This isn’t the first rodeo for a My Little Pony trading card game. However, with the previous game based on the ever-popular Friendship is Magic era of the franchise having come to an end in 2019, it’s been several years since fans have been able to collect, trade and play with their favorite ponies on the tabletop. So let’s take a look at publisher Kayou’s My Little Pony Card Game, and find out if it’s worth playing.

What is the My Little Pony Card Game?

The My Little Pony Card Game is a trading card game, or TCG. This means that players can collect cards and build their own decks, featuring their favorite characters and settings. Beginners can learn to play using pre-constructed, ready-to-play starter decks, each one featuring a character from the “Mane 6” (Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle) as its deck’s main character. In the My Little Pony Card Game, two players compete to finish their character’s story. Whichever player is able to get their pony to the end of their own story wins the game. There’s also a second, more difficult victory condition: you can also win if your opponent runs out of cards to draw on their turn.

How to Play the My Little Pony Card Game

We’ve covered this in full in our how to play guide, but we’ll summarise here. Players will take turns to play character cards, using scene cards to pay for them to enter play, into their adventure area spaces. They’ll be using items and events to gain different effects and bonuses along the way. Their character cards will face off against each other, with the aim of being the most inspirational character. They’ll also be moving their main character through the four card story area when they’re able to adventure without an opponent blocking them.

Is the My Little Pony Card Game Fun to Play?

The game itself has some really interesting mechanics. Though we’ve seen a separate resource deck several times in recent titles (such as One Piece or Riftbound), we really like the way that these cards can even help players to overcome seemingly impossible inspiration challenges, and still remain in play to use as resources later. There’s a simple keyword system with only a small number of words to remember in the initial set, so despite a few slightly convoluted aspects (such as “intervening the plan” and “promoting the story”), the game is relatively easy to learn and play.

Younger players that the subject matter appeals to may find it a little tough going at first, and parents may also struggle with a few of the rules. Though there’s a turn summary on the game’s paper play mats, a keyword reminder would also have been useful, given that their breakdowns only appear on the reverse of the mat you’ll be using during play.

However, after a game or two, it becomes a very fast-paced and entertaining experience, with just the right level of complexity. There’s a surprisingly satisfying, albeit simple, layer of strategy to placing and using character cards in the different lines, and mastering this is the key to success.

One aspect which impressed me the most about the My Little Pony Card Game is its production values. The cards are absolutely gorgeous, with even the most basic, common cards featuring some kind of embossed and/or foiled feature, and the rarest of cards being absolutely stunning aesthetically.

Card design is clean and easy to read during play, but these cards are definitely designed to be collected, as well as played with. Our biggest complaint is that booster packs only contain 5 cards each, making them almost immediately feel far less appealing to purchase than boosters for other card games. Yet when you consider that every card, from common all the way up to the highest rarity level, feels so beautifully designed and produced, with very impressive card quality too, the smaller selection doesn’t feel quite so bad, but it can still be disappointing to only get 5 cards in a pack.

Despite this, unlike other card games, you never feel like you’re getting “bulk” or unappealing cards in your My Little Pony boosters. To labor the point, even if you won’t be using cards in decks, every card really does feel special. Bold, bright, colorful and with gorgeous artwork, the My Little Pony Card Game’s cards should be a big hit among fans of the franchise, and the game itself is definitely built on a solid foundation. Though deck building rules could be a little more prominent and expanded upon as it stands right now, we here at Card Gamer are very excited to see what new sets bring to the overall experience, and we’re really impressed with My Little Pony so far.

The Card Gamer Verdict