Allied Strategies Magic the Gathering Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 131 – Cool Dominaria Cards and Llanowar Elves Mar 29, 2018

Show notes

There are so many cool cards in the Dominaria spoiler that it’s a good thing we have a few extra weeks to talk about them! This week we’ve picked out just a few to discuss in the context of Standard (mostly). In addition to the cool cards of Dominaria, somehow Llanowar elves made its way into the set as well, and as excited as Tristan is to play with the card again, all three of us are worried about the impact it will have on the format, and we discuss that in this episode as well.

We also debut a new segment in this episode – “This Week in Magic!” The segment will focus on news from the Magic community in the past week, as astute listeners may have discerned from its name. This week in “This Week in Magic” we talked for a bit about sportsmanship and the handshake issue that arose recently.

Next week’s podcast will air about a day late because we’re recording on a different day than usual!

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

https://alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/allied-strategies-131.mp3

Episode 130 – Krark-Clan Ironworks Mar 22, 2018

Show notes

This week, Ben joins us to talk about the Krark-Clan Ironworks combo deck that he and his friends played to exceptional results last weekend at GP Phoenix. If you’ve never played or heard of the deck before, you’ll love hearing about all the crazy stuff that it can do, and you’ll be ready if you ever do face it in battle. If you are interested in picking up the deck, this is the perfect starting point, as in just one hour, you’ll gain wisdom from hundreds of hours of Ben’s work with the deck.

https://alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/allied-strategies-130.mp3

Here is the decklist that Matt Nass made top 8 with at Phoenix:

1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Hangarback Walker
2 Myr Retriever
4 Scrap Trawler
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Krark-Clan Ironworks
4 Mind Stone
1 Mishra’s Bauble
4 Mox Opal
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Terrarion
4 Darksteel Citadel
3 Aether Hub
2 Buried Ruin
2 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Inventors’ Fair

Sideboard:

1 Collective Brutality
2 Defense Grid
2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
2 Guttural Response
4 Nature’s Claim
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Wurmcoil Engine

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

Episode 129 – Masters 25 Limited Predictions Mar 15, 2018

Show notes

Masters 25 is here and there are a lot of things going on in the limited format. After a very studious half-hour or so, Tristan and Neal have identified a number of potential archetypes, combos, and synergies that are present in the set. Today we share those with you!

We also briefly cover the Dominaria Leak, though we don’t talk about any of the cards in this episode. Expect some content related to that set in the coming weeks!

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

https://alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/allied-strategies-129.mp3

Episode 128 – Modern at the MOCS Mar 08, 2018

Show notes

Playing a Magic tournament with only a dozen or two other players is a very different experience from the large fields of a Grand Prix or even a Pro Tour. Especially with a format like modern, you can make metagame predictions based off your knowledge of other players’ preferences, such as Reid Duke’s Jund, Craig Wescoe’s Thalia, and Corey Burkhart’s Grixis.

This week we took a close look at the recent MOCS event and discussed how to approach tournaments like it, using some knowledge gained from Ben’s experience at last year’s MOCS. We also spent some time talking about Modern in general, and how great Bloodbraid Elf is.

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

https://alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/allied-strategies-128.mp3

Episode 127 – Vintage with Sam Sherman Mar 01, 2018

Show notes

Magic’s most powerful format isn’t as scary as it seems – this week we break down the defining cards and decks of the format with Sam, a frequent vintage player and all-around highly talented magician.

Part of what makes vintage such an exciting format is the modular way that the blue decks are built, so there are a lot of cool deckbuilding decisions you can make by putting together the extremely broken parts of the vintage metagame in different ways.

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

https://alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/allied-strategies-127.mp3

Episode 126 – A Slice of Standard Feb 22, 2018

Show notes

Ben’s been trying to make dinosaur decks work in Standard for the past few weeks, and this week he’s sharing that process and the resulting decks with us! We also talk about a few of the other decks Ben’s been working with, as well as Bant Approach, a deck that Tristan has been having success and fun with.

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

Here is a link to Ben’s R/G dinos list as featured on Channelfireball.

https://alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/allied-strategies-126.mp3

Episode 125 – Sticks and Seers Feb 15, 2018

Show notes

Our Podcast’s very own Ben Weitz drafted in a feature pod at the recent Pro Tour – which means the entire draft was recorded for posterity! This week on the show we dive in to that draft and go over every single pick that Ben made. If you want to follow along, here is the link to the draft viewer: http://gatherer.wizards.com/magic/draftools/draftviewer.asp?draftid=2_2_2018_1&player=2

We also spend some time discussing the massive unbannings of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf in Modern, a change which is exciting if perhaps a bit dangerous.

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

https://alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/allied-strategies-125.mp3

Episode 124 – Decks Ben Almost Played Feb 08, 2018

Show notes

Dedicated Pro Players like Ben spent months testing Modern, but each could only register one deck for the Pro Tour itself. This week we dive into that testing process with a focus on all of the other decks that Ben tried before ending up on boring old affinity for the tournament itself.

Last time there was a Modern PT, Ben was one of the players most responsible for the East-West Bowl build of Eldrazi that won the tournament and dominated the metagame until it was banned, so there’s a lot to learn from the archetypes and specific cards he decided to spend his time on in the runup to this tournament.

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

https://alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/allied-strategies-124.mp3

Episode 123 – Teaming Up Jan 25, 2018

Show notes

Neal and Ben almost won a GP! They made it to the top 4 of last weekend’s GP Indy on a team with Eric Severson, who joins us this week for his second appearance on Allied Strategies to discuss Team events.

This year features a large amount of team tournaments of a variety of formats and though we mostly talk about Team Limited, you’ll also hear some of our wisdom regarding Team Trios Constructed and Team Unified Constructed.

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

https://alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/allied-strategies-123.mp3

Patreon Deck Episode 3 – Merfolk Jan 24, 2018

Show notes

This special edition of Allied Strategies aired one week early for our supporters over at Patreon! We took a look at Merfolk, the tribe which won the Patreon poll, and built a sleek and aggressive deck that looks capable of coming in way under its opponents, then closing out games with a combination of cheap card advantage, countermagic, and evasion.

Note that there will still be a regular edition of Allied Strategies coming out tomorrow!

Check out the decklist we ended up with at https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/allied-strategies-patreon-deck-3-1

Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

https://alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/alliedstrategiespatreondeckepisode3.mp3

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