Friends that you can Immediately banish from your hand to temporarily reduce the play requirements of your cards by 2 of a certain color - this card is Pink’s version. But you can play her, too: in fact, when she enters play, you dismiss each opposing Friend in her area with 1 printed power or less. If you’re unaware, printed power is the raw power on the card - for example, this Flitter card has 2 printed power. At first glance, this may not seem like a very useful ability. While there are a lot of decks with at least one Friend with 1 printed power, paying 3 AT to dismiss 1-3 power may be too expensive. But you may be thinking about the wrong type of Friend. Back when I used to heavily play Blue/Pink, I realized the novelty of this card when I dropped it at a Problem with a handful of Token Friends. Arguably the most popular Token Friends in the game (at least right now) all have 1 printed power (Unicorns, Critters, and Earth Ponies). And Flitter can absolutely annihilate them. Thanks to the specification of printed power, Flitter can bypass cards like Conductor’s Baton that boost the power of certain cheap, low-power Friends and Holder’s Boulder, Key Stone that try and protect Token Friends from potentially more common ailments such as frightening. And what’s worse for your opponent is that unlike other dismissed Friends, they can’t get back their Token Friends unless they generate more. Token Friends may be able to be dismissed, but they won’t be going into the discard pile! And that’s not to say this is truly only applicable to Token Friends - if they’re at a Problem, Friends like Pillar of Strength, Tymbal, Guard Geese, Brian, Tri-Horned Bunyip, Delivery Mare, Shoeshine, Living to Laugh, Cover to Cover, any of the Cutie Mark-able or Breeziefied Mane 6, and many more can be scared away by Flits. That’s a frightening pink bow right there.

This is the part where I really get condemned to the naughty list. Let’s start with the first part, which is the ability to be banished to reduce color play requirement. It has... not aged great. Banishing any of these Friends only reduces play requirements until the end of the turn they are banished - temporary reductions that require banishing seem a bit... lackluster when cards like The Fire of Friendship, Rainbow Generator, and Motivational Speech now exist. As for the second half of the card? Sweet Celestia, this is so niche it isn’t funny. Seriously. When I ran Flutterer in my Blue/Pink deck, I did it just for the banishing aspect (this was before The Fire of Friendship existed). Other than one or two chance occasions, the ability to dismiss opposing Friends with 1 printed power or less was virtually useless to me. And in today’s metagame, it is unbelievably easy to generate and regenerate Token Friends. Just look at some of the decks that like to flex Bodyguard, Equine Escort or Critter Choir, Cheerful Chirpers. I can’t count the number of Unicorn Tokens I’ve seen Bodyguard generate in a single match. Unless you managed to block access to any discard piles, retrieving any non-Token Friends with 1 or less printed power is easier than it sounds. There’s this new card called Mrs. Cake, Pastry Panic that allows you to effectively replace certain Pink Friends... it’s not pretty when you’re on the receiving end of it. I appreciate you, Flits, but you’re being featured in the Holiday Dumpster Fire Card-a-Thon for a reason.

Here’s a few more cards looking for just the right flap:

*Party Hat. It’s the “Oops! All Resources” edition of my suggestion list! Party Hat was one of my staples when I used to run dismissal decks. You attach it to a Friend, and when any other opposing Friend is dismissed, the Party Hatted Friend is also dismissed! With this, Flitter can both wipe out a 1 or less printed power Friend and a Friend with any power as long as that Friend has a Party Hat. Of course, it isn’t just good for Flitter dismissing - it works with more traditional dismissers such as Pinkie Pie, Party Cannoneer and Belly Flop as well. Like with all Resources (and this is true for the other Resources on this list), beware of the Resource removal that may squash the fun.

