The Dive Down

Latest Episodes:

Episode 111: Sleeve/Believe/Heave: LOL Tibalt ed. Feb 12, 2021

Show notes

This week's a funny one. We set out to test some of the most recent winning decks featuring Kaldheim cards, in order to grade them on our (patent-pending) S/B/H rating system. Then, in the span of a few days, the Modern landscape shifted under our feet! So we'll still talk about those winning decks, but also about the communities iteration on Cascade Tibalt, what this means for Modern, and, as always, provide some mildly spicy takes.

The Break Down: What
The Dive Down: The
The Dive Down, cont: Falki

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Timestamps:
1:40 - Housekeeping
3:47 - The Break Down begins: Two Modern Challenges
4:38 - Saturday Top 8
12:05 - Sunday Top 8
16:13 - A Very Valki Weekend
27:46 - Is there game against Valki?
33:32 - The Dive Down Begins: Sleeve/Believe/Heave, Tibalt ed.
35:34 - Jund Valki
1:01:35 - Tibalt’s Trickery
1:06:21 - 51 Land Trickery
1:10:46 - 8 Cascade Turbo Trickery
1:26:39 - Goblin Pyre
1:37:45 - Bant Cosima Stoneblade
1:44:10 - What to play?

Links from this week's episode:
Saturday's Challenge: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/tournament/modern-challenge-12258809#paper
Sunday's Challenge: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/tournament/modern-challenge-12258815#paper
Jund Valki: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3741655#paper
All-in Trickery: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3741670#paper
8 Cascade Turbo Trickery: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3738934#paper
Bant Cosima: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3734686#paper
Goblin Pyre: https://www.streamdecker.com/deck/5I9yoEQ5r

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

Watch us stream our episodes every Monday night at 8pm Central: https://www.twitch.tv/thedivedown_shane

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/thedivedown

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Episode 110: Kaldheim: Testing New Tech & Avoiding New Tricks Feb 05, 2021

Show notes

Kaldheim is out, which means there's a bunch of new great, fair decks for us to explore in our favorite formats! Hold on, I'm being handed a note.... oh wait there's some more ways to win on turn 1, as well... So this week we're testing some of the cards and decks that people are talking about, and reporting back with our findings. Before that we check out the latest Modern events to see what's changing there, and looking for Kaldheim cards that are making an impact.

The Break Down: Modern Challenges
The Dive Down: He's Tricky
The Dive Down, cont: More Impact Than Advertised
The Wind Down: Arena Experiences

Timestamps:
2:25 - Housekeeping
5:49 - The Break Down begins: Modern Events!
7:00 - Weekend Challenge top 8
11:53 - Super Qualifier top 8
13:35 - Cool Decks, Inc.
18:05 - The Dive Down begins: The Impact of Kaldheim
19:10 - Tibalt's Trickery
33:30 - Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
41:07 - In Search of Greatness
47:45 - Valki, God of Lies//Tibalt, Cosmic Imposter
1:04:25 - Ascendant Spirit
1:12:08 - Birgi, God of Storytelling//Harnfel, Horn of Bounty
1:23:04 - Spectral Steel
1:25:07 - Rise of the Dread Marn
1:27:33 - Immersturm Predator
1:30:29 - The Pathways
1:35:12 - The Wind Down: Arena Experiences
1:37:22 - Shane's January
1:39:40 - Dave's January
1:42:11 - Stan's January
1:44:10 - Goals for February
1:48:23 - Signing Off

Links from this week's episode:
Sunday Challenge: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/tournament/modern-challenge-12256327#paper
Super Qualifier: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/modern-champ-qual-2021-01-31

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

Watch us stream our episodes every Monday night at 8pm Central: https://www.twitch.tv/thedivedown_shane

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/thedivedown

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Episode 109: Historic Gruul: Smashing & Flashing to Victory Jan 29, 2021

Show notes

This week we Dive Down into Gruul Aggro in Historic. After a strong representation and showing in the recent MPL and Rivals Historic weekend events, Gruul looks to be the tier 1 aggro deck in the format. We guide you through deck construction, piloting the deck, and playing against it! Before that, we walk through a meta breakdown on the past month or so of Modern, and are again forced to discuss a certain escaping Titan.

