MTG MLP: Everything You Need to Know

After four long years, one of MTG’s earliest crossovers has finally been completed. In an age before Universes Beyond, or even the Godzilla cards in Ikoria, Hasbro released a few Silver-bordered crossovers that were generally only available at Con events. MTG MLP was one of these crossovers.

While the original MTG My Little Pony crossover was released back in 2019, one of the cards included referenced cards that didn’t exist at the time. Four years later those cards finally appeared in a Secret Lair product. Here’s everything you need to know about the MTG MLP crossover that took four years to complete.

MTG MLP Products/ Release Dates

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The first MTG My Little Pony crossover was released on October 22, 2019. Originally listed for $50, this set of four MTG MLP cards was originally sold exclusively on HasbroPulse.com between October 22nd and November 5th. This product was only available to buyers in the U.S. and Canada, and $30 worth of every purchase was donated to the Extra Life charity. This trend stays the course for the second product that completed the MTG MLP crossover four years later.

Do note that $50 was the going price four years ago. If you want to buy a copy of the Ponies: the Gathering product nowadays, the price is going to be a bit steeper.

Fast forward to 2023, and we have the new Ponies: The Galloping Two Secret Lair, featuring Extra Life as a charity partner once again.

This Secret Lair, which was announced and released on September 18, 2023, features the missing Pony cards that were mentioned by some of the original MTG MLP cards (namely Princess Twilight Sparkle). Like the original Ponies: the Gathering crossover, this Secret Lair also donates part of the purchase to Extra Life. In this case, 50% of whatever you buy from Ponies: the Gathering 2 will go to Extra Life. The nonfoil Secret Lair is priced at $39.99 and the Foil Secret Lair is priced at $49.99.

MTG MLP Cards

Found below, structured by product, are all the individual cards released in the MTG My Little Pony collaboration:

Ponies: The Gathering

Ponies: the Gathering contains three cards – one of which is double-sided. Here is what’s included:

Notably, the above card is a double-sided one that has transform mechanics.

Princess Twilight Sparkle is the MTG Ponies: the Gathering card that signaled that, at some point in the future, another MTG MLP crossover was likely. Princess Twilight Sparkle references multiple MTG MLP cards that did not exist at the time of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s printing. This includes Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. All of these cards were printed in the recent Ponies: the Gathering product released this year.

Ponies: the Gathering 2

Ponies: the Gathering 2 features 4 cards, an upgrade from the previous 3 for $50 deal MTG Pony enthusiasts received years ago.

Applejack features the silver-bordered mechanic of bringing items outside of MTG into the game. If you’re going to Rule Zero this card at your table, be sure to bring some toys along with you to make the most of Applejack’s effects.

Fluttershy’s silver-bordered mechanic cares about the artwork of the MTG card. You could go the extra mile and attach literal tails to your cards, but Fluttershy’s ability likely refers to the card having a tail in the artwork. Stare down is a cute flavor term for something that can easily be translated into MTG rules terms.

Like Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie also cares about artwork details, which is a silver-bordered mechanic. This MTG MLP card rewards you for having a troop of happy creatures revealing their pearly whites, so make sure your deck is ready for picture day.

Outside of this, Pinkie Pie is actually a really cool Commander that has some quirky, yet powerful, mechanics.

If you start seeing MTG MLP cards getting rule zeroed at your table, Rainbow Dash is likely the one you’re going to run into the most. Not only is Rainbow Dash incredibly easy to translate to MTG rules terms (Coolness could have just been a ‘cool counter’ that resets at 5. The card would be perfectly legal) and happens to go infinite with one of the most competitive Commanders in the game: Najeela, the Blade Blossom.

How to Get MTG MLP Cards

If you’re interested in the new MTG MLP Ponies: the Gathering 2 Secret Lair, it’s currently really easy to get! All you have to do is head on over to the official Secret Lair site and purchase a copy.

Getting the older Ponies: the Gathering product is a bit harder. This is not officially sold anymore, so it needs to be found on the secondary market. TCGplayer is our recommended place to check for this product. That said, if you’re in the neighborhood for a product like this, be prepared to pay hundreds of dollars.

MTG MLP Legality

Notably, all of the MTG My Little Pony cards that have been released so far are silver-bordered. This means that these cards are technically not legal for sanctioned play anywhere. Whether you’re playing Vintage or Commander, if it’s in a tournament setting, do not expect to pass your deck checks if you use these cards.

Generally, silver-bordered cards are silver-bordered because they offer mechanics that don’t quite jive with the MTG ruleset. The most common source of silver-bordered cards like these ones are not MTG crossovers, but instead the joke sets or Un-sets, that are released every once in a while. Unfinity is the most recent example of an Un-set.

While every card in an Un-set, outside of some fancy Basic Lands, was considered unplayable for quite some time, there are now some select cards from Un-sets that are legal for sanctioned play. These are marked by the Acorn Stamp. The Ponies: the Gathering cards do not have this.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you can only purchase your MTG MLP cards as collectibles – there is one place you may be able to play these cards, and that’s at a casual Commander table where you Rule Zero them in.

This basically means that your table agrees to allow you to play with the MTG My Little Pony cards. That said, some of the MTG MLP cards will need some clarification before you play. While many of the new cards from Ponies: the Gathering 2 translate pretty seamlessly to MTG play, some of the older ones use some terms like Everypony that may be a bit loose in translation. Otherwise, if you’re planning on Rule Zeroing these cards into play, you may want to bring a few toys along with you since both Rarity and Applejack interact with them.

Either way, regardless of what you want to do with the MTG MLP cards, they’re available to those who want them.