*Somnambula’s Blindfold. If you’re using Flutterer, then chances are she’s not your only dismissal trick. For those other dismissal tricks, the dreaded Blindfold comes in handy. The Blindfold blocks players from searching or peeking at the top card in decks and stops cards from leaving discard piles. That means when you dismiss a non-Token Friend with the Blindfold in play, your opponent can’t use anything like Discord Pile or Redeeming Qualities to get that Friend back into play. Keep in mind that the Blindfold does go both ways - if you want to search your deck for anything or use a Discord Pile of your own, you’ll have to do away with your Blindfold first.

*Friendship Express. The obligatory New Dawn card of the Shark isn’t the most popular new Resource, but I think it could hit hard when circumstances are perfect. Hitching a ride on the Friendship Express gives any and all Friends in your hand Hasty, allowing you to play them Immediately... as long as you spend one additional AT. And I know some decks that can save up to 12-15 AT before making their move! Using this with Flits is probably the most obscure, crazed idea on this list, namely because I can already picture the look of devastation in your opponents’ eyes as they set up a bunch of Tokens to confront a Problem or challenge a Troublemaker or whatever and then Flitter comes in for 4 AT and all hell breaks loose.

Thanks for reading another Dumpster Fire edition of Card Shark! I may have another Shark out tomorrow (it remains to be seen depending on the Christmas Day activities I decide to indulge myself in), but whenever the next one comes out, I promise it will feature a Marks in Time Resource that may have been more threatening in the show than it is in the game. Come back next time to see what Resource it is! Diamond out!

[cloudchaserandflitterexplain]

Cloudchaser and Flitter Explain: Songs

Continentals. I just don't know what to play…

Oh don't be silly. We all know what your favourite deck is.

Well, sure. And it's a lot of fun. But the current meta is so control heavy, I’m not sure it'll do too well.

So do I play it and just try and do my best regardless? Or do I try to play a control deck instead to capitalize on the meta? Or maybe something else?

Time's running out! I should have made a decision by now! Augh!

Aww, Cici… You'll do fine. You always do.

Yeah, but I want to win.

Well, I know what'll cheer you up! I'll sing a song!

Cici, Cici, she's our mare! She'll win all the Ultra Rares!

Heh. Not much of a song.

But you're smiling!

And now that you're happy, it's time to discuss our topic for the day, Songs!

Well, and Epiphanies, since they're close enough we may as well batch them in. But we'll mostly just be talking about Songs.

Songs are one of the more interesting and fun kind of card in the game since they’re pretty different from just about every other event in the game.

While most events are straightforward and do one thing and only one thing...

...Songs do one of three different things, allowing you to pick the best of the three for the situation you're in.

And Epiphanies are even better as they let you pick two of the three things for even more versatility!

Songs have become a staple in many decks for awhile now because of that versatility. Most songs do at least one good thing, if not more, so it's pretty easy to justify running them over similar cards.

Of course, there's usually a tradeoff. The multi-colour songs require you to be using specific colour combinations, while the one colour songs frequently cost more than similar cards would. It's not always right to use a song over something similar, depending on what your deck needs.

As a simple example, Special Beam Cannon banishes a resource for 1 AT, while Luna's Future does that for 2.

Now if you never intended to use any of the other verses on Luna's Future, it's probably better to go for the cheaper one. But if the temporary banishment or buffing of a Troublemaker helps your strategy, it can be worth spending the extra AT for the versatility.

Likewise, Glass of Water and Splash Attack both let you turn a Troublemaker face-down for 1 AT. But, Glass of Water requires you to be in both Yellow and Purple, so isn't always better despite having more options!

You have to consider all of the benefits and downsides of the song first. Running Yellow/Orange? Bats! is probably a good inclusion! Running Yellow/Blue with just a tiny bit of Orange? Maybe Bats! isn't for you and you should stick with Bewitched Beavers.

Or maybe Bewitched Beavers is even right over Bats! simply because you'd rather have your resource removal at Immediate speed! There's a lot to things to consider!

So as you can probably guess, simply running songs over similar cards isn't always right.

But it usually is.

Just like Cici!

