Friendship is Card Games: Minty Root Roundup · 11:55am Apr 23rd, 2023
As the title implies, we're closing out the overview of Minty Root’s work with a pair of music videos and an expanded Anthology short.
There’s an Undertale joke in here somewhere…
In any case, this is a great narrative that says a lot with a little, using the always fascinating idea of a Star Swirl who grew up with Luna… and thus presented one of the first times she had to confront both her own immortality and the fact that most ponies lack it. The Nightmare arising as much from grief as neglect is a fascinating proposition, one I rarely see. Lovely stuff here, even if some of the panning shots suffer from a little choppiness as the models shift between different angles. Still, a minor quibble compared to the impact of the video.
This one feels more like a case of spectacle over substance, but there’s still a good amount of the latter to be had. Hardly the first time I’ve seen Celestia and Luna as the last scions of a lost kingdom of alicorns, but I’ve seen few if any portrayals of that society with this level of breathtaking detail. The story does come through clearly when taken as a whole, and the imagery at the end is quite good indeed.
Everypony Everywhere All At Once
Just to round out my available reference pool for this week, here’s an outstanding tribute to one of the most memorable scenes in Everything Everywhere All At Once. And honestly, it’s not that spoilery given the context required to understand what’s going on, but if you haven’t seen EEAAO yet and plan on doing so, proceed with caution, both in the link and the blog.
In all, some fun bite-sized bits of pony. Let’s see how I can bulk them into a full article:
Desperate Salvation 1W
Instant
Exile up to two target creatures you control. Return those cards to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of the next end step.
In their final moments, the alicorns of Mount Mareu did whatever they could to preserve some part of their legacy.
Moonlit Atonement 2W
Sorcery
Exile target creature. That creature’s controller scries 3.
The gentle light of Luna’s charge fell on her withers with all the weight of her guilt.
Council of the Heavens 3W
Creature — Unicorn Wizard
If it’s neither day nor night, it becomes day as Council of the Heavens enters the battlefield.
T, Put a -1/-1 counter on Council of the Heavens: If it’s day, it becomes night. Otherwise, it becomes day.
The heavens must move, at any cost.
3/3
Exodus Warflock 3W
Creature — Pegasus Soldier
Flying
When Exodus Warflock enters the battlefield, draw a card.
Skirmish 3W (Whenever this creature attacks, you may pay 3W. If you do, create a token copy of it that’s tapped and attacking. Exile the token at end of combat.)
3/1
Combat Inexperience 1U
Instant
Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn.
Draw a card.
Celestia had trained Twilight to be a scholar and a diplomat, not a warrior. Closing her eyes every time she fired a horn blast didn’t help.
Target-Rune Illusionist 2U
Creature — Unicorn Wizard
Ward 2 (Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays 2.)
Spells you control that target a creature can’t be countered.
2/2
Ego Fracture 4U
Instant
Any number of target creatures become copies of another target nonlegendary creature until end of turn.
For a brief, horrible moment, Twilight’s mind was smeared across all of probability space, aware of every possible instance of herself.
Nightmarish Grief 3B
Sorcery
Return up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to your hand.
Morbid — If a creature died this turn, instead return one of those cards to the battlefield and the other to your hand.
One unspeakable act begets another.
Tirek’s Hospitality 4B
Sorcery
Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn. When that creature dies this turn, create a 4/4 black Dragon creature token with flying.
The strongest stratadons are made from the most thoroughly crushed wills.
Imperious Windigo 4BB
Snow Creature — Elemental Horse
Flying, menace
Whenever a player loses life, put a +1/+1 counter on Imperious Windigo. (Damage causes loss of life.)
Whenever a player attacks, that player loses 1 life.
4/4
Luna’s First Dawn XBB
Legendary Sorcery
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Draw X cards. Each opponent loses X life.
Centuries ago, one filly made the darkness shudder in both fear and anticipation.
Explosive Insight 2R
Instant
Explosive Insight deals 4 damage to target creature, planeswalker, or battle. Scry X, where X is the excess damage dealt this way.
Some of Celestia’s visions come to her in dreams Others are far more dramatic.
Fall of the Alicorns 3RR
Instant
Cast this spell only during combat after blockers are declared.
Fall of the Alicorns deals X damage to each creature that isn’t attacking or blocking, where X is the number of attacking creatures plus the number of blocking creatures.
Overwhelming Possibility 5RRR
Sorcery
Put your hand on top of your library, then exile your library. You may play cards exiled this way for as long as they remain exiled.
“Many ponies claim they want to know everything. Few still do when they see just how much ‘everything’ really is.”
—Discord
Journey Through Memory 2G
Enchantment
Whenever Journey Through Memory or a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may mill two cards. If you do, return a card at random from your graveyard to your hand.
Luna’s body trekked through the old castle. Her mind was largely elsewhere.
Surreal Multiplicity X2G
Sorcery
Create X tokens that are copies of target creature you control with mana value X.
As the initial, overwhelming revelation passed, Twilight slowly adapted to her new multiversal perspective.
Sungold Bauble 1
Artifact
1, T, Sacrifice Sungold Bauble: You gain 2 life. Draw a card.
“Celestia made it for me as an idle fancy. I gave it to a colt who had yet to grow into his hat. Neither of us knew just what would come of such small actions.”
—Princess Luna
Abiotic Worldline 9
Sorcery
Exile all permanents. For each land exiled this way, that land’s controller creates a tapped basic land token named Wastes with “T: Add C.”
Twilight found that when considered across all possibilities, life was the exception, not the rule.
United Fury 1RG
Sorcery
This spell costs 4 more to cast if it targets a player.
Two target creatures you control each deal damage equal to their power to any target.
Neither the wizard or the hoplite knew what they were doing. All they knew was that together, they were stronger.
Siren’s Scorn 2UBR
Sorcery
Gain control of target creature. Untap that creature. It gains haste and “At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this creature. When you do, its owner mills cards equal to its mana value.”
“You don’t know how long I’ve missed this.”
—Adagio Dazzle
Mount Mareu
Plane — Ungula
When you planeswalk to Mount Mareu or at the beginning of your upkeep, until end of turn, target creature you control gets +1/+1 for each card in your hand, gains flying, and becomes a Pony Pegasus Unicorn in addition to its other types.
Whenever chaos ensues, put a divinity counter on target creature you control. That creature gains indestructible and becomes a Pony Pegasus Unicorn in addition to its other types.
Beginning of Harmony just gets me choked up, y'know.
Protection From Editors Alert: You still have to pay for the cards exiled by Overwhelming Possibility, and drawing from an empty library kills you. I feel like it has to put your hand in your library after exiling it (or add the "without paying mana" bonus) in order to make any kind of sense for an 8 mana spell.
5724404
May I suggest one of my favorite cards ever, Obstinate Familiar?
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How about one of everyone else's favorite cards ever, Laboratory Maniac? Point is, it's a level of bulk rare that doesn't seem physically possible.
5724634
It's four mana off for a less safe Enter The Infinite. Seems reasonable to me.
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Neither spell is likely to get cast without circumventing the cost in some way; almost nobody pays mana costs above 6 in real games (7 is acceptable if it's purely generic mana and you're in a format where Urzatron exists, but 8 is right out). And if they do pay those costs, they're generally going to have to untap with it to get any value. Enter the Infinite's safety net happens to exactly hit the point where you can untap with it (even removing the hand size limit to further enable that), while Overwhelming Possibility will... come to think of it...
Stupid Complicated Game Alert: The upkeep happens between when you untap and when Overwhelming Possibility will kill you. It is strongly recommended to have one or more cards in the vein of Beacon of Destruction if you aren't cheesing things in some way (you should probably be cheesing things in some way, because it's an 8-mana spell in the rushdown color).