FAQ

What's with the name?

The first Magic set in a block is almost invariably named after the world in which it takes place. However, as the name of a set, 'Equestria' leaves much to be desired. There are numerous MLP-related fan projects (not to mention Hasbro's own projects) that use Equestria in their name, and I did not want to tread on any of their hooves. I then turned to the list of existing Magic sets to look for the potential for parody, but nothing struck me as effective, considering that most small sets have a simple, one-word name, usually evocative of some world-changing event (Tempest, Conflux, Worldwake, etc.). Finally, I thought of using some combination of the two franchises' names, such as 'My Little Pony: Friendship is MTG', but such a combination has an inherent lack of Googlability. Clearly I had to find a different solution.

That solution? Wordplay. I've always been a fan of casual wordplay, and it's never failed me in the past. I thought of various words that I could combine with 'Pony'; many terrible portmanteaux were created (and promptly discarded). It wasn't until the album I'd been listening to (The Hazards of Love, by The Decemberists) reached its calm midpoint that it dawned on me: Interlude. A short piece of music designed to connect the more prominent movements in a work. What is this project if not a way for Bronies to connect to one another by way of a common interest?

Ponylude has all the characteristics of a name I wanted. First of all, it's got 'Pony' right there in it; there's no denying what it's all about. Secondly, as a unique construction rather than a collection of common words, it is very easy to find via search engines. Thirdly, it's not easily misspelled (more important than one might think; Wizards of the Coast ran into this problem with their Prophecy and Judgment sets). Finally, 'ludus' is Latin for 'game', so it's even got an unintended double entendre.

Long story short,

1) It has 'Pony' in it.

2) You can Google it.

3) It's easy to spell and pronounce.

4) Wordplay is fun.

Where are Lightning Dust, Babs Seed, and Ms. Harshwhinny?

Design and development of this set began in August 2012, three months before Season Three premiered. Many decisions about how the show's characters were going to fit into the set had already been made, and as such, integrating Season Three characters to the design would have meant throwing out months of work that had already been done on the set. Therefore, there are no references to Season Three within this set. However, Season Three will comprise the majority of the content for the first small expansion of the planned Ponylude block.

Believe me; I'm looking forward to designing cards for those characters myself. You can probably figure out ahead of time what certain cards are likely to do (ex. Babs Seed will be a blue or black common two-drop 2/1 level-up creature). They'll get their time to shine.

Why aren't any of the named characters legendary?

Generally, within Magic sets, named characters are given the supertype "Legendary", which only allows for one of them to be on the battlefield under a given player's control at any time. While this makes thematic sense, a large set full of many legendary creatures is not conducive to Limited play. Therefore, the only legendary creature in the set is Starswirl the Bearded (given his place within the story), and you are free to play with as many copies of Twilight Sparkle or Rainbow Dash or any other beloved character as you desire.

Why doesn't Princess Luna have a mana cost? Or Rainbow Dash, for that matter?

Princess Luna is the flipped (tranformed) side of the dual-sided planeswalker Nightmare Moon. It's the exact same type of card as Garruk Relentless//Garruk the Veil-Cursed; you cast the front side (Nightmare Moon) and only are able to play with the back side (Princess Luna) if its state-triggered ability is met.

Rainbow Dash doesn't have a mana cost because she can enter the battlefield through another means, namely Ninjutsu. The combination of Ninjutsu and Echo was my way of creating a card with "Super Haste" without actually using a keyword from an Un-set.

Why do the Mane Six have a purple card frame?

The Mane Six are all colorless nonartifact creatures (like Eldrazi), but that particular frame just didn't appeal to me. I figured that the purple (it's just the red and blue frames overlain on one another) frames would make them visually distinctive while not being such a departure from the norm that they'd be a distraction. Princess Celestia and Derpy have nonstandard card frames for the exact same reasons.

Why are there so many keywords?

This is, by far, the most common criticism I've received of the set. I am quite aware that WotC's own sets do not feature nearly this many keyword abilities; choosing to include this many existing keywords in the set was a deliberate decision. I chose to include them in the set for their mechanical elegance and for their role in accurately conveying the flavor of characters in the MLP world. If a particular ability has already been designed and developed correctly, why attempt to rehash it? In addition, none of the existing keywords singlehoofedly drive the mechanical flavor of the set. Sure, there are five creatures in Ponylude with soulbond, but it's not a soulbond set. Nor is it a double strike set, an evoke set, or a storm set. If anything, it's a very tempo-oriented set, with average pacing, above average power level, and many playable archetypes.

Is the set finished?

It's 'finished' in that there are 250 cards posted out of 250. It's far from finished in the sense of balance and fair play. Expect me to make changes to cards as further playtesting shows may be necessary.

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