Along with announcing the matching promo cards above and confirming Continental Championships this summer, it was announced today that there are now two formats for My Little Pony CCG play: "Harmony" and "Chaos is Magic," which share a ban list.
Harmony is for normal structured competitive play and is just like you've played before, and Chaos is Magic adds fun new rules to the game that totally change up deckbuilding. February's Chaos Rule is that you start the game with TWO Mane Character cards in play!
The ban list is four cards: Fluttershy, Guidance Counselor from Premiere, Rainbowshine, Cloud Wrangler from Premiere, Globe Trotter, Sight Seer from Canterlot Nights, and Magical Mailbox from The Crystal Games.
Sometimes cards are introduced into games that work outside of the norm their developers want to stick to, and in this case "Fluttergui" caused negative play experiences and messed with game flow, Globe Trotter and Magical Mailbox were parts of one-turn-win combo decks that messed up the normally interactive nature of the game, and the existence of Rainbowshine is a roadblock for development because we have to prevent the creation of new combo decks.
Check out the full news release below or on Facebook, which also has details about a Tweet chat to Q&A with the dev team about the news!
Big news from MLP: CCG - Read on about Organized Play in 2015, new play formats, a ban list, and more:
Here's your first look at the next set of OP Promos you can get at your friendly local game shop. Each player at participating stores will receive Octavia, Serious Musician, and the top players will get an alternate art promo of Sound the Flugelhorn! And to go along with Octavia, the theme night card for this set of OP cards is DJ Pon-3, Flippant DJ. If your shop doesn't have these available be sure to ask them about requesting OP kits from their distributor.
With OP continuing in stores, upcoming in-store events to qualify for the Continental Championships this summer, and now three sets of cards in print with a fourth coming soon, it is necessary to make some changes. Starting January 30th there will be two formats of constructed events that players can participate in: Harmony, and Chaos is Magic.
* The Harmony format is similar to current MLP: CCG constructed events, but features a ban list. Effective January 30, 2015 the ban list for Harmony play is these cards:
-Fluttershy, Guidance Counselor (Premiere) - This card creates a negative experience for players to play against and operates against the normal flow of how MLP: CCG works.
-Rainbowshine, Cloud Wrangler (Premiere) - This card creates design constraints for future MLP: CCG cards.
-Globe Trotter, Sight Seer (Canterlot Nights) - When used with a series of other cards this creates a one-turn win combo deck that is noninteractive to play against.
-Magical Mailbox (The Crystal Games) - When used with a series of other cards this creates a one-turn win combo deck that is noninteractive to play against.
Enterplay monitors play at all levels, and wants to create a fun and competitive environment for all players. It is incredibly difficult to tell players they may not play in sanctioned events with specific cards, however these cards were creating an environment that often wasn't fun or competitive.
* Chaos is Magic is a local level play format, intended to shake things up a bit. It will also include the Harmony format ban list. The fun comes from zany Chaos Rules that change monthly! Each quarter Enterplay will announce the Chaos Rules for the next 3 months:
-February - To celebrate Hearts and Hooves Day, Chaos is Magic will allow players to build decks with two Mane Characters. Each player will start with two Mane Character cards in play!
-March - Troublemakers can be played as Friends! When played as a Friend they enter play face up, their cost is equal to their power, they provide colorless power, and they cannot be challenged like a normal Troublemaker.
-April, May, and June - Coming soon!
The MLP: CCG R&D team will host a Tweet chat on Tuesday, January 27th from 7pm to 9pm Eastern, to answer any of your questions about these changes. Watch #mlpccg to be part of the Tweet chat, and be sure to follow the official @MLP_CCG account!
Stay tuned for more exciting OP news, including our plans for stores and conventions in 2015!
