The Mana Pool

Not only are there more Ravnica Allegiance cards to talk about, but there's also actual news! News that dropped on the day of recording, so we can get in there early! Ravnica Allegiance: Mythic Edition was announced, complete with a less-stupid way to buy it and more super sweet planeswalker art! And that's not even the big news! The next set is called War of the Spark! And...okay that's literally...

We're back for 2019! And so is preview season! That's right, it's time to take a look at the entire mess of new Ravnica Allegiance cards that have popped up since our last episode. We've got planeswalkers, four-power fliers, and...a mutant. Not any special kind of mutant. Not a Fish Crab Mutant or a Jellyfish Hydra Beast Mutant, just a mutant. He was made from the vat of forearm juice, apparently....

Ravnica Allegiance has started peeking out from the Christmas presents, so we're looking at the mechanics! Remember this was recorded on Thursday, so we didn't have the Azorius mechanic yet. Sorry about that. We're also checking out the promos and whatnot while we're on the Allegiance kick. Then it's time for reflection. We're going to look back at Magic's 25th anniversary, for better and worse. A...

The dorks slog through...I mean take on a Mythic Conscription for Fallen Empires! This is a set that is notorious for its lack of...well, much of anything. As a result, we'll be looking at the entire set rather than just the "rares" and talking about a lot of tangentially related stuff! After that it's time to have some fun with another listener-submitted Mad Lib! This one is from Eric He, and I t...

The dorks bring back a featured segment they haven't done a good long while...a Flavor Fight! We've called it many things over the years, mostly involving words from the titles of fighting games. This time, we went with the Random Card feature in Gatherer until we hit gold creatures! The bracket is set, the rules are fuzzy, and the dorks are ready to argue! Can a monk withstand a faerie's feminine...

We've got a card to reveal for UMA! It's Visions of Beyond! We spend some time wondering what that means for the rest of UMA (like, is there some kind of milling subtheme?) then go over the cards that were revealed via the Ultimate Box Toppers. After that we've got a pretty sweet Mad Lib, sent in to us by listener Magnor Criol. It's a good one, so thanks a lot Andrew! Come join us in the future! T...

The planes of existence in Magic are plentiful, and each one is loaded with its own flavor and history. Given that, it's only natural that almost every playgroup has had a discussion about which plane would be the best (or worst) one to live on! The dorks are going deep on that conversation on this episode, trying to figure out what it would be like for the average everyman to live on Ravnica and...

The dorks are returning to Trivester for the MTG RPG! And it hasn't even been a year this time! Karim, Alaric, and the Angel are heading towards the tower in the distance. As they make their way through the jungle they'll encounter some...interesting wildlife. Once they get to the tower they've got to deal with a crazy mage, a mysterious door, and an adorable dinosaur before a sudden revelation le...

This week, Brian really wanted to talk about how the Standard rotation affected Brawl. Not how it affected Brawl in general exactly, but how it affected his Brawl decks specifically. So we're talking about what's coming out of his five decks and talking to chat for replacements! It's essentially a big deck-tweaking episode! Let us know what you think! And if you think this episode's name is weird,...

No we're not talking about spooky stories, we're doing a Mythic Conscription for Legends! And Legends is REALLY weird. Seriously. Legends was the third Magic expansion ever. It was the first set to introduce legendary cards and multicolored cards, so it makes sense that they hadn't exactly gotten a handle on it yet.  You'll also get to hear about how we survived the latest hurricane and Brian's si...

It's Prerelease time! So of course, the dorks take the handy dandy digital recorder to Lucky's for what will be the final Prerelease there before it closes up (again). We'll check in before the event starts and between each round to let you know how the format looks, what cards are working or not working for us, things like that. You know the drill by now, right? Also, the episode begins with a Sa...

This episode is all about helping casual players manage their first tournament of each type. Starting with Prereleases then moving into FNM, PPTQ, and finally a Grand Prix or SCG Open, we'll give you some general tips for how to prepare and what to expect at each level. Whether you've never been to a tournament in your life or you're a regular FNM player that wants to attend your first GP, we've g...

The full Guilds of Ravnica set is up, so the Dorks are poking around in there to find all the best and neatest stuff! There's a listening stick, a very friendly beast, and a chance for glory! We've got angels, vampires, bugs, and...lockets? This set looks SO sweet! Oh, and the open beta for Magic Arena begins soon! You know, if you're interested at all. Guilds of Ravnica Card Image Gallery:  https...

Our exclusive (and free) Guilds of Ravnica preview is here! It hits a note for all four dorks, which is pretty neat for a single card. After that there are a lot of sweet Guilds cards to talk about, so we're gonna spend the entire episode doing that! Our exclusive preview card, Hatchery Spider -  http://themanapool.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Hatchery_Spider_EN.png Guilds of Ravnica Card Image...

It is time once again to return to Ravnica. Or return to Return to Ravnica. Ravnica 3: Secret of the Ooze. But enough with the jokes, Guilds of Ravnica is here! The dorks (minus Mike) are going over the guild mechanics and all the sweet promos that have been revealed thus far! We've got an enormous wurm with dainty little feet, Emmara on keto, super sweet basic lands and even sweeter Masterpiece-l...

It's a live episode! The dorks gathered at Brian's house to play a game with the Commander 2018 decks! Will Chewie actually be able to play this time? Will the cats let us play the damn game? Will we be done in time for lunch? All these answers and more can be found in this episode of TMP! Come join us in the future! The show will be live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on  twitch.tv/the...

Professor Beard is back! In his first lecture he taught us all about the evolution of the Graveyard ( Episode 509 ), where we were amazed at just how much of the Graveyard's flavor and function came early in Magic's life. This time the Prof is teaching us all about RFG, which is Removed From Game. Also Set Aside. Also Hovering 8 Inches Above the Table. Eventually, it became the Exile we know and l...

It's been a LONG time, but we're back with Brian's custom-made Magic-based RPG system! Karim, Alaric, and the Angel are still stuck on the mysterious plane of Trivester with no idea what's going on. Since it has been SO LONG, Brian gives a quick recap of what's happened thus far and then we dive right in! Did you ever interrupt two Giant Warthogs during rutting season? Or set fire to an angry Prim...

Since Commander 2018 comes out this weekend, we've decided to do a couple Story Circles this episode! But since we're streaming the shows now, we've decided to give Twitch Chat some input. They get one entry per round AND they picked from three possibilities to decide who our second Commander would be! See? You should totally come hang out and watch the show live! Also, Dirk is a monster. Come joi...

This episode we're taking a look at ALL the rest of the cards in Commander 2018 that we missed last episode! This leads to discussions about the HR manager in charge of hiring Humiliators, the Bane of enchanters, how the Ravenous Slime uses its skulls, and of course the titular arterial spritz of the Bloodtracker. We may or may not have been extra silly this episode. Please, give us feedback! Let...

  This is the first of our new live episodes! This one is ALL Commander 2018, because there's a lot of it. In fact, we didn't even finish it all, so we'll probably come back to it next week. We're covering all the new planeswalkers, all the new Commanders we could find, and a handful of the most entertaining/powerful/bizarre new cards in the set! Oh, and the Commander Storm cycle, because Twitch c...

This episode begins with a little bit (like, a seriously tiny bit) of Commander 2018 news from the announcement that came from a stream on the day we recorded. We get deck names, colors, and a few pieces of art. But hey, we go over all that for you! Then it's time for a glorious Battlebond Story Circle! Somehow we just never did one with any of the neat partner pairs, so it's time to fix that! The...

With Core Set 2019 marking the return of the Core Set the dorks decided to take a look back at all its previous iterations. Starting with Alpha and moving through all the Nth Editions that happened every other year with their white-bordered insanity, through the Magic 201X that introduced new cards every year, we're hitting them all! All the trends (the removal of trample?), all the big news (RULE...

The dorks are back for more Core Set 2019! In fact, it's ALL of Core Set 2019, since there was apparently only one week of previews. We're jumping around the set, talking about all the awesome flavor, sweet art, powerful cards, and useful answers that it's bringing us!  Some of these cards really do rev Brian up. Seriously. Also, bear with Mike, we're still working on teaching him how to read. And...

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...