Cici, Cici, she’s so right! Her words of wisdom light up the night!

...What does that even mean?

That’s an exercise left open to the listener.

Oooookay then. Moving on.

So sometimes it's not always clear which is better for your deck, a song or a similar not-song. So how do you know which to use?

Easy. Practice!

Try the deck with the song and try it with the other card and see which worked better for you. Then use that one.

Though I guess technically that's advice for just about any card.

Still doesn't hurt to bring up now!

True.

So that covers when to add them to your deck, but what about when they’re already in your deck. How do you choose which verse to use?

That's… harder.

Sometimes it's pretty obvious. Opponent has a nasty resource in play you need to dismiss, so playing Friends Are Always There to dismiss it is probably more important than making 3 Critters.

Or maybe you're 3 power short from DFOing and only have 2 AT and have never seen the opponent play a resource, so using it to make Friends is the right call after all.

Silly Cici.

Making friends is always the right call! Just ask Pinkie!

Er, uh… I meant in game.

Sure, making friends through games is great.

But you can also make friends through parties or interpretive dance or snowboarding or learning the Vuvuzela, or traveling to Yakyakistan or—

I get the picture.

Point is, sometimes it's pretty obvious. But sometimes, well…

Sometimes it's not.

Maybe you want to DFO and are 3 power short and Friends Are Always There is your only way to get that three power… but you know your opponent has lots of annoying resources and annoying non-epic troublemakers, even if they're not in play now.

You could play it now and DFO and get some points…

But if they play a Staff of Sacanas the next turn, you might find yourself in a rough spot and wish you still had that resource removal.

Quite the predicament. So what do you do, Cici?

Well, in my professional card playing experience, I can tell you with utmost confidence that…

I don't know.

Whaaaaaat? But you're supposed to be the expert, Cici!

Cici, Cici, she knows it all. Her knowledge of the game’s not small!

Heh, thanks.

Mine neither.

But, seriously. There's no inherently correct answer.

It's possible you'll get punished for making the risky aggressive play, but it's also possible you'll get punished for making the safe defensive play. Unless you have perfect knowledge of the opponent's hand and deck, there's no way to know for sure.

It comes down to a judgement call. Make your best guess as to which is right and hope. That's part of the downside of having choices. Sometimes you make the wrong one and have no way of knowing until it's too late.

But hey. It was a choice you had the opportunity to make that you wouldn’t have if it was a similar non-song card, at least. And once you've been in a similar situation enough times, you'll be able to draw on your experiences to help weigh in the decision next time it shows up.

It’s…. tricky.

But honestly I find it a pretty rewarding skill to grow. And it can feel great when you get to the point where you feel you're making that kind of decision right most of the time.

But, like most skills in this game, it's something you can only really refine with practice. And you will occasionally make mistakes.

Yeah, even Cici still makes mistakes every now and again. Nopony's perfect.

Well, except for Princess Celestia.

Uhhh, I'm pretty sure even she's not—

It was a joke, Cici.

Oh. Right.

Anyway, that's just about it… but there's still 3 cards we need to bring up with regards to songs!

Dance Fever: Dancing Machine, Spike: Master of Ceremonies, and…

It's just those two, right?

Nope!

We also need to go over how Songs and Epiphanies work with Wake Up Call!

Well, and I guess Octavia: Harmony and Dissonance, but that interaction's basically the same.

Huh, yeah. That is worth mentioning.

So our little card game works a bit weird when it comes to canceling events. Specifically, you don't decide what the output of an event will be until it's resolved.

Normally, this doesn't matter. You just play your I'll Fly, say you're moving your Mane to your problem, and that's it!

But when a Wake Up call is in play, the opponent has the chance to stop your event from doing anything. So it's best not to say what you're doing when you play your song.

Just say “I'll play I'll fly. Are you canceling it?” and wait for them to answer. If they do, then put it in the discard pile without saying anything else. But if they don't, then you say what you're doing with it.

