Friendship is Card Games: The Crystal Empire · 12:36pm May 10th, 2015
Happy Mother's Day, everyone. There’s no new pony, so I asked you guys to pick what episode I should do next. With a unanimous decision (of 2 votes,) it’s time to head up to the Frozen North for Crystal Fairs, long stairs, and tossed mares.
I do like how we actually get a glimpse of Celestia ruling the country. Signing documents, receiving news from distant corners of the kingdom, it’s something we don’t get to see much of.
Twilight was uprooting her house before it was cool.
I do like how there are some commemorative windows not featuring the Mane Six in these episodes. They’re heroes, yes, but they aren’t Equestria’s only ones.
Celestia never gives a reason for why Luna isn’t going to the Crystal Empire. She just rattles off who is being deployed. I suppose the implication is that Luna would be overkill, or that she’s being held in reserve, but it’s no wonder that Moon Horse is grumpy as she leaves the throne room.
For that matter, Celestia never even mentions why they aren’t breaking out the Elements for this one. She probably didn’t want Twilight to rely on them too much, but mentioning that would’ve been nice. Alternately, it could be part of that “you have to do this alone” malarkey. All those lessons about friendship? Yeah, forget that. Lone wolf this one. Between the test’s true nature and the consequences of passing it, that makes sense, but it still feels bizarre.
“She will succeed in her task, and when she does, we will know she is that much closer to being ready.” And then the dramatic cutie mark motif later on. Remind me again how Twilicorn came out of nowhere? 
Am I the only bothered by how knowledge of the Crystal Empire has been lost? Celestia has a bad habit of concealing information on the various evils she’s sealed from her ponies. I suppose it’s to keep anypony from trying to unseal them, but it still unsettles me. She says even her knowledge of the Empire is limited, but that’s no reason not to share it. Tyrantlestia is always a big stretch, but she does exercise control over the historical narrative.
“A unicorn whose heart was black at night.” Well, ouch. Good thing Luna wasn’t in the room.
I do love the interaction we get to see between Celestia and Twilight here. This is them at their best, and we never really got to see it until now. With Nightmare Moon, Celestia seemingly dismissed Twilight’s concerns and sent her on a field trip. With Discord, she wasn’t sure if anyone could stop him. With Chrysalis, she didn’t trust Twilight until it was too late. Here? This is what their relationship is all about. Faith and pride on one side, borderline panic on the other.
Spike’s eager little bounce is adorable. “Oh boy, a musical number!”
Twilight, you and I both know the square root of 546 continues without end.
Shining Armor, genius abjurer and captain of the Royal Guard… just tries to blast Sombra. Not stick him in a shield, not shield himself, just horn blasts. I know Shining was just trying to buy time for the others, but you know what buys time? Turtling. I suppose he may have already tried his usual tactics, but still, he was made to stall.
Given Rarity’s reaction to the Empire, I have to wonder what would happen if she tried casting her gem detection spell there. The feedback would probably be overwhelming.
Shining has been personally looking for signs of trouble. Wow. They really are the only ones Celestia sent. Shining couldn’t have ordered a few soldiers along for the trip? The wedding demonstrated how much of a defensive lynchpin he is. Risking himself on scouting missions is noble, but horrifically misguided.
The crystal ponies are fascinating. Are they a separate tribe? Specialized earth ponies (and that one pegasus)? Are they even ponies, or are they a mineral-based lifeform? So much potential. Personally, I’m of two minds on the matter, depending on whether or not the events of Hearth’s Warming actually happened.
If so, they’re the descendants of earth ponies incapable or unwilling to make the journey to Equestria, who Chancellor Puddinghead left behind as a gambit in case the windigos followed the exodus. Without unicorns or pegasi to cause strife, the earth ponies banded together and formed not a fire of friendship, but a stone of love. They then adapted to the strange energies of the Crystal Heart… up until a teensy bit of unicorn DNA from some noble’s tryst finally expressed itself in a certain somepony.
If not, the Empire may have been the province of some forgotten alicorn, usurped in a coup subtle or savage. Cadence had to come from somewhere, after all.
And yes, I know there are canonical explanations for both Sombra and Cadence, but the one just raises further questions and the other doesn’t explain the whole “Crystal Princess” deal. Moving on…
I’m pretty sure Pinkie was suspended from the top of the screen during her intel gathering. That would explain why she fell as the camera zoomed out: She fell because the camera zoomed out, making the rope less stable. Also, Fluttershy finding the Fluttershy disguise is still hilarious.
The presence of griffins at the library is certainly interesting. There are a lot of unanswered questions about the Crystal Empire, and their relationship with other species is definitely one of them. Also, the Empire has apparently always had kings and queens. Despite being an empire. Yeah.
Really? Using Spike as a lectern? Twilight couldn’t have just levitated the book? I’m blaming the writers for this one.
