My Little Pony Collectible Card Game Strategies

[GamingTama 9]

Hello  everypony,

  My name is Tama and I would like to discuss and strategized on My Little Pony Collectable Card Game.
I will try to organize this guide best way I can, but I will talk about myself a little bit.  I have no prior experience in Trading Card Game like Pokemon YuGiHo Magic The Gathering etc.  However that doesn’t mean I am uneducated in strategizing plans or builds as I do that in Starcraft 2 WoW Dota League etc in all video games I am normally the top 0.1% of North America + a few puzzle game.
Another thing to note is that this is my firs

Edited December 28, 2013 by GamingTama

[Frosty Flurry 173]

wow u can do something with these cards?

ok interesting i'll take this into mind.

[TheAsterite 15]

I feel like Apple Jack's deck would work well together with another deck. But as of right now, I didn't see that many cards that tapped other ones down.

[Vinyl_3 2]

well my strategy is basically to put rarity on a easy problem card and then next turn put a timber wolf on my problem and put a friend card there also and keep solving it and adding cards to it after first turn i would earn the bonus and flip rarity. 

then add friend cards and another timber wolf to my opponents problem and i would have cards with inspired on my home so my opponent would not be able to solve problems even if they manege to move a card to a timber wolf it would just add +2 to moving cards there and keeping in mind that i would continue to add friend cards so my opponent would stand no chance of winning face of against me.

[Chacobos 160]

Somehow this game is more confusing than when I made the transition from Yugioh to Magic(and trust me, that is a mind rape if you aren't prepared/no experience) 

 

I do want to ask though, was there any deck that just annihilated the competition or was it pretty fair between Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash?  

Edited December 9, 2013 by Captain Variance

[GamingTama 9]

I feel like Apple Jack's deck would work well together with another deck. But as of right now, I didn't see that many cards that tapped other ones down.

I do agree with you I didn't finish my "guide" or w/e and did not state that, she is a Deck that has to build into other deck. Meaning Applejack is not a good Mane Character, but from what I see, There is nearly 0 Exhaust effect cards that exist in the starting packs... In Honestly I think Inspire should have an exhaust effect because of its abusive power.

 

well my strategy is basically to put rarity on a easy problem card and then next turn put a timber wolf on my problem and put a friend card there also and keep solving it and adding cards to it after first turn i would earn the bonus and flip rarity. 

then add friend cards and another timber wolf to my opponents problem and i would have cards with inspired on my home so my opponent would not be able to solve problems even if they manege to move a card to a timber wolf it would just add +2 to moving cards there and keeping in mind that i would continue to add friend cards so my opponent would stand no chance of winning face of against me.

Maybe the place I played the game wrong but, I was told that you have to use a "Starting Problem" then shuffle the other 9 cards. If we can do it the way you are talking about then wow the game could be less luck base and build base.

 

 

Somehow this game is more confusing than when I made the transition from Yugioh to Magic(and trust me, that is a mind rape if you aren't prepared/no experience) 

 

I do want to ask though, was there any deck that just annihilated the competition or was it pretty fair between Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash?  

The tournament I play I was 3-1 win:lost to get the prize we needed to be 4-0

There was 45~ Rainbowdash/Rarity Players 

and only 25~ Twilight Sparkle/Applejack Players

I was maybe 4 of 25 players using Applejack and the other Apple Jack lost 2 times and left the arena. from what I know at least.

 

The winners ended up being 3 Rarity and 1 Rainbowdash.

 

[truhls 1]

I just want you guys to know ( and i created an account for this ) applejack is far, far better than you realize. I use an applejack/twi deck and will probably stick with it, with AJ as my mane starter. Honestly you can make a seriously frustrating deck to play against ( that can easily stomp rarity and the chapeau ). For one, stubberness is useful, and will only get more useful with more cards and more sets. The other abiltities dont scale. Two, AJ seems to have most of the discard cards, and the easiest recursion. I was using AJ and some of twi's judges ( i got two ) to completely negate anything my opponents tried to do. You could cast one guy who made them discard, get him dismissed and put him in your hand again to cast again. And then the judges gave -1 to every pony on a problem, stacking them to -2 made it almost impossible for me to lose ( i didnt out of about 15 games, most of which were against a turn 2 flipped rarity and chapeaus ).

[GameytheGeemer 147]

I didn't know this was a thing. Where do I buy cards while this is small?

[Chacobos 160]

 

 

Maybe the place I played the game wrong but, I was told that you have to use a "Starting Problem" then shuffle the other 9 cards. If we can do it the way you are talking about then wow the game could be less luck base and build base.

