The Mana Pool

Remember Fallout? You know, the video game series with radiation and Nuka-Cola and Ron Perlman's voice and power armor and Vault Boy? That game series that hasn't had a good game release in almost a decade? Sure you do! And of course, Magic is releasing some Commander Decks for it under the Universes Beyond label! The dorks are diving into the first batch of reveals from the Fallout decks and focu...

The dorks take a look at the Ravnica: Clue Edition Evidence cards, meaning the suspects, weapons, and rooms that come from the board game Clue. After that we're taking a look at the Murders at Karlov Manor Commander deck commanders. Then we go back to doing our usual thing where we bounce around and look at whatever catches our eye or whatever Twitch chat directs us to.  Would you choose silence o...

The usual suspects are here, and they're dorks. We're taking another look at Murders at Karlov Manor! After going through the mythics we do our usual thing of bouncing around the set looking for cool stuff to talk about, and there's a LOT of cool stuff to talk about. Card Image Gallery - https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/murders-at-karlov-manor/card-image-gallery Come join us in the future! Th...

The game is afoot! The dorks are investigating The Murders at Karlov Manor for the first time! We'll be looking at all the usual suspects - the mechanics article and the card image gallery. The mechanics are especially neat this time around. We've got Morph+ and the bizarre lovechild of Quests & Sagas being my two high points. Let us know what you think of the new stuff! And it's KARLOV Manor. Yea...

This is it! The dorks are doing the final pre-Mythic expansion, Eventide, for Mythic Conscription! This was a fun one, as we have a lot of nostalgia for Eventide. There's also a really good discussion about swapping the power level for two hybrid cycles from the previous set. Be sure to let us know what you think! This is really bizarre to say. We started Mythic Conscription waaaaay back in 2015....

The dorks kick off 2024 by...looking back at 2023! We're talking about stuff that happened in our lives over the last year. Things we did, places we went, games we played, mice we captured (wait what?), all that good stuff. Along the way we'll get distracted several times, as is our way, and tangent off into whatever other stuff captures our attention for a few minutes. How was your 2023? However...

The dorks return to the plane of Trivester for another installment of the MTG RPG! Yes, that is still a thing. We haven't forgotten. We'll NEVER forget! Alaric, Karim, and the Angel head into the mysterious Tower of Icolnir in an effort to figure out what's happened to its planeswalker owner. What sort of traps will they get caught in? Is Syr to be trusted? Should they open the mysterious giant do...

The dorks are finally back! And we're doing the next-to-last Mythic Conscription! It's Shadowmoor and all its creepy twists on the idyllic Lorwyn people and locations. What do you think of the Swans? Stick around to the very end to find out some big plans Chewie has going for the beginning of next year! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitc...

The dorks return to Ixalan to take another look at more of the set! We're digging into the Caves, the double-faced cards, the new Dreadmaw, and anything else that catches our eyes! Ixalan Card Image Gallery:  https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/the-lost-caverns-of-ixalan/card-image-gallery Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a L...

The dorks take a look at all the Jurassic Park cards first, because who doesn't love those movies? Well, the first couple anyway. Then we dive into the Lost Caverns of Ixalan and take a look at the new Gods and whatever else catches our eye. What do you think of the new stuff? Ixalan Card Image Gallery:  https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/the-lost-caverns-of-ixalan/card-image-gallery Come join...

The dorks are taking a page from MNM this week and covering a variety of Magic topics. Marvel throwing its hat into the Universes Beyond ring, the first Fallout cards, Lost Caverns of Ixalan's mechanics, and WotC's latest way to jack up the prices are all in our sights, so be sure to let us know what you think about any or all of it! Marvel announcement: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcem...

They say there's No Plane Like Home (well, we do) but what about the one known as the Homelands? That's right, we're taking a look at Ulgrotha, that place where Baron Sengir hangs out! It's a plane that hasn't been thought about in a VERY long time except for a few fan service mentions in a Commander set and a (very) small bit in the New Phyrexian Invasion. We'll take a look at the place and see w...

