Welcome back to your studies! Did you read everything, memorize all the strategies, and pick the pony you’re going to be? (I’m sorry, my inner Twilight Sparkle likes to poke her horn into conversations, especially ones that have to do with studying!)

There’s still quite a bit to the My Little Pony: Adventures in Equestria Deck-building Game, but we hope as you read these, playing the game will be as easy as a calm stroll through Ponyville.

Your starting deck will consist of 9 of the same cards no matter who you choose to play as, and all of them will provide HELP, INFO, and MOVE, the three critical resources you’ll need to pay for buying cards, completing Location tasks, and overcoming Situations, and that’s just the start! However, because each pony is special in their own amazing way, how about granting them a special Starter card that’s unique to them! Let’s imagine you were playing as Fluttershy, and let’s take Sharing Kindness as an example.

When you play any card on your turn, they’re under your control and stay face-up in front of you until your turn is over or otherwise stated. Sharing Kindness generates 2 HELP, and its card effect allows you to buy an Ally, specifically a Pet, in the Adventure Row for 2 less HELP! So if there’s a face-up Pet that you’d like to get, you could basically play Sharing Kindness and a 2 HELP Token, and you’ve got yourself a handy Ally to have!

On that note, we should examine Allies next. Allies will feature the amazing ponies you’ll see from time to time in town, and sometimes, they’re not even a pony at all! What better example than Fluttershy’s own Pet rabbit, Angel! Angel is so cute! A bit demanding when it comes to food, but which bunny isn’t perpetually hungry, right? Allies have a cost of HELP, INFO, or MOVE up on the top right, and in Angel’s case, he costs a whopping 6 HELP.

So with Sharing Kindness, he would only cost Fluttershy 4 HELP, which is more than fair. He provides 3 HELP when played, which is super versatile to have on your turn, and his effect says: Fluttershy may move to any Location. So hold on a second…Fluttershy gets a bonus when Angel is played? That’s awesome! Even if another player acquires Angel, and is playing in the same game with Fluttershy, that other player gains that bonus movement. Friendship in full force!

Actions feature some of the iconic scenes that we couldn’t leave out. You’ve got to add in the moments (and the madness) that happens around Ponyville. Let’s examine two of them, starting with Sonic Rainboom. Sonic Rainboom is one of the most iconic moments in Friendship is Magic. I couldn’t help but shed a tear when Rainbow Dash pulled off the seemingly impossible.

If you’ve acquired a lot of Allies, be sure to play Sonic Rainboom after you play your Allies to not only gain a bit of HELP, but a bit of MOVE as well. If Fluttershy plays Angel, she could move to a new Location, then perform a task there with the HELP Angel gives her, and then have an extra move from playing Sonic Rainboom afterwards. Applejack would give her best “Yeeeehaaaww!” for that turn!

Another Action card that could be super beneficial would be Pinkie Sense:

Well that’s easy enough – wait a gosh darn minute there! (Applejack again) Gain 1 Pink Cube! Each time you play Pinkie Sense, you gain a Pink Sugar Cube. Just like that. So these are great to have in your deck. But as with each good card, there can be a drawback. You don’t want to acquire too many of these cards if you don’t need Pink Cubes that early, because they’ll only occupy space in your deck that you can otherwise save for more cards that could synergize well with each other. It’s all about having a great deck composition to overcome the obstacles!

Finally, let’s discuss the all amazing Artifact cards, and we’ll use Applejack’s Honesty Element as an apt example.

Artifacts are amazing cards to have: They’re rare, look pretty, and they’re super powerful. You’ll just have to pay a hefty 6 HELP to acquire one. Notice how it has the word “Ongoing”? Well, that, my friends, is super helpful to have. The player who plays this card will keep it under their control, even if their turn ends, and it allows the player to draw 6 cards instead of the normal 5 at the end of their turn. Having an extra card can mean a world of difference if you’re trying to accomplish amazing turns, as each amazing turn can start accumulating into more amazing turns as the game progresses. Here’s the thing though: anything can go wrong in a deck-building game! What if you’re trying to muster out Green Sugar Cubes but you don’t have any resources or cards in your hand? Don’t panic! Remove the Honesty Element from the game to gain 2 Green Cubes. I’ve been in countless games where Artifacts have saved our flanks from defeat.

Let’s finish off with the concept of Removal. Naturally in a deck-builder, you’ll want to accumulate card after card to make your deck bigger and better and wait a second…didn’t I buy those cards? Where did they go? To draw them and play them at a quicker rate, you’ll want to remove cards from your deck as well. This is colloquially referred to as “thinning” your deck, so that you have a higher probability of drawing good cards rather than just your starter cards. Add the Honesty Element in your arsenal, and your odds of drawing a better hand just increases tenfold! Don’t panic if you don’t get to remove cards though - I’ve won my fair share of games with 20+ cards in my deck! My teammates did all the heavy-lifting though, I’m sure of it.

Be sure to read the next post, where we’ll tackle some more goodies, and possibly some not-so-good things!


Got questions? Head over to our discord server! We've got dedicated channels for My Little Pony, where staff such as Chris Chung (Lead Developer for My Little Pony: Adventures in Equestria) and Jordan Gaeta (Community Manager) hang out and answer questions!