 

 

The tournament I play I was 3-1 win:lost to get the prize we needed to be 4-0

There was 45~ Rainbowdash/Rarity Players 

and only 25~ Twilight Sparkle/Applejack Players

I was maybe 4 of 25 players using Applejack and the other Apple Jack lost 2 times and left the arena. from what I know at least.

 

The winners ended up being 3 Rarity and 1 Rainbowdash.

 

So basically control curb stomped everything? I am just curious about everything because If a format is dominated by one set deck then it is unhealthy for the game. Kudos going 3-1 in your division of deck though

I didn't know this was a thing. Where do I buy cards while this is small?

Officially releases on the 13th

Edited December 9, 2013 by Captain Variance

[GamingTama 9]

 

 

So basically control curb stomped everything? I am just curious about everything because If a format is dominated by one set deck then it is unhealthy for the game. Kudos going 3-1 in your division of deck though

 
thanks I possibly could have done better if I actually knew how to react and build versus a rarity, but building a rare to specifically counter 1 is not worth it.  I try to have a very well rounded deck to fight vs everypony, hopefully with the boosters I can build decks to help out Applejack <3.

Rarity did curb stomped everyone and this happened at Gen Con according to some judges that was here at my place.  they told me they thought they would have changed the rarity Inspire but I guess they didn't It has to have a flaw, we just haven't been able to counter it due to our starter deck being so bad.

 

I just want you guys to know ( and i created an account for this ) applejack is far, far better than you realize. I use an applejack/twi deck and will probably stick with it, with AJ as my mane starter. Honestly you can make a seriously frustrating deck to play against ( that can easily stomp rarity and the chapeau ). For one, stubberness is useful, and will only get more useful with more cards and more sets. The other abiltities dont scale. Two, AJ seems to have most of the discard cards, and the easiest recursion. I was using AJ and some of twi's judges ( i got two ) to completely negate anything my opponents tried to do. You could cast one guy who made them discard, get him dismissed and put him in your hand again to cast again. And then the judges gave -1 to every pony on a problem, stacking them to -2 made it almost impossible for me to lose ( i didnt out of about 15 games, most of which were against a turn 2 flipped rarity and chapeaus ).

I wanted to ask you how does exhaust work and why is it good?
my community may have been playing the game wrong making exhaust do nothing. 
How can you use this to combo to do other things?
Also I created this account just to start a this guide and such so I am new as well welcome <3 /)

[TheAsterite 15]

 

I wanted to ask you how does exhaust work and why is it good?

my community may have been playing the game wrong making exhaust do nothing. 

How can you use this to combo to do other things?

Also I created this account just to start a this guide and such so I am new as well welcome <3 /)

 

 

I believe, and please correct me if I'm wrong, that exhausted cards cannot apply their points to faceoffs or solving problems until they are not exhausted anymore.

[GamingTama 9]

I believe, and please correct me if I'm wrong, that exhausted cards cannot apply their points to faceoffs or solving problems until they are not exhausted anymore.

You are correct, what I was trying to ask is how can we fully utilized to use Stubborn to our advantage. The reason is Rarity/Rainbow Deck doesn't really have the ability to Exhaust anything the only combo/Synergy I found with the TS/AP Deck is this combo.

 

This synergy will allow the player to receive an action point while still being able to contribute power in faceoffs.

[TheAsterite 15]

Also, in response to the chapeau card, Too Much Pie (which gives -5 power on a friend) is a great counter.

[Robin Hoof 47]

You are correct, what I was trying to ask is how can we fully utilized to use Stubborn to our advantage. The reason is Rarity/Rainbow Deck doesn't really have the ability to Exhaust anything the only combo/Synergy I found with the TS/AP Deck is this combo.

 

This synergy will allow the player to receive an action point while still being able to contribute power in faceoffs.

 

Ok Lets talk about stubborn. The first that that has to be relized is that we have been playing in a "sealed" starter enviorment. This means that we only have access to 4 of the main characters with preset decks and only two boosters available to modify our decks with. Stubborn is going to become much more usefull in constructed play where people pre make their decks at home and bring them to a tournement / casual play.

 

There are certain cards that exaust cards that are available to us right now such as flim and flam and the parasprites. These will be found commonly in play, they are very good trouble makers. The benifit of stubborn in this instance is that when you are forced to exaust a card you can exaust your stubborn card and the trouble maker has almost no effect on you other than blocking you from confronting the problem.

 

Another instance is that some cards allow you to exaust them for a benifit (such as solar wind) giveing him stubborn allows you to use his ability with no detrimental effects.

