The Mana Pool

We're back after Chewie's vacation! We begin with a Sam Quiz, like you do after a week off. We've got surreal Unstable variants to talk about. Like a lot of them. Holy crap these are insane. Then there's a tiny bit of Rivals of Ixalan. Then we have a long but well worth it listener submitted Magic Mad Lib, sent to us by Mike XIV. Thanks man! We end the episode with some final thoughts as always. W...

We begin this episode on a much less happy note and address the current ugly situation in the Magic online community. Seriously though, why is it so hard to just be decent to people? Then it's on to the Unstable cards! We're bouncing around looking at whatever jumps out at us in the full set. And since there's just SO MUCH lunacy in the set, there are plenty of things to do the jumping. Like a lot...

On this episode of TMP, the dorks are giving a eulogy. Actually it's another Mad Lib by lvl99luck, but it'll make sense when you listen to it. Good night, sweet Rogue Kavu. After that we're off to talk about Unstable! It's the first Un set in the podcast's lifetime, and we're all over it. We're making sense of all the jargon surrounding Contraptions, explaining Rules Lawyer, and taking turns makin...

Happy Birthday TMP! After ten whole years of talking Magic almost every week, the dorks have decided to take a week off. Not from podcasting, from Magic-talking. Since we've been going for so long, we're looking back at the world of 2007 to see how things were back then. From there we sort of tangent off into things we've been into since then, things we're into now, and how we're all completely di...

After another adorable Sam Quiz, we've got our work cut out for us. We have decided, perhaps foolishly, to do a Mythic Conscription for Magic's first full size expansion. If you know your history, you know that means Ice Age - the home of cumulative upkeep, massive text boxes, and commons sitting in the rare slot. This set was created in the dark days of Magic design, when no one really knew what...

Roughly once a year the dorks take a look at media outside of Magic and turn some bits of it into cards! We've done video games, movies, television, and books (we think that's all thus far). This time we're looking at sequential art, also known as comics! From comic books to webcomics to newspaper comics, we're covering some of all of it! What's your favorite thing in the medium of comics? And wou...

We need to have a talk. Why do nerds always react so negatively to new things? Why are they always so against new people liking the things they like? Why is it that they always seem like horribly entitled jerks? The dorks are looking to answer all these questions if we can. Just to show that we're human too, we're starting off with many examples of times we've had nerd rage of our own. Then we'll...

Due to Chewie being unfit for recording this week, it's time to get another live episode out of the can! A few weeks ago the dorks got together to play some Magic! We recorded the Commander 2017 show that went up two episodes ago, but we ALSO recorded some Archenemy: Nicol Bolas! We played one game with Mike in the role of Bolas then we broke for dinner. It was delicious, in case you're interested...

The dorks have returned! It's been two weeks since we recorded a show, and we're dying to get back into it. We begin with a short Sam Quiz, then a long Mad Lib! After that it's off to discuss our Prerelease experiences. Chewie & Brian did a Two-Headed Giant prerelease, Brian did a solo one, and Mike did some drafting the following week. Do you like pirates? How about dinosaurs? Dr Langeskov, the T...

Preview season for Ixalan was a little weird due to the big leak. So even though the entire set has been revealed now, there's just...not much left to talk about. And since we were going to be missing Mike anyway, we decided to get a live episode out of the can! A few weeks ago the Dorks gathered at Brian's house to play some Magic! We played a game with the then-somewhat-newly-released Commander...

This episode begins with super sexy Unstable lands. Then we bounce around Iconic Masters and try to figure out 1) what exactly is the point of this set? and B) why are there so many kitties in the art? After that it's back to Ixalan! There's still a lot awesome stuff here to talk about, including the new Vraska, terrors of the sky, and what weird monkey goblins put in cannons. Unstable Lands -  ht...

We recorded this the same day as the MTG Arena reveal, so the first part of the episode revolves around that. How we feel about what we've seen, expectations, hopes & dreams, that sort of thing. From there it's time to dive into more Ixalan! There's the new Cradle, the old dinosaurs, the promos, and of course, the Card Image Gallery! This set is a crazy mishmash of lots of things that nerds love.....

Yarrr, it be a Sam Quiz, then story time! After that it's time to talk Ixalan! There are feathered dinosaurs, pirates with their treasure, beautifully colored merfolk, and religious fanatic vampires. This set is gonna be AWESOME! We also get to look at the new Jace and the new (lack of) Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule. After that we dive into a bunch of the revealed cards and marvel at how much fun a...

After a brief discussion about Fuller House and a not-so-brief discussion about our experiences with the Great North American Eclipse, we're actually going to talk about Magic! Seriously though, the total eclipse was amazing and moving. Like wow. We're doing a Commander 2017 Story Circle! After discounting the Eminence commanders and a few of the less interesting legends in the set, we finally dec...

Let us tell you a tale, a tale of a dude. That dude is Travis, and he just keeps having problems. Poor Travis. Maybe if he wasn't so awesome he wouldn't run into so much trouble. Or maybe he just really sucks. Hey look, Brian's back! And look, we have a lot more Commander cards to talk about! Yay! And look, the Cat Dragon token is SO ADORABLE! I WANT ONE! Please excuse Chewie's mic the first 2.5 m...

These Commander 2017 cards are SO MAJESTIC! Seriously. Mike forgot how to speak. Dirk forgot how to read. Chewie almost choked to death. And they were SO MAJESTIC that Brian wasn't even here. Look at all that majesty! But because we got so caught up in the multicolored cards (mostly the legends), we opted to leave the monocolored cards until next week so Brian can join in on the fun. Commander 201...

We begin with another Sam Quiz, which was a little tricksy. Then, after a brief story of personal injury and public surgery from Chewie we get right into it! We're doing a Mythic Conscription for Dissension, finishing out the original Ravnica block. This set, much like some of the other Ravnica sets, was a little hard to do. Or maybe easy. We're not sure. There's a bizarre switch with the leadersh...

We're back with Level 3 judge and SCG writer Chris Lansdell to finish up the history of the Banned & Restricted List. From the Day 0 Modern Banned List to the most recent cleanup of the miserable state of Standard, we're covering it all! And since all the announcements still exist, we can give you actual explanations for each banning and unbanning. Then we'll wrap it all up by discussing why there...

Karim, Alaric, and The Angel are back to explore more of Trivester and see what they can get into! We're heading towards a huge tree, losing our way, and getting into a scrape with goblins! At least I get to use my awesome sword! Much love to Jars for the amazing map! After that, we're catching up on stuff - Mike's prereleases, Dirk's job hunt, my trip to Busch Gardens, and Brian's anniversary! In...

The dorks are covering the rest of Hour of Devastation since the full set was revealed immediately after we recorded last week. There are quite a few bits of good stuff left. There's a lot of art on commons and uncommons that is just awesome too, so we'll be sure to point that out. And there are discussions of StarCraft and copyright claim at the end. Just a warning. Hour of Devastation Card Image...

The dorks are taking another look at Hour of Devastation previews! Torments, afflictions, curses, eternalization, more Hours, and lots of sand. I hate sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating...and it gets everywhere. Also, now ALL my horses can be amazing, and there's a zombie camel. Oh yeah, you read that right. Hour of Devastation Card Image Gallery -  http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/arc...

The Hour of Devastation looms near! Brian is getting attacked by malicious flying creatures and Dirk is being stalked by the gods of sleep, but at least Mike's beard is still glorious. Thank goodness. In case you can't tell, we're covering the early Hour of Devastation previews. The Invocations, the mechanics of the set, and all the really sick stuff that had shown up at this point. Bolas is a bad...

It's Announcement Week for Magic, and wow they've thrown a lot at us! There's a LOT of good stuff here! First there's Pro Tour news and yet another Standard banning. Then we've got to talk about all the Magic Digital Next news, which is bittersweet but probably still good. Then we spend a LOT of time on MaRo's Metamorphosis 2.0, which outlines the totally new direction Magic sets will be going in...

On the day this episode was recorded, it was announced that Cryptic Studios is working on a Magic: The Gathering Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game! This is absolutely unprecedented in MTG's history of licensing, and we decided to do an entire episode about it! We're beginning with Dirk's extensive MMO experience! He goes on at length about what Magic's world and mechanics could bring...

It's time to go back to the Banned & Restricted List! We've grabbed Chris Lansdell to join us again so we can cover the next several years of the banhammer's history. Since we have sources for some of these and we have some memory of them, we have a bit more to say this time. Last time we went from 1994 to 2001. This time we're covering 2002 to 2010, just before the inception of Modern as a format...