Technically there's nothing wrong with saying what you're intending to do with it, but it might affect your opponent's decision on whether or not to cancel it!

You're just giving up a tactical advantage. So keep it in mind, but don't sweat too much if you mess it up now and again. Especially since those cards are pretty rare.

Now let's get to the more fun cards, Dance Fever and Spike!

Dance Fever is fun and cares about the songs you play by giving another character +2 power until end of turn, which is a pretty nice bonus!

That being said, there can occasionally be some odd interactions with him, despite how straightforward he is.

Take for example Find the Music In You. One of its verses is to put a friend into play from your discard pile. But you can't choose that friend for Dance Fever's ability, right?

Bzzt, wrong! Since you process Dance Fever's ability after fully completing the Song, you totally can! Great way to sneak in some extra power!

Spike can get similarly complicated, only even crazier. A lot of songs have verses that can have non-intuitive results when processing all three verses. But there's two simple rules to follow that should clear up most of the issues.

One: Process all three verses in order. And by extension, don't process any verses until the previous ones are all done.

So if you play Music in the Treetops, you get to manipulate a problem deck, then put 2 critters into play, then have each player retire a friend. Which can be one of those criters you just put into play!

On the other hoof, if you play Make This Castle a Home, you can't use the first verse to draw the resource you put on top of your deck with the third verse since the third verse always happens afterwards.

And singing songs out of order is just silly!

Incidentally, this is true for Epiphanies too. Whichever modes you choose, you have to do in the order listed on the card.

Two: Even if one of the verses starts a faceoff, you finish the rest of the verses before moving into the rest of the faceoff.

So if you play It's Time To Be Awesome, you'll still boost all your characters for the turn before finishing beating up that Troublemaker.

That Troublemaker will never know what hit it!

Other than that, it should be pretty easy processing songs even with Spike out.

Which about wraps up our thing on songs! Feel better now, Cici?

Yeah, a bit. Still not 100% sure what to do with continentals, but we’ll see.

Oh stop worrying! You’re too awesome to worry about stuff like this!

Cici, Cici, she's so awesome! She's the best cause she's so awesome!

Okay, you're not even trying anymore.

Cici, Cici, she loves my songs! We're besties cause we get along.

Okay, okay. I get it.

Though I thing those qualify more as cheers than songs.

Nonsense. My songs are works of art that will be treasured for years to come!

Cici Cici, she's so—

Yeah, okay, you'll do this for hours if I don't stop you, so I think this is time to say goodbye to everyone.

Bye everypony!

[piratedashmod]

ask-terracotta-jade replied to your post: The amount of bitching and salt in the MLP:CCG...

What specifically are people bitching about?

That the same people keep winning.  Which is not true.  One guy keeps finishing well and finally won Continentals this year.  There was a lot of new people in the top 16 mix, and the defending champ didn’t make top 16.  They like to bitch on Facebook and Reddit that the game is dying because they always see the same people at the top.  Which even if that were true, then bitching on Facebook and Reddit won’t change that.  Go out and find ways to beat them.  Put in some effort instead of throwing a fucking hissy fit.  That is more toxic to the community than skilled players winning.

Do they have the same problems in Magic or Pokemon?  Incessant bitching that skilled players do well at what is basically the national championship?

And now they also want to move Continentals to Bronycon because they think that’ll increase numbers.  It won’t.  There was a drop this year, but there’s multiple reasons for that.  GenCon badges sold out for the first time ever (which was expected so people are idiots for not heeding the warnings), Bronycon was a week before.  Moving the national championship to Bronycon will not increase those numbers.  You’ll lose just as many people (probably more) than you’d gain.  I’d have to leave the competitive scene if that happens, and I don’t want that.

And Enterplay would be fucking insane to leave the biggest gaming convention in the world.

