Friendship is Card Games: Castle Mane-ia · 5:05pm Dec 1st, 2013
Remember how I said I like everything last week? Yeah, I apparently jinxed it.
Don't get me wrong, this was an enjoyable episode... the second time around. The first time, all I could think was that the "Twilight's friends are useless without her" thing from the end of the premiere is showing signs of becoming a trend, which is worrisome. (Though Pinkie Pie not only avoided but inverted it, becoming so competent that even she didn't know what she could do. And people say I make her overpowered...)
Still, I maintain my usual cautious optimism, especially since the next one has good odds of bucking the trend before it really becomes one.
On a more intriguing note, My Little Po-Mo, which is an awesome blog you should at least read on Sundays, has offered an intriguing interpretation of the Tree of Harmony as a mix of Yggdrassil and Sephiroth (the Tree of Life, not the pretty guy with the improbably-long katana.) This would make the Plunder Vines a sort of hyperactive vegetable Nidhogg, and...
What? You came for cards? Fine...
Bell Testing 1W
Instant
Untap all creatures you control.
Retrace
"It still works!"
—Pinkie Pie, Bearer of Laughter
Mass Immobilize 2W
Instant
Remove all creatures from combat.
"All right, everypony hold still until I figure out what went wrong."
—Princess Twilight Sparkle
Open Floor Trap 5WW
Instant — Trap
Open Floor Trap costs 1 less to cast for each attacking creature.
Choose target attacking creature. Exile the rest. Return those cards to the battlefield under their owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
Organist of the Outside 2U
Creature — Pony
Whenever you cast a Trap spell, if you paid an alternative cost to cast that spell, you may draw a card.
The organ can operate every mechanism in the castle. The trick is figuring out how.
1/3
Palatial Ingratitude 2U
Sorcery
Target player puts the top X cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard, where X is the number of lands that player controls.
Talking about a building is one thing. Yelling at it is quite another.
Hidden Labyrinth Trap 2UU
Instant — Trap
If an artifact under your control became the target of a spell or ability an opponent controlled this turn, you may pay U rather than pay Hidden Labyrinth Trap's mana cost.
Exile target creature. Return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of that player's next upkeep.
Poltergeist Activity 2UU
Instant
Target noncreature artifact becomes a Spirit creature with power and toughness equal to its converted mana cost in addition to its other types until end of turn. If that artifact is an Equipment, change its text by replacing all instances of "equipped creature" with "this creature" until end of turn.
Spring Panel Trap 4U
Instant — Trap
If a creature token entered the battlefield under an opponent's control this turn, you may pay 1U rather than pay Spring Panel Trap's mana cost.
Put target creature on top of its owner's library.
A punchline millennia in the making.
Spinning Wall Trap 4UU
Instant — Trap
If a creature you control is currently the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, you may pay 2UU rather than pay Spinning Wall Trap's mana cost.
Exile target creature. That creature's controller may put a creature card from his or her hand onto the battlefield. At the beginning of the next end step, return that creature to its owner's hand and return the exiled card to the battlefield under that player's control.
Contest of Courage BB
Enchantment
As Contest of Courage enters the battlefield, choose two target creatures with different controllers. Until Contest of Courage leaves the battlefield, those creatures have "When this creature leaves the battlefield, discard two cards."
When at least one of the chosen creatures isn't on the battlefield, sacrifice Contest of Courage.
Fools rush in to prove their superiority to other fools.
Pony of Shadows 3B
Creature — Pony Shade
Intimidate
Pony of Shadows can't block.
B: Pony of Shadows gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Fragments of Nightmare Moon's magic managed to survive her banishment, but they are weak things, at least as afraid of the living as the living are of them.
1/1
Mocking Shadow Trap 5BB
Instant — Trap
If a card in your graveyard was exiled this turn by a spell or ability an opponent controlled, you may pay 2B rather than pay Mocking Shadow Trap's mana cost.
Exile target creature card from an opponent's graveyard. Put onto the battlefield a token that's a copy of that card, except it's a black Spirit in addition to its other colors and types.
Covered in Bees 1R
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature attacks or blocks, Covered in Bees deals 3 damage to it.
Nothing says "hold still" quite like an entire hive looking for nectar in your ears.
