Friendship is Card Games: Lesson Zero · 3:39pm Nov 16th, 2014
I very nearly forgot about this week's Friendship is Card Games. I can think of no more appropriate episode. I also think I handled it better than Twilight. 
If you look closely, you can see the sun moving slowly and smoothly just after the theme song. Thus, the sun's motion is somewhat indicative of Twilight's mental state… which had to be concerning for Celestia. Her student subconsciously hacked the sun. Or it was just all in Twilight's head, but I like the other option.
One bit of headcanon I never put into use was punny days of the week. Friendsday, Spursday, Skyday, and so forth. This episode put an end to that. And it was kind of gratuitous anyway.
Between his interaction with Twilight's fantasies and his method of icing removal, Spike has clearly been learning from Pinkie Pie. The dragon mind appears better equipped for interaction with the medium. Interesting...
I think we've pretty much all agreed that Twilight's descent into madness was at least partially prompted by Discord. You don't face down a god of insanity and come out smelling like roses.
I just want to take a moment to appreciate Fluttershy's extreme bear massage. It got a card, but it bears repeating: EXTREME BEAR MASSAGE. 
...I did not intend that "bears repeating" pun, I swear. I blame the Persona 4 Let's Play I've been reading.
Dash is applying sunscreen. Well, we know ponies can get sunburnt from "Magical Mystery Cure." Maybe their coats have fiber optic properties. Hmm. Then it could be the structure of the refractive proteins that gives them their distinctive colors, which could possibly even account for Dash's own prismatic mane. There's potential here…
Celestia displays some minor scrap of her full glory. Then she trolls the crap out of the Mane Six. Constructively, mind you, but still, "I'll forget Twilight's punishment on one condition." Tia, you shameless, magnificent bastard.
And now for a decidedly non-tardy collection of cards:
Covered in Icing 1W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has lifelink.
Sacrifice Covered in Icing: Enchanted creature's controller gains life equal to its toughness.
"Spend enough time around Pinkie Pie and you get used to it."
—Spike
Obsessive Compulsion 1W
Enchantment
Whenever a player casts his or her first spell each turn, that player can't cast spells that have different converted mana costs than that spell this turn.
Discord didn't harm a hair on the Bearers' bodies, but he still left scars.
Take Cover 1W
Instant
Tap all creatures you control. Prevent all damage that would be dealt to them this turn.
Digging a trench is an essential step when asking Rainbow Dash for help.
Equalized Icing 2W
Enchantment
If a player would gain life, each player gains 1 life instead.
Sometimes fair treatment means that everyone is equally unsatisfied.
Solar Cleansing 3WWW
Sorcery
Exile all artifacts and enchantments.
The purgative power of Celestia's sun cannot be overemphasized.
Chain Teleportation U
Instant
Until end of turn, target creature gains "1U: Exile this creature, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control and it gains this ability until end of turn."
Even Twilight's nervous habits display her incredible capability.
Disrupt Delusion 1U
Instant
Counter target spell that targets you.
Draw a card.
Every unicorn needs a few hornless friends to remind her how being sane works.
Thorough Search 2U
Instant
Look at the top two cards and the bottom two cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
"I could've sworn it was around here somewhere."
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Excessive Preparation 2UU
Enchantment
Players can't cast spells.
At the beginning of each player's draw step, that player draws an additional card.
When a player has seven or more cards in his or her hand, sacrifice Excessive Preparation.
Curse of Tardiness 4U
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
Enchanted player can't cast spells from his or her hand.
Each nonland card in enchanted player's hand has suspend 1. The suspend cost is equal to its mana cost.
Magic Kindergarden B
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a Unicorn.
1U: Put a 1/1 blue Unicorn creature token onto the battlefield.
Canterlot unicorns start conspiring before they learn the alphabet.
The Worst Possible Thing B
Sorcery
Target player reveals his or her hand. You choose a card from it with the greatest converted mana cost among those cards. That player discards that card.
Flashback 4B (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
Misplaced Priorities 3BB
Sorcery
Target player reveals his or hand. Choose a card from it. That player discards the rest.
"Rainbow must be angry with Applejack! She must hate her guts! How wonderful!"
—Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of Magic
Ad Absurdum 3BBB
Sorcery
Each player reveals the top card of his or her library, puts that card into his or her hand, and loses life equal to its converted mana cost. You may repeat this process any number of times.
Fear follows its own logic.
Nervous Breakdown XB
Instant
Target player's maximum hand size is reduced by X until the next turn.
Draw a card.
"It's fine. Everything's fine. I may have to incite a riot, but it will all be fine."
Claw Cramp R
Instant
Claw Cramp deals damage to target player equal to the number of cards that player drew this turn.
"I should charge by the word. Twilight would be working for me by the end of the week."
—Spike
Clock is Ticking 2R
Enchantment
Whenever a time counter is removed from a permanent or a suspended card, Clock is Ticking deals 1 damage to that permanent's controller or that card's owner.
"Time dislikes disruptions in its natural processes, and makes that displeasure known quite firmly."
—Star Swirl the Bearded, Meditations on Chronomancy
Object of Desire 3R
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant nonland permanent
Creatures attack enchanted permanent's controller each combat if able.
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to enchanted permanent's controller, that creature's controller gains control of enchanted permanent.
Intense Massage 1G
Instant
Choose one —
• Regenerate target creature.
• Target creature you control fights target creature you don't control.
Entwine 1G (Choose both if you pay the entwine cost.)
Erudite Doll 4
Artifact Creature — Construct
Indestructible
Whenever Erudite Doll is dealt damage, you may draw a card.
