After first launching in China, publisher Kayou’s My Little Pony Card Game has now arrived in the West. As it’s not the first My Little Pony TCG to be released, it can be a little difficult to find help on how to play the game, so we’re here to break down the steps of the game in a simple, clear manner. Let’s check it out!
What You Need to Play the My Little Pony Card Game
Each player will need a deck of 50 cards, containing character, item and event cards. Each player also needs a main character card and 4 story cards (these must be numbered I-IV and have the same main title). Finally, a scene deck containing 15 scene cards is also needed for each player. There are a few rules when it comes to which cards you’re allowed to use in your decks, but if each player uses a pre-constructed starter deck for their first game, you can avoid the need to overload yourself with these restrictions.
Setting Up the My Little Pony Card Game
If you have a starter deck, you’ll also have the useful paper play mat, which features designated areas for each of your decks and cards in play, along with a handy turn phase summary. To set up, shuffle you main deck, then your scene deck, and place them in their respective areas. Your main character card is placed in your play area, and your story cards are placed in a row in numerical order, I, II, III and IV, in the middle of your play area; this should be to the right of your main character card.
The first player is determined by a random method decided upon by both players, and then each player draws 5 cards to form their starting hand. At this point, each player may “mulligan” once; that is, they may move their drawn hand to the bottom of the main deck and draw another 5 card hand. They cannot do this a second time!
Then, each player draws 4 cards from their main deck face down, and places them horizontally on the story cards in their row, careful not to cover up the numbers or text on the story cards. These four cards are then known as the “plan cards” for this game, and remain hidden until certain game effects occur.
Finally, each player then draws the first card from their scene deck; the first player’s first scene card is placed face down, and the second player’s first scene card is played face up. The first player can then begin the game!
The Phases of the My Little Pony Card Game
There are four phases in each player’s turn in the My Little Pony Card Game. These are the starting phase, main phase, contact phase and end phase. Let’s look at each one in turn, as this is how you’ll actually play the My Little Pony Card Game.
Starting Phase
In the starting phase, the active player will untap (that’s rotate so they’re vertical) all of their tapped character and scene cards. Don’t worry; we’ll explain exactly how cards become tapped in the main phase section. Then, the active player draws 1 card from their main deck (though this is skipped on the first player’s first turn of the game). Finally, the active player reveals the top card of their scene deck, and adds it face up to their scene area. Then the active player moves onto the main phase.
Main Phase
During the main phase of the active player’s turn, there are several actions which can be taken, in any order, providing they have the means to do so. They may play a card from their hand, paying the Force of Harmony cost, to their adventure area. Paying the Force of Harmony cost means tapping as many scene cards as the Force of Harmony cost (which is in the top left of character, item and event cards; you can see these costs in the above image). So for example, if a card has a Force of Harmony cost of 2, the player must rotate two scene cards to pay for it. Only untapped scene cards can be used as payment to bring cards into play. Note that both face up and face down cards can be used to pay for cards to be played, but either way they must be untapped.
For example, the Opal card in the above image costs 3 Force of Harmony to play, so three scene cards have been tapped (two face down, one face up) to pay for it to enter play.
Character cards, when played, enter and remain in the adventure area (for now). Event cards are resolved immediately according to their text, then sent to the retirement area (also known, in normal card game terms, as the discard pile). Item cards are played to be “attached” to character cards, in the active player’s adventure area.
In the main phase, character cards which have the adventure keyword can be activated too, where applicable. These effects will differ depending on the card text, but all are clear and any card with the adventure keyword can be activated in this way. Check out our guide to all keywords in My Little Pony for more details.
Contact Phase
This is what would typically be the combat stage in most other trading card games. It is skipped during each player’s first turn of the game, but what happens here is determined by which cards are in the adventure area, and where they’re placed. There are three columns, or “lines” in the adventure area, and each line is dealt with in turn, from left to right, during the contact phase. Let’s look at the different ways to handle the contact phase depending on card positions.
If both players have a character facing each other in the same line, they must engage in contact; this is not optional. Characters have an inspiration, or “inspo” number on the bottom right of their cards. The higher the number, the better. This can be improved by turning scene cards face down; each one is worth an extra point of inspo when used in this way (starting with the active player, then the non-active player may respond by choosing how many scene cards they wish to turn face down for bonus inspo). Items may also affect the inspo number.
After all scene cards are used, and bonus item values added to give a final total, whoever has the highest inspo value wins. The losing card is sent to the owner’s retirement area. If there is a tie, both characters retire. In the example above, if no bonuses are used, the Opal card would succeed in the contact, with its inspo value of 4 against Applejack’s inspo value of 2.
If only the active player has a card on the line, they have two options. They may “intervene the plan”, or “promote the story”. If they intervene the plan, their opponent reveals the plan card on their lowest-numbered story card which still has a face down plan card. If that plan card has an ability marked as “pre-plan”, the effect is enacted and the card is then retired. If there is no pre-plan ability, the owning player adds the card to their hand.
Promoting the story is the other option, and this will see the active player moving the character card from its current position in the story area to the next numbered story card. Note that this can only be carried out if the opposing player doesn’t have a plan card on their matching numbered story card. For instance, if the active player wanted to move their character to story card II, they can only do so if the opponent has no plan card on their story card II.
Lastly, if the active player has no card in the line, it is skipped.
End Phase
The final step for the active player is the end phase. Here, the active player must discard cards from their hand if they have more than 10; when they have 10 cards left in their hand, they can stop discarding. Discarded cards go to the retirement area. Note that nothing happens here if the active player has 10 or less cards in hand. Once this is complete, play passes to the next player, who begins their turn at the starting phase.
Winning in the My Little Pony Card Game
The phases continue until either one of the victory conditions is met. That’s right: there are two ways to win in the My Little Pony Card Game. If you can get your character card to the stage IV story card (as in the above image), you win immediately. Or, if your opponent cannot draw a card from their main deck, as all of their cards have been used or retired, you win.
So there you have it. That’s how you play Kayou’s My Little Pony Card Game. The game itself reminds me a little of the One Piece Card Game, or Riftbound, in the way that resources are handled. However, the compulsory “combat” in the contact phase, as well as the importance of card placement in lines and then defending them, feels pretty unusual and unique, giving the My Little Pony Card Game its own, distinctive feel. What I find most exciting about the My Little Pony Card Game beyond its gameplay is that all of the cards, even the most common ones, feel special in terms of the way they look and feel, aesthetically. It’s a beautifully produced game. Take a look at our full review of the My Little Pony Card Game.
