Friendship is Card Games: The Cart Before the Ponies · 11:16am Aug 7th, 2016
As many have noted, as of this episode, Twilight Sparkle has spent more episodes of the show as an alicorn than as a unicorn. Well, more accurately, there have been more episodes of the show where she’s been an alicorn than a unicorn. She hasn’t appeared in some of them, including this one.
I have to find it amusing that Sweetie Belle says kinematics is over the class’s heads when the Kepler equation is still on the main board.
Interesting to note that the trio still thinks of themselves as the Crusaders. I know this was pretty much established in “On Your Marks,” but that still during the post-mark adjustment period. This cements it.
Also interesting to see the Crusaders embrace the lessons of that episode, each seeking new experiences beyond their usual, hence reaching out beyond the archetype defined by their respective older sister figures.
Apparently, Scootaloo used the town balloon to get to Dash’s house. Presumably with some kind of adult supervision. I can’t see anypony trusting her with an open flame so soon after the First Crusade.
Also, interesting to see that virtually every town in Equestria has a derby of some kind. I wonder how it works in Canterlot.
I quite like the shades of Mario Kart in the music during Dash’s flashback.
Aw, Dash kept the birthaversary banner from “Pinkie Pride.”
Oh dear. The conflict between Applejack and Apple Bloom could run a lot deeper than just one derby. This will hardly be the last time Bloom chafes at tradition, especially with a mark that will take her far beyond the farm. They made up this time, but the seeds of future disputes have been planted. (In other words, story fodder!)
You know Rarity is serious about something when she closes up early, especially when the customers are from Canterlot. Just look at those faces. You know she just did serious damage to her reputation.
I am strongly tempted to make this glorious image my new wallpaper. I have nothing against Clothes Horse, but this is the greatest intentional triumph Derpy’s gotten on the show. (And you have to admit, that design is very creative.)
Also, Derpy is apparently a Ponyville native. Huh. Well, she did show up in Cheese Sandwich’s flashback in “Pinkie Pride.”
Odd. You’d think Apple Bloom would be used to an early start.
Applejack fails to see a need for change with an inefficient design. I see she hasn’t exactly internalized the lesson of her “day” off.
“Precious X” seems to be Rarity’s go-to phrase for speaking affectionately, but condescendingly. “Precious scales” for Spike, “precious face” for Sweetie.
Oh my. Actual Swanlestia. Between the crown and the peytral, there’s no mistaking it.
I see Scootaloo has embraced the chicken jokes. It’s a good way to deal with it; take the mockery and turn it around.
Wow. One stroke and Apple Bloom has a flame decal. Paint apparently follows Lisa Frank logic in Equestria.
I have to ask: How are the carts propelling themselves to the starting line? Yes, it’s probably magic of some kind, but what kind, and how does it work? Or they're pedal-powered. One of the two. 
Okay, that’s just a love letter to Wacky Races. And who can blame them? That show was awesome.
I don’t know who Derpy’s partner is supposed to be. I’m assuming younger cousin until further notice. Still, I have to love how Best Pony herself seems prepared to tear Rarity apart once again.
That course layout was just asking for trouble.
Dash, they did say something. Lots of somethings. They were just phrased as suggestions.
Calling a do-over is all well and good, but how many trees is it going to take? I’m not sure how much wood the Apples have in reserve.
Ah. It wasn’t a chicken. It was a glorious phoenix! A rather eagle-ish one. Very nice.
I have to admit, Rarity makes the grease monkey look work.
In all, this was a fun but not especially memorable episode with a good lesson. As with a race, the destination was established from the start, but the fun lay in watching the journey.
Blessed Hooves W
Instant
Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
Hoofcraft — That creature gains lifelink until end of turn if you control three or more Ponies, Pegasi, and/or Unicorns.
The combat magic of today becomes the colorful language of tomorrow.
Weight of Tradition W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block unless its controller pays X, where X is the number of cards in your graveyard.
”If they weren’t doing it a hundred years ago, we won’t do it now.”
—Applejack, Bearer of Honesty
Blinded by Glory 1W
Enchantment
Activated abilities of attacking creatures can’t be activated.
Dreams of success rarely concern themselves with the messy details.
Positive Thinking 3W
Enchantment
Whenever a player casts a spell, you gain 1 life.
”At least somepony’s having fun.”
—Sweetie Belle
Physics Lesson U
Instant
Counter target noncreature spell. That spell’s controller may draw a card.