I count two hues in the Crystal Empire’s flag. Not sure if that counts as “many.”
Given the Crystal Heart’s role in the Empire, I find it hard to believe it was only mentioned once, in the back of the book. Of course, this could be an edited version released early in Sombra’s reign, while he was still establishing his control over the Empire, assuming a slow, insidious takeover. That said, that doesn’t excuse Twilight Sparkle not noticing a disfigured book.
Speaking of Sombra, an insidious black force, where just the tiniest scrap is enough to corrupt everything in time? He may not be Phyrexian, but he can do a very good impression of glistening oil.
Applejack, the Bearer of Honesty, volunteering to lie about the Crystal Heart. Somepony did not think this through. Granted, she’s using factual distractions, but still, AJ was not made to stall. Unlike certain ponies.
Honestly, I’d be surprised if Fluttershy weren’t a knight at this point. All six Bearers probably have titles after saving the world twice. Of course, in my headcanon, the Harmonic Normalcy Initiative was still in full swing at this time, so they were the only ones who knew about those titles. (Granted, in my usual headcanon, Cadence is a quintuplet. 
)
After watching Celestia cast a dark magic spell once, Twilight copies it on her first try. Just a reminder that Twilight is terrifying. Thank goodness she hasn’t used dark magic since charging the flashback potion. (That we know of, anyway…)
Sombra took a page from Bowser a la Super Mario 64. Fortunately, Twilight was prepared for a speedrun.
I kept track, and Sombra demonstrates an eleven-word vocabulary. In alphabetical order: crystal(s), heart, is, mine, my, no, slaves, stop, that, what, and yes. There’s even a complete sentence in there! (“That is mine.”) That’s more than three times what we usually give him credit for.
Sombra getting his body restored as he approaches the Heart is both intriguing and worrisome. There’s no dark magic leaking out of his eyes anymore. Could he have turned over a new leaf?
… Probably not. Besides, it’s a moot point now. First confirmed villain death of the show. (Yes, the horn was intact, but the guy freaking exploded. I don’t think he’s coming back from that, and I am prepared to eat those words should later seasons prove me wrong.)
Rarijack ship teasing, then pan to Spike looking uncertain. Well then.
Before we move on to the cards, I’d like to address matters gross and subtle. First, there’s Sombra. Yes, he was woefully underutilized. Yes, he was basically a big menacing cloud of not very much. His villainy was more told than shown, his dialogue was minimal (though not quite as bad as a lot of people think,) and he pales in comparison to many of the show’s other, more charismatic antagonists. One of the main problems is that he’s basically pony Sauron, but he has no orcs. A Dark Lord with no Legions of Doom is a head with no body. He’ll bite your legs off if you let him, but he doesn’t have the same sense of inexorable menace as one with a full staff (cf. Chrysalis.)
However, Sombra’s legacy tells us a lot about him. Think of all of the security measures he put into place around the Crystal Heart: A regime of fear to keep ponies out of the palace, a door that requires dark magic to pin down and traps those who go into it in their worst fears, an entire subdimension containing a nigh-infinite staircase, and a proximity alarm on the Heart with a spiky wall and a teleport ward just waiting to be triggered. The key weakness in his security is the same flaw as his presentation. The stallion was clearly quite clever, but flawed in his thinking. His defenses are perfect against a single person, but multiple people working together can foil them. He was a paranoid, despotic megalomaniac prepared for assaults by other despotic megalomaniacs. Several centuries spent turned to shadow and banished in ice left him rather inarticulate, but before the necrosenility, he was basically another Twilight Counterpart, ready for those who would test his hold on power.
Then there’s the theme of this episode. Not the importance of self-sacrifice, but of the dangers of haste. Throughout the episode, characters are frequently not thinking things through, then paying the consequences. Twilight assumes her test will be a conventional exam, doesn’t notice the history book is damaged, and charges into both the worst-fear door and the Crystal Heart’s holding cell. Shining Armor’s tactical recklessness has already been discussed. Applejack volunteers for a mission of obfuscation. Rainbow Dash exists.
This theme is here for a reason. Celestia and Luna are debating whether or not to give Twilight Star Swirl’s journal, which they either suspect or know will catalyze her ascendance. This is not a decision to be taken lightly, and the hasty actions of other characters highlight the inherent danger of the process. That the episode involves both Twilight learning dark magic and a powerful unicorn villain can’t be a coincidence.
Now combine the two. What if Sombra were blinded to the consequences of his ambition as he sought to fulfill it, too enticed by the promise at the end of the tunnel? Celestia herself admits that her knowledge of the Empire is limited. What if Sombra were seeking something that he felt was worth the cost of enslaving an empire? I think he was looking for a way to protect his home that wasn’t reliant on everypony being in a good mood. Of course, that’s just me.