--------

 

now lets talk about Hard hat because it will give us some insight into deck building and apple jacks deck. At first glance hard hat sucks. But its in that pre constructed deck for a reason. The first reason is cherries jubilee who is a pre con deck exclusive card ( you will not find her in the booster packs). If you give her a hard hat or two suddenly this 1 point 1 pony power card becomes a heavy hitter who is gonna be extreamly usefull. This is because of her ability that gives her +1 power per resource.

 

But hard hat is even more than this and gives us an insight into deck building. This cards true value lies in it's face off power. It is a 4. This is a card that is in the deck to help you win face offs. And you will find this is true of many events and resources in general. Their overt card power is only situationally or minimally usefull, but its in your deck because you are hoping to draw it to win face offs.

 

------

 

Thus the topic of deckbuilding comes up. Here we have to find a good balance of freinds, face off draw cards, and utility cards. This is not an easy things but i believe that the following is true.

 

your mane character should have around 13-15 same element freinds ( honesty kindness ect)

 

your alternate element should have the same but you have to make sure that between 5 and 8 of those friends do NOT require any of that element to be present to bring them into play. The starter decks are tough because there is only about 5 friends of your off element that don't need any of their element in play to be "summoned".

 

Then you need to fill out the rest of your deck with face off winning cards (high power cards like Duck and Cover or Timber wolves). This is the place where you really need to make choices. You need to decided how much utility you want out of these cards becasue the utility seems inversly proportional to how powerful that card will be in a face off. You also need to decide on trouble makers which are a double edged sword. On one hand they can prevent yoru opponent from confronting a problem and on the other hand a shrewd opponent will simply farm them for easy points.

 

Finally you should keep your deck to 45 cards. Being a netrunner player i know the value of getting what you want out of your deck as fast as possible. The rarity of some cards, like big mac, are going to prevent you from having more than one of them in your deck. Thus they will be hard to draw. The more cards you add to your deck makes these valuble cards harder to draw. Thus thin to win baby.

 

And im done, but i am happy to provide more of my thoughts if people are interested (i just need prompting).

 

Also rarities cat (seriously, she is a kindness card and very good) will end that fabulous hat, and you can put her in any deck as a counter to powerful resources.

Edited December 9, 2013 by Robin Hoof

[Vinyl_3 2]

 

Maybe the place I played the game wrong but, I was told that you have to use a "Starting Problem" then shuffle the other 9 cards. If we can do it the way you are talking about then wow the game could be less luck base and build base.

 

 

 

By easy problem card i meant easy starter card sry if that was confusing,in my case and easy starting card for me would be "Emergency Dress Order" or "Cloudbursting" since "Emergency Dress Order" requires 1 white power and one other power and "Cloudbursting" requires one blue power and one other power.

 

I want to ask you what guys use for tokens like marbles,coins,calculator,etc

Edited December 10, 2013 by Vinyl_3

[GamingTama 9]

....

I'll reply back to you thanks for your feedback busy at the moment

I want to ask you what guys use for tokens like marbles,coins,calculator,etc

I use a die/dice its easier but I've seen people use Paper and do + and - actions to have legit proof of their plays

[Chacobos 160]

 

thanks I possibly could have done better if I actually knew how to react and build versus a rarity, but building a rare to specifically counter 1 is not worth it.  I try to have a very well rounded deck to fight vs everypony, hopefully with the boosters I can build decks to help out Applejack <3.

 

Rarity did curb stomped everyone and this happened at Gen Con according to some judges that was here at my place.  they told me they thought they would have changed the rarity Inspire but I guess they didn't It has to have a flaw, we just haven't been able to counter it due to our starter deck being so bad.

 

 

That would actually explain a lot in all honesty. Starter decks do what their name implies, just gets you started in the game, usually results you needing to build a deck from complete scratch. And my guess is Rarity's was built strong enough to where it was the all-star starter deck(but any deck built from scratch will be better) 

[Robin Hoof 47]

That would actually explain a lot in all honesty. Starter decks do what their name implies, just gets you started in the game, usually results you needing to build a deck from complete scratch. And my guess is Rarity's was built strong enough to where it was the all-star starter deck(but any deck built from scratch will be better)

 

Unfortunatly Rarity is definite best pony in this game. Had a few games with some friends tonight (12ish) and faced off against rarity quite often. She is beastly but not unbeatable. You just he to be very smart about it. Inspire also gets worse since it stacks other the other two ponies that have it. You really just have to end up overwhelming her in single face offs. Apple jack is good at that and holly dash is a nice counter to her addition cost ability since holly dash specifies that her partner comes over to the problem for free.

[Chacobos 160]

To be fair though that is with any game, control decks just decimate the unprepared but lose if they can't do their job. As long as there are strong counters I imagine the meta will be fine.

