The Mana Pool

Latest Episodes:

Episode 278 - Field Reports from the Dragon's Maze May 07, 2013

Show notes

It's prerelease time as Chewie, Mike, and Brian head over to Top Deck Games in Kernersville NC to take on the ten guilds of Ravnica! Brian's law-school buddy John was there too (as he tends to be when there's a prerelease), as was our old pal Robert Waycaster. We've got the handy-dandy ditital recorder and we're recording what happens just after it happens so you can get the full story without the passage of time to blur anything. Follow the dorks (the ones that survive, anyway) as they run through each round. Sometimes you'll hear from opponents, bystanders, store owners, crazy people, and assorted dorks too, which only makes things that much more fun! There's really not much else to tell here, so we hope you enjoy!

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - You're the Best by Joe Esposito - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Esposito_%28singer%29

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-278 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-278-field-reports-from-the-dragon-s-maze-t919.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 277 - So...Dragon's Maze? Apr 29, 2013

Show notes

Bill Bloodworth (@SqueeGoblnNabob) joins us again this week, this time in lieu of our usual green man, Dirk. The new baby caught up with him and he wasn't able to join us. The first part of the show is a look at the entire set of...oh wait, no. It's the Banned & Restricted list update, followed by a look at the the full Dragon's... Nope, not yet, then it's the Commander Banned list update. Sigh. After that, we move right into the Maze...oh. The maze of grief that the passing of Quinton Hoover left us in. That's really a shame, because his art really helped shape the early look of the game.

But then, after all that and probably some other stuff, we move right into the Dragon's Maze. The full set is now available, so we're gonna run through the high points. It turns out the high points are damn near every card we didn't mention yet...sorry about that. This episode runs a little longer than we meant it to.B&R list update: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/244b2Commander Banned list update: http://www.mtgcommander.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15735Quinton Hoover's Magic art: http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?output=spoiler&method=visual&action=advanced&artist=+[%22quinton+hoover%22]Dragon's Maze Card Image Gallery: http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/dragonsmaze/cig#

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - Techno Syndrome (Mortal Kombat) by The Immortals

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-277 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-277-so-dragon-s-maze-t916.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 276 - No Maze Puns Here! Apr 23, 2013

Show notes

We've got a full cast plus one this week, as Bill Bloodworth (@SqueeGoblnNabob) joins us to talk spoilers. You know, because we always bring Bill on to talk spoilers. I bet we bring him back next week too. But...it's just Dragon's Maze pretty much the whole time. So there's really nothing else to say here. We didn't even do final thoughts because we went so long! And that's pretty much it. I mean, there were a lot of spoilers. Like a whole lot. But yeah, we're done here. Stop reading. No really, go away.Seriously, bugger off. Your girlfriend's calling you. Hahaha, just kidding, of course you don't have a girlfriend. Your mom's calling you. And your mom's on Facebook. HA!Yeah, that was mean. Sorry about that, I'm sure you have a girlfriend. Or maybe you don't. It doesn't matter either way. Half of the hosts on this show are single. No shame!Dragon's Maze Card Image Gallery - http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/dragonsmaze/cigIntro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - Save World Get Girl by I Fight Dragons - http://ifightdragons.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-276 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-276-no-maze-puns-here-t915.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 275 - A Small Handful of Dragon's Maze Apr 16, 2013

Show notes

Hey look, Dirk's back! He successfully populated, so now he has two little token dudes at home!We start this episode off with what Brian assures us is quite possibly the most offensive Magic Mad Lib ever. Sounds awesome! We go from there to a brief discussion of a recent Standard tournament where a Turbo Fog deck got played! Also, I point out how Sexy Jake Humphries made the top 8 of a Star City Open. Aw yeah.From there on, it's the handful of Dragon's Maze previews that had been revealed at this point. So I guess you could say we go pretty in-depth on them. I guess. Also, there's a small life lesson at the end that everyone should take to heart. Just sayin'.Dragon's Maze Card Image Gallery - http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/dragonsmaze/cig

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - Requiem for a Tower by Clint Mansell - http://www.clintmansell.com/

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-275 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-275-a-small-handful-of-dragon-s-maze-t914.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 274 - News with Stybs! (and His Lawyers) Apr 09, 2013

Show notes

We are joined this week by none other than Adam Styborski! He's @the_stybs on Twitter. For those of you that don't know...what rock have you been living under? He's the (former) writer for Serious Fun on DailyMTG, the current writer of the brand new Commander column Command Tower on DailyMTG, he's on the text coverage team for Wizards, and he's all about some Pauper Cube. Oh yeah, he's the Content Manager for GatheringMagic too. But he joins us this week to tell us all about Command Tower, how it came about, what you can expect, and assorted other things. Really, Stybs just talks on and on about whatever we throw in his direction for a good long time, and it was really awesome. You can REALLY feel how much he loves Commander as a format. He even brought a tear to my eye at one point. That could have been my roommate's cooking though...After we had drained Stybs dry of his soul...I mean information...we still had PLENTY of news to talk about. Rather than list it all here and then list it all again down there...we're just gonna put it down there. Go look at all the nifty stuff we hit on!News!Duels 2014 - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1195Leaked Cheevos - http://devinwatson.com/SteamSchema/213850.htmlDuel Decks: Heroes vs. Monsters - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1202Theros - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1196Ruric Thar & Maze's End - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1197The episode of Card Advantage w/ Mike - http://www.mtgcast.com/mtgcast-podcast-shows/active-podcast-shows/card-advantage/card-advantage-23-whos-got-the-fever

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - Requiem for a Tower by Clint Mansell - http://www.clintmansell.com/

