The Mana Pool

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Episode 250 - The State of the Game Oct 08, 2012

Show notes

Here we are at another milestone episode for The Mana Pool! It's been almost five years since we started this little show (that's another milestone for next month), and it's been a blast! Lots of things have changed over the years, most notably our lineup. Originally, the show was going to be Chewie and whoever he could track down to record with him any given week. As we went on, the lineup settled into the four dorks that you all know and love, but we did have one other regular host back in the day. He was responsible for MANY of the early topics for the show when we had no idea what to talk about. He was our resident noob and minority. Of course I'm talking about none other than Squanto!

Well I tracked him down (gave him a call) and convinced him (asked once) to come back for the big two-five-oh. Since he's still a Magic player (thanks to Duels of the Planeswalkers on the iPad), he agreed! He's taking an outsider's viewpoint on the game, picking our brains on the current state of the game and where it's heading. We touch on tournaments, Magic Online, Duels of the Planeswalkers, the secondary market, media coverage, and really anything else we could think to include! It was a really great discussion and we're all really happy to present it to you as our 250th episode!

But that's not all! We also took a look at the Banned & Restricted List update that we missed a couple weeks ago (weird, I know). We give you the rundown on the Return to Ravnica Event Decks, which were just released last week. We go back to Magic nonsense to trash on the various Magic novels and thank goodness that they decided to just not release one rather than releasing straight crap.

B&R List Update: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/09202012a RTR Event Decks: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1071

Of course, we go off topic a few times, Chewie is tormented by a couple flies in his room, Brian's sister is hot, Mike's beard is epic, and Dirk is replaced with Robot Dirk. Basically everything's about where it should be. Thanks for listening, and here's to another 250! Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com Break Music – Swell Guy by SwiftThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-250 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-250-the-state-of-the-game-t847.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 http://twitter.com/themanapool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 249 - Return of the Ravnica or The Guildpact Strikes Back Sep 30, 2012

Show notes

The full set has been revealed, so we have to spend a nice long time talking about it! You've come to expect this though, right? All the shows out there are doing it, man. Of course, we've been doing it longer, but that's beside the point, right?But we're not going to start out with the awesome new stuff, no no. We have to go back to the Commander banned list update, because we missed something the first time around. Here's a link so you can follow along: http://www.mtgcommander.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12253The Intro Packs for Return to Ravnica have been revealed, so you should probably check those out too. They seem pretty good with just a cursory glance:http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1067Also, our resident Rules Guy gets blue-balled by a less-than-interesting Rules Update:http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/214bAnd of course, the full set for RTR is here: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/returntoravnica/cig

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com Break Music – A Kind of Magic by Queen - http://www.queenonline.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-249 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-249-return-of-the-ravnica-or-the-guildpact-strikes-t845.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 http://twitter.com/themanapool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 248 - The Rules Guy Gets Busted! Sep 25, 2012

Show notes

Yup, it's more Return to Ravnica previews! You know it, you love it. Or maybe you just tolerate it. I know we do! Here's the link:http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/returntoravnica/cig#We also talked about these expensive guild shirts:http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/213And this No Shyfts comic:http://www.5colorcontrol.com/noshyfts/?p=467And we talked at length about the Escapist Expo tournament, which is pretty cool. Chewie and Bill finished in the top 16, and Mike had a serious, SERIOUS problem. No, I mean it. I'm not even playing, this was really bad. But you'll have to wait until the end of the episode to hear all about that! HA! That's called a teaser.http://www.escapistexpo.com

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com Break Music – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by The Police - http://www.thepolice.com/

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-248 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-248-the-rules-guy-gets-busted-t843.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 http://twitter.com/themanapool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 247 - Stack of Pancakes! Sep 14, 2012

Show notes

Look, it's really late. You're getting this episode really early because I'm going to be at the Escapist Expo all weekend. Mike and I were up way too late getting our respective decks for the big Saturday tournament up and running, then I had to go ask the hot nurse upstairs if she had a needle to help me get this MASSIVE splinter out of my hand. Seriously, you guys should have seen it, it was crazy. So now it's 3am and I still haven't finished posting this. But you don't care about any of that, you just wanna know what we talked about don't you?First off, Mike and Brian told us all about their experiences at the Magic Celebration, which was pretty awesome. Then we had to...let's say discuss. We had to discuss the fact that the Prerelease cards are the same as the Intro Pack rares. See?http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1057 From there, it was pretty much just all previews all the time. We covered everything that we could find that had been officially spoiled. I wonder what they'll come out with next? Probably a stack of pancakes!http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/returntoravnica/cig

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com Break Music – Be Water My Friend (Bruce Lee) by Melodysheep - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud-AUboZl3A

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-247 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-247-stack-of-pancakes-t842.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 http://twitter.com/themanapool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 246 - Return to Ravnica, Address Unknown Sep 09, 2012

Show notes

Yup, it's preview time again! We are returning to Ravnica in the next set, Return...to Ravnica. Really? Is that the best they could come up with? Maybe the next time they do this we can just all it "Printing Money" or "Preying on Nostalgia". Anyway, the Card Image Gallery is right here so you can follow along:http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/returntoravnica/cig#We also talked about the upcoming Duel Decks: Sorin vs. Tibalt. Of course, that's basically all we know, so congratulations to us for covering that one so well. Here's a link:http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1049Also, the first Magic Player's Championship happened, and it sounded completely awesome. The new World Champion was...huh? Not the World Champion? Player of the Year? But that's decided by pro point accumulation throughout the year isn't it? Not anymore? Weird. Anyway, it was Yuuya Watanabe, and here's the full coverage:http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/tpc12/welcomeAlso, Chewie is still going to the Escapist Expo in Durham next weekend (Sept 14-16). If you're at all interested, here's a link to the Magic events that are happening all weekend:http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119032-The-Escapist-Expos-Official-Magic-The-Gathering-ScheduleAnd finally, Dirk has an important announcement, so don't leave until you get to the end!

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com Break Music – Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens (from Fantasia 2000)

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-246 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-246-return-to-ravnica-address-unknown-t841.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 http://twitter.com/themanapool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 245 - Dredging in the Woods Sep 03, 2012

Show notes

We've got a lot of stuff going on here. Chewie announces that he's going to the Escapist Expo in Durham. For the full list of stuff going on at the Expo, you can just click here:http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119032-The-Escapist-Expos-Official-Magic-The-Gathering-ScheduleBrian's got a Magic Mad Lib for us! It's totally not Boomerang. Trust me on this.Then we get into the first main topic, which is the fancy new Duel Decks: Izzet vs. Golgari decklists. We spend entirely too long discussing these, but it's all in good fun. You can follow along here:http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/210From there we've got a look at the Izzet and Golgari colored decks that we've built. It's amazing how only one of these actually has anything to do with the guild itself, and it's twice the size of a normal deck. Pretty cool huh?Also, here's the Storage Wars episode we talked about at the very end:http://www.aetv.com/storage-wars/video/sheets-and-geeks-33993138#33993138

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com Break Music – Overload by Zappacosta

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-245 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-245-dredging-in-the-woods-t840.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 http://twitter.com/themanapool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 244 - Foolaroundishness Aug 27, 2012

Show notes

We have lots of stuff going on this week. The World Magic Cup happened, for one. That's about all the discussion we're gonna have about that. WotC has revealed some information about some products (again) that we feel the urge to talk about. There's the 2012 Holiday Gift Box, which you can find here:http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1039There's the complete listing for From the Vault: Realms, which is right here:http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1040They also revealed a Return to Ravnica card that will apparently be the Launch promo, which we're gonna talk about. Yes I know it hasn't shown up on the Magic site anywhere just yet (for some reason) but it's official. Trust us on this.The main topic of discussion is all about Blue and how it fits into casual, multiplayer, and Magic in general. There's a lot of meat here that I'm just not gonna bother trying to write down, just listen. Also, a couple quick hits:FNM: Friendly Neighborhood Monkey"I don't know what number one is, but second place is a five-way tie." - Dirk

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com Intro by Tosus - http://mathofmagic.wordpress.com/Break Music – Cat Blues by Yoko Kanno

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-244 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-244-foolaroundishness-t839.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 http://twitter.com/themanapool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 243 - Up Your Arsenal (w/ Story Circle) Aug 19, 2012

Show notes

Hey look, we're doing another Commander episode! Told you we weren't done with these, what now haters? Or whatever. Gimme a break, I never know how to start off these episode write-ups. But we are focusing on Commander again this week, and of course we've got a guest host. We managed to snag none other than Tom of the now-defunct MTG Radio podcast. That show is the main reason Chewie decided to give EDH a try back in the day!

We begin with a discussion of competitive EDH that came from a listener email, then move over to the Commander's Arse(nal). Everyone has their opinion on the product thus far. Except for Mike, since we were apparently not listening to what he said. He said stuff though, he assures us!

Commander's Arsenal: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1035

Then we decided to bring back the old Story Circle. Aw yeah, you know you love it! Our random general this time around was...Cromat. Yeah, but we made the best out of it. If you want to follow along or at least see what these cards are as we rattle them off, you can check out the post here: http://themanapool.com/the-deck-box/storycircle243edh

Tom is @MTGRadio on Twitter by the way - you know what to do.

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com Break Music – Big Pimpin'/Papercut by Jay-Z/Linkin Park

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-243 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-243-up-your-arsenal-w-story-circle-t838.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 http://twitter.com/themanapool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 242 - Listener-Submitted Ideas Appreciation Fortnight Aug 14, 2012

Show notes

We're back with another episode to entertain you all! This one is again inspired by emails we've gotten from listeners like you. These seem to be more personal in nature, beginning with our favorite tribes. From there we move into how we started playing and what keeps us interested, and how one can go about getting cards without destroying your wallet. Then we're asked about our favorite expansion/block, our favorite cards, the cards we've had the most fun with, and which planeswalker we identify with. The final question, according to my notes, is about our personal idiosyncrasies when we're playing. That on was fun, because we started pointing stuff out about each other.Oh yeah, we also talked about Jarad and the Planeswalker Points achievements and badges, but we actually had astonishingly little to say about each one.Jarad: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1033Achievements: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/206

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com Break Music – A Horse with No Name by America

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-242 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-242-listener-submitted-ideas-appreciation-fortnight-t837.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 http://twitter.com/themanapool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Episode 241 - (Not Even) Quick-Fire Discussions Aug 06, 2012

Show notes

It's time once again for us to dig into our mailbag and come up with something to talk about! This time we hit on an email about podcasting hardware and software because we seem to have gotten a lot of those lately. How many of you are starting a podcast anyway?Then we hit an email that asks about our card preference. When building a deck, which version of any given card do we like to use? A certain art, foil, promotional, non-English language, white or black border...what do we prefer? We spent a good amount of time discussing the various ins and outs of how we pick cards to put in a deck.From there we get to an email about power creep. Sorta. Basically it's the "creatures today are so good and spells are not compared to back in the day - discuss". And we did. For a long time. We threw out lots and lots of points. We're pretty sure it's worth listening to, so there's that. Of course, expect the usual tangents, sidetracks, and random nonsense that you've come to know and love from our show. Hopefully I didn't forget anything...Chewie's stand-up video (NSFW): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycdcevIHG6A&feature=g-up Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.comBreak Music – Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride (From Disney's ''Lilo & Stitch'') by Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu & North Shore Children’s Choir & Key CygneturesThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-241Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-241-not-even-quick-fire-discussions-t835.htmlCheck out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastOur Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolOur Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapoolEmail us at dorks@themanapool.comFollow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

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