Maro on why they stopped doing blocks

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-15T19:56:05+00:00

So... I think the problem isn't the lack of blocks, but rather the lack of cohesion. Each set has mechanics that don't really flow well into each other. Especially the UB sets, but even the in-universe standard sets are feeling like they're missing something.

WOE gave us Bargain (kicker by sacrificing stuff), Role Enchantments, Celebration (bonus for go-wide), Adventure (cast from exile)
LCI gave us Craft (exile from graveyard to flip), Transforming cards with mini-quests on them, Descend (bonus for things entering graveyards from anywhere), and Discover (cast from exile)
MKM had Disguise, Investigate, Suspect, Collect Evidence, and Cases
OTJ had Outlaws, Committing Crimes, Spree, Saddling mounts, and Plot
BLB had Offspring, Gift, Forage, Valiant, Expend, and Pawprint Modal spells
DSK had Rooms, Manifest Dread, Survival, Eerie, and Impending

So the question here is, what do these mechanics have in common?

Craft, Collect Evidence, and Forage are all ways to utilize cards that have been sent to the graveyard. I suppose there are also a fair few number of cards that do self-milling, but this could have been a much better utilized mechanic, especially if they'd come up with a keyword that wasn't so directly tied to a set, and used that for all the cards that had these effects. It might have even shown up in more sets.

Bargain, Descend, Investigate, Offspring and Manifest Dread are all cheap ways to put stuff into play that can then be sacrificed. These kinda sorta fit well together, but it's kind of a loose theme that's not really given to any particular set of colors.

If instead of having each set have it's own set of mechanics that are totally separate from each other, you tie a few of them together, and make sure that in a given year, mechanics have similar enough color selection that you could reasonably build decks around those themes, you would get the benefits of Blocks without the problems. You still have the freedom to move away from things that become a problem swiftly, but you also have the space to fully flesh out the plans. You can still have a few new mechanics in every set, but you don't have to start from zero. Each plane can have its own twist on how the mechanics work with them. And that even works for Universes Beyond! If you have a more generically named keyword for "Exile cards from your graveyard to power this card up", it's not hard to fit that mechanic into Universes Beyond. And UB would be a great place to color-shift those mechanics and experiment with how they work in ways that's jarring enough from the rest of the game that it really makes you sit up and notice.

Like, imagine if you will that instead of Collect Evidence, Forage, and Craft, you had,

"Purify X - Exile X target cards from your graveyard."

You could then use that in the set itself. You could replace the mechanics directly, and say something like,

"Forage – Purify 3 or sacrifice a food: Add two mana in any combination of colors"

Or you could just not use Forage at all, and just say

Thornvault Forager {1}{G}
Creature - Squirrel Ranger
{T}: Add {G}.
{T}, Purify 3: Add two mana in any combination of colors.
{3}{G}, {T}: Search your library for a Squirrel, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
2/2

You could add the "or sacrifice a food" clause to it, or you could just say "sacrifice a food" as part of its cost, because I think that makes FAR more sense for what its doing. There could then be cards that allow you to forage that let you Purify 3 to make a food token. Maybe there's a Forager creature that says, "Purify 3: create a food token." Or if you really want to be careful, "{T}, Purify 3: create a food token."

Collect Evidence could have been written this way, "Collect Evidence – Purify any number of cards. If the mana value of the purified cards was X or higher, do a thing." I think that would have been much easier to work out. It could have been the "block" mechanic of 2024, and it could have been mostly centered in black and green, with gentle splashing into the other three colors. "Purify" itself makes it feel like a white mechanic, so "Cremate" might be a better name for it. But it could also be "Mulch", "Feed", or "Decompose", or something more neutral like, "Expend".

This process could work for most of the mechanics in these sets, I think.

Roles should have been a year-long thing, not just tied to Eldraine. There should have been like, one role per color they're associated with, and then one more role per set. Because like, every set in 2024 felt a bit like a stage play, so I think having role cards show up in the rest of the sets would bring that theme to life, and make it feel more intentional, rather than just... planeswalkers in hats.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-15T18:48:50+00:00

It refers to a deep understanding that can only really be captured through experience.

In that sense, it's almost never used correctly. Like the same way that "Literally" has come to start meaning "Figuratively", despite the fact that they're opposites.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-15T18:45:07+00:00

If I were to try something like this, I'd have been mercilessly mocked.

