The Mana Pool

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Episode 408 - Wood of Bline and Iron Feb 29, 2016

Show notes

Yes everyone, the MTG RPG material will be available for everyone in the future. We promise! We'll get it to you when it's ready. Now please stop asking!

This episode begins with a wee bit of email feedback, then some news, then we get into the main topic! We're finishing up our Mythic Conscription of Kamigawa block by poking at Saviors. This set is definitely a weird one with its legendary spells, its flippy enchantment guys, and its lame horse spirit things. Buh!

After we're done with that, things take a bit of a turn when Dirk's final thought leads us into a conversation that lasts longer than Dirk himself does. It's a serious topic, so pay attention.

LINKAGEWe made the Daily Update on the WotC website! - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/daily-magic-update/update-2016-02-22Then we made it again the next day! - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/daily-magic-update/update-2016-02-23Conspiracy 2 announced - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/announcing-conspiracy-2

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

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

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-408Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at dorks@themanapool.comFollow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

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Episode 407 - Character Creation (MTG RPG) Feb 21, 2016

Show notes

The time has come! We're bringing back one of our most popular ideas EVER. This is also one of our most requested things to return to, but we were just unable. But now thanks to LOADS of work on Brian's part, it's time to do it again. We're bringing back the Magic RPG! Originally just a one-shot, Brian has crafted a whole new thing that will be a long-running, periodic addition to the show. In this episode, for instance, we're just doing character creation. Do let us know what you think, because we're planning on this popping up from time to time whenever Brian gets more things ready to go!

There's also a few bits of news of course. Eternal Masters, new Shadows Over Innistrad cards and mechanics, an upcoming charity tournament, that sort of thing. You know how it is.

LINKAGEEpisode 172 - Adventures in Zendikar: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-172-adventures-zendikar-live/Hunter Burton Memorial Magic Open: https://www.facebook.com/events/855810764531913/Eternal Masters announced: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/announcing-eternal-masters-2016-02-15Duel Decks: Blessed vs Cursed with new Shadows Over Innistrad cards: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/duel-decks-blessed-vs-cursed-2016-02-15

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

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

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-407Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at dorks@themanapool.comFollow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

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Episode 406 - Old Vs New: Zendikar Edition Feb 14, 2016

Show notes

The dorks are bringing back an old favorite by listener request! We're doing an Old Vs New of the two Zendikar blocks! The categories of comparison are Eldrazi, Planeswalkers, Allies, Lands, Mechanics, Bonus Cards, and Overall Theme. There's a lot of really good discussion about all of these categories and then some. You might be surprised by the time you get to the end. Be sure to let us know who you think should have won each category!

LINKAGEThe question of Eldrazi villainy: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-134-of-villainous-intent/Brian's cryptic hint: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/12/10

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

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

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-406Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at dorks@themanapool.comFollow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

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Episode 405 - It's So Mythicky! Feb 07, 2016

Show notes

Last episode we went into great detail about the Mythic rarity, so it only seems right that we put that discussion to good use this week. We're doing a Mythic Conscription of Betrayers of Kamigawa! You know as the set that had Ninjas and the Fork of Doom (Umezawa's Jitte) and...well that's probably it to be honest. But there's definitely some crazy stuff going on, as you'll hear. And we're totally using the stuff we learned (?) in 404, so that's good.

Of course we can't start until I finish embarrassing Mike. He took his Hedron Alignment deck to FNM last week, and I was there to hang out. That means I was there to see a massive failure on his part, which was so awesome in its badness that I just had to share with everyone!

Mike's Hedron Alignment: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ktk-bfz-ori-hedron-alignment/

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

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

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-405Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at dorks@themanapool.comFollow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

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Episode 404 - What Does It Mean To Be Mythic? Jan 31, 2016

Show notes

This week we're taking it back to a topic that we wanted to do almost two months ago, but we couldn't fit it in. It's all about what does or does not constitute the mythic rarity. Our last Mythic Conscription (Episode 398) caused a lot of consternation among our fan base. A significant number of you out there disagreed with how we assessed some of the mythics in Champions of Kamigawa, with the major schism coming from the mythic-ness of the Myojin and/or the Dragons. There was so much feedback about it that we decided to do this discussion!

We're taking it all the way back to the original definition of mythic as described by Mark Rosewater. There was another article on MTGGoldfish written in December of last year discussing how the mythic rarity has changed in the intervening 8 years. We're going to take a look at those, talk about them until we're all blue in the face, and then relate it all back to that fateful Champions of Kamigawa Mythic Conscription. We hope you guys enjoy, and do give us more feedback to let us know what you think!

LINKAGE:Episode 398 (the one that kicked off this discussion) - http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-398/The first introduction of mythic rarity - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/year-living-changerously-2008-06-02Episode 30 (our first reaction to mythic rarity) - http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-30-and-now-for-something-not-completely-different/A question on Rosewater's tumblr - http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/134445511588/mister-rosewater-do-you-think-wizards-has-failedThe Goldfish article on the changing mythic rarity - http://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/the-changing-definition-of-mythic-rare

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

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

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-404Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at dorks@themanapool.comFollow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

Episode 403 - Gatewatching, Etc. Jan 24, 2016

Show notes

We're back to take another look at Oath of the Gatewatch! Before that we've got some old news to rehash and some new news to cover! There's the B&R list update, some Commander changes, and new things in the IPG. Then we take a while poking around the OGW Card Image Gallery talking about a bunch of stuff we like or don't like, things that were interesting at the Prerelease, you know how we do.

