MLP: Major League Pwnies!

Evan McKay

I will preface this article with the statement... I AM NOT A BRONY!

I have nothing against bronies, as I am friends with some. I applaud Hasbro for putting together a studio and team that resurrected this ancient IP and made it a smashing success that crosses demographics, previously thought impossible to access. 

Score one for creativity and a company that lives in my favorite city...Providence,RI!

I have never watched My Little Ponies: Friendship is Magic, mostly do to the My Little Pony of the past, with toys that are for grooming, and weird little human characters that little girls are supposed to relate to. However, this new generation of ponies has birthed something that all gamers can enjoy. A new collectible card game that is one of the best that has ever been released. A system this tight, with the brand power of my little ponies, is not going anywhere fast and is really going to turn the page on card games and gaming in general!

The My Little Ponies: Collectible Card Game is amazing! You have to play it. The resource gathering mechanic is really where this game begins to shine. In the most venerable and commercially successful card game, Magic the Gathering, roughly one third of your deck is land. Land cards do not do anything except give you the ability to play the rest of your cards. Your success and ability to not get outright shut out of the game depends on drawing the "goldie lox" amount of land, not too little, not too much. This means that about 20% of games are over before they even start. There is a 10% chance for either player that they will have too much or too little, and all they can do is complain about why they even play this stupid game. This is bad game design.

In MLP, you get an amount of resources based on how close the game is to being finished. This allows for much tighter games due to the fact that each player always has an even amount of given resources. Thus, this makes your play choices and deck choices so important. The best games are the ones where you really have to make hard decisions. Every turn is super intense. In this game you can save your resources to stack until next turn. So in My Little Ponies, if a player saves all their resources and does nothing you often say to your self "Shit, what are they saving up for?" In Magic the Gathering, when a player does nothing on a turn, that means they have nothing they can do, and you are winning. This little difference of the weight of a player's turn really speaks to me about how tight of a game MLP was designed to be. 

Don't judge the game by the pictured players! Unless it's by the ones who are smiling and having fun, and not wearing chainmail.

I could really spend all day writing about the rules but this game really provides a much needed relief in the very world of card games ruled by Magic the Gathering. I think this game really has a chance to break Magic's strangle hold. Anything that changes the status quo really makes the old guard start to reexamine itself. Look forward to this game taking off in the retail market, and I think this could truly be the time to get some of those cards that are worth several hundred dollars ten years later. 

If you live in the Providence area, message me on twitter @GGon990wbob and we can go to my friend's shop and demo it for you. If you are into card games, or ponies, or both then this is not a game you want to pass up. I guarantee it! Do not let the theme turn you off! Get on the PWNIES, so you don't get sent to the glue factory!

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