”Magic isn’t technically possible. I try not to think about that too much.”
—Princess Twilight Sparkle
Rejected Modification 1U
Instant
Counter target spell or ability that targets a permanent.
”It’s a nice thought, darling, but I don’t think it quite matches my intended aesthetic.”
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Usurp 1UU
Instant
Attach all permanents attached to target creature to another target creature. Change the target of each other spell targeting the first creature to the second creature. (Illegal changes aren’t made.)
“And I thought I was a glory hog.”
—Diamond Tiara
Usher Out 3U
Instant
As an additional cost to cast Usher Out, tap an untapped creature you control.
Target player returns X creatures he or she controls to their owners’ hands, where X is the tapped creature’s power.
”Everypony out! I have been inspired!”
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Ancestral Legacy 4U
Enchantment
1U: Until end of turn, target creature you control becomes a copy of target creature card in a graveyard that shares a creature type with it.
Every Apple knows her roots.
Live Vicariously 2B
Instant
As an additional cost to cast Live Vicariously, sacrifice a creature.
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. At the beginning of the next end step, exile that creature and return the sacrificed card to the battlefield under your control.
“Derby Racers” R
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on “Derby Racers”.
R, Sacrifice “Derby Racers”: Up to X target creatures get +1/+0 and gain haste until end of turn, where X is the number of verse counters on “Derby Racers”.
Learning Aversion R
Enchantment
Whenever you would draw a card, you may skip that draw instead.
2W: Target player can't draw more than one card this turn.
”It's a teacher's job to open minds. Sometimes, I wish I had a crowbar.”
—Cheerilee
Exasperated Scream 1R
Instant
Until end of turn, target creature gets +2/+0 for each creature blocking it and gains trample.
”All I want is to get somewhere before I’m old as Granny Smith.”
—Apple Bloom
Relive the Past 2G
Sorcery
Return a card at random from your graveyard to your hand. Clash with an opponent. If you win the clash, return Relive the Past to its owner’s hand. (Each clashing player reveals the top card of his or her library, then puts that card on the top or bottom. A player wins if his or her card had a higher converted mana cost.)
Ditzy’s Device 2
Artifact Creature — Contraption Construct
Ditzy’s Device can’t attack or block unless you control a Rigger or a Ditzy.
”I swear the design seemed logical when I was seven.”
—Ditzy Doo
4/5
Traditional Design 2
Artifact Creature — Construct
Traditional Design’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of artifact cards in all graveyards.
Timeless, tried, and true.
*/*
Block of Applewood 3
Artifact
4, T, Sacrifice Block of Applewood: You may put an artifact card from your hand onto the battlefield.
Three tons of solid potential.
Cloud Cart 3
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature has flying and gets +1/+1 for each instance of flying it has.
Equip 2
The Cloudsdale derby presents interesting engineering challenges to its participants.
Phoenix Coupe 3
Artifact —Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Whenever a creature you control attacks and isn’t blocked, you may pay 2. If you do, return Phoenix Coupe from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
Equip 2
Applewood Adapter 4
Artifact Creature — Juggernaut
Applewood Adapter attacks each turn if able.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if another creature has power greater than Applewood Adapter's power, put a +1/+1 counter on Applewood Adapter.
Apple Bloom built her cart to lead any pack.
2/2
Elegant Obstruction 4
Artifact Creature — Construct
2: Elegant Obstruction can block an additional creature this turn.
Rarity ensured that nopony could ignore her mobile masterpiece.
1/5
Disastrous Collision (rw)
Instant
Destroy target blocked creature and all creatures blocking that creature.
Nopony ever thought to install brakes on their carts.
Kinetic Conversion UR
Instant
Target creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is its power. That creature doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.
”Part of a race is knowing when and how hard to push yourself. It doesn’t matter if you’re frothing if you’ve already won.”
—Rainbow Dash, Bearer of Loyalty
Was there ever any doubt?
But yeah, I love the horn-through-the-backward-cap style.
Scootaloo definitely did start with a chicken, though. She eventually settled on a phoenix, but there's no mistaking that head she drags in. :)
[anti-Twilicorn mob] Rabble, rabble, rabble, rabble, rabble! [/anti-Twilicorn mob]
This just in: Merry May does not age.
Magic, ain't gotta explain, etc.
Cartomancy.
She does, doesn't she?
those blocks of wood really were freaking huge. I'd love to see the trees they came from.