Trap Cascade 3R
Instant — Trap
If an opponent cast a Trap spell this turn, you may pay R rather than pay Trap Cascade's mana cost.
Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.
Trapsmiths have no sense of restraint.
Crumbling Masonry 3RR
Enchantment
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player sacrifices a nonbasic land. If the player can't, sacrifice Crumbling Masonry.
Many ancient ruins are kept intact by magic that was cast during their construction, but no spell lasts forever.
Star Spider 1G
Creature — Spider
Reach
Star Spider's toughness is equal to the number of cards in your hand.
Nothing that spends enough time in a magical library emerges unchanged.
1/*
Lessons of the Past 3G
Sorcery
You gain 1 life for each card in your graveyard.
Nothing helps prepare for what lies ahead like learning what came before.
Carrot Conjuration Trap 4GG
Instant — Trap
If a creature with power 5 or greater entered the battlefield under an opponent's control this turn, you may pay 2G rather than pay Carrot Conjuration Trap's mana cost.
You gain life equal to the total power of creatures target player controls.
Devices designed to harm and hinder also have far more constructive uses.
Ever-Watchful Portrait 2
Artifact Creature — Construct
Defender
Whenever Ever-Watchful Portrait blocks a creature, attacking player reveals his or her hand.
Ponies of great vanity may cling to representations of their mortal form after death. There, they can see deep into others' hearts.
0/3
Ancient Mail 2
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature gets +3/+3.
Whenever equipped creature attacks, tap it. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
Equip 3
Heavy with the weight of ages. Or possibly just rust in the joints.
Draconic Grotesque 4
Artifact Creature — Dragon Gargoyle
Defender
2: Until end of turn, Draconic Grotesque loses defender and gains flying and "2: Draconic Grotesque gets +1/+0 until end of turn."
When the royal sisters chose guardians for their castle, only one creature would do.
2/4
Journal of the Two Sisters 4
Artifact
5, T: Draw a card. You may reveal that card. If a Pony, Pegasus, or Unicorn card is revealed this way, draw a card.
That Celestia and Luna shared a diary says much about the trust that the Nightmare betrayed.
Unravelling Tapestry 4
Artifact
Vanishing 2
Creatures you control get +1/+1 for each time counter on Unravelling Tapestry.
As inspirational as it is ephemeral.
Pinkie's Calculations (ur)(ur)
Instant
Change the text of target instant spell, sorcery spell, or ability by increasing the values of all numbers and number words by 1, then by pluralizing where appropriate, and then by adding "1 plus" just after each instance of "equal to." If the spell or ability's cost contains an X, increase the value of X by 1. Its controller may choose new targets for it. ("A," "an," and "no" are not number words. If the spell or ability no longer has legal targets, it is countered on resolution.)
Blind Panic 3BR
Sorcery
Creatures target player controls get -1/-1 until end of turn and can't block this turn.
Even the greatest of heroes can fall prey to their own imaginations.
Hall of Hooves
Land
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
3, T: Target creature gains intimidate until end of turn.
"Disembodied limbs. Not my first choice of decorating themes, but I can see what they were thinking."
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Library of the Ancients
Land
Library of the Ancients enters the battlefield tapped.
You have no maximum hand size.
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
6, T: Put the bottom card of your library into your hand.
Quite a few so-called discoveries are actually old wisdom found anew.
Palatial Ingratitude is supposed to be mill, ja?
It says library twice right now.
Thoughts after reading your cards:
(1) What does it say about that shared diary that the only parts we hear read aloud were apparently written by Celestia?
(2) Either those carrots were over a millenium old, or else the Pony of Shadows replenished them. Common sense suggests the latter, but (a) this is MLP, and (b) Pinkie is in the building, so no presumptions. But suppose the Pony of Shadows- not Pinkie, but whatever we saw at the end- was the one who put the carrots there and triggered their release to Angel. To me this is yet more circumstantial evidence... that Angel is ultimate evil incarnate. The Shadows seek to appease their master. }:-{D
I've always suspected some mighty powerful preservation spells linger in parts of Equestria. After all, those books look awfully fresh, as well the carrots. My question is, will Twilight drag every single book she can carry back to her library, and repeat the process until there's no space to walk inside the tree?
Was that supposed to be a period, or...?
I think you mean "graveyard"
1561429 1561601
Typoooooooos!
Fixed 'em. Thanks, guys. And yes, Palatial Ingratitude is supposed to be a mill effect. Oh Rarity, you so cray-cray.
1561600
Carrot Conjuration Trap. The magic and mechanisms are centuries old, but the carrots themselves are brought into existence scant seconds before they're eaten by a certain plot-driving rodent.
As for the issue of storage space, I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight did just that, though Equestria seems to have mastered some form of "bigger-on-the-inside" magic or technology. At the very least, she could ask Pinkie for help. There's plenty of space on the other ends of mirrors, after all.
1561561
Possibilities that come to mind:
1. Twilight has a subconscious (or possibly even conscious) bias for her mentor's words over Luna's.
2. Each sister's entries are lumped together. Perhaps each started from one end of the book.
3. Celestia is the kind of person who would update her Facebook status every ten minutes. At minimum.
4. Luna is the kind of person who would look at social networking and see the fall of Western civilzation.
5. Luna was very good at keeping her part of the diary hidden. I wouldn't be surprised if it were written in code. Backwards. On the shadows of the pages. Of the representation of the diary in Celestia's dreamscape.
Uphill both ways, in the snow.6. Two or more of the above.
1561650 Well, there's always stuffing the books into L-Space, but that leaves the problem of finding a proper orang-orang to manage the inventory. I suppose they could hire the Librarian on a part-time basis until one can be found...
I've committed every card you've made so far to a file on my computer for Magic Set Editor 2 called "Fan of Most Everything's Cards." Not counting the card from the Trope page, you have made exactly 135 cards thus far.
Also, when I read the "Pony of Shadows" card, I was struck by sudden inspiration for a new ability: "Phobia of <name>" (to use the MSE2 vernacular). Essentially, it's the opposite of Protection, as shown in this example card:
Drakonphobia b/r
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has phobia of Dragons. (This permanent can’t block, target, deal damage to, or be enchanted or equipped by anything Dragon.)
So, for instance, Fluttershy would have "phobia of everything" and be the complete opposite of Progenitus. (BTW, "Drakon" is the Greek word for Dragon, and most likely place we get the word.)
In coming up with the ability, I tried "fear of," but that tripped the "fear" keyword instead, and I tried "afraid of," but "has afraid of" didn't flow right when read.
1563589 This reminds me of an idea I had to broaden the fear mechanic in a different manner than intimidate (there are non-black creatures with fear, after all). Firefright Mage is a Spellshaper who makes a red version of the old card Fear, which is where the keyword ability comes from. So obviously, the keyword for "cannot be blocked except by red creatures and/or artifact creatures" is firefright. The equivalent for white could be "sunglare", but I couldn't come up with good names for the blue and green versions.
1790282
I sorta see where you're going, in that it's ways for a white creature to be intimidating to black or red (fear or firefright in this instance), but the big question there is, flavourwise, how would a pure white creature frighten all but black creatures on its own.
Fear and Intimidate are what are called "evasion" abilities. There are already keywords for other colours that grant them evasion abilities, such as flying (WUBR), horsemanship (WU), shadow (WUB), landwalk (RG), and the aforementioned fear(B) and intimidate (BRG). Artifacts can have access to any of these, and certain cards can bestow them upon others, such as the Enchantment Intimidation that gives all your creatures fear, but these aren't cards that have a different colour than the ability they are giving. There's a chart somewhere that gives a good list of abilities and their related colours, but I'm not sure where to find it at the moment.
1792832 I looked it up, and I was surprised to learn that only one mono-white creature with fear was ever printed, and it was in Planar Chaos, so it hardly counts. There's also a white enchantment from Ravnica that gives all your creatures pretty much any keyword ability that existed at the time if one of your creatures has that ability, including fear. Other than those examples, it turns out that you're pretty much completely correct as far as fear goes: there's a red creature and a blue creature which have no black in their casting costs and have an ability that temporarily grants them fear, but in both cases it takes black mana to turn them on. Intimidate was probably the better direction to take fear, all told.
As a side note, your info on landwalk is way, way off. Landwalk abilities appear in all five colors, and are blue or black about as often as they are red or green. Green is kinda short-changed as far as evasion goes, but it gets the most evasion hosers in all of Magic.
So thats how you word that affect. Ive been trying on and of to come up with something that accomplishes that for years!