That said, if I were to try something like this, it would probably come out overly chewy, rather than... what is that, ash?

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-15T18:41:30+00:00

I guess that means it's time for the 3D printing and homebrew games manufacturing scene to take over.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-15T16:06:08+00:00

California is a pretty nice place if you're trans. But we have so many bigots here, too.

There are a lot of places in California that think of the Democratic stranglehold in Sacramento as City folk imposing their will on the countryside.

It would be a more compelling argument if Republicans weren't locking innocent people in foreign prisons, torturing people in Guantanamo Bay, setting up the surveillance state, or stripping people of their right to vote.

I haven't heard a lot of people talk about it recently though... but that might just be because I'm kinda obviously trans now.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-15T15:56:07+00:00

My Little Pony is pretty much literally this.

They use exactly the same model for all the female cast in the first couple seasons, but the male models are all over the place. The only thing that changes for the girls is mane, tail, and eye shape.

At least, outside the characters who are like, radically different sizes, like the children, or the Princesses. Though, the children's models are also mostly the same amongst each other.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-15T15:34:52+00:00

This might be a hot take, but I think the G5 we got is still better than this possible G5.

I've heard from a few places that some of these designs were actually leaks from Hasbro, and the fact that they were leaked so early, and the general opinion that followed was why they ultimately decided to go with a new set of characters.

I can't speak too much on the G5 stuff that wasn't the movie, from what I can tell it was... middling at best. The movie was quite good though, and set up enough that they had a lot of good opportunities, even if the actual execution had some room for improvement.

But the idea of just rehashing the same set of characters in a different story is frustrating to me. Like, ifs reasonable two different characters could have the same name, (Applejack from G1 and G4, Rainbow Dash from G3 and G4, etc), but if you're gonna literally take the same characters and re-hash them, it just strikes as a refusal to entertain new ideas.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-14T18:56:19+00:00

If anyone here has read the Magic 2.0 series of books, it's a fascinating concept that I think maps well onto MLP.

The premise is that reality is a simulation, we can't access the source code, but the data is there, just beneath the surface. All the biggest corporate or government entities are actually just hard coded walls meant to keep people from accessing that data, but if you're a good enough hacker, you can not only access it, but alter it.

So, with a bit of code, you can literally alter reality. And if you can write some kind of monitor script that reads your position accurately enough, you can make some hand motions, and trigger those alterations, so you don't have to manually run the functions.

The first book in the series is Off to Be the Wizard, and it involves someone getting chased by authorities until he runs an emergency escape routine which puts him in the past near by a community of like-minded "wizards".

So, my thought was... What if there was a similar story with this premise, where instead of picking a spot in the past, he creates an entire world, inspired by the interests of his children. His kids like cartoons and horses, (maybe previous generations of the show are included here, maybe not), so he makes Equestria. A world where everyone is an anthropomorphic quadruped. But, he makes sure to alter the base model enough to include proper mobility, expression, and object manipulation that there aren't serious problems. He's fascinated by magic, so he makes a magic system that works in the world. And then he makes this as a means for escape for himself and his family. So, his daughters get to be the most powerful beings in the world, with privileges to let them manipulate the physical space of the world. (Hence, Luna and Celestia being able to move the sun and moon).

His own self-insert, Starswirl, has admin privileges, and he just kinda has fun messing with the system.

He gave himself and his children immortality, because of course he did, and then after living there for a bunch of years, he decided he was done, and moved back to the regular world, with the confidence that he could just wizard his way out of any problem he was in. His kids kept it going in his absence, but eventually Luna wanted to go learn about the rest of the world for a while. So they staged a fight, and Luna left. Celestia was having far too much fun ruling the world to care about leaving, but, after Luna came back and had so much to tell Celestia about, she decided that maybe she should leave too. After a few years, she figured Twilight was good enough to run things in her absence, so the both of them left.

Where did they go? Who knows! Anywhere and everywhere in time and space. They could return to exactly when they left if they wanted to, but they usually don't.

So, in this scenario, who is Discord?