The Break Down: Deep, Deep Modern Meta
The Dive Down: A Truly Busted 2
The Dive Down, pt. 2: A Truly Busted 6

Timestamps:
5:58 - The Break Down Begins: A Modern Update
7:02 - January 23rd Modern Qualifier
11:14 - the top 32
14:15 - A modern meta analysis
22:45 - How modern feels right now (aka Uro talk)
30:50 - The Dive Down Begins: Gruul is Kuul
35:20 - How Gruul works in Historic
36:20 - The 1 drops
41:15 - The 2 drops
59:30 - The 3 drops
1:08:01 - The 4 drops and beyond
1:17:02 - The manabase
1:20:20 - Sideboarding and sideboard tactics
1:25:01 - Playing as Gruul
1:34:49 - Playing against Gruul
1:42:35 - Who is this deck for?
1:46:53 - Signing off

Links from this week's episode:
Alatheio's Modern Analysis: https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/l31jyc/mtgo_modern_major_events_review_20201221_20210120/
Gruul Aggro: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/gruul-aggro-9590cf15-ec7b-4014-9d20-1114d43b8370#paper

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

Watch us stream our episodes every Monday night at 8pm Central: https://www.twitch.tv/thedivedown_shane

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/thedivedown

Support The Dive Down

Episode 108: Kaldheim Spoilers: Hot Takes on Cool Cards, Vol. 2 ft. AspiringSpike Jan 22, 2021

Show notes

We head back to Kaldheim for more spoiler takes, this time joined by regular guest host Evart Moughon, aka Aspiring Spike! What cards have what it takes to make an impact in Magic's non-rotating formats? We don't really know, but we have some thoughts... We also discuss the recent MPL and Rivals Historic weekend events, and break down the current meta.

The Break Down: It's the MPL, Y'all
The Dive Down: He's Finally Back
The Dive Down, cont: Cards Evart Likes

Timestamps:
3:00 - Housekeeping
5:18 - The Break Down begins: MPL and Rivals Historic weekend!
7:44 - A brief explanation of the MPL
9:55 - The overall metagame and our thoughts on the big 3
20:42 - Some thoughts on the Historic metagame
23:46 - Deck performance data
29:40 - The Dive Down begins: Kaldheim spoilers, Vol. 2
30:20 - Doomskar
39:18 - In Search of Greatness
47:20 - Mystic Reflection
54:38 - Magda, Brazen Outlaw
59:15 - Tibalt's Trickery, revisited
1:02:54 - Snow Duals, revisited
1:05:56 - Old-Growth Troll, revisited
1:07:27 - Valki/Tibalt, revisited
1:09:40 - Immersturm Predator
1:13:40 - Reidane, God of the Worthy
1:17:57 - Cosima, God of the Voyage
1:21:20 - Birgi, God of Storytelling
1:27:15 - Ascendant Spirit
1:29:08 - Vega, the Watcher
1:33:08 - Skemfar Avenger
1:34:19 - Jaspera Sentinal
1:36:25 - Toski, Bearer of Secrets
1:38:29 - Bind the Monster
1:43:46 - Parting thoughts, is this set good?
1:46:54 - Our Most Anticipated Cards

Links from this week's episode:
MTG data: https://twitter.com/mtg_data
h0lydiva: https://twitter.com/h0lydiva
Ball Lightning, phd: https://twitter.com/jpball5
Ball Lightning, phd's MPL spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bkg1UE2HxEU-2vnS-3tQbm9VwqWtsPMGh3kitGZwTL0/edit#gid=1855992740
Kaldheim spoilers: https://scryfall.com/sets/khm?order=name&as=grid

Find Aspring Spike on twitter: https://twitter.com/MoughonEvart
and on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/aspiringspike

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

Watch us stream our episodes every Monday night at 8pm Central: https://www.twitch.tv/thedivedown_shane

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/thedivedown

Support The Dive Down

Bonus 11: Breaking into Pyro Prison ft. FluffyWolf2 Jan 19, 2021

Show notes

In our latest bonus episode, Modern streamer and Pyro Prison stalwart FluffyWolf2 joins us for a conversation about earning a reputation for championing a single deck, the state of Modern, and lessons learned streaming MTGO.

Find Fluffy at:
twitch.tv/fluffywolf2
twitter.com/fluffywolf2
fluffywolf2.com

Become a citizen of The Dive Down Nation!: http://www.patreon.com/thedivedown
Now get 15% off your first 3 months of ManaTraders! https://www.manatraders.com/?medium=t... and use code "thedivedown"
Download our favorite Magic Arena companion tool at http://untapped.thedivedown.com

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/thedivedown

[Support The Dive Down](patreon.com/thedivedown)

Support The Dive Down

Episode 107: Kaldheim Spoilers: Hot Takes on Cool Cards, Vol. 1 Jan 15, 2021

Show notes

The first batch of Kaldheim spoilers have dropped, and we're here to provide our patent-pending hot takes. We answer important questions like: what Izzet card will Stan overrate, what Green 5-drop will Shane think just might work, and what reasonable stance will Dave take on every card we discuss? Prior to that we finish up our mutual journey through Zendikar Rising by finding some Cool Decks for our latest installment of Cool Decks, Inc.

The Break Down: Gazpacho Decks, Inc.
The Dive Down, pt 1: Cards Dave Loves
The Dive Down, pt 2: Cards Shane & Stan Hate

Timestamps:
3:33 - Housekeeping
6:51 - The Break Down Begins: Cool Decks Inc
7:37 - Bant Snowblade
10:01 - Boros Land Destruction
13:39 - 4C Lutri
16:35 - The Dive Down Begins: Kaldheim Spoilers
19:03 - Kaldheim Mechanics
38:44 - Snow Duals
42:53 - Tibatl’s Trickery
48:49 - Alrund, God of the Cosmos
53:35 - Annul
54:21 - Behold the Multiverse
57:40 - Dragon Berserker
1:01:25 - Esika, God of the Tree
1:05:47 - Goldspan Dragon
1:09:00 - Kaya’s Onslaught
1:11:39 - Koll, the Forgemaster
1:15:19 - Niko Aris
1:18:47 - Old-Growth Troll
1:23:33 - Ravenform
1:26:23 - Rise of the Dread Marn
1:29:24 - Saw It Coming
1:33:37 - Spectral Steel
1:35:28 - Valki, God of Lies
1:43:37 - Our Parting Thoughts

Links from this week's episode:
Niambi Stoneblade: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3678247#paper
Boros Land Destruction: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3678255
4C Lutri: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3671439#paper
Kaldheim mechanics: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/kaldheim-mechanics-2021-01-07
Kaldheim spoilers: https://scryfall.com/sets/khm?order=name&as=grid

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

Watch us stream our episodes every Monday night at 8pm Central: https://www.twitch.tv/thedivedown_shane

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/thedivedown

Support The Dive Down

Episode 106: Modern: Stop. Hammertime. Jan 08, 2021

Show notes

This week we asked our patrons to tell us what deck to do our next dive on, and they chose one of the up-and-comers of Modern: Hammer Time. And what do you know, it performed incredibly well at the ManaTraders Modern Tournament and put 4 decks into the latest Challenge top 8. What timing! We first go deep on the ManaTraders tourny, then head into the Dive Down to provide a thorough overview of Hammer Time: how do the pieces work together, how you should think about playing it, and how people will try to hate you out.

The Break Down: Modern Manatraders Meta Madness
The Dive Down: The 0s and 1s
The Dive Down, cont: The 2s and +10/+10s

Timestamps:
2:39 - Housekeeping
6:39 - Break Down Begins
8:03 - Dave’s Tournament Report
12:36 - Manatraders Modern Metagame
40:27 - Dive Down Begins - Hammer Time
41:31 - What is Hammer Time?
48:44 - Steelshaper’s Gift & other cards that get hammers
51:50 - Sigarda’s Aid & other cards that cheat on equipment costs
58:42 - Ornithopter & other cards that wield hammers
1:03:41 - Mishra’s Bauble & other support cards
1:15:03 - Auriok Champion & other sideboard cards
1:19:23 - Playing the deck to various levels of success
1:27:14 - Keep or Mulls
1:32:43 - How to beat Hammer Time
1:37:48 - Why is Hammer so good right now?
1:42:14 - Who is this deck for & other parting thoughts

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

Watch us stream our episodes every Monday night at 8pm Central: https://www.twitch.tv/thedivedown_shane

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/thedivedown

Support The Dive Down

Episode 105: 2020: A Real Year. Jan 01, 2021

Show notes

2020 is a year that did, in fact, happen. And we are here to talk about the year of Magic: The Gathering and our place in it. And maybe make fun of our bad takes. We review Modern, Pioneer, and Historic through 2020, talk about our favorite (and least favorit cards) from the year, review our best (and worst) picks to click, and more! Thanks for your amazing support through 2020. We appreciate you.

Timestamps:
3:05 - Housekeeping
7:00 - 2020 begins with hope
9:00 - The loss of paper and gain of virtual
13:18 - Modern in 2020
30:54 - Pioneer in 2020
38:40 - Historic (and magic arena) in 2020
57:40 - Part 2: A year of The Dive Down
58:00 - Our favorite eps of the year
1:05:40 - Favorite deck and card dives
1:23:40 - Our best and worst picks to click
1:30:11 - Our worst sleeve/believe/heave take
1:33:30 - Our favorite cards of the year
1:37:02 - Our least favorite cards of the year
1:40:55 - Our best MTG experiences of the year
1:42:40 - Guests of the year
1:44:43 - Was 2020 a good year for MTG?

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

Watch us stream our episodes every Monday night at 8pm Central: https://www.twitch.tv/thedivedown_shane

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/thedivedown

Support The Dive Down

Episode 104: Must-Knows For (Today's) Modern Tournaments Dec 24, 2020

Show notes

This week we take a journey into the ManaTraders Modern Tournament Series. We talk about the decks we played with and against, potential mental and strategic approaches to events like these, and some hot hot takes about Modern and Magic. We also spend some time talking about Stan's recent successes, and the first batch of Kaldheim spoilers!

The Break Down: Stan's Satellite Results!
The Dive Down: Our Manatraders Results!
The Wind Down: Kaldheim Spoiler Results!

Timestamps:
3:29 - Housekeeping
6:02 - The Break Down begins: Stan’s SCG Tour Online Report
14:20 - New Insights on Historic Neostorm
25:12 - The Dive Down begins: Introducing the Manatraders Modern Qualifiers
34:30 - Who’s Playing in Manatraders Qualifiers?
39:50 - N=31 Metagame Analysis
46:30 - Trying to qualify with Elves, Bogles, and Ponza
52:38 - Trying to qualify with UR Prowess
1:01:16 - Trying to qualify with Mono-Red and GW Titan
1:15:36 - Let’s Talk About Modern…
1:22:38 - Tournament Takeaways
1:36:15 - The Wind Down begins: Kaldheim Spoilers, part 1

Links from this week's episode:
The December Manatraders tournament: https://www.manatraders.com/tournaments/9
Ongoing Kaldheim Spoilers: https://scryfall.com/sets/khm?order=spoiled&as=grid

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/thedivedown

Support The Dive Down

Episode 103: The Best Decks in Historic Dec 18, 2020

Show notes

This week The Dive Down goes back to Historic. After bursting out briefly in song, the crew breaks down the metagame from last weekend's SCG Satellite Tournaments and reels in shock from one or two insights. Dave manages to make a recap of the Arena Open all about him. Stan is unsurprised. Shane is amused. After that we dive down into three of the best decks in Historic... that we haven't spoken about that much yet.

The Break Down: Satellite Results
The Break Down, pt 2: Customer Servicing into Day 2
The Dive Down: Best Titans, Best Wizards, Best Cats

Timestamps:
1:50 - Housekeeping
6:56 - SCG Historic Satellites
28:56 - Dave Plays the Arena Open
40:35 - The Dive Down Begins
43:07 - Shane Plays Historic Sultai
1:11:01 - Stan Plays Historic Neostorm
1:29:36 - Dave Also Plays Historic Sacrifice
1:49:05 - Closing Out

Links from this week's episode:
Stan's Lovely Star City Breakdown:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Jw2JuAFYQmldURZrqr1IkeLn51tsThogo6DWvqSM4wM/edit#gid=0
Cool Decks Inc, #1 (Izzet): https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3620885#paper
Cool Decks Inc, #2 (Sultai Explore): https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3622893#paper
Dave's Auras Open List (Bo1): https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3624511#paper
Dave's Auras Open List (Bo2): https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3624523#paper
Shane's Sultai: https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/kyleboggemes-11262020-sultai-midrange-in-historic
Stan's Neoform: https://tinyurl.com/y8tyomw4
Dave's Rakdos Sac: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3624554#paper

Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?

email us: thedivedown@gmail.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/thedivedown

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