The Mana Pool

Latest Episodes:

Episode 514 - The Return of the Core Jun 24, 2018

Show notes

After not recording for a staggering 2 weeks in a row, the dorks are back! We've got a very cheeky Sam Quiz to kick off the whole thing, because what's a better way to get back into the groove?

After that, we're all-in on Core Set 2019 previews! After 3 years without a Core Set, Magic has decided that it's a necessity. So they've changed the way they build these sets, with beginner-friendly cards at common & uncommon and laser-focused answers and super-neat cards at rare & mythic!

Captain Sniffles rides again! And the Beardy Man has completely forgotten how Magic cards work! Will our heroes get through the episode without incident? You'll just have to listen to find out!

Core Set 2019 Card Image Gallery: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/core-set-2019-2018-06-22 Core Set 2019 Promos: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-preview/core-set-2019-packaging-promos-and-more-2018-06-11 Core Set 2019 Planeswalker Deck lists & cards: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-preview/core-set-2019-planeswalker-deck-lists-2018-06-15

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Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode's post: themanapool.com/podcast/episode-514 Check out our archive at themanapool.com/category/podcast Subscribe to us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPool Follow us on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/themanapool Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/themanapool Subscribe to our subreddit: r/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com TMP Steam Group: steamcommunity.com/groups/themanapool Subscribe to our RSS feed: feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

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Episode 513 - Time Travel Is Weird Jun 10, 2018

Show notes

This episode was recorded a few weeks ago, but it's going up now since we're not recording this week! But here's the hitch - it's not a live episode! Man, the title is right - time travel is weird.

On this episode we're going all the way back to the beginning. Not the VERY beginning, just after that. We're doing a pair of Mythic Conscriptions for Magic's first two expansions - Arabian Nights and Antiquities. Since the old expansions are small, we could easily knock two of them out. Well, maybe not easily. These sets represent the earliest days of MTG's expansion design...and it shows. Be sure to let us know what you think!

The new TMP subreddit: r/themanapool

Support us on Patreon! – https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode's post: themanapool.com/podcast/episode-513 Check out our archive at themanapool.com/category/podcast Subscribe to us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPool Follow us on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/themanapool Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/themanapool Subscribe to our subreddit: r/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com TMP Steam Group: steamcommunity.com/groups/themanapool Subscribe to our RSS feed: feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

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Episode 512 - Battlebond and BoneSawBall Jun 03, 2018

Show notes

What's that? A Sam Quiz for a card none of us expected? And a listener-submitted Mad Lib? AND even more discussion of the crazy stuff going on in Battlebond? All in the same episode? That's awesome! Where do I sign up?

And get that look of Frog Tongue off your face!

Battlebond Card Image Gallery: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/battlebond-2018-05-25 The new TMP subreddit: r/themanapool

Support us on Patreon! – https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode's post: themanapool.com/podcast/episode-512 Check out our archive at themanapool.com/category/podcast Subscribe to us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPool Follow us on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/themanapool Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/themanapool Subscribe to our subreddit: r/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com TMP Steam Group: steamcommunity.com/groups/themanapool Subscribe to our RSS feed: feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

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Episode 511 - Partner with Discord, the Abruptly Nonfunctional May 27, 2018

Show notes

The dorks are here to discuss Announcement Day and our reactions to all the news that came out of it. Warning: some of these reactions might surprise you. They sure surprised me!

After that it's time to jump onto Battlebond previews! There's a lot of really neat stuff going on here. The mechanics are neat, the new cards are awesome, and the reprints are absolutely bonkers. Plus we get to explore a new relationship between an angel and a demon and make fun of Vince Russo. Everyone wins!

As you might be able to tell from the title, we had some technical difficulties this week as Discord gave us our first ever hiccup! At least, as far as I can remember it's the first problem we've had with it. Still better than Skype!

Rest in peace John Bain, you will be missed.

Announcement Day video (sigh): https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/2018-spring-announcement-day-2018-05-18 Global Series planeswalkers: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/global-series-meet-jiang-yanggu-and-mu-yanling-2018-05-18 Battlebond Mechanics: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/battlebond-mechanics-2018-05-21 Battlebond Card Image Gallery: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/battlebond-2018-05-25

Support us on Patreon! – https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode's post: themanapool.com/podcast/episode-511 Check out our archive at themanapool.com/category/podcast Subscribe to us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPool Follow us on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/themanapool Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com TMP Steam Group: steamcommunity.com/groups/themanapool Subscribe to our RSS feed: feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

Episode 510 - Brawling with Buddies Live! May 20, 2018

Show notes

The dorks gathered at Dirk's house to try out Brawl! Despite half of us not knowing how turn order actually works, we actually managed to play with the four Brawl decks Brian built for us! Our Brawl Commanders are Aryel, Muldrotha, Firesong & Sunspeaker, and Radha!

Have you given Brawl a shot yet? Let us know what you think about it!

