Taste Test & an address

I had a bunch of ideas for subjects today, but it seems like I've already covered them pretty well already in previous entries.  Either that, or I just lost my inspiration when I got home.  Instead, I want take probably my first break from strategy and just get an idea of what each of the colors is supposed to represent.  Remember, this game is supposed to represent people from all walks of life working together to confront problems.  This game takes characters from a good variety of professions while still keeping a general feel for common sentiments.  While what you're actually doing to win the game will often be much more about numbers, it is usually important for the health of a game's interest in your mind to think about what they're actually doing.  In fact, someday when I've got a lot of time, I want to write literally every move in a game against a strong deck and see if I can write a short story about what's going on.  Until then, here's what I could dig up from the colors' trends.

Blue is kind of hard to really summarize.  As far as occupations go, blue is home to the military, speedsters, and of course, weather manipulators.  As the latter would show you, there's also a significant devotion to the pegasus race, only rivaled at this point by yellow's love for animals.  There's a bit of love for troublemakers, but there's so little in common between the cards that do so, even tengentially, we can't really pin down any flavor motivation for it at this point.  It is somewhat relevant that blue is also the only card that explicitly features money, even though white often implies it.  Given blue's play style featuring the ability to make things cheaper, it's realistic to expect we'll be seeing some more money-related cards pinned to blue.

Orange was probably the hardest for me to pin down, but there is one thing I find in common with a lot of it: manual labor.  These characters all make up the backbone of civilization, from farmers to construction workers to cargo transportation.  I get the feeling these guys would feel right at home playing Settlers of Catan.  There's also a subtheme of food involved, so you'll get a few bakers spattered in there.  As for all that discarding orange does, it's just because all this work is really hard, loud work!  How's someone supposed to concentrate with all that going on?  The only one that feels out of place in all this is Night Watch, who would seem much more at home with blue's military feel.

Pink just throws itself in your face, and it's not hard to see how.  Given the very lighthearted nature of this show, it's incredibly easy to see entertainment throughout.  Just about everyone has something to do with fun.  Even the seemingly tame Golden Grape is a jokester if you read the flavor text.  The +1 power requirement just indicates that you just can't focus on your job while they're around.  Any class clown will appreciate that.  All that dismissal going on?  Well, all the greatest parties involve a little bit of actual destruction, right?  Of course there's also a fair amount of fortune-seeking, obviously inspired purely by Pinkie Pie.

Button Mash's idol

When you think of white, you think of Rarity, thus gemstones, thus wealth.  There's certainly a bit of that in there, but a bigger theme is art!  Most of the characters here are artists in some way, even all that newspaper stuff.  Look at what I'm writing here.  This is certainly non-fiction, but there's a certain art to writing journalism.  There's a strong sense of trends in here, too.  The cards that demand you play a lot of white are basically the expressions of strong trends having been set.  Those cards which give temporary boosts of power are more representative of passing fads.  As for Inspired... let's just say I'm sure it would be most focused in Diamond Tiara's eventual card.

Yellow is kind of split between animals and those that care for them.  Frankly, I have some trouble with the explanation that all these animals are supposed to represent kindness.  It makes sense for game design, but I honestly won't be satisfied until we get critters in other colors.  However, you can still see a pattern here in terms of medicine.  Screwy gets to think of herself as a critter, but it still makes sense that all these caretakers would look after her well-being.  Now, the only explanation I can see for the critters being "kind" is that they can work together to repay the others for their kindness.  This is reflected in well in the other critter-related resources & events.  Unfortunately, resource removal lacks any real flavor explanation other than simple misfortune.

Purple is quite easy.  All that stuff about moving characters away represents teleportation and is the obvious part.  The subtle theme is with all the deck-stacking.  This would represent someone who is well-read and has a solution for everything that occurs.  This makes a bit more sense to those who play Magic: the Gathering, where the flavor of drawing cards is literally explained as studying your library.  There's also a sub-theme of bureaucracy & government going on, so this is kind of an elitist color.  I can theorize the reasoning behind restriction what friends can be played, but the motivations of the two cards that do this are different enough that I can't draw a solid conclusion yet.  Sadly, the ability to get power based on your opponent's characters remains unexplained, as well.

POSTCRIPT NOTES

I'm not a fan of gundam, but the imagery works.

* One thing I get asked all the time is "what would be some good cards to put in my deck?"  Listen, there are no shortage of deck doctors out there, but sadly, I am not one of them.  For me personally, I think of my deck in any card game as my fighting machine (X-Wing, Gundam, Angelic Layer, take your pick), and I am the pilot.  This machine is custom-made for my own style.  There's a lot of me in there.  I cannot capture that same element for someone else.  In fact, I admit I totally just lucked out in my deck becoming as effective as it is.  I just tried stuff out, and when this bit happened to work, I refined it until I eventually settled on my final formula.  Ultimately, the best advice I can give anyone for deckbuilding is don't be afraid to totally scrap your project.  I've made crap decks before in all my games because I held on to a vision that just wasn't effective.  I'm all for experimentation and refinement.  Eventually though, you do often just hit a wall, and it's time to try something else.

* As one last thing before I go, please forgive me a moment to gush a bit.  I'm truly glad that my tips & advice has been helpful to you guys, even if it's still just a tiny corner of the internet.  Today, I had a bunch of players surround me, hanging on my every word almost religiously.  It felt like I was the center of "Organous Time."  I can only imagine what it would feel like if I actually were to become a big name in this community.  I started this blog because I wanted a place where people could go to improve their game, thereby making stronger opponents so that I could be even stronger, still.  Some of my advice has also been harsh truths as I see them, and in my effort to help, I have apparently offended some people.  It was a minefield I did not anticipate, but I try not to let that get to me.  In fact, to be perfectly honest (oh how I need an Applejack cutie mark necklace for how open I am), I enjoy attention a little too much.  I think it's kind of a self-esteem bit, but I won't go all psychological on you.  Let's just say I'm in constant danger of acting like Trixie.  I truly appreciate all feedback you guys give me, good and bad.  I really do.  I'd just also like it if people can remind me when I'm starting to lose some humility.  Thanks.