The New My Little Pony TCG Is A Treat For Fans

My Little Pony has been an institution for decades. Although Hasbro often touts the popular Friendship is Magic franchise, which kicked off in 2010, it had existed for many years before that. The franchise has been active since the early '80s, even spawning multiple movies and specials starring big actors at the time.

That momentum has carried on to this day, and ever since the release of the aforementioned Friendship is Magic, the IP has blown up even more. There are millions of fans across the world who enjoy the show and countless conventions, creating a new wave of fandom. As a result, tons of cross-media projects have popped up involving ponies, both official and unofficial.

In this case, we're looking at the new My Little Pony TCG from Kayou and Hasbro. It hit the market on May 1 (after its April 2025 release in China), and we got our hands on two starter sets for testing.

How The Kayou My Little Pony TCG Works

For reference, Kayou sent us the Twilight Sparkle (light purple) and Fluttershy (yellow) starters for testing, but there are also starters for Rainbow Dash (blue), Pinkie Pie (pink), Applejack (orange), and Rarity (dark purple) that retail for $19.99.

Each starter comes with the following:

• A 70-card deck (consisting of a main deck, a scene deck, and a story deck)
• Three booster packs containing five cards each
• A double-sided playmat and instruction sheet

As a note, this is a heads-up 1v1 TCG, so you'll need two decks to play. The good news is that with the starters, you can get a game going in moments once the fundamentals are down. With booster packs, you can mix and match cards (across all types) to customize your deck, and in Set 1, there are 191 cards in all. There's a lot of depth in deckbuilding in theory, so new sets could fundamentally change big pillars of gameplay in the future.

Learning to play can be a process because there's a lot going on under the hood of this game. Ultimately, after a few rounds, you'll pick up the flow, and learning it with someone else is a great way to find your footing.

The My Little Pony TCG has elements from several other card games on the market, but mixes them up to the point where it has its own identity. To pay for cards, you'll use resources from your "scene deck," which consists of locations from the My Little Pony series. Like your main deck, these scenes can be mixed and matched to create a custom playstyle.

Before a match begins, players will draw a hand of five cards, then place four "story cards" on their mat and cover them with cards from their deck (similar to prizes from the Pokémon TCG). Each round, players will draw a card from their "main deck" and place a scene card down for a resource. Your job is to move your character's avatar (denoted by a card) across each story card to the end by sending characters on adventures. Story cards provide bonuses along the way, and once you journey to the fourth story card, you win.

To throw a wrench into things, you need to disrupt your opponent's side by removing planning cards first, then move your character story card by story card. To do that, you'll need to win lanes by having characters with higher inspiration inhabit them. Lane challenges are done by the active player, and there are three lanes in total (set across from one another directly).

In other words, if you have a cheap-costing character in a lane and an opponent challenges them with a higher-cost one, yours will be discarded (to the adorably-named "retirement area" discard zone). Character cards, item cards (which can be attached to characters), and event cards can all have effects that can change inspiration levels, keeping players on their toes.

To further mix things up, you can also flip scene cards facedown to give specific characters a one-time boost, and try to win lanes that way. It's reminiscent of the DON system in the One Piece TCG, just like scene cards are kind of like Bandai Namco card game resources or ink in Lorcana​​​​​​.

Despite how it looks on the surface, there are a lot of decisions that go into each round of the My Little Pony TCG, especially when it comes to which lanes to choose and which characters to power up.

The New My Little Pony TCG Is Off To A Good Start

To be frank, I had to take some time to reread all the rules to ensure I was playing it correctly, but after just one game, I felt like I knew everything I needed to know. My daughter also picked things up after a single game and wanted to play more.

What I really noticed during my time with the TCG was the thematic element. While a few mechanical aspects of the My Little Pony TCG feel familiar, the theme shines through, especially in its emphasis on adventuring and the light-hearted nature of the IP itself. Some characters thematically grow stronger when they're adjacent to another character they know from the series, which is a great touch that fans will pick up on.

Having six starter decks for the "mane six" was also a smart move, as no one would really feel left out, even during the first inaugural set. The art is also a selling point on its own, especially when it comes to some of the higher-rarity cards, both in booster packs and in the starter decks.

Getting in on the ground floor of a game can be fun, especially if affordable starter decks are available. Kayou has mentioned that they will launch a "tournament program" in the US this year, which could be a way to meet other fans. It seems like they're putting their full force into the game beyond the first set, which is good news if you're looking for something to play.

There is no shortage of merch for My Little Pony, but this recent card game is a thematic effort that fans will likely appreciate. If you're interested, you can grab two starters and get some games going. Even without engaging with the collectible and random-pack aspects, it can be a fun way to spend an afternoon with the family.