[delanyu]

Here we have Chic Beret, a resource accessory which basic means that when you play it you attach it to one of your characters already in play and it augments based on what the ability text says. In this case when you attach it a character it adds 1 power to it and allows it to count as both its natural color and as a white card. It also has an additional ability that allows the player to pay one token in order to reattach it to another character. Not a bad card for its real value is in the fact that in can be reattached giving it the flexibility to allow one to adapt ones strategy pretty easily.

[thegeneralsnotebook]

An Adventure in Deckbuilding #231: Spike, Crystal Hero (Purple/Yellow Midrange) [Harmony]

Spike, Crystal Hero

Reaching

My intended vacation that I announced in the most recent post ended up being a bit longer than a week, as what started with a distraction from a wonderful holiday combined with a general malaise about having to build once again with this terrible Mane. However, eventually I said to myself that I would pick this series up again once the second Prize Wheel increment was legal to work with, so now here we are. And guess what? This is the last Crystal Games Mane that we’ll have to deal with. That’s not to say that there aren’t still some quite questionable ones left on the list, but this will likely be the last time that I just have no idea at all what to do with a card.

Spike here represented the first time that a card designer tried to push Purple in the weird direction of “Play some troublemakers, but don’t play control or Farm”. (It wouldn’t be the last time either, but it still hasn’t worked.) Add to that the usual problems with the entire Mane design philosophy of Crystal Games, and we’ve got a card here that, ah, fails to inspire.

In that sense, it’s good that I waited until I had a whole bunch of new cards to try out so that I could pick one and try designing a deck around it. And, like the name suggests, it’s a bit of a reach to take one with five requirement in what will be our off-colour and imagine that we can start from there, but that’s exactly what we’re doing this week.

Antoine is a card from PW2 with a lot of potential, so long as you can keep it fed with Critters to retire. There are two “natural” ways to do that in the cards that I’m most familiar with: Raptor Raiser to get things started so long as there’s a big Troublemaker in play, and Fluttershy, Birds of a Feather if you already have some number of Critters in play. (Remember that she herself is a Critter as well, so you get one at least for that. But certainly you’re hoping for far more.) Once that is rolling, then Antoine’s discount can be applied to a good variety of things. Even when it’s used on a 2-cost Friend, that’s still a 50% discount, after all. And since using Antoine’s ability doesn’t require anything to get exhausted, we can use it as often as we like, so long as we don’t run out of Critters.

Now that was all well and good, but the real reach came in trying to support all of that heavy Yellow with a Purple Mane, and a Purple Mane that is probably never going to flip too. This means, for example, that the usual stalwarts of Singing Barrel and Rushed Makeover are going to be less useful than usual, especially if we’ve lost Buckball Strategy and Spike is back to 1 Power. Thank goodness, then, that we have some pretty good Friend-based entry in the Fond Memories cycle to lean on. Changeling Citizens is also here, but usually won’t be a great option unless we have some Purple Friends out as well.

So we add up all of that, and then realise that we still need tools against Troublemakers and Resources, and then we get into the tortured process of cutting this deck down. Of the cards that got left in, those Troublemakers might stand out as fairly strange inclusions, especially since there’s only 4 of them, which isn’t enough to flip Spike. The logic goes like this: we want to have a few Troublemakers to act as springboards for Raptor Raiser, since I think that she is the easiest way to get a big pile of Critters on the board without much extra work. Then I think, if you need to have just a few Troublemakers in your deck, you’re better off going for Villains, for the extra utility of frightening the opponent’s stuff, and the occasional points you might get for them. Likely you end up sideboarding a number of them out if you expect the opponent to be playing Troublemakers. But if the opponent is aggro, then a well-timed Villain can be a nice piece of interaction to have.

A late inclusion to the deck was Portal, after I realised that there actually are a number of things in this deck that I’d like to flicker. Raptor Raiser, of course, but also Sanctuary Patients, and Birds of a Feather itself (to use her ability a 2nd time in one turn).

Of course, I’m sure that this deck is still trash even with all of that. But maybe, with a Mane that actually contributes something, there could be hope for something like this in Adventure. I am interested in the concept, which is all that I shoot for in these decks.

As I said at the top of the post, that is it for the Crystal Games Manes. That’s a huge sigh of relief for me. Next week we’ll have our third deck for Queen Chrysalis, Overt Operations.

[diamond-song42]

Card Shark 120: The Cutie Map

How do you do, fellow CCG players? Hope you’re ready for an Ultra Rare Holiday Dumpster Fire Card-a-Thon Card Shark! This was, frankly, a difficult choice to make because I think so many Equestrian Odysseys Ultra Rares could be useful... but I settled on this one because I have a physical copy of one of these and it just looks so cool. Let’s take a look at “The Cutie Map!”

It is new and I like it as well. This 7 power beast costs 3 AT and 4 Blue req to play... a bit of a hefty cost for a Blue Resource. Like with many Blue cards, this one allows you to move characters at a speedy rate. When a Problem enters play, any Problem (I believe that also includes Dilemmas), you can exhaust and retire the Map (the first part of which I feel is slightly unnecessary as retiring negates the need to exhaust and opposing strategies that exhaust Resources are rare and kinda dumb when you can just dismiss or banish them). If you do, you can move some characters situated at your home to that Problem. Not one character. Not two characters. You can move up to SIX. It obviously goes with the whole “Mane 6 heading out to solve a friendship problem” theme, and dang! That can not only move enough characters to a Problem to prepare a confrontation, but it can easily solve and/or delay any home limit issues you might face. And it says “characters”, so you can use it on your Mane, too! It’s even better when you move characters to a Problem at the end of an opponent’s turn, so you can instantly set up to confront that Problem and not use any AT to move and prepare things in the first place. Not to mention how you can more or less freely choose the Problem - I used to play a deck that ran one copy of this and I would usually wait until a Problem showed up that I felt confident confronting with however many characters I had in play. If you can’t quite reach the Blue req, that’s fine too - this card is also a pretty decent flip, intentional or not. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, it’s SUPER shiny! I love super shiny cards. No wonder this thing is Unique (though I frankly can’t think of any scenario where you’d want to move twelve or more characters at home at one time).

If Trixie can displace the Map that easily, there must be something wrong with it. Let’s address the elephant in the room right away: this ain’t cheap. Blue Resources are known to typically cost 1-2 AT and 1-3 Blue req, and the only other Blue Resource I could find exactly matching the Map’s cost was Rage Face (which is... kinda trashy, let’s be real). There are plenty of cheaper moving options, though you might not be able to move up to six characters with them. A mono-color deck might easily be able to pay for this, but therein lies the next issue: there are so many Blue moving options now that one of these used once might not be necessary. Just to name a few examples: ScootaMane can move two of your characters at the end of all your turns if you exhaust the moved characters. Swinging Wonders is Hasty, can move up to two characters, and provides extra power itself. In the non-Blue realm, Friends like Delivery Mare, Wrong Address and Joe, Sticky Glaze aren’t sent home by Problem replacements, and are either sent to other Problems or remain where the replaced Problem once was. If you think your opponent will do a lot of moving, there’s even a new Event called Faster Flier that has you move one of your characters whenever your opponent moves one of their characters. And there are Blue Problems such as To Griffonstone!, Guilty Until Proven Innocent, and Tarnished Reputation that allow you to move certain characters free of charge! So... yeah. This thing promises a massive payout, but can only pull off that payout once. It’s easier to obtain similar outcomes with cheaper cards.

Here’s a few more cards that have observed that the Map is new and they like it:

*Flash Magnus, Pillar of Bravery. First we have a Friend that can activate an additional effect when he is moved. Swift and Agile are pretty cool, yes, but we’re here for that ability to pay 1 AT to frighten a Friend whenever he is moved. He doesn’t even need to be exhausted! When you activate the Map, he can zip right up to a Problem and you can spook an opposing Friend. He is more expensive than the Map - 4 AT and 4 Blue req over 3 AT and 4 Blue req - but I can safely say I’ve seen this guy get more use than the Map.

