My Little Pony’s return to Magic: The Gathering brings Rainbow Dash, Applejack and more to a charity drop
Proceeds from Ponies: the Galloping 2 will benefit Extra Life charity in MTG’s tenth year of collaboration.
Friendship is, once again, Magic… the Gathering. My Little Pony and Magic: The Gathering have announced another partnership and will release four more unique cards featuring members of Equestria, all sold through a Secret Lair that will benefit the Extra Life charity program.
Ponies: The Galloping 2 contains four uniquely designed cards fitting four well-known characters from the long running franchise that, like Magic: The Gathering, is owned by toy giant Hasbro. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and the iconic Rainbow Dash grace a slice of cardboard, joining the trio already squeezed through Secret Lair’s limited time drop sale model back in 2019.
Each of the ponies have their own unique mechanics that emulate their namesake’s personality in the My Little Pony animated series and feel right at home within one of MTG’s less formal Un-sets. For example, Applejack lets a player summon their real-life My Little Pony toys as token creatures, while Fluttershy can lock down a creature from attacking or blocking as long as her controlling player is looking directly at the card.
Wizards of the Coast plans to donate half of the total proceeds raised via selling the Secret Lair drop to Extra Life, the same organisation the publisher partnered with in 2019. Based in the US, Extra Life specifically operates within gaming and fan spaces and organises charities, events and other programs to raise money in support of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals across the country. Ponies: The Galloping 2 will specifically raise funds for the Seattle Children’s Autism Center.
“The generous philanthropy efforts of Wizards of the Coast have supported some of our most innovative and creative initiatives related to community outreach and training, building our capacity to serve more patients and families, and improving our systems to deliver more equitable patient care,” said Dr. Mendy Minjarez, executive director of Seattle Children’s Autism Center, in a press release. “Most importantly, it’s making a difference in the lives of kids and their families."
Illustrators who provided the pony art include Rudy Siswanto, John Thacker and Anna Steinbauer. Like past Secret Lairs featuring non-MTG properties - an imprint the publisher calls Universes Beyond - these cards are not tournament legal but could be used in the Commander format if your table is okay with you placing a horde of winged figurines on the battlefield. Ostensibly, these designs will eventually be printed on in-universe MTG cards - though no timeline on that conversion has ever been provided to players.
Ponies: The Galloping 2 is available to purchase through November 6th on the MTG Secret Lair website. The bundle is available in foil and normal treatments and contains one copy each of the four new cards. More information about the Seattle Children’s Autism Center can be found here.