That's one of the things that bothered me most about the episode. A lot of people have criticized AJ for having to learn the same lessons over and over, and here she goes again learning nothing from her “day” off. I know she's Stubborn Horse but come on.
The course layout confused me. I've never raced in a pinewood derby, but I thought they let gravity pull them to the finish line. So the race tracks wouldn't have a lot of curves and they certainly wouldn't have a lap with a three-way intersection. Unless Cheerilee meant to teach the kids about cartoon physics or magical propulsion the whole time, I'll have to assume the carts are pedal powered.
As I wrote in the episode thread, the moral was poorly done. They tried to make it sort of like Spike in "Inspiration Manifestation," except the CMC did tell their big sisters what they wanted. The "grown-ups" just refused to listen. So what were the CMC supposed to do? Find new partners?
As such, this is definitely the weakest episode of this season. I really hope this is the last time we see the trope of adults not listening to the children.
Weight of Tradition seems super broken. Late game, the mana costs would be huge!
I always just thought...Flintstones. That or they pushed them off screen.
I was hoping the crusaders would pair up with the pony appropriate for their idea instead of sticking with their sisters by default, for a moral of "know how to pick the correct partner for your idea".
But "being older does not mean perfect/no mistakes" is probably more appropriate.
This episode didn't do much for me
It had its moments, I guess: there were a lot of visual gags, and a lot of interesting background characters, and it warms my heart to see Diamond Tiara be happy and not sabotage her competitors in a contest. Also I had somehow not registered that Cheerilee is voiced by Nicole Oliver until now.
But, the big sisters succumbed to the OOC Formula, hard, and forgot how to big sister. It plays to tribeist stereotypes that makes the characters seem like cardboard cutouts of themselves (what kind of contest even has a "most traditional" prize?). The centerpiece of the episode was a spectacle, but it was not spectacular. There was a song, and it was completely forgettable.
Also, considering how the animators usually play up to fan pairings like LyraBon and OctaScratch, the way Dinky and Derpy are not just never seen together but are now actively being pushed onto other characters begins to seem very deliberate. What do they have against Derpy's family?
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Point. I suppose Dash convinced her to go with something more awesome for her personal iconography.
4136733
Unless they carved GPS devices out of those wood blocks, I fail to see what map magic has to do with this.
4136750
One could make the argument that this episode actually precedes "Applejack's 'Day' Off." After all, in this case, Applejack never really understood why ponies choose to change things; she was just smacked with a reminder of how her little sister's growing up. (And, in any case, this is the pony who once proudly wrote "Dear Princess Celestia, today I didn't learn shit.")
4136755
But still surmountable, especially with effects like Nihil Spellbomb. Compare Pacifism.
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Note the lack of an incline or hooves touching the ground.
I freely admit that I'm overthinking this, but it still bothers me.
4136856
I think cardboard cutouts is a good way to describe them in this episode. I had been calling them OOC, but they weren't exactly OOC. It's not like their negative traits came out of nowhere, it's just that the writers boiled each character down to one or two traits and forgot about any nuance or positive traits (other than working hard, I guess?). I had the same issue with "Rainbow Falls."
4136858 That would make the episode seem a little better to assume it takes place before AJ's Day Off. It still wouldn't fix the sloppy friendship lesson, though.
4136858
Eh, over thinking is fun. Besides, for all we know it could be an animation error because they wanted to get it out in time.
4136858
Don't be fooled by the similar word "cartography" -- cartomancy is the term used for magic (especially fortune-telling) done with cards. <pushing imaginary nerd glasses higher up on my nose>
This. Always my favorite way to interpret magic. "Magic is seeing how much you can get away with before Reality comes back from his coffee break."
Learning Aversion seems pretty underwhelming. I think for that activation cost it could be "would draw one or more cards"
Ditzy's Device means that if you ever make a flip-walker for Ditzy, the creature side needs to be a Rigger
Cloud Cart is dumb and I love it
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There's a potential metafictional read here, with the Crusaders representing complex characterization and their older sisters representing one-dimensionality. It's much easier to make flat characters, especially if you're on a time crunch, but while they may work for a while, they won't last long, and they won't make anyone as happy as if you put actual work into making them deep and unique.
Of course, that's definitely reading too deeply into the episode.
4136986
Magic done with cards? Bah! I do that every week, and the only things I've gotten to move are people's fingers on keyboards.
4137161
It is a fun take on the subject, though more than a little disturbing for somepony whose life revolves around the ruse.
