Equestrian Odysseys is the start of a new block, and with the new gameplay fun comes some new color-focused keywords for each of the six colors in My Little Pony CCG. Some of our old friends like, Swift and Caretaker, might show up again, but for now you'll be seeing a lot more Competitive and Calming.
We'll take a look at those six keywords, plus Vexing, below the break!
Competitive is Blue's new keyword, and as you can see on Scootaloo above, Competitive X means the card gets X more power while involved in a faceoff. Naturally, you'll see Competitive on characters like Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, Gilda, and Soarin, the types of ponies (and griffons) that love to win.
Hard working Orange gets Diligent, with Diligent X meaning that if you win a faceoff involving a Diligent X card, you can put X +1 power counters on that card. The counters stick around until the card is dismissed or frightened, just like a Resource would. This usually means the +1 counters are a permanent power increase! Applejack and Granny Smith are two more characters that have Diligent in Equestrian Odysseys.
Ponies like Pinkie Pie, Berry Punch, and the Cake foals are good examples of playful Eccentric characters around Ponyville. Eccentric X means that opponents need to have +X power to confront the Problem the Eccentric card is hanging out at, thanks to their rambunctious style of problem-solving causing minor hijinks for your opponent to overcome.
Meticulous is a great word for how Twilight Sparkle handles things like books, checklists, friendships, and even just a trip to the town square. Meticulous X means that you start your turn by looking at the top X cards of your deck, and then you put them either on the top or bottom of your deck, giving you serious power over the cards you'll be drawing in each game and setting yourself up to win faceoffs!
White's new keyword is Showy, which is a natural keyword for both Rarity AND Prince Blueblood. Poor Rarity... Anyway, Showy X means that opponents must pay +X action tokens to move characters to the Problem that the Showy card is currently at, slowing down your opponent's ability to move freely around the game board.
Who knew that bears could be calming? Calming X means that when an opponent's Friend enters play at the same Problem as your Calming character, the opponent's Friend gets -X power until the end of that turn. Fluttershy, Junebug, and the Cake parents are good examples of Calming influences you'll find in Equestrian Odysseys.
And finally we come to Vexing, which can be found on cards in ANY color of MLP: CCG, such as Rage Face in Blue and Purple's own Saving the Day. Cards can have other abilities in addition to Vexing, though in this case we're just talking about Vexing itself.
Vexing is slightly more in depth than the other six, so let's take it one step at a time:
- If you have a Vexing card at a Problem, and
- an opponent is about to confront that Problem, then
- you can choose to retire the Vexing card to your discard pile from play.
- If you do? Then they don't confront the Problem that turn!
To clarify, a Vexing Resource is "at a Problem" if it is attached to a character at the Problem (like for Rage Face, which says "Play on a Friend"), or played directly ON the Problem (like Saving the Day, which says "Play on a Problem").
Vexing means that traditionally aggressive colors like Blue can find an extra dash of control for their decks beyond just playing Troublemakers, and control decks have all new tools to try out in their gameplan!
You'll be seeing plenty more of these seven keywords throughout this new block of MLP: CCG, which includes Equestrian Odysseys, High Magic, and the mysterious "Set 7." Stay tuned for more news and card spoilers for EO as we get closer and closer to prerelease weekend!
