Friendship is Card Games: Bridle Gossip · 2:26pm Jun 29th, 2014
Ah yes, this one. Wherein Zecora is Voldemort, Twilight fails at science, and Apple Bloom doesn't. Twilight's horribly narrow view of magic in Season One is almost embarrassing at times, especially her casual dismissal of the word "supernatural." At least she inspired the future engineer to embrace the spirit of inquiry.
Still, the second pony clip I ever saw was the Flutterguy rendition of "Evil Enchantress." It's not just funny for me, it's also nostalgic. To a limited extent, this whole episode is.
As I've noted in the past, all ponies have a tendency towards white mana. Community, unity... and prejudice against those who don't fit in. Light is not good.
There were a lot of clever bits in this episode. The musical sting as Zecora drops her hood was several kinds of hilarious. ("She has a mohawk! Celestia help us all!") Each pony who explains the Everfree's unnatural nature was chosen carefully: Applejack for plants, Fluttershy for animals, Dash for weather. Every time a pony touches the poison joke, there's a squish and a sparkly "magic" sound, providing another hint to the plant's bizarre nature.
Looking back, Applejack shows shades of the same overprotective nature as in "Somepony to Watch Over Me." It's never really addressed in this episode, overshadowed by the revelation that Zecora is not, in fact, a pony-eating mesmerist, thus allowing it to creep back a few years hence.
Dash's refusal to walk says a lot about her. Even when her wings are on upside-down, she would rather fly than touch down.
Applejack cobbled together reins and a bit in seconds, including tying two knots. Who says earth ponies don't have magic? Also, as noted last week, she always has a lasso. Even when it needs to be rescaled appropriately.
And now cards. And yes, I made Zecora a Zebra. Twilight said she's not a pony, and I'll trust Purplesmart on that one:
Curse of Sputtering 2W
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
Spells enchanted player casts cost 1 more to cast.
It's hard to do magic when even your spells can't understand you.
Run and Hide 3W
Instant
Exile up to two target creatures. Return those cards to the battlefield under their owners' control at the beginning of the next upkeep.
"It hasn't failed me yet."
—Daisy, Ponyville florist
Fainting Spell U
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
1: Tap enchanted creature.
"What's the point of life without a little dramatic flair?"
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Entrancing Gaze 1U
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has "U, T: Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn."
"Why do such rumors persist? Who thought me a hypnotist?"
—Zecora, zebra shaman
Wander Off 1U
Sorcery
Return each creature with the least power among creatures on the battlefield to its owner's hand.
"You take your eyes off your baby sister for two seconds, and suddenly she thinks she's Daring Do."
—Applejack, Bearer of Honesty
Curse of Flaccidity 2U
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
Nonland permanents enchanted player controls with converted mana cost less than or equal to the number of Curses attached to that player don't untap during his or her untap step and have "3: Untap this permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only during your upkeep."
Dismissive Sarcasm 2UU
Instant
Counter target spell or activated ability.
"Oh my! I'm so impressed!"
Toss and Turn 3U
Sorcery
Tap up to two target creatures. They don't untap during their controller's next untap step.
Draw a card.
Poison joke exposure leads to surreal hallucinations, which grow even more surreal once they become reality.
Curse of Diminution 3UUU
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
Creatures enchanted player controls are 1/1.
Poison joke only plays little pranks.
Curse of Arrogance 5UU
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
Spells and permanents that don't share a name with a permanent enchanted player controls or a card in that player's graveyard can't be the targets of spells or abilities that player controls.
"I know everything. I don't recognize that. Ergo, it doesn't exist. QED."
"An Evil Enchantress" B
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on "An Evil Enchantress".
B, Sacrifice "An Evil Enchantress": Target player reveals X cards from his or her hand, where X is the number of verse counters on "An Evil Enchantress". Choose one of them. That player discards that card.
Shun the Unfamiliar BB
Instant
Destroy target non-Pony, non-Pegasus, non-Unicorn creature.
Most ponies live a life of comfortable routine. Anything that disrupts that routine is feared at best.
Bad Reputation 1B
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature is black, gets +1/+0, and has intimidate.
"I never sought to cultivate the ponies' suspicion and hate. Their fear of me built up so much that they would dare not look or touch."
—Zecora, zebra shaman
Curse of Ultrabass 2BB
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
Whenever enchanted player casts a spell, that player loses 1 life.