Support us on Patreon! – https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode's post: themanapool.com/podcast/episode-510 Check out our archive at themanapool.com/category/podcast Subscribe to us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPool Follow us on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/themanapool Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com TMP Steam Group: steamcommunity.com/groups/themanapool Subscribe to our RSS feed: feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

Episode 509 - Professor Beard Teaches Graveyards May 13, 2018

Show notes

Graveyards in Magic are an interesting thing. In so many other games it's just a discard pile, but MTG uses the graveyard for a variety of functions. Mike (Professor Beard) is going to walk us through the history of the graveyard from its origins in Alpha, set by set, until the current day. He'll point out mechanics (both keyworded and not) and new design space and ways to interact with the graveyard that come up as we move forward in time. Big thanks to Drew for the suggestion and to Mike for putting serious time into the research for this episode!

Oh yeah, we're covering the Brawl changes that were announced the day of recording. And Brian learned about something new and wants to share in his final thought. Here's a relevant friendly reminder to everyone: no one owes you any kind of physical gratification.

The Future of Brawl: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/future-brawl-2018-05-10

Support us on Patreon! – https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode's post: themanapool.com/podcast/episode-509 Check out our archive at themanapool.com/category/podcast Subscribe to us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPool Follow us on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/themanapool Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com TMP Steam Group: steamcommunity.com/groups/themanapool Subscribe to our RSS feed: feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

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Episode 508 - Dominarian Story Circles May 06, 2018

Show notes

The dorks are back from our long recording hiatus! To celebrate the release of Dominaria, we're diving into not one but TWO Story Circles! There are a lot of legends, so we've narrowed it down to a small handful and randomly selected two for deckbuilding purposes! Also I finally remembered to put the Sam Quiz recorded weeks ago into the episode. Yay!

Support us on Patreon! – https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode's post: themanapool.com/podcast/episode-508 Check out our archive at themanapool.com/category/podcast Subscribe to us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPool Follow us on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/themanapool Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com TMP Steam Group: steamcommunity.com/groups/themanapool Subscribe to our RSS feed: feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

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Episode 507 - Dominaria Prerelease Field Recordings Apr 29, 2018

Show notes

Magic is finally going home! The Dominaria prerelease is here, which means Chewie breaks out his trusty digital recorder! This year he did something a little different though. On Saturday he headed out to House of Cards in Winston-Salem, NC to hang out with Mike (not that one), Carter, and Andy to talk about Dominaria. There are discussions about broken cards they'll never print, Brawl, Prison decks, and the set in general.

Then on Sunday Chewie joins Mike (now it's that one) and Brian at Lucky's in Greensboro, NC to actually play in the prerelease. You'll get the usual round-by-round commentary as well as hearing how Brian did at the midnight on Friday. All in all, we all really enjoyed going back home to Dominaria. How was your prerelease experience?

Support us on Patreon! – https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode's post: themanapool.com/podcast/episode-507 Check out our archive at themanapool.com/category/podcast Subscribe to us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPool Follow us on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/themanapool Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com TMP Steam Group: steamcommunity.com/groups/themanapool Subscribe to our RSS feed: feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

ManaPool Science Theater 500 by Jungle Rat Rob Apr 25, 2018

Show notes

To celebrate The Mana Pool's 500th episode our old buddy Jungle Rat Rob of The Retro League podcast put together another of his famous audio montages with the help of his girlfriend Cassandra! He's done this a few times before (links down below), but it has been a LONG time! There are bits from the other hundred episode milestones along with the usual assortment of nonsense from random places and even a few special guest moments sprinkled in!

A HUGE thanks to Rob & Cassandra for this! They've once again managed to capture the fun, entertaining, and goofy side of the show without worrying about the actual content. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

No One Expects The Mana Pool - http://themanapool.com/podcast/jungle-rat-rob-no-one-expects-the-mana-pool/ Mana Pool 2: Electric Boogaloo - http://themanapool.com/podcast/jungle-rat-rob-mana-pool-2-electric-boogaloo/ 150 Fast Effects Resolving - http://themanapool.com/podcast/jungle-rat-rob-150-fast-effects-resolving/

Songs used in this montage: - The Planet Krypton By John Williams - The Avengers Theme Song by Alan Silvestri - Can Can Music by Offenbach - Woke Up by Hammerbox

Episode 506 - Explorers of Ixalan Live! Apr 22, 2018

Show notes

A few weeks ago we recorded a live episode at Dirk's house! We were playing the Explorers of Ixalan multiplayer experience using the preconstructed decks that come with it. Dinosaurs, Pirates, Merfolk, and Vampires slam headfirst into each other to determine who will win the golden city of Orazca!

Seriously though, this was a lot of fun. The rules are set up to keep things from getting out of control, the decks feel pretty balanced, and the actual game setup isn't painful at all. It's a solid experience and we highly recommend it!

Check out Explorers of Ixalan here - https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/explorers-ixalan

Support us on Patreon! – https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode's post: themanapool.com/podcast/episode-506 Check out our archive at themanapool.com/category/podcast Subscribe to us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPool Follow us on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/themanapool Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com TMP Steam Group: steamcommunity.com/groups/themanapool Subscribe to our RSS feed: feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

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