Friendship is Card Games: Season 10 Premiere & Villain Exchange Program · 12:09pm Oct 18th, 2020
Remember how I said it felt like the zebra homeland story is missing a chapter? That’s because it is. Turns out the Free Comic Day comic was the real Season 10 premiere. However, that’s just one issue, and this is still a card blog as much of a review. So, on the cusp of one contest’s deadline, we’ll turn to another.
But first, the comic.
Season 10 Premiere
Odd. Normally I wouldn’t much mind Spike finding his basket more comfortable than a new bed… but he’s had a proper bed for years. One that looks much like the one he spurned at Castle Canterlot. Maybe it’s just the mattress.
Also, he still has the Rarity plush, which is wonderful.
I do have to appreciate Spike anticipating his future self. “Sleepy me is an idiot. Don’t listen to anything he says.”
I still dispute this being Twilight’s first sunrise. I’ll grant “first sunrise as reigning princess.”
I appreciate how the guards have different reactions to Spike. Some are listening attentively, one’s skeptical about the self-important little whelp, and the last is in full-on “same horseapples, different day” mode. I also appreciate Spike’s morning cup of emeralds.
“Today is the first day Twilight is going to have to lower the moon and raise the sun.”
Objectively false, unless there’s an unspoken “without a safety net.” Still, again, first sunrise of her reign. There is a lot of pressure and potential for Twilighting.
Also, apparently both pony Gordon Ramsey and Saffron Masala are on the palace staff? At the very least they’ve been called on to help with the festivities.
This whole opening sequence is great. Twilight may have been raised to rule, but Spike was raised to keep her stable enough to do so. They really are an unstoppable team.
Granted, they’re only as good as their staff…
Pony Guy Fieri? … Thinking about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if Flavortown were the name of an actual Equestrian settlement. Still, I wouldn’t call the castle a diner, drive-in, or dive.
Ah. Saffron and Kitchen Nightmare were indeed conscripted for the big event… though that implies that pony Fieri is part of the royal kitchen staff.
“With Twilight being here, she can’t run off on some big adventure, and that means I don’t either.”
There’s a lot to take apart there. For one, it shoews that Applejack has developed a taste for adventure over the course of the series. For another, says who? The girls have had plenty of Twilight-free adventures, especially when one considers map missions. Still, this is Applejack we’re talking about. She has a history of overemphasizing Twilight’s role as ruler of the nation. Remember the Season 4 premiere?
(And, of course, there's the obvious objection that the very next issue has Applejack running off on a big adventure without Twilight, but that was probably meant as ironic foreshadowing.)
Ah. Seems like all of Twilight’s friends are involved for the festivities. Makes sense to me. More so than clear blue sky more than an hour before sunrise.
Speaking as someone with several years of experience with a trombone, if a cupcake’s been in a brass instrument, you don’t want to eat it.
Best Pony’s in the marching band? Truly, she is a mare of many hats. In this case, a shako.
Okay, presenting someone for her to rescue is an excellent bit of Rainbow bait.
Heh. Applejack’s catering, Dash is clearing the sky. The more things change, huh?
Very odd choice with the layout for Dash’s transition to Fluttershy. Seems best to have her fly from left to right. The action should flow in the direction the audience is reading, and this isn’t a manga.
I do not trust that rooster winking at the viewer. It knows something.
Spike heard “Rarity” and “trouble” and his already Dash-addled brain completely shut down.
… So, does the palace have a spa that’s remarkably similar to Ponyville’s, or did Spike just fly down from the Canterhorn?
And now they appear to be in the Boutique. I mean, we have seen Rarity teleport once or twice in the comics…
“Did somepony highlight her cheekbones in dark orchid instead of magenta?”
And to think, Rarity has to ask how he learned so much about makeup.
Heh. Apparently Rarity can pull off the same mane shenanigans as Dash. Though given how resilient those curls have been, her hair does seem to be more a shape-memory polymer than common keratin.
Also, that “nine years” comment raises familiar old questions about the series timeline. I don’t think it’s been quite that long, but I’ve long since accepted that sussing out the specifics there leads to madness.
Okay, this is all meant to be the palace, but that isn’t remotely clear in Rarity’s segment.
The guard referring to Spike as “sir” raises some interesting questions. Where does the princess’s majordomo sit in the chain of command? Especially when his older brother was Captain of the Guard? Spike’s unique position and history could mean he has all kinds of ins we don’t know about.
Oof. Apparently Twilight met her bags-under-the-eyes quota before the timeskip. Poor thing.
Twilight worrying about her historical legacy raises some interesting questions about her lifespan. How long does she expect to rule? Is she already planning to pass things off to a student of her own?
I’m not sure if I like Twilight the Cunning, the Mad, or the Booksmart more.
At first blush, Twilight not wanting to be forgotten seemed ridiculous… but this is Equestria we’re talking about. Given the average pony’s historical literacy, what they had for breakfast yesterday almost qualifies as lost knowledge of the ancients.
Of course Twilight was so caught up in her concerns for the future that she nearly forgot the sunrise. I certainly didn’t see a checklist amid all that historical research.
“The sun can’t wait for lip gloss” is one of those wonderful “only in Equestria” lines.
Aww, Best Pony’s only pulling a trombonist’s cart. Though that does explain how non-unicorns march and operate a slide at the same time.
Nice, the Student Six get their own table at the breakfast banquet. And apparently, so do the comic creators.
Ah. Spike assuring Twilight that “Princess of Friendship” is indeed a worthy title led to her plan to win over the world with diplomacy. Makes sense to me. As I said, those two make for an unstoppable team.
A good bit of familiar shenanigans to open up a strange new world. We’ll see where it goes from here.
Villain Exchange Program
For those of you who weren’t here for this one, it was the Donkey Kong 64 to Imposing Sovereigns’s Banjo-Kazooie: The awkward middle child that wasn’t quite as good as what came before or after, weighed down by its own complexity. The prompt was similar to Most Delightful Ponidox, except it explicitly required dimensional travel and thus alienated potential entrants who had no interest in working with Equestria Girls. Never let it be said I don’t learn from my mistakes.
Still, it did go fairly well, and it offers a variety of ideas to work off of. Including some cards that I already made for the winners. So, let’s see what I can make of past and future alike. Each Villain Exchange card has a link to the story that inspired it in the card's name.
Distracting Floof W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature with toughness 3 or greater.
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block.
Vignette Valencia was ready to conquer Equestria… until she looked in the mirror.
Tactical Roll W
Instant
Tap target creature. It gains indestructible until end of turn.
Tempest: “Keep rolling.”
Twilight: “You shot yourself with a crossbow!”
Tempest: “Keep. Rollling.”
Guidemother’s Boon 1W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+1 and has flying.
No matter how Principal Celestia dresses, she always looks ready to turn a pumpkin into a carriage.
Rooster Virtuoso 1W
Creature — Bird
When Rooster Virtuoso enters the battlefield, untap all creatures you control.
1(wu): Return Rooster Virtuoso to its owner’s hand.
Many species commemorated Twilight’s first sunrise in their own ways.
1/2
Royal Chef 2W
Creature — Pony Citizen
Royal Chef has lifelink as long as you’re the monarch.
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on Royal Chef.
“Poison? Anypony tries to poison my dishes, I’ll feed them their own tail.”
2/2
Sunrise Retinue 4W
Creature — Pegasus Soldier
Flying, vigilance, lifelink
When Sunrise Retinue enters the battlefield, you become the monarch.
“Princess work’s a lot more than just waving on a balcony.”
—Princess Twilight Sparkle
3/3
Emergency Conscription 4WW
Sorcery
Choose an opponent. If that player controls more creatures than you, create a number of 2/2 white Unicorn Knight creature tokens with vigilance equal to the difference.
Rebound (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Sleep Deprivation 1U
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature loses all abilities and can’t have or gain abilities.
Shining’s body was moving. His brain had checked out two days ago.
Agents of S.M.I.L.E. 2UU
Creature — Human Rogue
Hexproof
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, that player mills two cards. (They put the top two cards of their library into their graveyard.)
”The only fantasy in this world is that of a sane reality. We exist to perpetuate it.”
—Tirek Kentar, agent of S.M.I.L.E.
3/3
Cozys’ Expertise 5UU
Sorcery
Gain control of target creature.
You may cast a spell with converted mana cost 6 or less from your hand without paying its mana cost.
One Cozy Glow nearly conquered Equestria. Two of them could subjugate the Multiverse.
Touch of Nightshade B
Instant
Kicker 2B (You may pay an additional 2B as you cast this spell.)
If this spell was kicked, it has deathtouch.
Touch of Nightshade deals 1 damage to target creature.
Dosage is key.
Inevitable Escape 2B
Sorcery
Undergrowth — Return target creature card in your graveyard with converted mana cost equal to or less than the number of creature cards in your graveyard to the battlefield.
”No prison can hold a man save his own resignation.”
Nightmare's Conquest 4BB
Sorcery
Up to one target creature gains indestructible until end of turn. Destroy all creatures.
Like Starswirl, Sunset banished a menace to another world. Unlike him, she could not take away its terrible power.
Backstreet Champion 1R
Creature — Human Warrior
Level up 1R (1R: Put a level counter on this creature. Level up only as a sorcery.)
2/1
Level 1-3: First strike
3/2
Level 4+: Double strike, trample
5/3
Canterlot Tubartillerist 2R
Creature — Pony Artificer
As long as Canterlot Tubartillerist is equipped, it has “T: Canterlot Tubartillerist deals 2 damage to any target.”
Earth pony lungs make a fine substitute for pneumatic compressors.
2/1
Rouse the Dragon 2RR
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast this spell, reveal a creature card from your hand.
Rouse the Dragon deals damage to each creature equal to the revealed card’s power.
It never ends well, but sometimes it ends worse for everyone else.
Forlorn Wanderers 2G
Creature — Human
When Forlorn Wanderers enter the battlefield, each opponent sacrifices an enchantment.
In their homes they were monsters, rulers, even gods. In this magicless plane, they are a family.
3/2
Royal Legacy 3GG
Enchantment
When Royal Legacy enters the battlefield, you become the monarch.
If you would draw a card except the first one you draw in each of your draw steps, you may return a permanent card from your graveyard to your hand instead.
Impossible Reunion BR
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast this spell, discard a card.
Choose two. You may choose the same mode more than once.
• Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
• Draw a card.
Efficient Takedown 1(wb)(wb)
Instant
Destroy target tapped creature.
Tempest Shadow has no choice but to beat people one-handed. She still does it easily.
Carefree Sadist 1UB
Creature — Human Rogue
Flash
Carefree Sadist has indestructible as long as it entered the battlefield this turn.
Whenever another creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Carefree Sadist.
Cute doesn’t mean harmless.
1/1
Discord, Temporal Tamperer 2UR
Legendary Planeswalker — Discord
+1: Up to one other target permanent phases out. (Treat it and anything attached to it as though they don’t exist until its controller’s next turn.)
-1: Return a noncreature, nonland card at random from your graveyard to your hand.
-7: Target player skips their next turn.
4
Spike, Princess Wrangler 2UR
Legendary Creature — Dragon Advisor
Partner with Twilight the Cunning (When this creature enters the battlefield, target player may put Twilight into their hand from their library, then shuffle.)
Flying
As long as you’ve cast a spell this turn, creatures you control have first strike and hexproof.
2/2
Three-Headed Chef 3BR
Creature — Human Mutant Citizen
Triple strike (This creature deals first-strike, regular, and last-strike combat damage.)
Lifelink
The chimera sisters were still bound together, but thumbs gave them a new lease on life.
2/4
Twilight the Cunning 3GU
Legendary Creature — Wizard Noble
Partner with Spike, Princess Wrangler
Alicorn (This is also a Pony Pegasus Unicorn.)
Flash
Flying
You may cast creature and sorcery spells as though they had flash.
3/3
Primp 1U//Press 2B
Instant//Instant
Primp: Gain control of target Aura attached to a permanent. You may attach it to another permanent.
Press: Target creature gets -3/-2 until end of turn.
I’ve never read the Free Comic Book Day issue because there are hardly any comic book stories in the UK, and it’s not on Kindle.
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And it's surprisingly difficult to find any online versions.
I'm still hunting around, but no luck so far.
Ah Villain Exchange Program, my last mental breakdown
I'm curious why this "Season Ten" wasn't an animated season, but a comic-based one. It just seems a strange direction to me.
True, it might boil down to a business decision, but I'd have at least thought DVDs would be more profitable than comics? Or that a TV showing would be a better advertising avenue for merchandising.
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When in doubt, the mlp subreddit is a pretty good place to look for the comics.
Even for the ones that aren't released for free, if you check the comments on the relevant posts.This should be what you're looking for: https://redd.it/ht3xs7
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Thanks!
After all this time, time to read it!
*dashes off*
Inside Baseball Alert: Cozy's Expertise is... well, the link's right there, it was a full horizontal cycle, and I don't have a more clever way to put it.
Stupid Complicated Game Alert: The clear intent of Carefree Sadist is to drop it in response to a boardwipe that will kill everything else on the board. Preferably a boardwipe cast by another player, with plenty of "everything else" on the board.
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Because the show was over, but the comics haven't been axed off yet. Branding them as season 10 is just a way to get more attention to them. This isn't the result of a plan for a tenth season, merely the consequence of one media outlet coming to a halt and another moving on, and an attempt to funnel more people into the latter by giving it a new coat of paint. Pony continued separately as far as animation goes, with Pony Life first and with G5 once that's over.
My take-home lesson from that contest was not to put out mediocre work just for the sake of participation.
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Thanks for the info!
(Pinkie Pie's and Rainbow Dash's scenes, which take place outdoors, are specifically about them preparing for Twilight to raise the sun)
(the sky is colored like it's 1:00 in the afternoon)
Rarity doing that thing with her hair... I'm starting to wonder if the Element of Laughter rubs off. Like some Pinkie like abilities explains Rainbow Dash's impressions, Fluttershy's shop pony personas, Rarity doing this with her mane and also that time in Gift of the Maud Pie where she literally curled into a ball and bounced around the screen