Hrm.

Honestly, I don't see much else to do with the Deck cards, visually. I'm still not satisfied with the Mane Character cards.

Now, I'll go ahead and link the other card game now, because it's what I'm going to be talking about today. ponycardgame.deviantart.com/

Now, they haven't updated their dA in a bit, so there's a tumbler: ponycardgame.tumblr.com/

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Overall? It's pretty complex, and requires a basic understanding of symbols (and there are an inordinate amount! There are six on their Mane Character cards, (Five? Seven?) more different on their Deck cards, and Villains get their own design (and their own symbol), ALL of which can be altered).

The rules look to be the same: complex. Actually, it reminds me of early M:tG. You've got cards that can only be played at certain times (denoted with their own symbol, even), different looking cards that modify other cards, and I don't even think we've even seen the pets yet. I've seen separate requirement fields, Named Effects, and even separate areas telling you the target.

Visually... complex again! There is a lot going on artistically on the card. All those symbols? Check. Busy Background? Check. So much color? Double, nay, TRIPLE Check! These cards are going to be hard to emulate, and they look like a lot of work for each and every one. They're using Celestia Redux, in all caps, like every other people with a MLP project, ever. Each Mane Character card looks different on a basic level, and the different adventure types all look different from each other, noticeable at a glance.

But they have fallen into some basic design traps.

1. Readability. Holy apples are these cards hard to read. The deck cards are better in this regard (the Fashion cards are easily the most readable), but the entire game is a small, hard to read mess. Impossible to print, in some cases. These cards will not translate well when, instead of being this "1280" format, it is put on a three-inch-and-change card. There WILL be artifacting, there WILL be aliasing, and there WILL be obvious imperfections... unless what they've released is a far smaller version than their backend. The preview cards are in 28 dpi, where the absolute minimum is 96, and actual cards would be printed at 600.
ex: s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.c…

2. Complexity. They have rules that seem to exist only to be modified by other rules. There is a significant amount of stuff to keep track of at any one time. Now, I see why they did so: Effect Diversity. This will come to bite them in the flank eventually, though, as players will realize that some of these rules just simply won't have importance, and ignore the cards that modify or use the useless rule. And a useless card is a waste of effort on the designer's part. There is just so much going on that I can't see it being effectively balanced, only achieving a psuedo-balance.

3. Apparent Set Size. Going by what they've said, these sets are going to be huge, and the rules revolve around that. This is going to be a problem unless they start going into other, non-show-screencap sources, as there is a limited amount of episodes, and a limited amount of moments in the show (the show was designed to have small, frequent peaks of action, as are most children's shows. Shows for older audiences have larger, but less frequent peaks). Eventually, you guys will run out of moments and you'll be too diverse because of trap #2, making the game only somewhat playable.

4. Busy Visuals. For the uninitiated, these cards will look confusing. And, well, they are. You'd have to look at what is on the field, and right now it would look like a game of Calvinball gone horribly wrong. And really, while extremely colorful, this game would not spectate well in it's current form. Again, it looks like a lot of work for EACH card. Don't expect fan sets.

Actually, come to think of it, there is another, official, CCG that fell prey to all four of these traps: The Inuyasha CCG. And really, that's what their game reminds me of most. Where is it now? Dead, with boxes of packs going for $3. One particular set is $20 per box, but that's because they haven't found the autograph card from it yet.

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How does it compare to mine? This is all IMO, and going with the info I have:
Visually: They're superior. One of my private goals is to surpass them in this while keeping the general asthetic and keeping my backend plug-n-play.
Rules: Mine are superior, in their simplicity.
Really nothing else can be quantified until playtesting starts on both card games.

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Oh, I see they have expressly stated an intent to sell. Four words:
This will not happen.

One more word:
Ever.

Hasbro does own Wizards of the Coast, yes. But Hasbro is under the belief that a card game would not sell to the same kids wanting that bucking train w/Pinkie Pie. And honestly, wizards has been very hit-or-miss with how they've handled their games for a while now. If you do somehow manage to sell it to them, I guarantee you won't have any control over the project.

Mine is a "Playable Portfolio". I don't have any intention of selling the idea, because I know that it is an idea that, really, cannot be sold. If Hasbro wanted a card game for MLP, they'd have one already.

It's nice that they're aiming high (and I'd wish they'd continue to do so... competition makes a product better), but selling the game is just not going to happen.

There's precedent for this, too... seen any ascended fangames around? I can only think of one off the top of my head at the moment, and that's Yomi.

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Now, do i want them to stop making their card game? Heck no.
Do I want them to join mine? Also heck no.
DO I think that their card game can be improved? Heck Yes.