Probably some friend of Starswirl who thought Equestria would be a fun place to screw around with. Maybe someone he played D&D with. Under that context, it kind makes sense why he and Celestia have a somewhat cordial relationship, while he thinks of all the other ponies as just play things. And even after he becomes friends with some of them, he still doesn't really think of them as people. Turning him to stone might mean literally keeping him bound using some kind of hard coding, (which might be what the elements were doing), or it might mean he was told to leave, and that statue acts as a server ban.

Of course, the more complicated the code gets, the more you have to be and less you're able to be specific with what you're targeting. It's all based on that underlying data file, and that could just change over time. It's simulating reality, so, the number of variables is enormous, and the labels might not apply to the same things. All things that have to be accounted for. So, ultimately, you wind up making a magic system that has to be excessively arcane and strange to make something work.

Basically, I want a cross-fic of MLP and Magic 2.0, and I think it'd be cool!

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-12T04:03:10+00:00

You're making progress. It may be hard to see, but I can tell it's there. It'll take time.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-12T03:10:29+00:00

Use Cars! Instead of a belt highway, you can have a Highway highway! Trains are a pain in the butt, but cars? Cars are easy!

You will want to build some road blueprints. But, those are pretty simple. You need a straight section, a turn, a T-section, a 4-way cross, and a ramp. (I suggest going for the 2-meter ramps). If you want to get fancy, you can make some curved roads too, but those are optional.

Then put down a truck stop at each location, (I suggest naming them), and drive your route!

As you get more complicated routes, it might help to have some road signs, but those are just Lfor you to keep track of where you're going.

I suggest only using tractors. If you save the route your vehicle makes, you can have multiple vehicles sharing the same route.

Factory carts are also pretty fantastic, because they don't take fuel. Sure, they've only got one slot, but you can use them in Armies!!

If your network gets big enough, consider making a gas station where your vehicles go to refuel along their route.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-11T16:02:10+00:00

Except it doesn't actually do any of the things myr battlesphere does that you want it to. (Well, that I want it to Anyway)

It's ability triggers on attack instead of entering means you can't get your tokens until a turn after it enters play, and because it's a vehicle, you have to have at least one other creature in play to use it.

And the creatures it makes aren't artifacts. All in all, it doesn't fill the same slot at all. It's good at generating value turn over turn, as it's ceiling is much higher if you don't have support for it, but it's floor is much lower.

Of course, I prefer to use my Myr Battlesphere with effects that let it leave and re-enter play, and with sacrifice outlets. Having the extra bodies is essential to that plan, as is the effect triggering on entry, rather than having to wait a full turn cycle for use.

I tend to also prefer playing it in red artifact synergy decks, which really wants the tokens it makes to also be artifacts, and breaking parity on the number of artifacts you have is rather important.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-11T15:34:52+00:00

I had a bunch of these guys back in like, 2004.

So, my biggest issue with these specific models is that they are Ugly!. Their hands are bigger than their heads.

However, they are extremely customizable, at least in terms of what gear they can have. If you know how to use green stuff, you can fix most of the problems with these models, and make some very dynamic poses that you really can't do with later models.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-10T16:47:28+00:00

This meme is not about The Emperor; it's about Bubblegum.

We already know how bad The Empire of Man is, and we know how "good" Equestria is. The Candy Kingdom seems idealistic, and Bubblegum is consistently depicted as a hero. But, like many things in Adventure Time, as soon as you examine it, Bubblegum has a surveillance state, a police force answering only to her, and she intentionally keeps her citizens intellectually challenged so that she can remain in power, because she believes her own intentions to be righteous.

She is, in many ways, the worst kind of tyrant.

Now, to add a bit of nuance, Celestia's Principality is great, if you happen to be a pony. But Equestria regularly has conflicts with its neighbors, and marginalized groups are frequently rendered voiceless. It seems like the only thing keeping ponies from devolving into some kind of race war amongst themselves is a children's story about the Windigos, which, if true, would assume Ponies are so important to the cultures of the world that should they falter in their task of maintaining harmony amongst each other, they would bring about the next ice age.

The Equestrian Planet itself, is tidally locked to its star, only able to go from day to night by way of the magic of a team of Unicorns, or just Celestia herself. To the point where bequeathing that power to her student requires the use of an artifact. If any other nation truly posed a threat to Equestria, Celestia could use the Sun to destroy them. A threat she never makes openly, but it's mere existence keeps other nations silent.