*Night Glider, Ambitious Aerobat. Now for a Friend that benefits more when you have a plethora of Friends. This Night Glider not only has Swift, but she gains Competitive 1 for each of your other characters in her area (this can be at home or at a Problem). If she’s among the six characters you move to a Problem with the Map, that’s an extra Competitive 5 right there! Sure, it’s no Daybreaker, but I still think this card has some validity to it.

*Hoity Toity, Discerning Eye. Then there’s the Friend that allows you to play Friends and Resources from your discard pile as if they were in your hand! There’s no Blue/Orange/White tricorn yet, but if you used the Map once and it is sitting in your discard pile, you can replay it as long as Hoity Toity is involved in the fray. You would have to banish the Map the second time you use it, but I believe that’s a fair price to pay for two cards with such standing power.

*Crown of Grover. I couldn’t leave this Shark without touching on at least one New Dawn card! This is one of my favorite Resources in the new set. I suggest this one here for the first ability: when you move one of your characters (which, hypothetically, could be done with the Map), you can pay 1 AT less for the next Friend you play that turn, to a minimum of 1 AT. Even if there aren’t many Friends that cost 5 or more AT that are frequently seen competitively, that’s still a pretty discount (which you could even lower more with other Blue cards). I believe this could ideally be paired with the playing of a Dilemma - there aren’t a lot of Hasty Friends that cost more than 3 AT that are really good in competitive play, no matter what format. The other effect on the Crown gives one of your characters Swift whenever you play a Friend until the end of the turn, but since you’ll already be moving boatloads with the Map I think you’re safe not worrying about that until the Map is out of play.

Thanks for reading this Ultra Rare Holiday Dumpster Fire Card-a-Thon Card Shark! I’m moving into High Magic next with a Friend that has hilariously come in handy for me on one or two occasions... though my inclusion of it in the Holiday Dumpster Fire Card-a-Thon might land me on some hitlists (if I wasn’t on those hitlists before). Make sure you tune back in to see what it is! Diamond out!

[cloudchaserandflitterexplain]

Cloudchaser and Flitter Explain: Core Format

Gah!

Hehe. Did I scare you?

No way.

So then you were clinging to the ceiling because you thought it need a hug more than me?

Uhh…

Ooooh, look at all the Premiere Block cards! Reorganizing your collection?

Sorta… I was just saying goodbye. Since Core was announced, it just felt the right thing to do.

We had some good times together, you know?

Awww, Cici. You going to be okay?

I’ll be fine.

Well, speaking of Core, that’s what we’re talking about today! We’ve actually had ponies asking us about our thoughts on this specifically.

I guess you all really wanted to hear what we think about it! So here we are!

It’s certainly understandable that ponies would ask about core since it’s kind of a really big change.

Big? It’s huge! This might be the single biggest change the game has ever gone through! Even bigger than the bonus points rule change!

But before we talk about the effects of this change, we should first explain what Core Format is, in case any of you don’t know.

Well, that’s pretty easy to do. Core Format is a constructed format, much like Harmony and Block, but somewhere in between. It’s defined as a rotating format that will have between five and eight sets in it at any given time. Specifically, it’ll encompass the two most recent blocks.

In this case, that’s the Odysseys Block and the Beyond Block! So for right now, that’s only five sets. But they’re all pretty good sets just packed with fun and exciting cards!

The most obvious ramification of this is that there are a lot of cards not legal in core: the four premiere block sets, Rock & Rave, Celestial Solstice, and a bunch of promos…

That winds up being a little more than half the card pool.

And once we get to block four, the four Odyssey block sets will be rotated out as well. Which means that cards legal in core now won’t always be legal later.

So some of you are probably wondering why make this format at all? Wasn’t Harmony fine? Having access to every card is a good thing, right?