That’s more than enough rambling. Let’s get to the cards:
Tiny Ewes W
Creature — Sheep
If a source would deal damage to Tiny Ewes, prevent that damage unless that source’s controller pays 3.
”Who could possibly even think about hurting such adorable creatures?”
—Fluttershy, Bearer of Kindness
0/1
Flugelhorn Fanfare 2W
Instant
Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
Flashback 4W (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
As inspiring as it is unceasing.
Light of Hope 2W
Enchantment
Creatures you control get +0/+1 and have vigilance.
Whenever a player casts a black spell, transform Light of Hope.
The Empire shines, and all hearts soar.
Shadow of Fear
(B) Enchantment
Creatures you control get +1/+0 and have intimidate.
Whenever a player casts a white spell, transform Shadow of Fear.
The Empire dims, and all knees buckle.
Loving Defense 2W
Instant
Whenever you’re dealt damage this turn, you gain that much life.
Cadence did not stop protecting the Crystal Empire until she exhausted every drop of magic at her disposal.
Overwhelming Glamor 2W
Instant
Tap each creature you don’t control with power less than or equal to the number of enchantments you control.
”There are no words…”
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Frontier Warden 2WW
Creature — Pegasus Soldier
Flying
Whenever a permanent enters the battlefield from exile, if you control a Plains, you may cast Frontier Warden from your hand without paying its mana cost and as though it had flash.
”It has returned. We must mobilize.”
3/2
Crystal Purification 4W
Sorcery
Exile target creature. You gain life equal to that creature's converted mana cost.
In his final moments, King Sombra felt true gratitude for the first time.
Sombra’s Banishing 4WW
Enchantment
Vanishing 4
Sombra’s Banishing can’t be exiled.
When Sombra’s Banishing enters the battlefield, exile all other nonland permanents until Sombra's Banishing leaves the battlefield.
Brilliant Aurora 4WW
Enchantment
All permanents are enchantments in addition to their other types.
1W: Target enchantment gains indestructible until end of turn.
The Crystal Heart externalizes the inner beauty that powers it.
Celestia’s Secretary 1U
Creature — Unicorn Advisor
T: Draw a card, then put a card from your hand on the bottom of your library.
”Hollow Shades is reporting an increase in cultist activity, Your Highness. I’ve already taken the liberty of drafting a letter to your student.”
1/1
Traumatized Citizen 1U
Creature — Pony Citizen
When Traumatized Citizen enters the battlefield, put a card from your hand on top of your library.
Sombra’s brutal regime left the crystal ponies without a past. His final curse flung them into a strange future.
2/3
Unblast 1U
Instant
Choose target noncreature spell. Its owner shuffles it into his or her library.
”I’ll just save this one for later, then.”
—Pinkie Pie, Bearer of Laughter
Capering Jester 2U
Creature — Pony Rogue
U: Change a target of target spell to Capering Jester.
”Ooh! Over here! Look at me, look at me!”
1/2
Scattered Scarves 2U
Instant
Unattach all Equipment.
Draw a card.
”Some places just seem to despise fabulosity.”
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Frantic Preparation 2UU
Sorcery
Draw five cards, then discard three cards.
Threaten Twilight Sparkle with the end of the world, and she will crush your ambitions before your very eyes. Threaten her with a pop quiz, and she’ll crumble like a wet sand castle.
Endless Staircase 3U
Enchantment
Whenever a creature without flying attacks you or a planeswalker you control and isn’t blocked, that creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn.
Sombra’s door was always open, but he didn’t make getting to it easy.
Ray of Hatred 1B
Instant
If target creature is black, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Otherwise, it gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Darkness feeds upon itself, until everything is just as twisted and cruel.
Lasting Trauma 2B
Enchantment
At the beginning of your end step, each opponent who lost 2 or more life this turn discards a card. (Damage causes loss of life.)
“Sombra is gone from this world, but he still lurks in the dark corners of the crystal ponies’ minds.”
—Princess Luna
Sombra’s Slaves 2B
Creature — Pony Minion
T, Put a -1/-1 counter on Sombra’s Slaves: Add 1 to your mana pool.
The crystal ponies soon became too exhausted to resist the new king.
1/4
Creeping Corruption 2BB
Enchantment
When Creeping Corruption enters the battlefield, put a darkness counter on target land.
Each land with a darkness counter on it is a Swamp.
All Swamps have “2B, T: Put a darkness counter on target land.”
Sombra, Dread Shade 2BBB
Legendary Creature — Shade
Intimidate
B: Sombra, Dread Shade gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
1B: Regenerate Sombra.
Now nothing but his own ambition.
2/2
Turn to Shadow 4B
Sorcery
Destroy target creature. Put a 1/1 black Shade creature token onto the battlefield with “B: This creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.”