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-274 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-274-news-with-stybs-and-his-lawyers-t911.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 273 - Great Big Guest Star Episode! Apr 01, 2013

Show notes

We are eschewing the usual April Fool's nonsense this year here on The Mana Pool. Yes I know you guys look forward to it every year (except perhaps Shred Memory) but it really gets harder and harder to come up with new original ideas. So this time, instead of doing something weird (er than usual) we decided to just have a hell of a good episode! It's guest stars galore on this one! At various points throughout the episode we had Cluze from Card Advantage (@lacluyze), Bryan Prillaman (@BryanPrillaman) from JudgeCast (and Avant-Card Show of course) and we even managed to dig up our old buddy Eric of Many Names (@EricMTGCast)! We even had Adam Styborski (@the_stybs) on, by virtue of a few off-the-cuff bumpers he recorded for us at GP Charlotte! We discuss everything from Prillaman's torried relationship with Claire (nonexistant) to what's REALLY under Mike's beard! Due to the completely bizarre nature of this show, there's not really a main topic exactly, just a bunch of dorks having fun talking about whatever there is to talk about! We hope you guys enjoy!

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

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-273 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-273-great-big-guest-star-episode-t910.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 272 - Story Circles for Everyone! (On the Show) Mar 27, 2013

Show notes

Remember the planeswalkers that the dorks made for each other a couple episodes ago? Yeah? Well this episode we're doing Story Circles to craft a deck around each of those dorky planeswalkers! Pretty awesome huh?

Of course, that's not all we're up to. Oh no. Brian rambles on about Modern just a bit before we get going (weird I know). We talk for a couple more minutes about the newest You Make the Card vote (at the time it was a runoff between land and enchantment).

At the end, we have another amazing rush of gratitude for a listener who, for reasons that continue to baffle us, sent us some stuff. And I'm talking good stuff too. Like damn. If you don't believe it, head over to this episode's post on TheManaPool.com to see the Nether Shadow alter he sent to Chewie. It's totally badassed. Thanks for everything Lou!

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband Break Music - Make Yourself by Incubus - http://incubushq.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-272 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-272-story-circles-for-everyone-on-the-show-t906.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 271 - The Half Episode Mar 19, 2013

Show notes

This week is a bit of a strange one. We're short one Lead Rambler, so there's (supposedly) a lot less talking going on. We're also running out of server space on our hosting site, because Chewie's a big idiot. Don't worry, all is well now - until he screws it up again. The way we fixed it, oddly enough, was to record this episode. With space running low, we realized that the best way to fix it would be to record a really short one at a slightly lower quality and then remember to make all episodes from here out slightly lower quality so they don't take up all the server space. Duh.So with those two things, this episode is just some news and nonsense. We talk about the Introduction to Grand Prix video that the Walk the Planes guys did. Well, Chewie talked about it. You should totally go watch it, it's awesome. Then we hit the Sorin vs. Tibalt decklists and You Make the Card 4, along with a quick jaunt down memory lane for the last three YMTC cards.And of course there's discussion of addictions (Chewie's playing Skyrim now), pregnancies (Dirk's wife is SOOOO pregnant), and assorted other nonsense. Of course, what strange episode would be complete without a look a little too deeply into Chewie's personal life? By the way, the Old Man is awesome. Like damn.Intro to GPs vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiakR7NgtF0Sorin vs. Tibalt: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/237bYou Make the Card 4: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/238Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-271 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-271-the-half-episode-t904.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 270 - Do You (or Have You) Kid? Mar 13, 2013

Show notes

Wow, is this really the first episode we've recorded since GP Charlotte? In that case, we'll spend a few minutes looking back at the GP. We also discuss the whole Cockatrice thing for a couple minutes. Brian points out that what you should be doing is don't be moving. There's fake new babies, a list of accomplishments (Mike is a failure, sadly) and the admission that we're all tired. Like really tired.But then we get into Dirk's episode topic! Each dork get a planeswalker created for them by the other three dorks! We take personality, play style, and whatever else we can think of into account when doing this. Then we look at the 'walker from a flavor perspective, trying to figure out who their planeswalker allies and enemies would be, and figure out what planes they might want to frequent. It's a lot of fun and actually, we ended up with some pretty good ones. In fact, if you'd like to see them, you should head on over to this episode's post on TheManaPool.com. The link is right down there.

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - Stronger Enough (Kelly Clarkson vs. Michael Jackson) by DJ Lobsterdust - http://djlobsterdust.comThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-270 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-270-do-you-or-have-you-kid-t903.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 269 - On the Ground at GP Charlotte Mar 08, 2013

Show notes

So here it is, the long-awaited Grand Prix Charlotte episode! Chewie is there with the digital recorder, capturing everything just after it happens! Mike, Brian, Bill (@SqueeGoblnNabob) and JT (@NerdPop140) are basically always nearby, and Jonathan Harvell, Kevin Baldwin (@TaureanMauler) & his lovely wife Angie, and Lyall Alfred (@NewSpectrum) make guest appearances whenever they're nearby. We talk about our records, the decks we're playing, the people we've met, the Goldrush, funny stuff, stupid stuff, how hungry we are, how tired we are, and how AWESOME the whole thing is!There are also a few special cameos, most notably Mike Flores (@fivewithflores), Adam Styborski (@the_Stybs), and...you know what? It's really late and I can't remember who was on this show and who was just on the MTGCast part. So you'll just have to listen to find out all this stuff. HA!

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music 1 - Dare by Stan Bush - http://stanbush.com/Break Music 2 - The Touch by Stan Bush

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-269 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-269-on-the-ground-at-gp-charlotte-t902.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

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected