Friendship is Card Games: Pony Life, Week 8 · 12:44pm Oct 25th, 2020
And we’re back to Chaos Pinkie’s fever dream of a universe. Let’s see what there is to be seen.
All Bottled Up (Pony Life)
I wasn’t sure if we’d see episode name overlap between the shows, but given Potion Nova, I suppose this one shouldn’t be surprising.
Yeah, regular cleaning seems like a must for a potion fridge. I can only imagine what the unattended residue might do otherwise.
I can only imagine what the argument between Twilight and Owloysius might entail. Also, I do appreciate how Pony Life let him be a thing again.
“Oh look! Cookies! And not talking about my problems!”
Wow. More relatable than I’d like to admit.
AJ, you could’ve mentioned the potion spill. And, as we’ll no doubt see, probably should.
I’d ask how Applejack knew where they were, but metaknowledge makes for a great way to gather intel.
Also, between the pictures of Finn Tastic and Bighoof, I think this potion was intended for Fluttershy. That or a shrinking potion resonates with her own inexplicable size-chagning powers on some poorly understood (by me) metaphysical level.
Remember, I have fun by reading way too deeply into things.
Applejack having claustrophobia makes… a degree of sense. Very agoraphilic lifestyle. on the other hand, this endless, extradimensional void doesn’t seem like it should trigger claustrophobia… unless one focuses on the fact that it’s all contained by a small, enclosed container.
“Where the fridge are they?”
Heh. I do love a good minced oath.
Meanwhile, with that “Pinkie Poo Pancake,” Rarity just sounds like she’s having a stroke.
I suppose just… upending the bottle is out of the question? Again, extradimensional space. No guarantee it’d work.
Potion Nova just casually floating for no apparent reason. Those wings are looking like less and less of an animation error as time goes on. (Or she’s testing a levitation potion, but still.)
… Okay, how exactly do you determine the presence of ponies in a potion bottle by scent? Overtones of apple and lavender where there shouldn’t be any?
Ah, fun with specific gravity.
For goodness sake, Twilight, confront your darn owl. Though it is interesting to see that potion effects can be resisted.
Good thing the antidote didn’t neutralize the infused cookies. No wonder Twilight can’t get a grasp on potion-making; it’s all plot-based.
The slurping sounds as they lap up the antidote are just unnecessary. That’s not even how that works. Still, rare to see such horselike behavior in Pony Life. Can’t say I’m complaining.
That’s not what a Bottle Episode is, Potion.
All That Jitters
I do like the design for Potion Nova’s house, especially the greenhouse for more exotic ingredients.
Ah, the classic “pulling the push door” routine. Even if that violates fire codes, which you’d think would be a concern for a chemical engineer.
Given Equestrian ecology, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were literal stomach butterflies.
The visible dream bubble raises further questions about Pony Life’s Luna.
It is nice to see Potion Nova a bit less untouchably imperfect. It helps that Twilight touched her. 
Of course she likes puns, Twilight. She’s a pony. A love of puns is practically baked into your species.
Microwave in the background. I know, generally higher tech level, but it bears mentioning.
To be fair, that form of can opener would be grossly inconvenient for most ponies.
Well, that’s definitely an impressive acid.
… Yeah, I can see something like this happening during Twilight’s first days of personal tutelage with Celestia. And if potions have an emotional component, it makes sense that she’d falter at first. Twilight’s good at working from the heart, but it doesn’t come naturally to her.
If Twilight wasn’t in full idol-worship mode, I imagine she’d have a lot to say about magic being unpredictable.
… Wait, that was an oven?
Twilight Middlename Sparkle. You do not get to call other ponies bad dancers.
I, Cookie
An alligator?
Dramatic chord
Gummy the Alligator!?
Oh dear. Pinkie’s autophobia is well-established.
I’m going to take the tumbleweed also leaving with a hat and suitcase as further evidence of this universe’s chaotic cosmogony.
“Applejack’s favorite stool. It wobbles, just like her.”
I have several questions.
I didn’t think Rarity would be the one to put a lending library in Sugarcube Corner, though it does make sense that it’d be mostly detective novels. And, going by the image on that one cover, at least one work by a non-Caballeron Groom Q. Q. Martingale. One that nopony’s taken in weeks, going by the lost dog plushie.
I’m not sure what Rarity was going for in this picture, but it’s definitely writing some kind of subtext.
“Was I supposed to figure something out?”
Okay, that made me smile.
Images of the Bearers, raw materials, a duplication device… This is looking unsettlingly like “The Mean 6.”
And now we hit the typical Libman snag: How does Pinkie do an impression of Fluttershy? In this case, just use Fluttershy’s voice. Simple, elegant, and more than a little disturbing.
Wait, if some of the cookies can talk, why is Dash communicating through stomps? Especially since she talks later?
Applejack presents a truly disturbing image of an edible object searching for meaning in life. I’m reminded of the butter-passing robot from Rick & Morty.
“What is my purpose?”
“You’re delicious!”
“… Oh Celestia.”
So… the Lilliputians tied Gulliver down while he was asleep. How the crap did five cookies overpower Pinkie Pie?
Okay, I know the sudden storm is a reflection of Pinkie’s mood, but I’m pretty sure the living cookies are now dead, soaked, and crumbling. (Or they’ll come back later, horrified by a world not meant for them.)
A happy end… but I’m still concerned about those cookies.
Keynote Pie
Taking Sugarcube Corner… to the tech industry. That takes a special kind of madness.
Also, it’s hard to tell from Pinkie’s excited shriek, but I’m pretty sure she’s saying “Fillycon ’90!” Which might make for a helpful time marker if I knew what century it was.
Ooh, Pinkie rocking Jobs chic. I probably shouldn’t like this as much as I do.
Nice to see Pinkie took advantage of the connections in the media world she made while competing on the Royal Jelly Juggernaut.
I can always appreciate someone using “sibilance” in a sound check.
Really not sure how to feel about Pinkie of all ponies getting stage fright.
Hmm. I’m not sure if it was ever established if this Spike had wings before now. Good to see them.
Got to love how the presenter is shouting her anxieties with nothing but a curtain between her and her potential investors.
So… is anyone still going to be waiting after the montage? Also, how did Twilight even know the points to cover?
Oh. Wow. A lot of people were still waiting. Or it’s just a homogenous mass of shadows, but do you have any idea how much investment capital the forces of darkness have on pseudopod?
Ah. Homogenous mass of empty seats. Those have far less cash on armrest.
Spike as a Kickstarter whale makes more sense than it has any right to.
The pitch for a preexisting product kind of undercuts the nervousness, but this was an amusing little tale. All four of this week’s shorts do have good morals behind them, but they run into the problem that plagues Pony Life: Five and a half minutes just isn’t enough time to tell a good story. (Yes, I know that’s not their main priority, but this worked so much better with the eleven-minute ones.) Plus, characterization gets bent a bit too far at times.
Still, there’s plenty to work with in terms of cards. Let’s see what I can present.
Succumb to Reality 1W
Enchantment — Aura
Devoid (This card has no color.)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block and is colorless.
2C: Exile enchanted creature.
Even the brightest hopes can fade.
Possessive Pegasus 2U
Creature — Pegasus Rogue
Kicker 2U (You may pay an additional 2U as you cast this spell.)
Flying
When Possessive Pegasus enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, search target opponent’s library for an artifact card and put that card onto the battlefield under your control. Then that player shuffles their library.
2/2
Binge-Watch 2UU
Sorcery
Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a card that doesn’t share a card type with the top card of your library. Put all cards revealed this way into your hand. (The top card always shares a card type with itself.)
Tech Conference 2UU
Enchantment
Whenever a player casts a noncreature spell, that player gets E (an energy counter).
Pay EEE: Draw a card. Any player may activate this ability, but only once each turn.
Inspired by Pedestria, Pinkie let her pocket plane run wild with its toys.
Get the Wheels Turning 3U
Sorcery
Scry X, then draw two cards, where X is the number of artifacts you control.
Put enough tools together and you’re sure to find a use for them.
