Today's the date: it's the street date for both The Crystal Games Theme Decks! Last week we took a look at the exclusive cards in the Purple/Yellow deck, so now we have Adam from the MLP: CCG dev team back to tell us about the other deck. Adam, take it away!
The Crystal Games expansion for the My Little Pony Collectible Card Game is here! The first thing to arrive will be the new Crystal Games Theme Decks, which highlight some of the set’s new mechanics and contain several exclusive Crystal Games cards.
The focus of the deck we showed off last week is faceoff manipulation and action ramp, so if you like to patiently build up your defenses and spring a trap on your opponent when the time is right, that deck will keep your opponent guessing.
Perhaps, on the other hoof, you’re more interested in keeping your opponent off-balance while you race them to the win? The second Crystal Games Theme Deck is a Pink/White deck, led by Princess Cadance and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Cadance makes it difficult to interfere with her Problem, both before and after she flips – once flipped, it becomes quite expensive to contest her, and even doing so before she flips simply helps her to flip faster. The Cutie Mark Crusaders focus instead on the Problem decks, giving you the ability to get a do-over on an unfavorable new Problem, so that you can keep the Problems you want in play (or send your opponent’s favorites away!).
This deck also packs a number of other ways for you to disrupt your opponent’s plans, including an unfortunate habit of outright, uh, “borrowing” things.
Berry Punch can be pretty persuasive, and recruiting an opposing Friend to your side can certainly shift things in your favor – temporarily. Spring Step, on the other hand, does an excellent job of neutralizing an opponent’s home field advantage. Of course, an aggressive deck needs a few ways to tip faceoffs in its favor too, and this deck packs a few tricks of its own.
Catch Me! comes with a fairly steep cost, but giving up one of your Friends to remove an opposing Friend can often be worthwhile – especially if the Friend you retire is one you’ve only borrowed anyway!
The Crystal Games Theme Decks are available now, and along with Prerelease Events they'll be your first chance to play with some of the exciting new cards from The Crystal Games. Pick your favorite (or get both!) and check them out so you can be ready when booster packs come out December 5th!
Thanks Adam!
There's still time to find a Prerelease Event for The Crystal Games near you, by checking out this map of venues!
We've heard that some people are interested in attending a Prerelease even though they haven't played before. There are going to be LOTS of stores where if you show up 30-60 minutes before the event starts you'll find friendly MLP: CCG players or staff there who are willing to help teach a new player the ropes. We've also heard a lot of stories about veterans sharing their extra Commons and Uncommons (and sometimes Rares) from Sets 1 and 2 to get you started. It's just kind of how pony fans are, you know?
