#card-design

This month’s article was originally going to be about statistics, TIA, and thoughts for the future of the system. However, for whatever reasons those topics didn’t prove particularly inspiring for me to write about, so instead, here are some more custom cards that I’ve had running through my head over the past little while. With this batch, I had two objectives. First, I’ve been watching Season 9 as the episodes have come out this time, which is rare for me. Usually I’m way behind and catch up all at once in some big viewing batch. But this time I’m actually up to date. And I’ve really loved the dynamic of this season, in particular the episodes focusing on the trio of villains: Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow. (Don’t worry if you’re behind; this article isn’t going to spoil anything. Except, I guess, for the fact that these three are showing up.) So one objective here was to make some cards to capture them.

The second objective was to really explore and push the boundaries of what could be done within a Mane Character. Over the course of the first ten sets in this game, there’s already been a good amount of experimentation within the usual bounds of what Mane Characters do. We’ve had a Mane where you chose which colours it had, one that starts with three Power and flips to the side with one, and we had a pair of UR Manes in Canterlot Nights built on flipping back and forth over the course of the game. I wondered what else could be done within that structure, especially to accommodate the well-defined flavours of each of these characters.

In the end, I got three cards that were each unique in their own way. Cozy Glow ended up working much like a normal Mane, while Tirek is an interesting departure. And Chrysalis is so radical in her design that we’d need to tweak the rules just a little bit to allow her to work. But I’ll talk about that once we’ve seen her. So if you’re willing, let’s take a walk on the dark side together.

Cozy Glow, Divide & Conquer

Start: 2 Power, Home Limit 3 At the start of the game, choose a colour. This card has that colour. When you gain control of a card that you do not own, turn this card over.

Boosted: 3 Power, Home Limit 4 Main Phase: Exhaust this card to gain control of an opposing Friend. When you lose a faceoff, your opponent gains control of all cards in play that they own.

Note that we’re adopting the Changeling Pretender convention of having villainous Manes belong to no particular colour. Cozy and Tirek share that convention, while Chrysalis is a little different. Again, we’ll get to that. Now Cozy’s flavour is pretty straightforward, as she’s all about turning ponies against each other, smooth-talking them with a few words and then manipulating them into doing her bidding. So naturally I wanted a card that could easily take control of opposing Friends, and push that idea along a lot. Note by the way that her flip condition does not only apply to Friends; gaining control of a Resource or a Troublemaker would also work just as well.

Since effects that would flip her over are pretty high up the req tree, we’ve also given her two Power to start, which would be a big departure from normal design. It can make for a powerful early-game, but with the relative difficulty of that flip, it should be okay. And about the Boosted side, I wanted to emphasize that Cozy always has but a fragile hold on her pawns. Since she’s not actually using magical compulsion or anything similar, when things stop going her way, she can lose her followers quickly. From a design perspective, this hopefully alleviates the unfun possibility of locking the opponent down by stealing all of their stuff, as they always have a way to potentially turn the tables.

Lord Tirek, Powered Up

Start: 1 Power, Home Limit 4 At the start of the game, choose a colour. This card has that colour. Main Phase: Exhaust this card to banish one of your nontoken Friends to beneath this card. You may turn this card over.

Boosted: 1 Power, Home Limit 4 This card has +1 Power for each card beneath it. Immediate: Spend a card from underneath this card to give this card +2 Power. At the end of your turn, if there are no cards underneath this card, turn it over.

From a 2/3 Power line, we move to something even more different: Tirek is a 1/1! But of course, on his Boosted side he’ll rarely ever have just the one Power. In fact, he could end up having a lot of Power indeed. The flavour for Tirek was also pretty obvious: he needs to consume other cards in order to grow. And he seemed like the kind of character that would want a deck built around him exclusively as a foundation point. So I didn’t want him to be able to remove opposing Friends. Instead, the player sacrifices their own Friends to build Tirek’s power, then unleashes him at the time that feels right.

After all, we totally could flip Tirek over with just one card beneath him, then use him as a two-Power Mane for the rest of the game. Or maybe we wait for a few more turns, to take him up to the five or six-Power range. Or maybe we wait even longer, so that he can devastate the late game as a 10+ Power monster. All of these are valid options, and they all come with choices and trade-offs. Notably, waiting to flip him over is going to cost time, as he can only absorb one card per turn. Meanwhile, you’re going to have to hope that your opponent hasn’t already run away with things. And it probably bears mentioning that I don’t think this design would be a powerful Farming option. As Tirek needs Friends to grow, probably more Friends than any Farming deck would like to use.

Finally, as a third option, you could choose to treat Tirek like the CN Manes, and flip him over and back a few times over the course of the game. I think it’s good to have cards with this kind of flexibility built into them, and I’d be interested to know which style emerged as the best one.

Queen Chrysalis, Unmasked!

Okay, I’ve been hinting that Chrysalis was going to be something special this whole time, so let’s finally get to it. As I mentioned above, in order to work this card needs one small change to be made to the rules. Specifically, we need to remove the rule that says Mane Characters can’t leave play. Why? Because this Chrysalis is very different from all of the others. She does not start the game in play. Instead, you start with another Mane, like normal, and later reveal that in fact you were Chrysalis all along! So in reality this entry actually consists of two cards, starting with the Resource that sets it all in motion:

Moment of Triumph 3 Cost, 0 req, 2 flip This card enters play exhausted. Exhaust and retire this card to replace your Mane Character with Queen Chrysalis, Unmasked!

Since exhausting is part of the cost for its ability, and it enters play exhausted, your opponent is always going to have one turn to have a look and maybe find a way to stop you. There’s plenty of Resource removal out there, and I didn’t want the colours lacking in Immediate-speed Resource disruption to be at a disadvantage. As for “replacing” your Mane Character, in theory it would work exactly as you’d expect: your original Mane is removed from the game, and Chrysalis enters in its place.

Queen Chrysalis, Unmasked! Boosted (both sides are identical): 4 Power, Home Limit 4 Immediate: Retire a nontoken Friend to put a 2 Power colourless Changeling Friend token into play.

Now the flavour really does keep on coming. Not only was your Mane Chrysalis, but in fact all of your Friends were changelings this whole time! Chrysalis does have a really powerful ability, which is of course why it’s locked behind a slow Resource. Note also that she has no colours, and as I said before she doesn’t follow the convention of letting you choose one. Colour management is the card’s main weakness, as the Mane has no colours, and using her ability replaces Friends with colours with changelings that have none. Thus in theory Chrysalis isn’t just a straight upgrade for every deck. Without care, it’s easy to find yourself stranded without req, and even unable to confront your own Problems. With four base Power she has a chance maybe at Farming, but again that lack of colours is going to be an issue.