 

Grant I haven't played this game yet, won't be till the 13th rolls around but could you post her effect/ability if you know?

Edited December 10, 2013 by Captain Variance

[Vinyl_3 2]

To be fair though that is with any game, control decks just decimate the unprepared but lose if they can't do their job. As long as there are strong counters I imagine the meta will be fine.

 

Grant I haven't played this game yet, won't be till the 13th rolls around but could you post her effect/ability if you know?

Her ability is "When you move this card to a problem,you may move another one of your characters to the same problem for free." 

[Robin Hoof 47]

Her ability is "When you move this card to a problem,you may move another one of your characters to the same problem for free."

 

That is holly dash's ability (don't know if that is what was asked). Rarity's power up ability is that you have to pay 1 ap extra to move a friend to her problem.

[GamingTama 9]

 

Also rarities cat (seriously, she is a kindness card and very good) will end that fabulous hat, and you can put her in any deck as a counter to powerful resources.

 

I didn't mean to sound like Applejack/Honestly deck is bad, I was just trying to say that the Starter deck out of everything was more handicap compare to the others.  I potentally think AJ has some early game advantages and needs to react to things before Inspiration stacking occurs.

 

Also I have that card too Opalesence (Rarity's Cat) she is really good

I had a question on it though, It states 'when you move this card to a problem...' the card from my hand to the problem does that count as moving? Or is moving only Home to Problem or Problem to Problem.

 

Granny Smith is just as good.

"When you play this card, you may move a Resource from one Friend to another"

The way it is worded for English we can actually take Opponent's Resource (that's placed on a friend) and place it on on your friends

Or take your own resource that's played on your friend and place it on the opponent's friend.

 

 

 

[Robin Hoof 47]

I didn't mean to sound like Applejack/Honestly deck is bad, I was just trying to say that the Starter deck out of everything was more handicap compare to the others.  I potentally think AJ has some early game advantages and needs to react to things before Inspiration stacking occurs.

Also I have that card too Opalesence (Rarity's Cat) she is really good

I had a question on it though, It states 'when you move this card to a problem...' the card from my hand to the problem does that count as moving? Or is moving only Home to Problem or Problem to Problem.

 

Granny Smith is just as good.

"When you play this card, you may move a Resource from one Friend to another"

The way it is worded for English we can actually take Opponent's Resource (that's placed on a friend) and place it on on your friends

Or take your own resource that's played on your friend and place it on the opponent's friend.

 

I didn't mean to sound like Applejack/Honestly deck is bad, I was just trying to say that the Starter deck out of everything was more handicap compare to the others.  I potentally think AJ has some early game advantages and needs to react to things before Inspiration stacking occurs.

Also I have that card too Opalesence (Rarity's Cat) she is really good

I had a question on it though, It states 'when you move this card to a problem...' the card from my hand to the problem does that count as moving? Or is moving only Home to Problem or Problem to Problem.

 

Granny Smith is just as good.

"When you play this card, you may move a Resource from one Friend to another"

The way it is worded for English we can actually take Opponent's Resource (that's placed on a friend) and place it on on your friends

Or take your own resource that's played on your friend and place it on the opponent's friend.

 

Opals ability only triggers when you move her, not when you play her.

You are correct about Granny Smith, she is very powerful.

 

Also the rarity hat may have some errata to it. The hat may just subtract 1 from your opponents problem requirement. This hasn't been for sure confirmed but it certainly makes the hat what it should be .

 

Also no worries about the applejack thing. I thnk that is everyone's reaction to her in light of the other ponies. I look forward to further discussion and exploration of this game. Wen I played last night we defiantly brought some people into the herd through demoing.

[GamingTama 9]

Also the rarity hat may have some errata to it. The hat may just subtract 1 from your opponents problem requirement. This hasn't been for sure confirmed but it certainly makes the hat what it should be .

 

So your saying if the opponent Rarity is on my Problem she can confront / solve it with -1 less power? (To solve Avalanche you need 6 Power, with Rarity it cost 5 Power now?) I did lose to a rarity because we were playing at she can solve any problem with 1 power.

 

Also thanks for clarifiying the cat movement after you said that I check the rule book and its there /)

Edited December 10, 2013 by GamingTama

[Robin Hoof 47]

Everything you said is correct with the exception that this ability applies to the resource "marvelous chapeau" or marvelous hat. This errata is not official but as far as I'm concerned, is what that card is suppose to do. Otherwise that resource is not only game breaking but no fun to play against.

 

Once we applied this everything was a lot more fun too.

 

Again though, not official errata.