Well, it’s a bit more complicated than you might think. There’s a lot of factors to look into here.

For example, there are a lot of cards legal in Harmony. An awful lot. Over 1600. And 67 of them are Manes. This means there are tons of possible decks that can be made.

And contrary to what you might expect, the more cards that exist in a format, the harder it gets to actually build decks for that format. There’s a lot more decisions to make since you have to decide which cards not to include.

Now sure, there’s a lot of staples that you’ll want to include in your decks whenever possible, but eventually that number is going to get so high, you won’t be able to include them all. In fact for some decks, we may have already reached that point.

So core makes that easier by reducing the card pool. You don’t have to worry about the older cards since you can’t use them anyway! Thus a whole bunch of decisions have been removed right away.

This does have the rather significant consequence of changing the competitive meta drastically. There are a lot of really powerful cards in Harmony that are just not going to be present any more.

Vinyl Mane, Eff Stop, More than half of the epics…

A certain Flexible Flier that everypony adores to pieces and thinks should wear bows more often.

Do not.

Do so!

Anyway, all of these cards, and more we didn’t mention, had a huge impact on the Harmony meta…

And now they’re just gone in Core.

It may have been true that most cards that saw play in Harmony’s competitive scene before Seaquestria came out were from Odysseys block, but there were still a bunch of cards from Harmony that mattered loads. So them being gone is pretty significant

Since it gives newer cards a chance to shine they wouldn’t necessarily have had otherwise.

Exactly! A lot of cards are pretty great, but see little play because they’re outshined by something else. By rotating Premiere Block out, this allows for cards that couldn’t compare to some of the older cards to find a place in ponies’ decks.

No Snips and Snails: Problem Solvers? Say hello to Pinkie Pie & Twilight Sparkle: Bait and Switch! Study Session’s gone from Core? Maybe try Jamal.

Can’t use Wild Fire: Speed Racer? Maybe Cici and I can fill that role in your deck.

We’re always happy to help out!

Of course, not every old powerful card has a similar new card to replace it. You can’t quite replace Cheerilee: Break It Up or the Showdowns or Nightmare Star or Seabreeze’s Flower. But honestly...

That’s part of the fun for some ponies, like me. Having access to something, then having that removed? It’s making me think in whole new ways.

Card games are at their best when strategies change from time to time. And that’s what Core is trying to accomplish, changing things up a bit!

Which isn’t to say Harmony will simply be going away for ever or anything either. It’ll still be around for folks to play whenever they want. In fact, our store is going to be doing a mix of Core and Harmony for now.

We are?

Yup! In fact, it’s Harmony this week.

Wait… then that means...

I don’t need to say good bye to all these cards just yet!

Nope!

Awesome! I’ve got this idea for a Harmony deck that—

Slow down, Cici! We’re not done yet!

Now another question we’ve been asked is whether or not we think Core is better or worse than Harmony as a format.

Which is kind of a dumb question, honestly.

The two are different, but that doesn’t mean one is better than the other. They both have strengths and weaknesses, you know?

Some ponies’ll like one, some’ll like the other. Neither is better or worse, they’re just different options.

It’d be like saying Cloudchaser with a bow is automatically better Cloudchaser without a bow.

Wah? Why am I an example?

Both options are great, but they’re totally different!

Classic Cloudchser’s got that coolness to her that just can’t be beat.

While Bow Cloudchaser is just so adorable you can’t help but squeal with joy whenever you see her!

Flitter... stop...

So sometimes you want one, and sometimes you want the other. And that’s totally okay!

And both are equally huggable, of course!

Flittterrrrrrrrr.

So treat Harmony and Core kind of like that. You may prefer one over the other, but they’re both great options! So why limit yourself?

And that’s it for today! Hopefully that shed some insight on Core.

Of course, if you still have questions, feel free to ask and we’ll go into more detail.

But for now, it’s good bye until next time!

Bye...