A deep voice can be imposing. A voice that makes the speaker's bones shake is just excessive.
Shambling Herd 4B
Creature — Zombie Pony
B, Sacrifice another Pony, Pegasus, or Unicorn: Regenerate Shambling Herd and put a +1/+1 counter on it.
"'Made-up,' she said. 'Can't happen,' she said. Who's crazy now, Twilight?"
—Spike
3/3
Improvised Reins 1R
Sorcery
Untap target creature with power less than or equal to the number of lands you control. Gain control of that creature until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
Most see dead branches and leaf litter. An earth pony sees a fully stocked workshop.
Curse of Deep Shag 3R
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
Creatures enchanted player controls can't be the targets of spells and abilities that player controls.
"If my best brushes can't get through that mess, my magic certainly won't."
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Junior Applebucker 1G
Creature — Pony Child
Vigilance
When Junior Applebucker enters the battlefield, untap target land.
A sprout of infinite potential.
1/2
Curse of Vertigo 2G
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
Creatures enchanted player controls lose flying.
"Welcome to my world."
—Ditzy Doo
Sinister Cloak 2
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature has hexproof and intimidate.
Equip 3
"It's the evil way she wears the cloak!"
—Pinkie Pie, Bearer of Laughter
Shaman's Cauldron 3
Artifact
2, T, Sacrifice a land: Draw a card.
"To brew insight from leaf and thorn. That is the cause to which I'm sworn."
—Zecora, zebra shaman
Poison Joke GU
Creature — Plant
Defender
Whenever Poison Joke blocks a creature, you may switch that creature's power and toughness until end of turn.
Only in the Everfree could a weed develop a sense of humor.
1/4
Zecora, Everfree Hermit BGW
Legendary Creature — Zebra Shaman
3: Choose target creature you control. If B was spent to activate this ability, that creature gains deathtouch until end of turn. If G was spent to activate this ability, it gains hexproof until end of turn. If W was spent to activate this ability, it gains lifelink until end of turn.
2/2
Big Tasty Stew 2(bg)
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast Big Tasty Stew, sacrifice a creature.
You gain life equal to the sacrificed creature's power plus its toughness.
Spike has recipes for much more than just flowers and hay.
Shaman's Refuge
Land
Shaman's Refuge enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add B, G, or W to your mana pool.
Packed with all the little luxuries that its resident has not already forsworn.
Zecora has a really cool ability. Maybe not the strongest, but strong enough that I would consider using her as a commander. She doesn't have the same unique utility of other BGW commanders, but she's less intimidating than many of them ("Kill Karador before he starts casting Wrath every turn and reanimating his entire graveyard!") and her ability makes basically any creature useful, which means she seems like the type of commander that routinely "somehow wins" after everyone forgets that she has a lot of use for all that late-game mana and also a million options for creatures that trample.
Forgot the "Enchant creature" line.
Also, with this, you're seventeen cards away from nine hundred on line.
She was right, though, there was nothing supernatural involved!
2243718 That whole mess is common in fiction, and I tend to find it irritating.
<rant>
Mainly, There is no such thing as Supernatural. Anything that you try to classify as such and it exists is not supernatural, but rather natural. It is unlikely anything of the traditional supernatural exists in our reality, unless it guards it's own secrecy zealously. Otherwise there would be scientists and engineers studying it, and that stuff would show up in public all the time.
That got sidetracked. Supernatural seems to be a classification. I would note that in the Pony's world, supernatural would probably include pretty much the entire everfree forest. Their idea of natural, and indeed many baselines, are entirely different from ours. To start with, Anyone here discussing Unicorns or Magic seriously... Well, that is enough to explain it.
Don't even get started on the whole curses being artifical magic, or something.
Twilight in the series qualifies as a Hollywood Scientist. She does not follow standard methods of figuring stuff out. She uses the word "impossible" a lot where "Improbable" or "That shouldn't happen" would be more appropriate. Also she uses the watered down, wrong scientific method when it came to the pinkie sense later. Also she never (on screen) finished it.
Anyway. If you are a scientist, or similar, you should treat what you observe as though it might actually exist, and figure out what is going on. Dismissing something you've seen out of hand is a bad idea. That and trying to prove something you've seen doesn't exist is just rediculous.