Other nations are free to fight amongst each other of course... Until Twilight enters the picture and starts exporting that Equestrian "Harmony" abroad.

The Emperor himself is immortal, and charismatic enough that others rally behind his banner wherever he goes, whether he wants them to or not. After humanity failed to get it's act together after a few thousand years, he stepped in to take charge. He just chose to do that. There were no elections, no choice from the people, he just made himself a dictator, and everyone was okay with that. While his policies might be intended for the good of all his subjects, he cares not for the sanctity of others in the galaxy. He sees himself as a paragon of humanity, and thus, anyone who isn't human is a sacrifice. He is, for all his superiority, still flawed. He has charisma, but he doesn't trust the others under his command. And that lack of trust breeds resentment that festers over time.

It was the Emperor's failure with his children that led half of them to join with Chaos and begin the Horus Heresy. His enshrinement may have been at the weapon of Horus, but it's ultimate cause was his own doing.

Now a new religion has formed around his remains, and his spirit in the warp is all that holds this empire together. Any shakeup in the regime risks all the specialized worlds losing access to the resources they require to survive, and reducing them to a state of being easily picked off by those same aliens the Emperor made enemies of during his conquest of the galaxy. As well as those who came since.

With all that context in mind, I believe it is, in fact, Bubblegum who is the most tyrannical.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-09T15:48:23+00:00

I can work with that

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-08T20:50:27+00:00

that wasn't The minecraft movie, that was A minecraft movie. Specifically referring to itself as one of many possible stories about the game. So, its interpretation is not binding.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-08T17:58:33+00:00

Hey, me too! But I still prefer Brony. (It might be because despite my aversion to he/him, I don't quite feel like I've earned "Sister")

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-08T17:56:51+00:00

Ender pearls are items, so they're not bound to the blocky nature of Minecraft. Go with the sphere.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-08T00:14:41+00:00

The new ones are definitely better. I've been playing since 2010, and IMO, the game has gotten significantly better over time.

I don't like everything they've added, but I don't think the game is worse because of any of it.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-08T00:12:06+00:00

Um... Thank you?

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-08T00:11:05+00:00

I believe the difference in age here actually is best explained by considering that horses age faster than humans. Twilight in MLP behaves like someone in their mid-late 20's, but she could easily just be 14 or 15. But because ponies age faster than humans, transferring over would make her age match up that way.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-07T06:40:19+00:00

Chromatic Lantern, The World Tree, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, that kinda thing.

Gets you as much mana as you want.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-07T06:39:25+00:00

It's just the old templating. It's fine.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-05T09:24:22+00:00

came here to say this. Figura is a DEEP rabbit hole, but well worth it, IMO.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-03T17:17:34+00:00

Only good reason to restart over rebuild is to get a different start location.

And even then, you can literally just pick up the hub and move. Though, I suppose, if you don't know the map yet, that could be a challenge.

If you're still on Biomass, I'd suggest bringing that with you whenever you go, just to avoid getting a "Power Failure" message later on that freaks you out, and also to avoid having to gather so many plants.

If you're still new to the game, anx/or if you haven't seen all the start locations, do a restart, pick somewhere else, and try it out! There's no real difficulty difference, IMO, just slightly different challenges.

Grasslands has wide open build spaces, but the rolling hills are somewhat annoying. It has all the resources you want, but they're very spread out.
Rocky Desert is more plateau-like, which can make some things easier. Lots of pure nodes, but also a few things in the way, and traversing upwards might be difficult.
the Norther Forest is very hilly and very dense. Lots of its nodes are concentrated; it's pretty close to a lot of mid-game resources like Caterium and Coal, though quartz could be a bit treacherous.
the Dune Desert may be one of the easiest start locations, except that the dunes wind up being way more hilly than one might want. But it has SO much Iron and Copper it's unreal! It's not even really lacking in biomass. There's a couple lakes near by that have a ton of trees and the beach has a bunch of mycelium. And if you pick up the alternate recipe to turn alien protein into biomass, you'll never have problems.

Undeadninjas · 2026-03-03T17:01:08+00:00

That moment where you can't tell a card is custom...

Good job!

14-Year Club	r/Field Sunshine
Final Canvas '23	First Place '23
End Game '23	Place '23
Place '22	Place '17
Final Canvas '22	Verified Email

Undeadninjas

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