Hi, everypony, and welcome to another episode of Twilight Tries!

In today’s episode, I’m going to try playing the popular new trading card game…Ya-Mi-Oh!

Am I pronouncing that right? I’m not sure if I’m pronouncing that right.

Now I’m sure some of you saw this episode coming, what with how popular this game has become all across Equestria. But I have to be honest, when I first learned about Ya-Mi-Oh! it didn’t cross my mind to do a vlog episode for it. I mean, this game is marketed towards fillies after all. So why would I, a grown mare, possibly be interested in something like that?

Well, as it turns out quite a few grown mares are interested in it.

Yep. As confounding as it may seem, from what I can tell the majority of Ya-Mi-Oh! players and fans are actually mares and not fillies. Sure, there definitely are fillies out there who are into it, but most of the time when I see ponies playing or talking about Ya-Mi-Oh! around town they’re mares.

Or stallions.

So how was it that I decided to try Ya-Mi-Oh! today, you may ask? Well, basically it’s because some of my friends are into it and they more-or-less got me into it as well. Rainbow Dash of course likes it because she likes the competitiveness of it; Pinkie Pie likes it because she likes just about everything; and Fluttershy likes it because, um…I’m not really sure why Fluttershy likes it.

Though I suspect it’s because she finds the pictures on some of the cards to be cute.

Anywhoo, before we really get into this episode I should probably explain the basics of it for those of you out there who are unfamiliar with Ya-Mi-Oh!

Essentially, Ya-Mi-Oh! is a turn-based card game that utilizes three types of cards: monsters, spells, and traps. Each player starts off with 8000 life points, and the goal of the game is to reduce your opponent's life points to zero by attacking them with monster cards and using spell and trap cards as support. It’s a surprisingly strategic game with a lot of dynamics and mechanics to it. In fact, there are so many dynamics and mechanics to it that I could do an entire episode on them alone. But rest assured I won’t be spending the whole episode simply talking about how the game is played.

Obviously.

No, instead we’re going to be playing a few games with another Ya-Mi-Oh! player and I’ll just explain some of the more minute details of the game as we go along. And speaking of another Ya-Mi-Oh! player, our opponent should be arriving any moment now.

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Any moment now.

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Shoot. Did I tell her the wrong time by mistake?

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Ah, there she is.

All right, everypony, say hello to our opponent: Scootaloo!

Welcome, Scootaloo, and thanks for being here today. You wouldn’t believe how difficult it was for me to find a pony who plays Ya-Mi-Oh! to participate in this episode.

For some reason most of them said they didn’t want to be recorded.

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O-Okay, well, loving the energy that you’re bringing to this. But, um, do you think you can maybe dial it back a little?

Not even Pinkie gets that excited.

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Yep, I’ve got my deck all ready to go. So I guess that means it’s time to duel!

I’ll go first, if you don’t mind.

Let’s see now.

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I’ll start off by playing my Dark Sorcerer in attack mode. Then I’ll activate my Pot of Gluttony spell card, which lets me draw two additional cards from my deck.

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Nice. With 2500 attack points my Dark Sorcerer should be strong enough to fend off whatever monster Scootaloo summons next turn, but just in case it isn’t this trap card I just drew should be able to provide sufficient protection.

I’ll then place one card facedown and end my turn.

Okay, Scootaloo, your move. Show me what you’ve got!

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Uh-oh, a spell card that let’s Scootaloo add a monster from her deck to her hoof. This could be trouble.

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Huh? You can special summon the monster you just drew to your side of the field?

Yep. Trouble.

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Huh?! You’re sending the top 5 cards of your deck to the card graveyard?!

T-That’s a thing?

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New chain?! H-Hold on a second, what does that even mean?!

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HUH?! Because you sent your Radiant Scion and Radiant Primogenitor to the graveyard we both have to send the top ten cards of our decks to the graveyard?!

Wha…What is happening right now?

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HUH?! As part of a chain link you’re activating a trap card you sent to the graveyard, which allows you to add another monster from your extra deck to your hoof?!

Okay, time out! Chain links; activating trap cards from the graveyard; extra deck; none of these things were mentioned in the rulebook I got when I bought my first pack of cards. Not to be rude or anything, but are you sure you’re playing this game correctly, Scootaloo?

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My rulebook? Um, yeah, I have it right here.

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I-It’s old?! No. no, no, no. That can’t be. There’s no way this rulebook can be old already. It just came out about a month or so ago.

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You have a rulebook too? May I see it?

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Welp, there’s no denying that this is a newer rulebook than the one I have. At least if the publication date on it is to be believed.

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Hoof traps…pendulum summoning…detaching XYZ material to activate a card’s effect?

Ow. My brain is starting to hurt.

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No, no. We can keep playing, Scootaloo. I may not have any cards that can do things like ‘link summon’, but I still believe in the cards I have. I put my whole heart into this deck, and when you do that there’s nothing you can’t do. So let’s keep going!

It’s still your turn.

I think.

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Okay, am I ever going to get another turn here?

Yeeeeaaah, so it turns out putting your whole heart into your deck alone isn’t enough to win at Ya-Mi-Oh!, everypony. You also need to be up-to-date on the current meta, and have a deck capable of operating within that meta. And of course I did not have such a deck, because apparently this game evolves quicker than a sphenodon punctatus.

Or in laypony’s terms, a tuatara.

Anywhoo, you didn’t miss much after I stopped recording. Scootaloo and I played a couple more games after that first one but they all pretty much went the same way; Scootaloo did a whole bunch of stuff in one turn that resulted in me losing the duel.

So…much…stuff.

With that said, I think we’re going to end this episode here. Since I’m clearly not up to date on how to play modern Ya-Mi-Oh! and I don’t really have the time - or energy - to learn how to do things like ‘link summon’ I’m pretty sure that means I’m done with this game.

So as always, thanks for watching, everypony, and I’ll see you next time on Twilight Tries!

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Huh?

Oh, hi, Trixie. If you’re looking for Starlight she isn’t here. She said she had to go see Rainbow Dash about a blue-eyed dragon.

Or something like that.

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Are these Ya-Mi-Oh! cards mine? Yeah, they are. I just finished playing a few games with Scootaloo but ended up losing each time because I didn’t have an extra deck or know how to do things like pendulum summon.

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You play Ya-Mi-Oh! too? And you don’t know about any of those things either?

Interesting.

Say, since we both seem to be playing the same version of Ya-Mi-Oh!, Trixie, how about we play a few games together?

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Great!

Just have a seat right over here and prepare to get your game on!

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Wait a minute, did you just summon a bunch of monsters in one turn?

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That’s against the rules, isn’t it?

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Um, I don’t think the amount of bits you have allows you to flaunt the rules of the game, Trixie.

Also, since when are you apparently so wealthy.

Author's Note

I can't believe it took me this long to do a Yu-Gi-Oh!/Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged-inspired chapter. I mean, with as much as I watch both of those you'd think I would've done this sooner.

But nope.

If there's something you'd like to see Twilight try, please let me know in the comments!