The Mana Pool - TopPodcast.com

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

The Mana Pool — Games & Hobbies
The Mana Pool

Chewie, Mike, Brian, and Dirk have been talking about Magic: The Gathering on the internet for almost 10 years (at the time of this writing). Since there are so many shows about strategy and tournaments, these dorks focus on all the fun you can have with the game outside of that, from flavor to philosophy to game design to history to whatever else we can come up with. We’re funny, we’re serious about what we do, and we love it!

Latest Episodes:

Episode 313 - From Kitchen to Tourney Feb 24, 2014

Show notes

On this episode, the dorks cover a few more bits of news. Last week we missed that some of the Conspiracy cards are going to not be legal in Vintage and Legacy, which sparks some discussion about why that could be. Hasbro is loving the Magic, because it's making them lots of money. Not only that, but they're gonna be making some Pop! vinyl figures and actual action figures of your favorite planeswalkers...and Nissa. For links to all of this, just look down a bit.

But the meat of the episode comes from an idea from our old buddy JT. A very old idea. We're going to prepare you to move from the kitchen table to the tournament scene. We're not talking about cards or formats (at least not much), we're primarily talking about mental preparations. Because we're trying to cover everything it might sound a little intimidating, but it's really not. It's really hard to sum up all the different aspects we talked about on this episode, so you're just going to have to listen.

It comes down to this: if you've been thinking about going to any sort of tournament, be it a prerelease, FNM, or a GP...then GO! Give it a shot, it'll be fine. Just listen to us first.

Hasbro announces Magic up 20% - http://icv2.com/articles/news/27842.htmlMagic action figures - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1431List of PTQs - http://wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Events.aspx?x=mtg/event/protour/qualifierlistIntro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband Break Music – It's Fun To Be Young At The YMCA (Fun. vs. The Village People) by DJ Lobsterdust - http://djlobsterdust.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-313 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-313-from-kitchen-to-tourney-t988.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 312 - Vignere Ciphers and Standard Jund Feb 17, 2014

Show notes

Warning: Chewie is sick. So he sounds a little different than usual, and he's muted a lot.

The dorks bring lots of news this week! Since the last episode was a live one, we've got two weeks' worth of stuff to talk about! They revealed an Event Deck, announced a new From the Vault, and teased us with a bizarre coded webpage. Luckily, people much more motivated than us went ahead and decoded it, so we told you all about it. Of course by now the official decoded page is up, but that's to be expected, right?

So once we finished up the news, the discussion on Vigenère ciphers, and a new Penny Arcade comic, we actually had stuff to talk about! Mike attended a Sealed tournament last weekend, so he's gotta tell you how he did there. Brian's working on a Standard Jund deck to take to an SCG Invitational Qualifier, so he's gonna tell us all about that. It sounds pretty sweet though, I must say. Links for all that stuff are below!

Born of the Gods Event Deck: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1424FTV: Annihilation: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1426MTG: Conspiracy: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1429MTG on Penny Arcade: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2014/02/12

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband Break Music – Callin In Sick by Weird Al Yankovic - http://www.weirdal.com/

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-312 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-312-vignere-ciphers-and-standard-jund-t987.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 311 - BotG Prerelease Field Recordings Feb 11, 2014

Show notes

It's the Born of the Gods Prerelease, so you know what that means! We took the recorder with us and recorded a bunch of stuff that happened! Listen as Chewie, Mike, and Brian let you know what happened after (almost) each round!

We're joined by lots of guests, including our old friend Gabe! He's the one that taught Mike how to play a thousand years ago! There are also appearances from listeners and opponents like Sam, Craig, Chris, Pete, and Nate! If anyone got missed, we apologize wholeheartedly.

Also, this one has something special included. For a long time now people have been asking for recordings of an actual Prerelease game. To show you all what a bad idea this is, Chewie recorded his 5th round against Jacob. It's completely unedited, so you guys get the full effect. Let us know how much that's not a good idea to do in the future!

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - not today, Galvatron!This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-311 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-311-botg-prerelease-field-recordings-t985.htmlCheck out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 310 - Bowtie of the Gods Feb 05, 2014

Show notes

In case you couldn't tell from the amazing title, the dorks are joined this week by our favorite Level 2 judge and Monday Night Magic cohost, Cluze! I can say that because Prillaman is a Level 3 now. Dr. Science comes on to help us take a look at the full Born of the Gods set before the prerelease. Yes I know it's after the prerelease now, but give me a break here. There's not much else to say, so everyone give it a listen and enjoy!

Follow Cluze on Twitter: @lacluyzeListen to Cluze on Card Advantage - http://mtgcast.com/topics/mtgcast-podcast-shows/active-podcast-shows/card-advantage

Born of the Gods Card Image Gallery: http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/bornofthegods/cig

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - not today, Galvatron!This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-310 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-310-bowtie-of-the-gods-t984.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 309 - Inane Segues Jan 27, 2014

Show notes

In case you weren't aware, we're still knocking out those Born of the Gods previews. We recorded this the day the FAQ was accidentally put up, but we didn't actually do any of those cards. That would have been a really long show, and that's turrible. As has become tradition during preview season, we reached through the internet and snatched up our old buddy Bill Bloodworth (@SqueeGoblnNabob) to join in the fun. Then we all ate cake!

Okay, we didn't eat cake. But it's still a good, cake-free, low-calorie episode! And blame Chewie for being whelmed.

Born of the Gods Card Image Gallery: http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/bornofthegods/cig

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - Bad Religion by Godsmack - http://www.godsmack.comThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-309 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-309-inane-segues-t979.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 308 - Dual-Colored Gods Jan 20, 2014

Show notes

On this episode, the dorks take on all the news and the first round of Born of the Gods spoilers! There's a serious amount of bizarre news, from coins to a movie to a high-priced Modern Event Deck announcement. News you can use? Probably not, but there's plenty enough news here! All the links are down below, so follow along if you want!

After that, we have a super secret special guest! So secret that we didn't actually know about him until he was on the show! But out of nowhere we invited JT to join us for previews! You know him from our GP Charlotte episode and I'm pretty sure he was on another episode at some point. You've got a search bar on the site, if you wanna hear him again I'm sure you can find him. He's pretty awesome, and so are the new mechanics and some of the new cards from Born of the Gods!

Everyone enjoy, then go follow JT on Twitter, he's @NerdPop140!

MTG Collector Coins: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/news/281

Modern Event Deck: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1404

MTG Movie announcement: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/fox-bring-magic-gathering-big-670529

Nostalgia Critic's editorial "When is something so bad it's good?": http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/41967-when-is-something-so-bad-its-good

Born of the Gods Card Image Gallery: http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/bornofthegods/cig

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II by Kiss - http://www.kissonline.comThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-308 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-308-dual-colored-gods-t977.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 307 - Old vs New Wrap Up Jan 15, 2014

Show notes

We had lots of news to cover since we hadn't recorded in two weeks. We took the holiday weeks off don't you know. There's the new planeswalker, the new card frame, and some other less impressive stuff. We'll give you our take on all of it, no matter how lame and/or insignificant.

After that we're off to our wrap up of the Old vs. New series. Since we covered all the guilds, we decided to take a look at the other aspects of the two blocks. Mana rocks, lands, overall block structure, that sort of thing. It's actually a pretty good discussion, we hope you guys enjoy. That's about it for the wrap up, we're just shooting for a nice short episode to ease back into the podcasting gig.

You know, to be a short episode, the file sure is pretty big. Huh.

Proceed to Bane Alley, await further instructions.

Kiora, the Crashing Wave - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/279Magic 2015 - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1401New card frame - http://wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/281Animated Gif of the new card frame - http://m.imgur.com/a/LsXsODeck pack for M14 - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1402

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - nope, just a short one this weekThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-307 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-307-old-vs-new-wrap-up-t976.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 306 - The Mafia Church Dec 24, 2013

Show notes

Hey everyone! During the holidays, what better way to celebrate the season than by doing the last of the Old vs. New discussions! And how appropriate that we did the "organized religion" guild for the holidays? Actually, that's probably not terribly appropriate. But either way, it's time for the Orzhov! Sure the guild leader and the lieutenant are the same character for both discussions, but that's part of the fun! Right? Yeah, we'll call it fun. Yeah black and white fun times! What's black and white and...something...all over? Yeah, I couldn't come up with anything when we recorded the episode either. Anyway, enjoy it!

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - nope, all business this weekThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-306 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-306-the-mafia-church-t972.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 305 - A Seriously Gruuling Show Dec 19, 2013

Show notes

It's been a long time since the four of us actually recorded an episode, so we've got a lot of ground to cover on this one. First off, we have to apologize for the sound quality of the last episode. And we know we screwed up how Vorel of the Hull Clade works. Our bad. We're allowed one major screw up every couple years, right? Then Mike tells us about some drafting he's been doing. After that there's a mess of news type stuff (the links are down there a little further of course). Then we sorta screw around a bit, sharing some random non-Magic nonsense until the musical break.

After that, it's time for the good stuff. As if you didn't know from the ridiculous title, this episode continues the Old vs. New: Ravnica Guilds with the Gruul Clans! The discussions here were really good, and this might be our all-around closest Guild OVN yet. Holy crap.

No really, this was a great one. Hope you guys enjoy!

Links!

Battle the Horde: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1372

This year's Holiday Card: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1380

MTG Merch: http://www.mtgmerch.com/

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - Hope Rides Again by The Protomen - http://www.protomen.comThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-305 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-305-a-seriously-gruuling-show-t971.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 304 - From the Arcane Lavatory (Live) Dec 11, 2013

Show notes

Since we didn't want to skip another week, we looked around and dug up an old episode we had in the can. Originally recorded back in August (probably), this live episode is...a little weird. For some reason, Audacity decided to ignore the usual desktop mic and listen to the crappy built-in mic on the laptop. So because of that...it sorta sounds like we recorded it in a bathroom. Sorry about that. I'm pretty sure it's still perfectly serviceable, it's just not the usual glorious sound quality that you're used to.

As far as what's actually going on in this one, it's a live episode. That means we're all sitting around playing some Magic! We begin with a Commander Planechase game, and those are usually a blast. Since it's been SO long since we recorded this, I couldn't tell you one way or the other. After a quick musical break, we play a really quick and really filthy 60-card Archenemy game. I mean it, it was awful. Even Mike, who was the villain, felt bad about it afterwards. So to make up for it we did another one. This time Chewie was the bad guy, and it went a lot longer than the first one. Not in a bad way, it was just a lot more fair.

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - Golbez, Clad in Darkness from Final Fantasy IV by Nobuo Uematsu - http://www.nobuouematsu.comThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-304 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-304-from-the-arcane-lavatory-live-t968.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at dorks@themanapool.com Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Related Podcasts