Dissertations have been written about her mane.
0/1
Drama Couch 5
Artifact
Flash
T: Prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to you this turn.
"A lady does not allow her sorrow to leave grass stains on her coat."
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Twilight Deranged 1UBR
Legendary Creature — Unicorn Wizard
Each instant and sorcery card in your hand has madness. The madness cost is equal to the colored mana symbols in that card's mana cost. (For example, if its mana cost is 3UB, it has madness UB. If you discard the card, you may cast it for its madness cost instead of putting it into your graveyard.)
Whenever Twilight Deranged deals combat damage to a player, each player discards a card.
2/2
Break the Line 2RW
Instant
Destroy all creatures blocking target attacking creature. That creature gains trample until end of turn.
Few unicorns and pegasi appreciate just what earth ponies are capable of when they push themselves.
Atomic Rainboom 8
(WUBRG) Instant
If you spent W to cast Atomic Rainboom, destroy all enchantments. If you spent U to cast it, counter all other spells. If you spent B to cast it, all creatures get -4/-4 until end of turn. If you spent R to cast it, destroy all nonbasic lands. If you spent G to cast it, destroy all artifacts.
I really like Curse of Tardiness and Break the Line.
Too bad I'm crap at using blue effectively,
but red/white is always fun. 
Roar of Challenge + Break the Line. 'Nuff said.
I think the thing to do with Excessive Preparation is to play it with a lot of [url=http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?subtype=+[specter]]Specters. Or just play group hug
I don't think Nervous Breakdown works like you think it does. As written, it's basically a card that cycles for B, and does nothing else. "Until end of turn" effects expire during the end step, and discarding to hand size happens after, in the cleanup step.
So there's a real corner case where you can Lightning Bolt your opponent after he Silenced you, just as long as something goes on the stack during the cleanup step.
"Ad Absurdum" + "Platinum Angel" = "Game Win"
I think "Ad Absurdum" should be "Any other player may choose to repeat this process.", which is part of the process and would be repeated as well.
Insanity is contagious after all.
2598334 Blue is really easy though! You just do everything you possibly can to make your opponent want to throttle you, then laugh at their misfortune.
I kind of wanted a mid mental breakdown twilight card especially if it has a madness cost
2598334
Honestly? Blue's my favorite color, and I still have trouble holding back with counterspells. It's a tricky color.
2598608
Or any other Lure effect. A single Taunting Elf could wreak untold havoc!
Also, bear in mind that Excessive Preparation looks at the cards in your hand as well. You'd need a discard outlet of some kind.
2599386
The wording's been tweaked, borrowing a bit of technology from detain.
2599856
Platinum Emperion is even better. Life loss? What life loss?
Also, opening the process to everyone pretty much guarantees that someone's going to die, and that's not quite as fun.
2600231
Hmm. I honestly hadn't considered a Twilight Snapple card. Silly me. I'll see if I can think of something.
2600107
I've been on the wrong end of that treatment too many times. I wouldn't even wish it upon my worst enemy.
2600535
The worst thing about blue for me is getting a hang of the proper timing for all the subtle nuances and such. Before you ask - yes, I am only a casual player. I'm also somewhat out of practice at the moment...
2600535 Spellshapers seem like a good idea. Greel, Mind Raker holds particular value for this setup.
2600535 So, I have been thinking about what unstable twilight would be, sadly I wasn't around when madness was a thing so I can't put that in. Let's say two blue three colorless pony wizard, I go with Twilight, the overworked. Tap put a charge counter on Twilight, the overworked then draw a card. At the end of your second main phase if you didn't tap Twilight, the overworked remove all charge counters from Twilight and deal damage to your self equal to the amount removed then transform Twilight, the overworked. Haven't thought of what the other side is but the name of Twilight, the deranged. (wow that's a really long comment)
2602296
Let's go with something a little different:
Twilight Deranged 1UBR
Legendary Creature — Unicorn Wizard
Each instant and sorcery card in your hand has madness. The madness cost is equal to the colored mana symbols in that card's mana cost. (For example, if its mana cost is 3UB, it has madness UB. If you discard the card, you may cast it for its madness cost instead of putting it into your graveyard.)
Whenever Twilight Deranged deals combat damage to a player, each player discards a card.
2/2
And, for those joining us from the future, yes, I added this one to the article after the fact.
2602354 Yeah that's much better
4x Ad Absurdum, 4x Claw Cramp, and a deck of super-cheap defensive/life-gain crap that can keep you alive until turn 6 seems remarkably broken. Even if your opponent's running a deck as inexpensive as yours, if you can survive drawing ~10 cards from your own deck it's basically a guaranteed kill.
2604891
Not exactly. Granted, lifegain and Ad Absurdum in the same deck lead to all kinds of shenanigans, but Ad Absurdum doesn't actually help Claw Cramp. See, the cards are put into the hands rather than drawn. It may seem like splitting hairs, but as far as the rules are concerned, the distinction is there.
But yeah, unless your opponents manage to have twelve lands in a row on top of their libraries, it's kind of ridiculous. Given that, I think I'll bump it up a mana. I thought the symmetry might let it cost the same as its inspiration, but the potential for global kill... Yeah, Ad Absurdum now costs 3BBB.
I think Atomic Rain8oom should 8e written as
8ecause of the precedent set by 8atwing 8rume.
~Vriska Serket
2613306
Normally, you would be right. But this is Rainbow Dash's magic, so it's a bit more loyal than usual. Trying to Commandeer it will result in a big fat nothing.