The Mana Pool

Is that Eric on two episodes in a row with us?  I think it is!  Eric brought us two very deep and interesting topics to discuss.  First off is a lot of talk about being casual, proxying, business models, and all sorts of nonsense.  It essentially boils down to a discussion on realizing that there are other reasons to play this game than the one you hold most dear, and you should freakin' realize t...

We are joined this episode by none other than the Many-Named One himself, Eric!  Yay!  Lots of news this episode, from new Commander cards to M12 Planeswalker news to Planeswalker news from the next big set.  And we're on a new geeky network, and Swift is on iTunes!  Man that was a lot.  Of course Eric sidetracks us several times during all that.  Otherwise it wouldn't be any fun at all. Don’t for...

Holy crap we've updated the contest we mentioned in the last episode!  If you'd like to see what we've changed, go here: http://themanapool.com/pool-notices/update-mana-pool-mbs-contest We then follow up with a Mad Lib sent in by one of our listeners, Alex.  How awesome was it?  Well ideally you'd listen to find out, but I'll issue a little spoiler - pretty awesome!  And if you like our Magic Mad...

What an episode we've got for you this time!  We've got a new contest, a super-secret special guest host, and...well that's about it.  But isn't that enough? Okay, contest.  If you want the full skinny, you're gonna have to hit the website for the official rules and all that.  You can find it here: http://themanapool.com/uncategorized/ promo_contest / Then there's a quick look at the new Deckbuild...

Yes, it's time for another live episode!  Already you ask?  Yes, we answer.  I'm glad we had this conversation. Sadly, Dirk isn't able to join us due to almost having a baby.  We start off with a little bit of Duel Decks news, since they've announced Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas.  Then we play a game of Magic.  Each of us is playing with a very special deck, and each deck is special for different reasons...

After a mess of emails, we've got those first two cards from the set code-named Action, which everyone has already seen.  But of course, we have to give you our take on it.  Then there's a look at the Event Decks, a new product from Wizards, but that's not the important part. And really, this isn't the important part either.  But this is the main topic!  Brian opened up a Scars Sealed pool, consis...

Magic Mad Lib!  Mailbag!  The homogenization of American music!  A contest that's already over!  And From the Vault: Legends starring Lawrence Fishburne!  And all that is just the first half of this episode of The Mana Pool!  Why can't I stop screaming?! Fishburne Legends right here: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/641 The gang's all here for this episode, if...

Have you noticed that all the planes in Magic are either terrifying or dangerous or miserable?  We determined this during a discussion of which plane we'd want to live on that came from an email.  It's like the Creative team at Wizards just wants to completely dry up the tourist trade on other planes!  I wonder if the head of Zendikar could sue Wizards for libel.  I'll have to get with Brian on th...

On this episode Mike, Brian, and Dirk take a look at the colored cards of Mirrodin Besieged while I (Chewie) am sitting at home with NO INTERNET!  But luckily the stupid connection kicked back in just in time for me to jump in at the artifacts.  Then there's a little bit of discussion about a recent rules update wherein we figure out about when Wizards realized we were all perverts.  But that's ab...

Once again, we all gathered at Dirk's house for Magic playing and snacks, and so you get to listen to us do so on this episode.  We start off with a nice LONG game of Elder Dragon Highlander, or Magic: The Gathering Commander if you prefer, or Dorky Card Game with Different Rules than Usual if you wanna be real about it.  But either way, that's what we're doing.  It's Fumiko the Lowblood vs. Karrt...

I'd like to start off by apologizing for how scatterbrained I sound in this episode. I had just gotten back from the MAGfest trip roughly AN HOUR before we started recording, so I was still not quite with it.  But that aside, we started off with a Mad Lib that Tosus wrote for us that had us giggling like idiots as per usual.  Thank you Tosus! Then there's short Star Wars retelling featuring our fa...

Hello again, and welcome to the show notes! This is Mike, filling in for Chewie because he's out of town at MAGFest, having a nice time and being a generally all-around lucky jerk. We were all feeling kind of wiped out by our various goings-on, but we kicked things off in the usual way: random banter and listener emails. After that, we decided to take a look at the Mirrodin Besieged Mechanics arti...

Hello everyone!  Chewie here.  Welcome to 2011!  We kick this thing off with some listener mail, some of which we've had since last year (sorry about that).  Then there's a fair amount of other stuff to touch on, but nothing important enough to put in the show notes.  Moving on! I got a copy of Stowaway from Cardshark for us to review a few weeks ago, and we finally got to get together and play! ...

For hitting 150 episodes and/or 3 years of being on the air, our old buddy Jungle Rat Rob of The Retro League podcast has put together another one of his awesome audio montages, spliced together with Praise You by Fatboy Slim.  Lots of these clips came from our guest host episodes, so keep an eye out for some voices from other podcasts, including the Avant-Card Show , MTG Radio , and possibly even...

Just made it in before 2011!  On this episode we take a look at some listener mail, check out how Worlds ended this year (complete with a quick look at some of the decks in the Top 8), take a look at the nonsense surrounding the next two Magic expansions, and talk about the recent rules changes to EDH (or Commander if you prefer).  Then we have the Black installment of the Core Set: Mana Pool Edit...

Just in time for Christmas, it's a late episode!  Sweet!  This episode has a lot of stuff going on, starting with emails covering everything from subliminal messages to holiday habits. Then we have news, which is really not news anymore but it's our take on these news items.  We've got the big Commander announcement, some decks from the Star City Invitational, and a quick rant about Tomoharu Saito...

Other than the random technical issues that caused us to start late, caused Mike to sound funny this entire episode, and caused Brian to be muted for most of the episode, it went off without a hitch!  We went over a mess of emails, then did the White section of Brian's Core Set: Mana Pool Edition.  And to go along with the White section of that, Brian requested an Out of the Deck Box for Mike's mo...

What's that?  A live episode?  Where did this come from?  Well honestly it came from Brian's house, but that's not important.  Due to a lack of Dirk during this episode's recording, Brian decided Mike and I should roll over there to play his newly-bought Scars of Mirrodin Intro Packs.  He had Myr of Mirrodin, Metalcraft, and Phyrexian Poison.  We played a three-man game, then traded decks and did...

Moo.

After beginning with a study into arcane languages and comic strips, we're gonna set this thing on FIRE!  We'll take a look at a few of the new products Wizards has in store, the Magic Online Deck Series: Legacy and the Premium Deck Series: Fire & Lightning, then move into Brian's new idea for a segment.  There's no official name, so I'm going to call it Core Set: Mana Pool Edition.  He has come u...

In this action-packed episode of The Mana Pool, we're taking a look at all the two-for-ones in Magic.  No, not Buy One Get One Free, and not killing a creature in response to it being targeted by an aura.  We're talking about a whopping TWO power for ONE mana!  Back in the day this defined entire tournament scenes, but were all of them that good?  Well stay tuned and find out, because we're gonna...

This episode is a little random.  We begin with a brief discussion of why not to buy cheap ice cream sandwiches.  I then offer up Mike's phone number in case anyone wants to call him.  Then we point out how we're not going to take money from our listeners, but gifts are appreciated when appropriate. Of course, we have a main topic.  It's Mortal Instinct Fighter Calibur Vs 2 - 3D Alpha Forever!  On...

Hello again, and welcome to the show notes!  This is Mike, filling in on this for Chewie while he puts the finishing touches on the previous episode (the secret ingredient is love). When Wizards decided to go back to Mirrodin for another block, of course they had to have in mind what had come before.  Today we all take the time to think and talk about cards from the original Mirrodin block that wo...

Here it is, the long-awaited Episode 150!  What are we doing special to celebrate this landmark occasion? ...not much, really.  Eric of the Many Names made up a Mad Lib for us, which you'll hear in the intro.  He's a sweetie like that.  We talk about the new Premium Deck Series a bit, hit the announcement for the new Duel Decks (Knights vs. Dragons) and talk about the Faction Packs that will be in...

On this fun-filled episode of The Mana Pool, we join three of our four heroes in a flashback to the Scars of Mirrodin Prerelease, where two of the three did very well, and the third of three did not so well.  And one of the three heroes opened two Mythics, but to find out which hero opened which Mythics, you'll have to listen! Also included in this action-packed episode is a look at the Scars Intr...