The Mana Pool

The dorks tackle all the stuff that's going on in the world or in their heads, from the then-upcoming Sandman to making fun of Alex Jones, to reading, to Godzilla, to the new head of Warner Bros, to Final Fantasy 7!   If you don't want to hear us make fun of Alex Jones and subsequently have to explain who he is, skip from 30:15 to 57:03   Check out the first video on The Deep End, Chewie's new You...

It's time for another Mythic Conscription! And this time it's for Time Spiral, which makes us all feel a little funny. We were all actively playing during this set. We loved it, and our memories are totally colored by nostalgia. But what could have been Mythic? Be sure to let us know what you think!   Check out the first video on The Deep End, Chewie's new YouTube channel! - https://youtu.be/ZcHF-...

The dorks hopped on Tiermaker to argue further about the MCU! Because Phase 3 was the culmination of the Infinity Saga we spent a long time on each entry, so this one is more in-depth than the last episode. Let us know what you think of our rankings! 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...

The dorks hopped on Tiermaker to argue about the MCU! Of course because we went so in-depth we only made it through the first two phases, so you'll have to wait for the rest of the tiermaking. 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://themanapool.libsyn...

The dorks are joined by our old buddy Stark Maximum this episode! Why? Because we're doing a No Plane Like Home for The Sword Coast (you know, where Baldur's Gate resides) and we don't know anything about the place. And since Stark is all about D&D, and D&D's primary location these days is the Forgotten Realms, and The Sword Coast is located there...well there it is.   Also we brought up some rece...

The Heirs of Trivester campaign is back again! The Angel, Alaric, and Karim are heading across the dangerous countryside to go back to the mysterious tower of Icolnir. Will we track down the scroll thief? Will there be more bees? Will the GM convince one of us to do something stupid?   Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on  Twitch !   Become a Li...

The dorks are back with more Battle for Baldur's Gate! This time we're taking another look at the actual set, then migrating over to the cards that are exclusive to the Commander precons. There's a lot of bizarre stuff going on here.   Be sure to stay to the end for things to get more serious, because it's important stuff.     Actual Set Card Image Gallery - https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a...

The dorks take our first look at Battle for Baldur's Gate! We'll be explaining Backgrounds simply, get mildly frustrated with Initiative, discuss Gates and be unsure of their numbers, and the rest of the usual nonsense that we get up to on preview episodes.   Battle for Baldur's Gate Mechanics - https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/commander-legends-battle-baldurs-gate-mechanics-2...

Recorded on Revenge of the 5th, the dorks return to spend an entire episode talking about various aspects of Star Wars! We'll begin with how we first encountered Star Wars back when we were just wee little dorks, and from there the conversation just flows from one thing to another. It should be clear that we all love (most of) Star Wars, and we're all very passionate about it! Let us know what you...

The dorks return with another Mythic Conscription! This time we're looking at Judgment, the one set in Magic weighted towards Green and White. The one question that starts the episode and lingers throughout the entire time is in the title - are the Wishes Mythic? Be sure to let us know what you think!   Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on  Twit...

The dorks (sans Brian) check out the vehicles, discuss the difference between hugging a building and punching your face, and discover that the elves have horns!   Streets of New Capenna CIG -   https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/streets-of-new-capenna   Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on  Twitch !   Become a Lifeg...

The dorks return once again to hit the new stuff in New Capenna! Most of us anyway, one dork was in a tropical paradise at time of recording.   Streets of New Capenna CIG - https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/streets-of-new-capenna   Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on  Twitch !   Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! –  w...

The dorks are back, to do exactly what the title says. We're hitting the new mechanics, the old mechanics, and then poking around the card image gallery. The set mechanics are pretty neat without being super-complicated, and the 1920's Chicago organized crime vibes are very real. Streets of New Capenna CIG - https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/streets-of-new-capenna Me...

The dorks gather again and chat about stuff with no plan! This one was a lot of fun, as we flowed from topic to topic without sad awkward pauses. We talked about VR stuff, old games, kids' eyes, video games, adaptations of things to other media, and lots of other stuff! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on  Twitch ! Become a Lifeguard on Patreon...

After a brief look at the coming drug running theme in New Capenna (that is sadly not a joke), the dorks are focusing once again on Neon Dynasty. This time we're looking at how Kamigawa itself has changed over the last twelve centuries and doing a No Plane Like Home. Will neo-Kamigawa be another plane you should absolutely avoid, or will it end up being a nice place to live? Come join us in the fu...

The dorks have returned with another no-planned-topic Just Chatting episode! We bounce around with assorted nonsense for a while, then make fun of Flat Earthers and Sovereign Citizen morons. Chewie tells the tale of his own injury and Mike's generosity, and Brian asks why there were so many crypto commercials during the Super Bowl. After all that, Chewie asks the dorks whether they like horror as...

Hey check it out, an episode that's two weeks late! Sorry about that, my computer threatened to die and so I was unable to get to the files. More information at the beginning of the episode. So yeah, the dorks are checking out the entire CIG for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Because this episode is two freakin' weeks old I have no idea what to put here to sound all clever and stuff. Except that DJs aren...

Most of the dorks are back to talk about even more of the weird stuff going on in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty! We've got all the Dragons, a new Kodama, a Ninja Turtle and Splinter, Fox McCloud, Shrines that are also creatures, new Yamazakis, and even legally-distinct Voltron!  Card Image Gallery: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/kamigawa-neon-dynasty Come join us in the...

The dorks are back for their first actual TMP episode of 2022! We're diving headfirst into the previews for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty for the first time! We'll look at the cards that were revealed at the end of last year, the mechanics, and then get started on some of the other cards that were shown on this first day of previews. The stuff they're doing in this set is a trip. Mechanics article: https...

The dorks have returned! After an accidental month off for holidays and stuff, we're back to catch up. On this Dorks Just Chatting episode we're discussing long Covid test lines, Star Wars stuff, doing things when it's icy, Chewie's new virtual reality headset, self improvement, groceries, and whatever else comes to mind! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Ea...

The dorks are back with an episode, as the title says, inspired by some actual emails we got from actual listeners! Remember email? Wow! So we're starting with a Story Circle! It's been a while, so the Story Circle is where we pick a legendary creature to be the Commander and go around in a circle one by one and add cards to the deck until we have a tiny skeleton that could be built upon. It's a f...

The dorks return with a regular podcast episode! This week we're doing a Mythic Conscription, and the target is Torment! This was the first set that was heavily intentionally weighted towards one color, and at the expense of two others! How does that affect the rares and their possible Mythic-ness? Guess you'll have to listen to find out won't you? Come join us in the future! The show is live on T...

Because of a potential lack of Brian, we decided to do a Just Chatting stream instead of a proper podcast episode this week. We talk about Skyrim being rereleased AGAIN, a particularly vicious bout of hiccups that had after effects, and then Brian shows up, and we spent a few minutes trying to figure out what was up with his computer. Then we went into beat 'em up games and X-Men games, followed b...

The Mana Pool turned 14! We spend the first chunk of the episode looking back at where the world was, and where we were, waaaaay back in 2007. Turns out things were pretty okay back then. After that we dive back into Crimson Vow just to see if we missed anything else. There was a whole other planeswalker that was revealed in an email the day we recorded the last episode! Thank you all so much for...

Most of the dorks are back to look again at Crimson Vow! We're looking at Chandra's new finery, because of course her name inspired the name of this episode. For the rest of the episode we're bouncing around the CIG, trying to find good stuff. We'll cover most of the Cemetery cycle, sexy vampires (like seriously though), cards that have mechanics related to dancing, the moose wolf bear, an old fri...