Then our final thoughts take on a life of their own, as we talk about the horrible water supply debacle of Flint, Michigan. Seriously, this is some stuff that shouldn't happen in modern society and yet here we are. There's also Periodic Table Battleship and discussions of the incoming winter weather down here in the South.

Hope you all enjoyed having two episodes this week!

LINKAGE:B&R List update: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/january-18-2016-banned-and-restricted-announcement-2016-01-18Commander Rules update: http://mtgcommander.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18057IPG update: http://blogs.magicjudges.org/telliott/2016/01/18/ogw-policy-changes/Oath of the Gatewatch Card Image Gallery: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/oathofthegatewatchFlint MI story: http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/11/health/toxic-tap-water-flint-michigan/Periodic Table Battleship: http://teachbesideme.com/periodic-table-battleship/#5YFpTb5BLtBf8hX5.03

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

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

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-403Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at dorks@themanapool.comFollow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

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Episode 402 - OGW Prerelease Field Recordings Jan 23, 2016

Show notes

It's bonus episode time! Chewie, Brian, and Mike went to the Two-Headed Giant Oath of the Gatewatch Prerelease at Lucky's Card Shop in Greensboro NC. And of course we couldn't resist taking the digital recorder with us to report in live from the tournament! Don't worry, we know it's short. You'll be getting a normal episode later this week as well!

Chewie & Brian decided to re-form their old 2HG Dream Team because they were seriously awesome at it back in the day. Mike joined up with Chris, one of our local listeners that didn't have another head. We'll check in before the tourney starts, in between rounds, and then wrap it all up at the end. We'll discuss some of the cards that were good to us, some that were less than good, and general 2HG strategy. In this format, perhaps more than any other, you really are playing against your opponents just as much as you are playing against their cards, and that's one of the reasons Chewie & Brian are so good at it.

A big shout-out to listeners Kristen & Anthony who stopped by to say hi! I hope I spelled your name right, let me know if I didn't. And if you're the anonymous sailor that met Chewie's old man on a plane, send us a message and say hi! He's bad at remembering names.

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

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

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-402Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at dorks@themanapool.comFollow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

Episode 401 - Our First Look at Gatewatch Jan 18, 2016

Show notes

I hope you all recovered from the monster that was Episode 400, because it's time to get back to our normal work! Because of the bizarre timing of holidays, previews, and 400...we haven't actually looked at the new set yet. Our bad.

But all that changes now...once we're done talking about how Wizards is trying to fix some of their recent massive screw-ups in community goodwill. But after that we're hitting all the big flashy cards in Oath of the Gatewatch. Then a few others. Then the Expeditions. Then some final thoughts. Got it? Ready...BREAK!

LINKAGEJudge suspension update - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/learning-opportunities-2016-01-13Proxies discussion update - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/proxies-policy-and-communication-2016-01-14Oath of the Gatewatch Card Image Gallery - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/oathofthegatewatchAll the new Expeditions - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/never-wasted-holiday-2015-12-24

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

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

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-401Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at dorks@themanapool.comFollow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

Episode 400 - The Return of Exiled! Jan 10, 2016

Show notes

There's only one way to celebrate this massive milestone - but we couldn't rent an elephant. So instead we're bringing back a fan favorite - Exiled! Remember that? The deckbuilding competition loosely based on Food Network's show Chopped that Brian came up. Its only other appearance was on Episode 337 (the link is below) waaaaay back in September 2014. You should totally give it a listen first if you haven't heard it yet!

On this go-round, your host dorks are playing the role of the judges so that we can grab some guests to be contestants! We're joined by four suckers friends to go through four rounds of restrictive and insane deck construction. Those suckers friends are:

Bill Bloodworth (Squee) of Monday Night Magic & Enchant World - @SqueeGoblnNabobBryan Prillaman, recently (unjustly IMO) suspended L3 judge, of JudgeCast - @BryanPrillamanChris Lansdell, reformed podcast whore and writer for StarCityGames - @lansdelliciousAndrew Hunt, longtime TMP listener, enthusiastic deckbuilder, Kickstarter backer - @IdleCommenter

Everyone get ready, because this episode went for an hour for every hundred episodes! That's FOUR HOURS in case math & reading aren't your strong suit. Be sure to check out the links below for the stuff we talked about in the episode, including the TappedOut page for all the decks our suckers friends built! And thank you all so much for getting us all the way to the big 400! We couldn't have done it without you, and we love you all!

LINKAGE!The Exiled decks on TappedOut - http://tappedout.net/users/ExiledTheShow/deck-folders/Chris Lansdell's RW Soul Sisters Deck Tech - http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/deck_tech_rw_soul_sisters_with.htmlThe beginning of the Alien Bug Thing Saga, read on from here - https://twitter.com/TheManaPool/status/684033918463553536

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

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

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-400Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at dorks@themanapool.comFollow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

Episode 399 - Dueling Circles of Story Dec 13, 2015

Show notes

We may be short one dork this week, but that's not gonna stop us! We're taking one of the (read: the only appropriate) Legendary creature from Battle for Zendikar and doing a Story Circle! And we end up with an awesome deck for our troubles!

But that's not all! After we're done with the Omnath deck with all its token-generating insanity, we decided to do a second Story Circle with a completely different flavor of token generation! Remember Endrek Sahr? Yay mono-black tokens!

Story Circle Decklists - http://themanapool.com/the-deck-box/storycircle399edh

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

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

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-399Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at dorks@themanapool.comFollow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions