Friendship is Card Games: On Your Marks · 11:05am Apr 10th, 2016
This week, we discover the goal of the Crusaders’ next quest: Deeper characterization. Truly a saga worthy of being recounted for all time.
But first, in what is quickly becoming a regular feature, what I missed from the previous episode:
• As with the real world, the tracks leading into Grand Central Terminal appear to go underground, judging by how the building is nestled up between two others.
• I noticed the crayon by that one stallion’s soup bowl on the first watch-through, but I missed the part where Pinkie spat it into said soup. Eww.
• I noted the For Sale sign on the future site of Rarity For You, but I thought it was just announcing a balloon for sale. It wasn’t. That’s the pony equivalent of RE/MAX. Subtly clever.
Now, on to more pertinent matters.
First and most pressingly, when is this!? Biology demands that the Season 6 premiere took place several months after “The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows,” where the Crusaders had their cutie marks (and, indeed, were facing the issues they confront in this episode.) If this is the Crusaders’ first post-mark meeting, I have to think it took place long before Flurry Heart’s crystalling. The total absence of Starlight Glimmer suggests this.
Great. We can’t even count on chronologically self-contained seasons. As if the timeline weren’t enough of a mess as it was.
I have to wonder how common post-mark obsession is. Is this a phase everypony goes through, or something unique to the Crusaders after finally earning their long-sought reward?
That yodeling. Just… just that yodeling. That is a thing of surreal beauty.
Ah, force of habit. It is a pernicious thing.
Wow, did the Crusaders ever pick the wrong pony to start with. It’s Big Macintosh. He’s practically the physical embodiment of quiet wisdom. If anypony is secure in his place in the world, it’s him. His relationships with others can be shakier ground, but his place in the universe? Not an issue.
Good to see the mayor actually doing things. It would be tragic if Twilight completely usurped her position.
And so the Crusaders face the repairman’s plight. Everything’s in working order, and that’s definitely a good thing… but now what do they do? Who do the cutie mark counselors turn to when they have a cutie mark problem? (Themselves, of course, but if they addressed it instantly, there’d be no episode.)
I have to ask, how did Bulk Biceps fit in the clubhouse in the first place?
I have to think the writers had a discussion similar to Apple Bloom's about the CMC’s reason for existing. Also, I was genuinely concerned that Apple Bloom might propose making cutie mark problems. Still, given that she was one of the first victims in the Smarty Pants Incident, it does make sense that she’d know better than that.
Also, we see a case of something there’s been little of since Season 1: Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome, a drastic dip in mental stability caused by the inability to fulfill a special talent (cf. "Party of One," Fluttershy in "The Best Night Ever," etc.) Thankfully, the other Crusaders aren’t hit nearly as hard as Apple Bloom, which makes sense. Consider the inner symbology of their marks. The meaning of Apple Bloom’s heart-in-apple is much more ambiguous than that of Scootaloo’s bolt-in-wing or Sweetie Belle’s note-in-star. Is it any wonder that she had a much harder time finding something to do for its own sake? (Well, other than potion making, but I suppose she can’t do that all the time.)
Sweetie’s attempt to get the others to sing may be evidence of magical musical numbers, especially when taking the episode’s song into account. Apple Bloom can only sing when the plot permits it.
Berry Punch crushing grapes. No sir, nothing on radar.
Wow. Picasso, Dali, da Vinci, and Warhol, all in one scene. I do love this show. Dali's tail even splits into another mustache!
Good to see Diamond Tiara is bonding with ponies other than Silver Spoon. Also, it's kind of depressingly hilarious to see Apple Bloom singing about how alone she feels when Twist is roughly five feet away from her.
The bit with Apple Bloom on the bridge is a fantastic bit of symbolism. She sits between two phases of her life, too depressed to see the path before her.
I had my face in my hands when Apple Bloom first went in the dance studio. “That sounds an awful lot like friendship!” She really is a smaller version of Twilight sometimes. (I suppose that would make Twist Moondancer, though she seems to be far better adjusted.)
Still, even beyond cutie mark symbology, it does make sense that Apple Bloom wouldn’t know what to do with herself. Before forming the CMC, she was still a member of the Apple family. She’s been surrounded by friends and loved ones for her entire life. Whenever she’s been alone, it’s been part of an adventure: investigating Zecora, hauling pies through the fire swamp, being tormented by her own shadow. It's even true on the Doylist level; she was created as part of the Crusaders, down to huddling with the others in the series premiere, before they'd ever met. She’s never really had to define herself independently of other ponies before now. Apple Bloom may have her cutie mark, but she still doesn't know herself very well.
Tender Taps makes tap shoe sounds whenever he takes a step. It’s kind of hilarious. I’m tempted to pin it on earth pony magic, especially when he does it on soft dirt.
I’m not at all surprised that Scootaloo likes bungie jumping, given the feeling of flight it provides.
I have to love how the Crusaders got shushed when they entered the theater, but Tender Taps can yell as he’s peeking out from behind the curtain with no audience reaction whatsoever.
And so Apple Bloom dusts off the dancing skills she demonstrated in “The Show Stoppers.” Thankfully, there was far less collateral damage this time. (At least she's a better dancer than Twilight, if barely.)
I do love Tender Taps eagerly pointing at his hindquarters to passersby. I guess that new-mark enthusiasm is universal.
Yeah, it looks like they’ve abandoned the old end theme. Go figure.
In all, I really liked this episode. It was rich with character development for the Crusaders and answered some major questions about their future. Now if only the writers could do the same with the show’s chronology…
Abrupt Halt 1W
Instant
Remove target attacking creature from combat. Unattach all permanents from that creature.
Macintosh tried to stop. The apples had other ideas.
Lost Purpose 1W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block, and its activated abilities can’t be activated. That creature’s controller may pay its mana cost to ignore this effect until end of turn. (Mana cost includes color.)
Why act when there is no meaning to your actions?
Failure to Launch 1U
Instant
Counter target creature or planeswalker spell. If that spell is countered this way, put it on top of its owner’s library instead of into that player’s graveyard.
"Wow, girls. Just wow."
—Scootaloo
Quest for Deeper Meaning 1U
Enchantment
Whenever you scry, put a quest counter on Quest for Deeper Meaning.
As long as Quest for Deeper Meaning has three or more quest counters on it, if you would draw a card, you may instead look at the top three cards of your library, put one into your hand, and the rest on the bottom of your library.
Deft Dancer 2U
Creature — Pony Rogue
Skulk (This creature can’t be blocked by creatures with greater power.)
1U: Switch Deft Dancer’s power and toughness until end of turn.
"A good performer gets noticed only when she wants to be."
—Trixie Lulamoon, traveling performer
1/3
Whitewater Rafters 3UU
Creature — Pony Scout
Whitewater Rafters has trample as long as you control a Mountain.
Screams of terror and delight vary only by degrees of incline.
4/4
Obsessive Isolation 1B
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control exactly one creature, you draw a card and lose 1 life.
A pony is most dangerous to herself and others when left to her own devices.
“Out on My Own” 2B
Enchantment — Song
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a verse counter on “Out on My Own”.
1B, Sacrifice “Out on My Own” and any number of creatures: Target creature gets +X/+X until end of turn for each creature sacrificed this way, where X is the number of verse counters on “Out on My Own”.
Booming Yodel 1R
Instant
Target creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the number of Mountains you control.
For reasons he would never know, Apple Strudel felt a sudden stirring of pride.
Bungie Drop 2R
Instant
You may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. Return that creature to your hand at the beginning of the next end step.
Whether the cord is elastic or Æther, the result is the same.
Force of Habit 2R
Enchantment
Flash
When Force of Habit enters the battlefield, put a strife counter on each attacking creature.
Each creature with a strife counter on it attacks each turn if able.
Blundering Hulk 3RR
Creature — Pegasus Warrior
Flying
At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, that player sacrifices an artifact.
"Hey, what's 'fra-jee-lay' mean?"
4/3
Alchemical Fertilizer 1G
Sorcery
Search your library for a basic land card and put that card onto the battlefield tapped.
2R: Transform Alchemical Fertilizer. Activate this ability only if Alchemical Fertilizer is on the stack.
Improvised Explosion
(R) Sorcery
When this spell transforms into Improvised Explosion, choose targets for it.
Improvised Explosion deals 5 damage to target creature or player.
Ammonium nitrate is a magic all its own.
Grape Stompers 2G
Creature — Pony Citizen
At the beginning of each of your main phases, add G to your mana pool.
"A machine would be faster, sure, but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun."
1/3
Serene Stallion 2GG
Creature — Pony Monk
Hexproof
Spells and abilities your opponents control can’t cause you to sacrifice Serene Stallion.
He understands his place in the universe with such certainty that nothing can disrupt it.
3/3
Desperate Loneliness 3G
Enchantment
Creature spells you cast cost X less to cast, where X is the number of creatures controlled by the player who controls the most creatures minus the number of creatures you control.
The herd mentality is still strong in ponies, driving them to seek companionship whenever possible.
Starting Act 3G
Creature — Pony Citizen
When Starting Act dies, you may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield.
"I warmed them up for you. Good luck."
2/2
Contemplative Montage 3GG
Sorcery
Return three cards at random from your graveyard to your hand.
"Oh, that's where I put my continuity bobblehead!"
—Pinkie Pie, Bearer of Laughter
Scroll of Determination 4
Artifact
Whenever you discard a card, you may pay 1. If you do, draw a card.
Every failure only spurred the Crusaders on to pursue other possibilities.
Mystic Obsession WU
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block.
Whenever an ability of enchanted creature is activated or triggered, that creature's controller copies that ability. That player may choose new targets for the copy.
Freshly marked ponies can spend days reveling in their newfound purpose.
Blissed-Out Seer 3RG
Creature — Pony Shaman
At the beginning of your upkeep, exile the top card of your library. You may play that card this turn.
T: Add RG to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast cards from exile.
"Embrace every moment you spend in this incredible world."
2/2
Spin Out 4R(wu)
Instant
Tap target creature. That creature deals damage equal to its power to each other creature its controller controls.
Apple Bloom always makes for a memorable dance partner.
3860668
I'm two hours ahead of you. What's your excuse?
3860671
EST then, so it would be 7 in the morning right now?
3860677
Bingo. Plus, I did most of the work yesterday; I just applied the final coat of polish and a few bits of flavor text immediately prior to posting the blog.
3860683
Dubstep dancing Twilight AU is all i see!
When the Crusaders pulled down the map and were discussing how to reach different parts of Equestria to put their new talents to good use, I had a thought that blew my mind. What if they met Trixie and convinced her to take them with her so that they could travel around? It would introduce new character dynamics, create new opportunities for growth, and be generally too good to be true.
Of course, since it is too good to be true, it will never happen.
I have a sad, naow.
3860713
Spinoff show? Maybe it will allow the writers to keep up the moralistic slice of life with the Crusaders so the Mane Six can get more adventurey? Or vice versa?
Y'know, I was thinking the exact same thing during the episode. I wonder if the writers gave us that impression on purpose.
Also, I also picked up on how AB is having some issues coming up with an identity independent of her friends. I was kinda surprised she didn't try to fall back on being an Apple, but that may not have fit the episode.
AB does have a lot of similarities to TS, even though they started out as very different ponies. These similarities even extend to proficiency with dance.
I do love quest for deeper meaning on both a flavor and mechanical level. There's a certain Theros block red enchantment that would go perfectly with it...
Out on My Own sounds like a wonderful song to play in a zombie token deck, especially if you have a Dictate of Erebos.
And now I'm imagining using Bungie Drop on a Dragonlord Atarka, with all that that implies.
Grape Stompers adds G to your mana pool twice each turn? I can think of so many ways to abuse this! Also, Kruphix says hi.
And Starting Act would be wonderful in my Tasigur/Sidisi deck. Or in any of my decks with both green and black in them. Graveyard recursion is fun.
Liked this episode and this set of cards. See you again this time next week!
Isn't this how Trouble Shoes got his start not knowing what his butt symbol meant? To me, it suggests that her whole being is being the HEART of the Apple family.
3860713
Well I have a fic to write after BABSCon, now.
I want to say that Mystic Obsession, as a Pacifism Plus, could work as 1U instead of WU, like how Utopia Vow costs 1G, but the Pacifism effect itself might not be within Blue's scope. It isn't really within Green's without the super-Green granted ability.
Also, one thing I love about fancards is the ability to explore all the weird corners of the design space. Spells that transform on the stack are almost certainly never going to be printed by Wizards, but the idea is a cool one.
Also also, if I could persuade my playgroup to accept fancards, I would splash Red into my Shamans tribal deck to use Blissed-Out Seer as an emergency backup Leaf-Crowned Elder.
Every time I envision Big Mac in Serene Stallion, I picture him seated in the lotus position
3860683
I certainly feel a need to get up and move to the nearest phone so I can call an ambulance for the poor mare having a seizure.
3860713
It may not happen in the show, but the wonderful thing about those sorts of concepts is that they're perfect fan fiction fodder.
3860868
That still wouldn't have done much. If anything, it would've been a regression. Apple Bloom tied her identity to her family before beginning the Crusade. This way, she's figuring out who she is without anyone else around.
Also, I love the mental image of Atarka bungie jumping. Thank you for it.
3861126
And I have something to look forward to.
3861381
Remember that Utopia Vow was printed in Planar Chaos, the set where they deliberately altered the color pie to explore what Magic might have been. Using any cards from that set for color pie justification is a bad idea.
And yeah, I'm very happy with Alchemical Fertilizer. And Blissed-Out Seer for that matter. I came up with the design shortly after "Make New Friends But Keep Discord" aired; I've been hoping we'd see Tree Hugger again since.
Once again I don't have much to say about this episode. But it was good. And even though the timeline of Equestria is a vortex of madness and this possibly only happened six months later, it was good to see them acknowledge the one thing "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" didn't, that the Crusaders have been completely wrong the entire time about what exactly getting your cutie mark means.
We haven't had chronologically self-contained seasons since Princess Twilight Sparkle, man. If the first three seasons are meant to take place over one year, then Luna Eclipsed and Fall Weather Friends take place in the same autumn, and Winter Wrap-Up and Hearth's Warming Eve are in the same winter. And even that's not the most confusing part of the one year timeline claim, especially for comic readers. I defy anyone to tell me when Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair took place.
Trust me, FOME, you're not the only one who obsesses over this. I've dedicated entire days worth of my time to thinking about it. We could compare notes. Mine are quite extensive.
And now you've made me sad.
The real trick is finding something to attach the cord to.
Glad to have been of service.
All I can think of is the flavour of Starting Act. When it gets done dancing, any other random creature appears and immediatley begins to dance for entertainment.
"Our next dancer just arrived! Please welcome to the stage, Emrakul, the aeons torn!"
And I shouldn't have to explain why eldrazi dance night is not a good idea.
3861589
While I'd love to compare notes on the insanity of the Equestrian timestream, I'd rather use this as an impetus to finish a story that will try to explain or at least justify that insanity. Needless to say, Star Swirl is involved.
3862701
Hey, with that many tentacles, one of them's bound to have style.
3863841
Offer's always open.
What's the title of this fic?
3864091
Time Enough for Friendship
3864100
Oh, hey! That's one of the ones I voted for! This is excellent news.
3863841 It's all because the Glass Clock broke and the History Monks could only do so much to fix it.
So is Quest for Deeper Meaning supposed to be like the various Hideaway lands in that you put the two cards you did not pick on the bottom in the same order they were looked at or did you leave off an intended "in any order" slash "in a random order"?
I find Force of Habit to be quite interesting, though I'm always a bit iffy on adding new counter types, especially ones that go on creatures. You have to be careful with them because it can be easy to confuse them with the simple +1/+1 counter.
That being said I do like seeing what new types of counters are made and what they do, such as being able to win because you have someone that keeps talking long enough that your opponent(s) just quit.
I like that a "strife counter" makes things attack, instead of something more mundane like a "rage counter" or somesuch.
I see what you are trying to do with Alchemical Fertilizer/Improvised Explosion; I think it should be Improvised Explosive instead though.
Also not sure how I feel about a sorcery speed 5 damage to a target for 3GR, I think the transform cost could be dropped to just 1R.
Also also, this doesn't feel so much like a transform card as it does a split card without Fuse and the normal naming convention.
It's a multicolor card without being multicolored, because to get a pure Red effect you have to pay Green first, and don't even get any sort of Green effect for paying green mana. In fact you get something that Green doesn't normally get at all; general creature removal (not counting fight of course).
It's a neat idea, and I see where you were coming from with it and I really do love the flavor but this is a case where my inner Vortos isn't louder than my inner Melvin. It just doesn't fit the color pie.
Maybe have it be "Reveal this card from your hand and transform it." on the Green side and "When this card is transformed play it without paying it's mana cost." On the Red side instead of being activated on the stack. In that case 2R would be a good transform cost and you won't be paying any Green at all and it could be run in a mono-Red deck. But we still have the issue of it not really feeling like a transform card.
I should probably catch up on the pony, I haven't watched the DBZ fight yet.
3865549
Quest for Deeper Meaning: CR 401.4: If an effect puts two or more cards on the top or bottom of a library at the same time, the owner of those cards may arrange them in any order. That library’s owner doesn’t reveal the order in which the cards go into his or her library.
In other words, no clause necessary.
Force of Habit: Funnily enough, there is a card that uses strife counters, though it's an enchantment, Crescendo of War.
Alchemical Fertilizer/Improvised Explosion: I can see where you're coming from on a lot of the points. With regards to the name, the flip side was called Improvised Explosive for a while, but I felt it sounded too much like an artifact, especially since they just printed Explosive Apparatus. As for the flavor, well, if you make a fertilizer bomb, you're not going to be growing daisies with it after it goes off. Furthermore, the card is based on a moment in the episode where the Crusaders are making plant growth potions. Apple Bloom's works. The others'... don't.
Also, you really should catch up on pony, especially when your objections partially hinge on not knowing what moments inspire the cards.
3865690
For Quest for Deeper Meaning; even though there is a comprehensive rule for it they still tend to actually say so on the card for all those casual scrubs who don't know every comp rule and judge call. I'd still recommend saying it on the card.
I looked over the comprehensive rules and they don't have a list of counter types, which is slightly odd because they have lists for everything else.
Though, we only have one card that can move any type of counter (on creatures) about willy-nilly (to other creatures) so counter types are not quite as important to the comp rules as creature types or the like.
As for knowing the context behind the inspiration of a card that is really only applicable to flavor slash story arguments. I've conceded to "it is this way because of how it happened in the show" before when that was the main cause of my problem; not knowing that context.
However, without having seen the episode in question I knew the flavor behind the top down design of the card, sans the bit about them being potions. Fertilizer is a well known ingredient in homemade bombs after all.
My argument is not about the flavor of the card but how it fits, or in this case does not fit, the color pie as well as how it feels compared to other cards that use the same mechanic.
Maybe having to pay green mana fits in with the flavor of creating a plant growth potion and then the paying of red mana fits with it not working out right slash turning the potion from its intended purpose to something destructive instead. But thoses feel like weak justifacations for violating the color pie. More so on the Red side because it's technically a Red-Green card with a pure Red effect.
Then we come to how it doesn't have the same feel that all the other transform cards do. Each transform card has that feeling like both sides fit together in such a way that couldn't work in any other fashion. A demon sealed in a blade breaking free, vampires turning into bats or mist, an automation dropping its weapon for others to use when destroyed, a living nightmare coming back to physically harm the dreamer only to haunt their dreams once more, and of course the werewolves dual forms. They all just feel right as double-sided cards. As I said before Alchemical Fertilizer/Improvised Explosion feels more like a split card than a transform card to me.
It is just my opinion on it and I can understand why others would feel differently.
(I really need to stop responding from my phone, doing the links and proper formatting tags are hard without a full keyboard and while the mobile version of Gatherer isn't bad it is still a bit of a pain to use.)
Actually, I'm beginning to think that Alchemical Fertilizer would work as a Wanderer's Twig-type artifact, which could transform into Improvised Explosive. I do think the concept of spells transforming on the stack is a cool one, but this particular implementation did bug me a little. The "night side" spell should be a magnified, reduced, or inverted version of the "day side": Improvised Explosion would bug me less if it involved land destruction, for example. Especially since land destruction is something that Green itself has done, and outside the Time Spiral block.
In other news, I sometimes forget that Utopia Vow was only ever printed in Planar Chaos. There are other ways of giving creatures the ability to tap for mana, but I always think of UVow first, for some reason.
The seasons themselves having messed up timelines has been going on since season 1.