The Diarchs meant to reduce Sombra to nothingness, but the darkness in his soul yet lingered.
Darkest Fears 8BB
Sorcery
You control target player during that player’s next turn. Search that player’s library for a card and put it into his or her hand. That player then shuffles his or her library. Exile Darkest Fears. (During that player’s next turn, you see all cards that player could see and make all decisions for the player.)
Overreact RR
Sorcery
Overreact deals 2 damage to each player. This damage can’t be prevented or dealt to planeswalkers.
Storm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn.)
Never tell Twilight Sparkle something is “just a test.”
High Spirits 1R
Enchantment
2R: Creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.
Crystal ponies are sensitive creatures. Something as simple as a woven hat or a funnel cake can shake off years of traumatic malaise.
Wife Toss 2RR
Instant
Until end of turn, target creature you control gains flying and gets +X/+0, where X is its power. If that creature isn’t legendary, sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
Only destiny itself can preserve somepony from such a reckless act.
Crystal Empire Ballad 2G
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on Crystal Empire Ballad.
2GG, Exile Crystal Empire Ballad: Return up to X target cards from your graveyard to your hand, where X is the number of verse counters on Crystal Empire Ballad.
Crystal Fair 2G
Enchantment
At the beginning of each other player’s untap step, untap all creatures you control.
A time of joy and merriment, celebrating the very protection it restores.
Pink Ops Gear 2
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature can’t be blocked except by two or more creatures.
Equip 1
It’s so outlandish that without outside confirmation, most onlookers will assume they’re just seeing things.
Flawless Disguise 3
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature has “3: Until end of turn, this creature becomes a copy of another target creature and gains this ability.”
Equip 3
Crystal Archives 4
Artifact
4, T: Each player puts the cards in his or her hand on the bottom of his or her library in any order, then draw that many cards.
A thousand years of library science have passed them by.
The Crystal Heart 5
Legendary Artifact
X, T, Tap X untapped creatures you control: Exile target creature with converted mana cost X.
Like the Elements of Harmony, it is powered by feelings of togetherness and good will. Unlike the Elements, it uses those feelings to make things explode.
Magical Compendium 6
Artifact
When Magical Compendium enters the battlefield, it deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
4, T: Draw a card.
Everything you ever wanted to know about magic, but were too afraid to lift.
"The Failure Song" WU
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on "The Failure Song".
(wu), Sacrifice "The Failure Song": Counter target spell or ability unless its controller pays X, where X is the number of verse counters on "The Failure Song". (Mana abilities can't be targeted.)
Remove all verse counters from "The Failure Song": If five or more counters were removed this way, transform "The Failure Song".
"The Success Song"
(W) Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on "The Success Song".
WW, Sacrifice "The Success Song": If your life total is less than X, it becomes X, where X is the number of verse counters on "The Success Song." This turn, you can't lose life, you can't lose the game, and your opponents can't win the game. If X is ten or more, you win the game.
Foul Encrustation WB
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets -2/-1 and its activated abilities can’t be activated.
Sombra’s black crystals drain hope and magic at any size.
Crystal Jouster (rw)(rw)
Creature — Pony Knight
Whenever Crystal Jouster attacks, it gains first strike until end of turn.
Lances are great for a charge and good for little else.
2/2
Diarchs’ Conference 1WB
Sorcery
Target opponent chooses a permanent card in your graveyard. You may pay (wb). If you do, repeat this process except that opponent can’t choose a card already chosen for Diarchs’ Conference. Then return the last chosen card to the battlefield.
Shadowspike Hedge 2WB
Creature — Wall
Flash
Defender, deathtouch
Sombra showed no mercy to those who tried to take what was his. Or to anyone else.
1/4
Sombra, Crystal Tyrant 3WB
Legendary Creature — Unicorn Wizard
Creatures can’t attack you or planeswalkers you control unless their controller pays 2 life for each of those creatures.
His hunger for power consumed an empire. Had it not been for the Diarchs, it would have consumed the world.
3/3
Gravity Flux 3GU
Instant
Creatures you control gain flying until end of turn. Creatures your opponents control lose flying until end of turn.
For a sufficiently skilled unicorn, down is whichever way she says it is.
Crystal Citadel
Snow Land
Crystal Citadel enters the battlefield tapped
T: Add R or W to your mana pool.
”The tower shines with hope and light,
Our people’s future looking bright.
An end to darkness, cold, and fright.”
—The Dynasty of Winter Princesses
Tell me, on what planet do you live in which you have enough time to write this?!
Well, I write entire 90,000 FIM Fictions in books even though I have assignments due.
3058843
The planet of Doing Most of the Work on Saturday.
3058845
Blimey. How much work do you receive? Every single day, I have no choice but, quite literally, to spend up to 6 hours studying. Such is school in Australia.