Only a handful of stories handle this stuff properly. Dungeon Keeper Ami being the most obvious one. Stardust (Xcom+MLP, by Arad), and Quantum Castaways (to a lesser extent)
</rant>
~~~~
Anyway, After reading those stories, I am kind of disappointed that I can't find many stories or fanfiction in a similar universe. That is, where you have people able to jump between realities, which tend to either run on different physical laws or else have magic, technology, or both active.
Because I'd like to see more multi-player stuff from you I think "Fainting Spell" spell should have the "anyone can activate this ability" rider. It wouldn't make it that much more powerful and also fits the flavor in that anything can trigger a faint.
"Sinister Cloak" - Hexproof and Intimidate are a very strong combo, I'm not sure I like the costing on this but I'm not sure what could be changed, maybe 3 and 3, instead of 2 and 3. The cloak itself can still be targeted with removal, but unless you're in an artifact heavy block not many people will have it. which is their own fault. I always run artifact removal if I'm in the right color, maybe just in the sideboard but I always have it when I can get it for the deck I'm running at the time.
Shaman's Refuge - Wedge Land! We need more wedge support.
2243436
I'm now imagining Zecora riding Teneb, and it's rather fantastic.
2243718
It depends on one's definition of "supernatural." Because I live in a universe with no magic (to my knowledge,) I define it as "anything that requires magic to function," but that's rather provincial of me. Magic is a natural, ubiquitous part of Equestria. As I've noted in the past, you can't swing a cat there without hitting three magical items, and one of them is probably the cat.
That being said, given that poison joke seems to grow only in the Everfree, a region that ponies have explicitly called "not natural," it could be argued that the plant is supernatural by their standards. At the very least, it's certainly unnatural.
2244039
Ah, Dungeon Keeper Ami. Haven't thought about that in a while. I'm still proud of that extension I wrote in the Anime Addventure where her planet-sized soul dragged the Dungeon Heart into the purview of the disenfranchised Neutral Gods.
Also, see above for my take on supernature.
2244212
Fainting Spell is just a colorshifted Burden of Guilt, so I'm a bit leery of tacking on more abilities.
For Sinister Cloak, compare Whispersilk Cloak. You can target the creature, but the unblockability is imperfect and it costs more to move the cloak about.
And yes, wedge lands are definitely a thing that needs to happen. As you may recall, I did the WBR and URG ones in FiCG: Friendship is Magic, and I have the other two planned. Sadly, I won't have an appropriate context for Changeling Hive or Elite Mesa for quite some time.
Wait, what?
You wrote an Omake for DKA?
A basic google search fails to find anything relevant. Was it the one where her 'soul' ran over one of the dark gods? Did you use a different username back then?
2245740
Link.
2245497 So you're responsible for the Grey Keeper branch! Now that I reread it, I wonder how I didn't realise it before, since it's so obviously written in your Pratchett-like style.
EDIT: Well, I figured out what threw me off: you didn't write any of the follow-up segments.
2246551
Yeah, I had ideas for it, but I never got around to writing any of them. Isn't that always the way?
But Twilight was right. The others said Zecora was scary, she disagreed, and she was right. The others said it was a curse,she said it wasn't, and she was right.
Of course, she was wrong to dismiss the book Supernatural, but that's one mistake she makes vs multiple mistakes from her other friends. "Curse of Arrogance", to me, sounds like those people who say " Urgh, Rarity wants money, how is she the element of generosity"
2248047
From "The Crystal Empire, Part 1":
So there are, in fact, such things as curses. Now, that could just be inconsistent writing, but I still think it's interesting that Celestia's student flat-out said curses don't exist when her mentor had first-hoof experience with them.
Still, Curse of Arrogance is meant to be an exaggeration of Twilight's attitude rather than a portrayal of it. Maybe I should've saved it for "Feeling Pinkie Keen"...
2248241
Aw, don't even talk to me about that mess. Feeling Pinkie Keen was just a botch from start to finish - and I'm saying that as someone who likes Over a Barrel and that one where Spike gets jealous of Owloisious.
"Fainting Spell"....*clap, clap, clap* Well played.
Also:
The first thing I thought when I saw this was, "Not to be confused with "Bad Reputation", a Song that grants X creatures provoke until end of turn when you sacrifice it."
I believe this card would end up being used more as removal bait than for its printed effect. Even if it can target lands (which Thoughtseize can't do), it would take 3-4 turns to have enough power to hit a player's whole hand. Assuming they don't cast Disenchant, that's still plenty of time to drop most of their lands, leaving this card as effectively Thoughtseize with Suspend.