Members of the My Little Pony CCG development team have a slightly different perspective than most people when it comes to the cards in the game. We see them from the very beginning, when they are just a concept in a spreadsheet, then on a piece of paper we printed out and sleeved to playtest. It's really exciting to see cards evolve from just an idea to a player's new favorite card, especially when it was YOUR idea in the first place!
So, the dev team took some time to talk about our own favorite cards from Canterlot Nights and share our thoughts with you all. Check it out after the break!
We'll start right off with Darrell, our lead designer! His favorite card from Canterlot Nights is Rainbow Dash, Goosebump Giver. Why? Because, as he says, "It's a card that begs to have a deck built around it. With Villain cards, frightening your opponent's Friends has always been a strategy in this game, and Canterlot Nights gives us a few more tools for that strategy... but this is the card with the potential to make it truly viable." Between Villains and Thunderclap, you can definitely finds lots of ways to make use of Goosebump Giver!
Let's take a look at Trevor's favorite card. He's the lead developer of the team, so it's not a big surprise that his favorite card has the most text on any card to date!
"My favorite card is Princess Luna, Dream Catcher. I like it as a player because it creates its own deck type and allows repeatable card advantage. As a card designer, I really like the look and feel of the card. I like that it introduces the ability of Manes to flip back and forth, and using 'flip' for things other than a faceoff."
Amanda couldn't quite narrow her choices down to one card, but let's start with her absolute favorite card!
"Maybe I don't want to fight that Troublemaker you just put down. Blam. Now I've got a lot of power there AND your Troublemaker's dismissed. As though that wasn't enough, I might get to play AJ for free when you try to discard her from my hand. Go ahead and play that hand destruction deck, AJ's got my back."
And here's Amanda's favorite combo from Canterlot Nights:
"With some high power cards in my deck, this Twilight could be a lot of power. (It's also great for discouraging faceoffs when you don't want them, because your opponent can see your first flip number and they might think twice about setting up a faceoff situation if they think they will probably lose it.) Team Twilight with her most dedicated assistant and things just get better. Spike can rescue cards that get Inspired to the bottom of your deck and set up super high power numbers to keep Twilight supercharged."
Amanda felt bad that she was only talking about Rares and Ultra Rares, so she made sure to mention her favorite Uncommon card as well.
"This Twilight Mane is easy to flip (if you build the deck to do it), and once she's Boosted you can bring an opponent's Friend to a Problem when you move Gala Greeter to it. You might wonder why you would want to do that, but I can think of a few reasons... can you?"
I was surprised by Adam's choice, but he makes a good case!
"As an inveterate control player, I'm a fan of Jet Set & Upper Crust. The card provides a powerful tool for extending the mid-game. As an inveterate drafter, I also really like that we were able to get an effect of that type on a card that is simple and intuitive enough to exist at a Common and have a meaningful impact on our limited formats.
From a design perspective, I'm happy with the card because it provides a lot of impact from a very brief, simple piece of text. I also like that it deviates a bit from the way Troublemakers normally behave, demonstrating some of the cool things we can do with that card type going forward."
And, finally, my favorite card of the set! I'm the guy in charge of making the game as "pony" as possible, which is a combination of A) writing gameplay text that fit certain characters or situations from the beginning, and B) taking gameplay text written by others and ponifying it.
In this case it was option A. It seemed like this particular unicorn (whose mane may or may not resemble toothpaste) should have a card effect that felt like time manipulation magic. What we ended up with is a flexible Friend that lets you either take a second shot at winning a very important Troublemaker faceoff, or forces your opponent to take a second Troublemaker Phase and suffer your Troublemakers' negative effects twice on the same turn.
But, there are other cards in the set I really like. Pumped is a really fun new keyword, and Joe, Doughnuteer Pumps your Friends up by stuffing them full of doughnuts with extra sprinkles; I love it. And Lily, Panicked Pony gives a really useful effect at no extra cost and no color requirements that is often useful at many points in the mid- to late-game.
Thanks for taking a look at our favorites! What are some of yours? Share in the comments below!