Burst Bonds 1B
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast this spell, pay X life.
Destroy X target Auras.
Few magics react well to explosive confetti.
Cold-Blooded Investor 2B
Creature — Crocodile Advisor
When Cold-Blooded Investor enters the battlefield, create a Treasure token. (It’s an artifact with “T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.”)
“As opposed to?”
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
2/2
Cupcake Visionary 2B
Creature — Pony Advisor
When Cupcake Visionary enters the battlefield, create a Food token. (It’s an artifact with “2, T, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.”)
If you would gain life, you may draw a card instead.
“What if your snack was also your phone?”
2/3
Disagreeable Strix 2B
Creature — Bird
Flying
Disagreeable Strix can’t be the target of nonblue spells you control or abilities from nonblue sources you control.
Most owls are wise. Some are just particular.
3/1
Acid Spill 3B
Sorcery
Choose one —
• Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn.
• Destroy target land.
Twilight’s all-consuming anxiety expressed itself all too well in potion form.
Test Kitchen 1R
Enchantment
This spell can’t be countered.
Whenever a spell you’ve cast is countered, add RR.
“And now we’ve learned what not to do.”
—Potion Nova, master alchemist
Combat Brewer 1RR
Creature — Unicorn Soldier Wizard
If a noncreature source you control would deal damage to an opponent or a permanent an opponent controls, it deals that much damage plus 1 instead.
“Potion in the hole!”
1/3
Draconic Plutocrat 4RR
Creature — Dragon
Flying
When Draconic Plutocrat enters the battlefield, if you cast it from your hand, add C for each tapped land your opponents control.
“Brutes hoard. True dragons invest.”
3/3
Bouncing Tumbleweed 1G
Creature — Plant
As long as you control a Desert or there is a Desert card in your graveyard, Bouncing Tumbleweed can’t be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less.
Its unpredictable motions let it dodge around both obstacles and customs officials.
3/1
Maze of Doors 1G
Instant
This spell costs 1 less to cast if an opponent controls no basic lands.
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn.
Dimensions twist in small spaces. One corridor can be harder to navigate than ten miles of trackless jungle.
Springing Snapper 2G
Creature — Crocodile
1G: Springing Snapper gains vigilance until end of turn.
1G: Springing Snapper gains reach until end of turn.
Crocodiles aren’t normally known for their jumping ability, but spending enough time with Pinkie can make anything defy expectations.
3/3
Studious Mole 2G
Creature — Mole
1G, T, Exile a land card from your graveyard: Draw a card.
Even in Pinkie’s whimsical pocket plane, there are those who prefer quiet and calm.
2/3
Strength of Will XG
Instant
Target creature you control gets +X/+X and gains hexproof until end of turn.
All creatures possess a degree of innate magic resistance. Alicorns are especially difficult to influence against their wishes.
Bottle Rocket 1
Artifact
(2r)(2r), T, Sacrifice Bottle Rocket: It deals 3 damage to target creature.
“There’s no such thing as too much frustration. It just means you’re making a different recipe.”
—Potion Nova, master alchemist
Frosted Herd 3
Artifact Creature — Food Pony
Frosted Herd’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of artifacts you control.
2, T, Sacrifice Frosted Herd: You gain 3 life.
“Life is easy to create but impossible to control. Just ask your parents.”
—Discord
*/*
All-Purpose Antidote 1WU
Instant
Target creature gets +1/+1 and gains protection from everything until end of turn. (It can’t be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, enchanted, or equipped.)
“Not rated for acts of god(s).”
—Antidote warning label
Capable Understudy 1(wb)U
Creature — Unicorn Citizen
Flash
You may have Capable Understudy enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature card in a graveyard that was put there from the battlefield this turn.
0/0
Adjust 1U
Instant
Creatures your opponents control get -2/-0 until end of turn.
Fit 2BB
Sorcery
Aftermath (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Then exile it.)
Destroy all creatures with power 2 or less.
This is probably just a sly reference to the fact that she's named after booze. Why they slipped a parental bonus into a show that's also trying to chase the bronies away from G5 is anyone's guess.
Stupid Complicated Game Alert: it's worth noting that "B" in costs refers to black rather than blue, because that fact makes Disagreeable Strix less agreeable.
Stupid Complicated Game Alert: Even if you gained 3 life at once by sacrificing the attached Food, Cupcake Visionary's replacement effect will only draw you one card. Get your lifegain in several instances if you want to pull that sort of stunt.
Inside Baseball Alert: The flavor text of All-Purpose Antidote is referencing the infamous fact that protection from everything is less protection than you might intuitively expect, and the specific example of Wrath of God. This would have been a Stupid Complicated Game Alert if that flavor text hadn't been there.
It's funny because Wrath of God gets through this. It does stop Anger of the Gods, though. Hmm.
Anyway, something about the idea of a draconic investor amuses me greatly.
Pony who took out a loan: "Sorry, but, uh... I can't actually pay you back, let alone with interest. I assume you're going to take all my stuff now and condemn me to miserable poverty for the rest of my life?"
Dragon: "Nah, that would be needlessly cruel. I'm just gonna nip your suffering in the bud and eat ya."
It's because she keeps walking into trees and knocking over fences. What a silly little pony.
You know what they say, subtext is just an anagram. Speaking of Rarity and subtext, you won't see it until the last batch of episodes, but she's got a line that while pretty clear in its meaning is still rather open to interpretations and implications of a certain kind. You'll probably know when you hear it.
Pinkie getting stage fright is mildly compatible with the buckball episode. The one where she's happy to play buckball just for fun but gets scared when she's seen as an Important Sportspony.
This... is currently true, I think. Something that can remove types from cards in the library might get printed eventually, though. Some mixture of Neurok Transmuter, Celestial Dawn, Mycosynth Lattice, Conspiracy, possibly aided by some other text-changing effect.
O.O I'm all for building a deck of small lifelink creatures and just swinging for 6 cards each turn.
Cold-Blooded Investor is a Crocodile Advisor, but Draconic Plutocrat is just a Dragon despite having flavour text saying he invests?
All-Purpose Antidote is fantastic. I like that it serves as an Artful Dodge as well as a Dive Down.
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The card on the top of your library is still the card on the top of your library until the rest of the effect adds it to your hand, so that wouldn't do anything unless it somehow removed all of them.
That said, it's funny that you mention Mycosynth Lattice, a card that decided to spend several sentences on specifically not changing types except on the battlefield.
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Exactly: I was attempting to envisage a situation where Binge-Watch only gets you one card. It's not currently possible, thanks to the wording of Lattice and suchlike, but it might become so at some point.
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And I'm pointing out that no, any such changes would also change what was being checked for. I further pointed out that some things are deliberately never done despite requiring a bunch of extra words on cards in order to not do them, and that you outright listed a card that proves this is one of them.
Suppose there were a card that said something like "Colorless cards not on the battlefield aren't artifacts". (It probably wouldn't be as simple as that, but just for argument's sake). At that point, if the top card of my library were Darksteel Relic and I try to Binge-Watch it, I reveal one card; it doesn't share a type with itself for the same reason two morphs don't share a creature type with each other; Binge-Watch only draws me one card.
Now I completely agree that this is not very likely to happen in any given year. You make an excellent point that the wording on ML shows they were likely deliberately making sure that card won't do this. But R&D's philosophies drift over time... I'm always amused how early Magic had lots of "must" effects because it's more fun if your cards occasionally bite you, then R&D decided that wasn't fun and printed cards for years with lots of "may" effects, and then the move to reduce clicks in digital formats is going back the other way. (E.g. the older Soul Warden rather than the newer Soul's Attendant being brought into Magic Arena.)
So I find it quite plausible that in some number of years' time - 5, 10, 15, who knows - Wizards will find that they no longer care quite as much about this, and find some design that's so compelling they decide print a card that happens to have a almost negligible effect on this one custom card out of thousands that FOME's made, just enough to make its reminder text not always correct in every circumstance.
I was also very worried for the cookies. Their fate could be so horrible