The dorks get together to chat about assorted nonsense! This time around we're talking about a lot of stuff that almost certainly won't age well, but that's okay. Here's what's on the docket: Donald Trump is a terrible defendant Doctor Who Mechanics - https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/magic-the-gathering-doctor-who-mechanics Falling off of the constant stream of Star Wars & Marvel shows Wh...

The dorks are all here, and we're taking a look at the near future of Magic! What that really means is we're looking back at the Magic 30 panel that WotC did at GenCon! They announced the next two years' worth of major Magic releases, so we have a LOT of stuff to talk about! Never mind the various technical difficulties that plagued this episode. Nothing to see here. Magic 30 panel at GenCon -  ht...

The dorks dive back into Wilds of Eldraine for another look at the extremely bizarre cards in the set. And also Brian tells us about his prerelease experience! Wilds of Eldraine Card Image Gallery -  https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/wilds-of-eldraine/card-image-gallery Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a Lifeguard on Patreo...

Note: This is episode 684, not 682 like Podcasting Chewie keeps saying. What an idiot. The dorks have returned! We're taking our first look at Wilds of Eldraine now that we're all back! We're starting with the mechanics as usual before moving into the new-and-improved-and-obnoxious Card Image Gallery. As always, there's a lot of neat stuff going on in here! Wilds of Eldraine Mechanics -  https://m...

The dorks get together to chat about assorted nonsense! The nonsense on this episode of Dorks Just Chatting includes, but is not limited to: Year-round school Zelda dungeons Games jumping to 3D Franchise entries that are just okay Getting old & Sam Quizzes Old video game sequels Connected media universes Barbie Post Malone & the 1/1 Ring DOOM (2016) Come join us in the future! The show is live on...

The Mythic Conscriptions must continue! We're almost done! To that end, we're tackling Morningtide, which was the very first new set that came out after we started this show! There's a LOT of nostalgia going on here, but are there any cards that could have been Mythics? As always, let us know what cards you think fit the bill! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(is...

The dorks reach deep into the bag for a new edition of There's No Plane Like Home! We're taking a look at Mercadia, without ever actually talking about any Masques. Let us know what you think of Mercadia's really cool but oddly shallow world! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool...

The dorks take a final hard look at Magic's Lord of the Rings set and continue to wonder at just how much effort went into what could have easily been a lazy cash grab.    LOTR Gallery -  https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/card-image-gallery/the-lord-of-the-rings-tales-of-middle-earth   Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on   Twitch   Become a Lif...

The dorks dive back into more of the Universes Beyond Lord of the Rings set! Again we're focusing on the how the mechanics of the cards actually relate to the story and flavor of the books, and it is ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!   LOTR Gallery - https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/card-image-gallery/the-lord-of-the-rings-tales-of-middle-earth   Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays arou...

The dorks dive into the first full Universes Beyond set, Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth. As usual we'll go over the mechanics before diving into the card image gallery to poke around and see what we can see. We'll be focusing on the flavor as it relates to the books, because we know them well and LOVE what the designers have done with some of these cards! How do you think they did?   The...

The dorks discuss what we like to do to pass the time when we're with a group of people. And what we don't like to do. Board games, Magic, D&D, video games, just hanging out...what do you do? And why?   Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on   Twitch   Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! –  www.patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed:  https://themana...

The dorks give Lorwyn the Mythic Conscription treatment! Lorwyn was the set that was current waaaaay back when we started The Mana Pool, so it's just dripping with nostalgia for us. We have tales about several of these cards and openly admit that it's impossible for us to be neutral about them. And there are the Commands, the Incarnations, and so much other stuff!   And yes, the planeswalkers were...

The dorks gather to talk about whatever! This time up it's Chewie's somewhat gruesome zoo experience, the nostalgia of the Mario movie, the MCU vs the DCEU, Final Fantasy games, and our video game difficulty option choices.     Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch   Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! –  www.patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS...