Friendship is Card Games: Moonstuck, Pt. 2

Now that I’ve returned from and thoroughly described Everfree Northwest, it’s time to make up for lost time. After all, keeping Luna waiting on the moon rarely ends well.

This time around, we meet the bat colts who will go on to become Luna’s loyal retainers, Sunshine Smiles and Frolicsome Meadowlark. Woona also confronts the adorably dangerous Nightmare Woon, and we get one of the best explanations for anything.

They end up way down in Deep 14, in the maze of a moonitaur. (They provide the cheese that makes up much of the lunar core, you see.) With both the bats and the moonitaur, Nightmare Woon is committing terrible crimes and leaving Woona to take the blame. Why is not yet clear, but we’ll see in time. For now, let’s fold up some cards:

Royal Strut W
Instant
Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Untap that creature. If it’s legendary, it gains indestructible until end of turn.
“The first pony who must believe your authority is yourself.”
—Princess Luna

Friendly Resolution 2WW
Instant
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn. Each player who controls an attacking or blocking creature draws a card. You draw a card for each player who drew a card this way.
The best solutions enrich everyone, though not always equally.

Clear Your Name 4W
Instant
Affinity for Clues (This spell costs 1 less to cast for each Clue you control.)
Until your next turn, your life total can’t change and you gain protection from everything. (You can’t be targeted, dealt damage, or enchanted by anything.)
The innocent have everything to show.

Littlest Gumshoe U
Enchantment — Class
(Gain the next level as a sorcery to add its ability.)
When Littlest Gumshoe enters the battlefield, investigate. (Create a colorless Clue artifact token with “2, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.”)
2U: Level 2
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control no Clues, investigate.
3U: Level 3
Clues you control have “2, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw two cards.”

Moon Mirage 2U
Creature — Illusion
Devoid (This card has no color.)
Whenever Moon Mirage becomes the target of a spell, sacrifice it.
1C: Moon Mirage can’t be blocked or sacrificed this turn.
Dreams take strange forms in the silver light.
3/1

Jamming Trap 2UU
Instant — Trap
If an opponent had two or more nonland permanents enter the battlefield under their control this turn, you may pay U rather than pay this spell’s mana cost.
Tap up to two target artifacts and/or creatures. Put a stun counter on each of those permanents. (If a permanent with a stun counter would become untapped, remove one from it instead.)

Under Suspicion 1B
Sorcery
Look at the top three cards of target player’s library. Exile any number of them, then put the rest back in any order.
Investigate.

Luna’s Attendant 1BB
Creature — Bat Pegasus Soldier
Flying
Legendary spells you cast cost B less to cast. This effect reduces only the amount of colored mana you pay.
“You have piqued Her Highness’s interest. She will be with you shortly.”
2/2

Trail of Torment 2B
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature attacks, defending player loses 3 life unless they sacrifice a nonland permanent or discard a card.
The little nightmare ran rampant, leaving havoc in her wake.

Eclipse-Pattern Exosuit 3B
Artifact Creature — Equipment Bat Pegasus
Flying, menace
Equipped creature has flying and menace.
Reconfigure 3 (3: Attach to target creature you control; or unattach from a creature. Reconfigure only as a sorcery. While attached, this isn’t a creature.)
2/2

Clingy Calf R
Enchantment Creature — Minotaur
Bestow 2R (If you cast this spell for its bestow cost, it’s an Aura spell with enchant creature. It becomes a creature again if it’s not attached to a creature.)
Enchanted creature gets +2/+1.
Whenever Clingy Calf or enchanted creature is dealt damage, it deals that much damage to its controller.
2/1

Dust Bath R
Instant
Choose target creature you control. For each other spell and ability that targets that creature, counter that spell or ability unless its controller has Dust Bath deal 3 damage to them.
Cleanliness is relative.

Ill-Advised Investment 2R
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
Whenever enchanted player casts a spell, each of their opponents creates a Treasure token. (It’s an artifact with “T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.”)
There’s a sucker exploited every moment.

Stalactite Elemental 4RR
Creature — Elemental
Menace, trample
Ward — Pay 3 life. (Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays 3 life.)
Dainty steps belie daunting might.
7/2

Twisty Passages 1G
Instant
Kicker 3G (You may pay an additional 3G as you cast this spell.)
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn. If this spell was kicked, create a 0/0 green and blue Fractal creature token. Put a +1/+1 counter on it for each attacking creature.

Look for Trouble 2G
Sorcery
You may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. If you do, each opponent searches their library for a creature card, puts it onto the battlefield, then shuffles.
Asking “What’s the worst that could happen?” is a good way to get an answer.

Barkstrip Golem 6
Artifact Creature — Golem
Ward 3
The last remnants of the moon’s great forests, lunar bark is both flexible and resilient.
4/6

Moonflower Tender (wb)(wb)
Creature — Bat Pegasus Citizen
Flying
1(wb): Target herd creature you control gains lifelink until end of turn. (A herd creature is a Bat, Pegasus, Pony, or Unicorn.)
“Beautiful, useful, and delicious. Is it any wonder we culitvate them?”
2/1

Labyrinth Warden 2BR
Creature — Minotaur Warrior
Ward — Pay 3 life.
Other Minotaurs you control get +1/+1 and have “Ward — Pay 3 life.”
“If you think I’m bad, you should see the girls’ mother.”
—Angrath
3/3

Bruinmaw Cavern
Land
Hideaway 4 (When this land enters the battlefield, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom in a random order.)
Bruinmaw Cavern enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add R or G.
RG, T: You may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost if you control a creature with power 7 or greater.

Moonflower Garden
Land
Moonflower Garden enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add W or B.
2WB, T, Sacrifice Moonflower Garden: Draw a card.
The flowers’ gentle glow mark places of respite for weary travelers.

Comments

[Herald of Opera]

Stupid Complicated Game Alert: "This effect reduces only the amount of colored mana you pay" will probably never stop annoying me; when the exceptions vastly outnumber the rule, you should probably question why the rule exists. Literally the only such effect that doesn't have this text is Khalni Hydra, which reduces its own cost and doesn't normally cost generic mana. If it gains a generic mana cost from various cards that can do that, its effect can reduce that cost. Considering this would involve having at least 9 creatures while such an effect is on the board in order to matter, it has probably never happened.

[Daedalus Aegle]

After the previous post I reread all of Moonstuck for the first time since probably '14 and I was kind of shocked how much it still made me feel things

[Frustration in Excelsis]

Oh, I remember Moonstuck. I think it may honestly have been one of the first fan stories I read.

Also, incidentally, coincidence had it that most of the early webcomics I read through, such as Moonstuck, happened to be of the MSPA-inspired sort, so it took me some time to realize that they were basing themselves on something specific as opposed to webcomics generally just being Like That.