3058845
i.imgur.com/TaOFRIb.gif
Cheers to that!
My headcanon for Sombra (which I understand has been thoroughly Jossed by the Fiendship is Magic comics) is that he started off as Luna's student: an ambitious magical prodigy who wasn't afraid of the dark or the night. It didn't work out, they broke apart, and he struck out on his own, turning into an evil wizard while as Luna found herself more and more lonely and jealous over Celestia's popularity. And the reason he took over Crystal Empire was to use its magical architecture to gather all the fear and hate and misery of his enslaved crystal ponies and use it to fuel his own attempt at dark alicorn ascension.
The thing is, we see what Sombra does to an unicorn in his way. The moment he touches you, BANG, no more magic and you are considerably weakedn. Whho knows what he would do to a pegasi and an earth pony
3058913
Certainly works. I'm personally partial to my "first unicorn born in the Empire, trying to save it from itself" idea. I don't know why, but I like the idea of Sombra as a tragic hero.
3058927
So have them scout. Perform recon. Don't directly confront the giant, whalesong-emitting cloud of shadow, just keep tabs on it. Really, I'm just baffled by Celestia sending a two-pony squad to secure the city-state even she doesn't know much about.
Pardon me if I get overexcited but I have pretty strong feelings about this. I continue to believe quite honestly that Sombra is the best villain in the show, and that the complaints people have about him are all wrong.
I disagree: his villainy was all show and no tell at all, but it didn't register as such because it didn't follow the conventions of cartoon villainy. The illusions, the tricks, the traps, the cages are all things he did. They don't tell us much of what he did to the crystal ponies, but they show us the results: an entire nation afflicted with debilitating PTSD, mired in fear and depression to the point of having repressed all their memories of his reign.
He mind raped a whole country
How on earth can people say "he didn't do anything"?
No, he didn't get much screentime. He didn't need it. He does his work in the shadows, and by careful preparation long before the episode started. Conversely, Discord gets tons of material and screentime to work with, and is just a clown. Sombra got almost no material, and can bring an entire nation to its knees just by looking at it. No-one can tell me he's not an effective villain
Sombra thought things through and put in place safeguards to protect his plans even if he were defeated. Every other major villain before him was defeated when, at their moment of seeming triumph, they dropped their guard and went into melodramatic cackling supervillain mode and let the heroes hit them. By contrast, Sombra did everything right and was only defeated by the heroes actually working together to overcome his traps and protect his victims at every point.
Basically, I think the creators were quite brave to make a villain who wasn't designed above all else to be fun to watch, and I think they did a brilliant job. But all they got for it was grief
This is why we can't have nice things.
My head canon for Celestia and Luna's chat at the beginning: "We already tried, and failed. We need to try something different this time." Remember, this is a guy Celestia and Luna have fought before, and they failed to defeat him and saw a whole nation disappear into oblivion or torment before their eyes as a result. I also like to think the fact that the topic even came up in the first place was a sign that Sombra was a much bigger challenge than Discord and Chrysalis, and Luna thought it called for a full mobilization in response. Luna's skeptical look at Twilight cinched it for me: it's not that Luna doesn't think Twilight is worthy (Twilight IS the pony who defeated Nightmare Moon and showed Luna how to make friends on Nightmare Night, after all), but that she thinks Sombra is in an entirely other league.
Okay, I think that's enough for now. I had to get that off my chest
(Y'know, you'd think a graduate study would have taught me to organize my thoughts in an orderly fashion. You would be wrong.)
Interesting... So Sombra wanted to be hit with the Crystal Beam Thing...
Typo?:
"When Sombra’s Banishing enters the battlefield, exile all other nonland permanents until Banished Empire leaves the battlefield."
I think you mean "Sombra’s Banishing"?
As soon as I saw the spoiler footage with those marks, I started cracking jokes about a conspiracy to have Twilight ascend to alicornhood. I laughed even harder once I found out I was unintentionally right.
I like that you made Sombra Orzhov. The colors of ambition and totalitarianism suit him well. I'd have made him Esper myself, though, as he has a fondness for mind magic. As for Twilight, Princess of Friendship, I'd either make her Bant or Azorius. Well, y'know, when she's not transformed into a crazed elemental representation of all magic.
On a more card-related topic, back when I was writing my own Magic pony stories I wondered what Sombra would look like as a card and thought it would be cool if he was a creature that could turn into an enchantment or vice versa. Then Theros came out, and I decided that yeah, Sombra was definitely a god card: indestructible, banishable, has both a non-physical and physical form, and grows from one to the other based on how much dark energy is in play? Yeah.
Have you read the Sombra's comic treatment. Cause its fantastic. Its adds layers to Sombra's character and the Crystal Empire. Plus they pretty much said at the end that he will return.
3058958
You are certainly welcome to gush here, in however disorganized a manner you want.
As for Sombra, my main point was the underutilization. Sombra is clearly an effective villain in the show. A mighty wizard, a brilliant strategist, and a terrifying foe. The problem is that while his legacy attests to this tenebrous terror, the Sombra we see just doesn't measure up to it. He just grumbles and rushes at ponies, and even his cunning masterstroke that allowed him to slowly infect the Empire through the shield seemed to happen by accident. A clever use of what he had to work with, but the problem with a mastermind, as you noted, is that he's not very theatrical. Something the audience can't see might as well not exist, and most of Sombra's greatest work went unseen. At least, they weren't directly seen, and not everyone overanalyzes to my extent. Thus, despite his reign of terror, Sombra is seen as a joke by many. At least, that's my read on the situation.
As for Sombra's card form, my thought process was largely on the same lines, though rendering him deifically felt a bit much. Still, darkness-fueled, hard to kill, scary thing? That we can agree on.
3058959
Yes, yes I did. And I'm not sure if Sombra wanted to get hit by the Exploding Pulse of Love and Joy™, counterpart to the Rainbow Beam of Fix Everything™, but it did seem to be good for him up until the detonation.
3059774
Black has its share of mind magic, from the brute force of Mind Rot to the precision of Sadistic Sacrament. When the outcome is fear, loss, and trauma, the magic was probably of a darker persuasion.
I think Creeping Corruption would be more fun as a variant on Kudzu.
Elements of Harmony, Fire of Friendship, Stone of Love/Crystal Heart.....one must wonder if there are other forms of condensed virtue lying about, waiting for discovery
3060202
That is a good point. Black is pretty good at getting folks to forget stuff, doubly so when combined with white. While it does tend to target short-term memory (the hand) rather than long-term memory (the library), exceptions (like Balustrade Spy) do occur from time to time.
3058955
I can see the appeal there. "Everything I did, I did for you ingrates! I had to destroy the Empire to save it!"
Personally I feel like staking the fate of an allied kingdom, and all its subjects, on a "test" in which the subject is expected to hold back to show her worth is a BIT irresponsible of Celestia. And Twilight for going along with it, though it'd be a bit much to expect of her to stand up to Celestia for being wrong.
Even more than that, I was baffled by Twilight's stubborn assumption that the test required her to do everything alone (or at least everything directly related to defeating Sombra alone). Girl, you are the bearer of a magical artifact that is powered by friendship, and represents your leadership of the group. You received it through a demonstration of your friendship and teamwork. You have defeated several threats to the nation with the help of that same team of six friends. Heck, although she didn't know it the actual purpose of this test was to see if she was ready to become the princess of friendship. I cannot imagine why she thought that letting her friends help her would mean failing the test, as long as she remained in a leadership role. Especially when things started turning sour. (Oh, and there's the fact that she did need to let one of her friends do the honors and she did not get failed as a result).
"Remind me again how Twilicorn came out of nowhere?" Because this episode was chock full of the lamest vague foreshadowing I've ever found in a work that wasn't actually being made up as the author went along, and that could have meant almost anything. Seriously, "It" has returned?
I like how there's a dark magic spell which does not appear to do anything except trigger a reaction from artifacts that are looking for dark magic.
-------
Anyways, before I get to your cards I thought of a few of my own:
Go it Alone 3R
Instant
Target creature with power 1 or greater must attack this turn if able. If it does, other creatures may not attack this turn.
"I will make the Princess proud of me..."
Ensnare the Hasty 2WU
Instant -- Trap
Ensnare the Hasty costs 2 less to play if a creature is attacking you on the same turn it entered its owner's control.
Prevent all combat damage this turn. Tap all attacking creatures and they do not untap during their controller's next untap phase.
Paralyzing Trap 4
Artifact
B,T: Destroy target attacking creature and it cannot be regenerated. Its controller may counter this effect by removing the target and another attacking creature from combat.
Sombra never imagined that more than a few powerful ponies would be brave enough to attack him directly. He planned accordingly.
Stalling Tactics 2W
Enchantment
Stalling Tactics enters play with three charge counters on it.
Remove a charge counter from Stalling Tactics: Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and dealt by target attacking creature this turn. If there are no charge counters on Stalling Tactics, sacrifice it.
Several of the traps guarding Sombra's castle were never expected to kill an intruder--only to occupy them long enough for the dark lord to kill them in person.
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Light of Hope/Shadow of Fear: Very cool. At first it looks like it can't live up to its full potential since both those abilities are for attacking, but if I remember the turn order rules correctly you can cast spells between declaring attackers (the time vigilance helps) and declaring blockers (the time intimidate helps). That said, a white opponent can usually stop you from having intimidate when you want it and a black opponent can usually stop you from having vigilance while intimidate is useless.
Loving Defense: Oh, you thought you were going to finish me with Overrun/Disintegrate/A big dragon, huh?
Frontier Warden: So abusable. Of course, a 3/2 flier with flash for free isn't--oh who am I kidding that's great. (That said, I think standard practice is to require you to control a plains or a white creature so that you can't just throw him in a nonwhite deck).
Sombra’s Banishing: Board wipes are board wipes. And if the game does last 4 more turns (which it might since everyone just lost momentum), that just means you get to repeat all our ETB effects in one go.
Brilliant Aurora: Of course those should be artifacts, but that card already exists and eveyone already has a billion combos for it. Now they can make a billion combos for this instead!
Capering Jester: A part-time Flagbearer in blue. Pemminin's Aura, anyone?
Frantic Preparation: Brilliant in flavor and effect.
Ray of Hatred: Combat trick or kill spell? You decide. Disfigure is bigger and not target restricted, but I guess the positive pump has some uses.
Lasting Trauma: Potentially quite nasty. Causing two damge/life loss per turn isn't exactly hard in black. Sadly not friendly with Liliana's Caress (unless you want them to be out of cards by the time this takes effect).
Sombra’s Slaves: Neat concept. Probably would be more than fair if it made B instead of 1 (after all, green can do that with 1 or 2 drops that don't kill themselves; black's allowed to be somewhat good at mana generation as long as you pay the price).
Creeping Corruption: Is that a swamp instead of its other types, or in addition? One is much more powerful than the other. (What's that? You wanted to play spells that aren't black and to block my creatures with swampwalk I picked out?)
Sombra, Dread Shade: Cool, a super shade. With intimidate that's potentially a lot of damage in one turn--if he survives the turn you played him on since you probably tapped out.
Turn to Shadow: So that's 2B for Murder (with bonus splashability I guess), and 2 for a shade token. Am I doing my math right? Because holy crap.
Darkest Fears: Timmy approved! Come on, you know you want your opponent to fireball himself to death!
Overreact: I like it. Stick it on top of two lightning bolts and you've just dealt 12 damage to the face for RRRR. Or more realistically, stick it on top of some goblins and cantrips.
Wife Toss: Princess Cadence thanks you for writing this spell so that her husband didn't have to use Fling instead.
Crystal Fair: Use with mana elves, pingers, or really just about any activated ability. Especially in multiplayer.
The Crystal Heart: That's unlike the Elements?
Magical Compendium: Haha it falls on somebody as an ETB ability.
Diarchs’ Conference: Odd reanimator card that can't fit in most reanimator decks. But it's super cheap for a non-disenchantable version if you can ensure there's only good cards to pick from.
Shadowspike Hedge: Flash plus deathtouch. Ouch.
3063105
Yeah, Celestia using Sombra as a test of Twilight's readiness for ascension did seem callous. Of course, it also speaks of Celestia's faith in her student. She wouldn't have done this if she weren't absolutely certain that Twilight would succeed.
As for going it alone, blame Sunbutt. She said, and I quote, "But Twilight, in the end, it must be you and you alone who ultimately assists Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in doing what needs to be done to protect the Empire." So, yeah. Kind of her fault. It's not like anyone actually knew what Twilight's purpose as an alicorn was supposed to be. Celestia might have suspected it, but it was a mystery to everyone prior to the opening of the Lockbox of Harmony.
Light of Hope/Shadow of Fear: Remember, you're playing white. Intimidate probably won't be useless against an opponent playing black. Intimidate isn't fear; the blocking creatures need to either be artifacts or share a color with the attacking creature.
Frontier Warden: Good point about the off-color cheating. Adjustment made.
Creeping Corruption: The ability overwrites the previous land type. This is basically a slow Blood Moon that can affect basic lands.
The Crystal Heart: The Elements have purified, petrified, and disempowered, but they've never exploded anything. Heck, Tirek basically imploded.
3064377 Even if she didn't know it would be "of friendship", Princess Celestia knew that Twilight's ascension would be to a leadership position. Leading from the front is still leadership.
Anyways, I forgot the most important card of all:
(B) Dark Magic Demonstration 1
Instant
Draw a card.
Celestia's spies walked a fine line, learning just enough dark magic to demonstrate the ability without learning enough to corrupt their souls.
((Yes, it's a do-nothing cantrip... that lets you cast a "black" spell off-color! Why would you want to do that? Who knows?))
He also said 'Yes' right near the beginning of the second part, though it was kind of hard to hear.
3067299
Good catch! I've adjusted the tally accordingly.
Brilliant Aurora is just too powerful, I'd say it shouldn't be able to protect itself "1W: Another target enchantment gains indestructible until end of turn."
Otherwise you just wait until you have 2WW open after casting it so you can protect it for the rest of your turn and your opponent's turn and from then on you can save it and your most important creature for the rest of the game.