4137250
I am okay with both of these things. (Though technically speaking, I have made a flip-walker for Ditzy...)
As for Learning Aversion, I've adjusted it considerably. Now there's room for flavor text!
I really only had any kind of happy reaction with Derpy beating Rarity as fillies, Scoots showing us why she's best chicken, and Cheerilee as a cheerleader. The grease monkey part was good, too.
4136858 Surmountable, but still broken. I feel like it should cost more. Like a mana cost equal to half of number of cards in your graveyard. A single White seems way too cheap. But hey, I'm still a MtG noob, so what do I know?
Did you mean to have it as "another creature" instead of "another target creature" in Usurp's rule test? Looks like there is a double space there where a word was missed.
If so the second line would have to be changed to "Change the target of each other spell" as well.
I'm not sure if Live Vicariously would work within the rules or not, since i'm not really sure if an Instant can "remember" the sacrificed card or not. Also, what happens if the sacrificed card is no longer in the graveyard for some reason? Is it still returned to the battlefield under your control if it's been shuffled into your library? Or what about if it is now under someone's control?
I think that if you flipped the exile and sacrifice effects it would work Faceless Butcher style.
Since Flicker style spells "remember" what they exile and all we know it would work. Though I'm not sure why I think the spell couldn't "remember" what it sacrificed.
On Learning Aversion; As a mill player I have an odd fondness for anti-mill cards. There are very few cards that help against the mill win condition so I love seeing them when they come up. The White activated ability is also quite interesting, though this doesn't really strike me as a "Boros" type card.
I know not all Red-White cards are Boros but that color pair will be forever linked to the Legion in my mind.
On Cloud Cart: I think this is the first time I've seen a card that cared about how many times a creature had a keyword. I like that idea, it's something I'd love to see Wizards do on an actual card or cards.
Maybe a cycle of enchantments of some kind... .
On Phoenix Coupe; I feel that the graveyard activated ability should be {2/R} instead of just 2. Because all Phoenix are Red so it'd make it just slightly better in a Phoenix tribal deck.
Also, it'd be funny if it was a "Tribal Artifact - Phoenix Equipment" but that's going a bit too far. (Would that even fit?)
It's a good thing that Disastrous Collision isn't Green, since all of the various "lure" effects are in Green and all. But, well, Naya is a thing, and RGW aggro is some good stuff.
4137977
Usurp: You are entirely correct here. Changes made.
Live Vicariously: If Rescue from the Underworld can remember which card was sacrificed, so can this spell.
Nope. If it leaves the graveyard before the end step trigger, it won't be returned, since the effect won't be able to find it. This applies even if the card makes it back into the graveyard later on, since it will be considered a different object. On a similar note, if the returned creature is no longer on the battlefield by the time the trigger resolves, it won't be exiled. Finally, exiling the returned creature and returning the sacrificed card are entirely independent of one another. Live Vicariously will try to do both if able, but neither one hinges on the other happening successfully.
Learning Aversion:
With all due respect, that's your problem.
Phoenix Coupe: Just because it has the name doesn't necessarily mean it should be a tribal. Especially not when phoenixes almost certainly can't make the things.
I love Learning Aversion: it pairs well with RW balance, and has a great effect.
Step 1: Print a proxy of Learning Aversion
Step 2: Get my playgroup to accept it
Step 3: Relive the time I did a Primal Surge of an entire EDH deck in Jund using Dragon Appeasement as my "surge protector", only this time with Naya.
Step 4: ???
Step 5: Profit
Step 6: Boobytrap the stalemate button!
If only there was a commander for that as great as Karrthus.
Oh! And on second reading, it appears I was too distracted by the upcoming Phoenix Coupe to take in Cloud Cart! I love it! I keep waiting for a set to play with otherwise redundant instances of keyword mechanics, ever since lifelink got nerfed in M10.
4137551
She was so adorable!
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vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/d/da/Miss_Cheerilee_and_cheerleaders_S6E14.png/revision/latest?cb=20160807155604
She's living up to her name in a very literal sense. I get the feeling that this must fulfil her on an almost spiritual level.
4139195 Yup.
Actual Magic spoiler below:
So are we getting a redo of the carts given the Kaldesh spoilers?
4189707
Much as I'd love to—among other vehicles we've seen on the show—I'm going to say no. Same reason I didn't redo "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" with investigate after Shadows Over Innistrad came out. I work with what I'm given at the time.