Barring exile effects which, depending on the block, are not really that common but are becoming slightly more common but still "destroy" is the default means of removing cards and anything that makes things indestructible is going to be overpowered (I'm looking at you Darksteel Forge).
I really like Light of Hope/Shadow of Fear, it's an interesting take on the Transformation mechanic that'd I'd like to see more of
Not sure how I feel about Creeping Corruption. On the one hand non-basic lands aren't as strong as they used to be, they are still strong and some decks are based around them (I'm look at you Valakut) and a repeatable source of shutting them down feels a bit wrong. People had to go a little of of their way against the aforementioned Valakut yet this card seems like a good add in to any black deck because of-
The fact you can just totally cut off your opponents source of colored mana (provided they are not a black mage as well) for their deck, but that is a very black mage thing to do anyway.
Dash their hopes and shatter their dreams!
Sadly they obsoleted the rules text word "redirect ", be so much better if you could just say "This damage can’t be prevented or redirected" on cards like Overreact .
Uhhh, I'm going to assume that Flawless Disguise was meant to be an "Artifact - Equipment" not an "Artifact — Enchantment".
Either way it'd still be attached to the creature and even though it is standard fair for "mimic" abilities it doesn't need the "and gains this ability." rider clause. Because since it's attached it would give that ability to the "new" version of the creature it was attached to.
Unless of course the "new" creature you are "mimicking" has an ability that makes the disguise fall off (such as protection from Artifacts). And I also like the flavor behind losing the ability to disguise yourself if you lose the disguise so I'd push to lose the rider for that reason alone.
I love me my alternate win conditions, and I love how "The Success Song" can also be used as way of not losing.
3063105
Ensnare the Hasty should have the "Trap" subtype since it's got all the marking of a Trap what with the conditional cost reduction and all.
Paralyzing Trap should read "B,T: Destroy target attacking or blocking creature", since if you activate the ability at any point other than combat, which you can do in your base version, the opponent can't prevent the destruction from happening.
Also you misspelling the card type - "Artifact".
Stalling Tactics should be an Enchantment, not an Artifact.
I also agree with you that Sombra’s Slaves would be fine in producing a B instead of just a 1.
3073567
You're right, so I fixed my cards. Actually I'd already thought of calling Ensnare the Hasty a trap and was hesitant to because all the other traps have "trap" in their name and it didn't, but whatever. Rules gotta move with the times (or not, it's all silver-border fanfic here).
3073700
The simple solution to that is to rename it "Trap the Hasty".
It's cheating, but, it has "Trap" in the name then!
3074886
Yeah, except "Ensnare the Hasty" sounds really cool and "Trap the Hasty" sounds really lame. "Reckless Trap" is pretty bad too.
3074899
Tripwire Trap, perhaps?
3074903
Well you succeeded in making it sound cool again, but now it doesn't resemble anything that happened in the episode. Decisions decisions...
3075545
Yeah, FanOfMostEverything is good at making stuff cool.
How about "Crystal Tripwire Trap"? Since it was protecting a crystal and used crystals as the means of trapping.
Is there a reason Crystal Empire Ballad requires exile instead of sacrifice? All the other songs have a sacrifice cost.
Also, Pink Ops Gear grants menace, except not as a keyword. Changed to just granting menace in my version.
Crystal Archives says ‘Each player … draw that many cards.’ I assume this is a typo?
4465449
That is a typo, yes. Ballad exiles itself because putting graveyard recursion effects in the graveyard is generally a bad idea. Targets are declared before costs are paid, so a Ballad couldn't get itself back, but a second copy (or anything else that gets back enchantments) could.
Huh. I wonder how Overreact would interact with Abian, Luvion Usurper. I know it's not even silver-bordered, but it's an interesting thing to think about.
Speaking of silver-bordered cards, I'm surprised you didn't make Wife Toss one - seems a perfect opportunity to do something silly like reference a creature's gender.
Waifu Toss 2RR
Waifu Toss deals damage to any target you don't control equal to target female creature or planeswalker you control's toughness or loyalty.
Fetchez ma femme!
5171018
Remember, this was made back when most damage spells couldn't hit planeswalkers directly, but you had the option of redirecting any damage you'd deal to a player to their planeswalkers instead. The modern wording would just be "Overreact deals 2 damage to each player. The damage can't be prevented."
As for Wife Toss, Stone Giant is already a pretty silly card. And the genders of creatures can be very ambiguous, especially when dealing with sapient constructs who might identify as female, large groups, and beings whose concept of gender is incomprehensible to the human mind. (Does Emrakul count?)
5171071
Thanks for the clarification. I missed out on a lot of the steps of planeswalker rules development - I stopped playing Magic around 7th Edition and only started really paying attention again this year.