The Dive Down

This week what's on the tin is in the show! We begin to dip back into Pio and cover the recent RCs in the EU and Canada, talk Modern Coffers and Scales, and finally chat a little about new cards from our imminent return to Ixalan. • LEC Lille Pioneer • Devon talks RCQs, Dave gets mathy • Cavern of Souls is back... but why? Become a citizen of The Dive Down Nation!: http://www.patreon.com/thedivedo...

We finally cast the new card in town and played a couple Up the Beanstalk decks in Modern and... Standard?! Plus some new Modern Prowess builds, and a recap of Stan's latest RCQ. Stan reached another top 8 finish in a Modern RCQ, and we recap his latest Rhino learning from the tournament. Then he keeps on casting free spells with a crazy Invasion of Alara Standard Cascade deck featuring Up the Bea...

President of the Narset fan club, George Jabbour, joins Stanislav to go over some tips to prep for the upcoming Modern RCQ season, a brand new sideboard guide tool, and why playing control is such a pain in the @$$. Stan and George are gearing up for some Modern RCQs this weekend, so they swap notes on how they prepare for competitive tournaments in any format. Plus, George talks about his brand n...

Hello Magical Friends! This week it's all about WOE and the new cards that are making an impact in Modern and Pioneer. Turns out that this return to Eldraine might actually be hiding a little bit of power in it after all. First, we dive into Modern. Devon's been running hot with Mono-Black Coffers lately — thanks in no small part to a chase mythic that's a perfect fit for the deck. We also spend s...

This week we talk about the history of Modern through the lens of the most important — and infamous — sets covering everything from Alara to Zendikar. Actually saying "from Alara to Zendikar" sounds less impressive than I hoped. Forget that. We start all the way back with 8th Edition and we at least mention nearly all the sets currently in Modern (well at least like... 60% of them). How did t...

The full set is finally spoiled and we're back with the definitive opinions on what's good, what's bad, and what's just neat. We spend a lot of time chatting about some adventuring otters, introduce a once Modern playable cantrip to Pioneer, and head up the beanstalk to draw some cards. • Adventure Awaits • Virtue is a Virtue Become a citizen of The Dive Down Nation!: http://www.patreon.com/thediv...

It's that most magical time once again — it's spoiler season! Join Dave, Devon, and Shane as they begin surveying the Wilds of Eldraine. We're looking for new Adventures, causes for Celebration, and to take on new... Roles? Ok that didn't work for long. This week we talk about the cards and concepts from Eldraine that seem like they could make an impact in Modern and Pioneer. But before we get to...

This week Shane and Stan are joined by returning guest Gabriel Maxson, aka SpiderSpace, to talk about the implications, impact, and potential uses of Preordain in Modern. Before that, we take a good look at the results from the NRD Detroit Modern $10k. How many copies of Preordain made the top 8? I guess we will never know.... The Break Down: NRG Detroit Results The Dive Down: SpiderSpace on Preor...

On this week's episode, we kick off with a round of B&R reactions, followed by a recap of the upcoming product roadmap including Modern Horizons 3. Then we take some Pro Tour decks for a spin to see what these so-called pros have been cooking up. Devon tells us about his experiences playing with Merfolk, Reanimator, and Samwise, Shane tries out some of the latest Tron builds, and Stan rams som...

This week Dave, Shane, and Stan go through the biggest things we learned from the Modern PT last week in Barcelona. It might feel like Rakdos and Tron led the story (and they did) but there's a lot of other things to be learned from what happened. What do we think about The One Ring's win rate? How many decks out of the top 80% of the meta had winning records? How much more can we talk about Rhino...

It's almost PT Barcelona time — and we're super excited to talk through the decks, meta, and how we think everything is going to shape up this weekend. Shane, Dave, and Devon (aka d00mwake) go through all of the changes to Modern since LOTR and what we think that means to Pros and to the rest of us. Once we get through a meta discussion, we decide to put pride on the line and do a fantasy dra...

This week the boyz go over the top with the biggest decks that have gotten buffs from the LOTR set. Control and big mana strategies have been strengthened by The One Ring, so we take a trio of the best of them out for a test drive. That's right, it's time for Shane to break out his (nearly) all Russian deck, Mono-Green Tron. But before we get to that Stan professes his love for Mono-Black Coffers...

On this week's show, we continue to track the impact of Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth on the Modern metagame with a detailed recap of tournaments all over the world and world wide web. We touch on the St. Louis NRG Team Trios, the Legacy European Tour Bologna event, and a bunch of Modern challenges. We look at which decks converted the best across tournaments, who's seeing the most cons...

This week we keep talking about THE PRECIOUSSSSs... because no one can stop putting this colorless 4-drop in their Modern decks. Dave and Devon go through at least 6 or 10 decks with the ring while Stan silently looks on and nods approvingly (he has no voice, yet he lent his energy and notes to this episode). Then we do a bit of a deep dive into how to think about playing against The One Ring — an...

We finally return to Modern!! Shane and Devon join forces to break down a bunch of tournaments from last weekend, including the NRG Chicagoland Modern $10k, a huge Japanese paper tournament, and some wild MTGO Challenges. After that, they look more closely at The One Ring (and some other cards) and how it's quickly changing the face of Modern. The Break Down: Mono-G Tron has legs in Chicago The Br...

Ryan Spain, now the Creative Director of Magic Online at Daybreak Games, returns to The Dive Down to talk about the transition of MTGO from WOTC to Daybreak, goals and hopes for the platform's future, and the realities of managing such monolithic software. We learn about how Magic card frames pose challenges for MTGO's file sizes, how two factor authorization was developed, and why MTGO still does...

This week Shane welcomes back two friends of the show — Devon O'Donnell (aka d00mwake) & Evart Moughton (aka aspiringspike) — to sub in for Dave and Stan and talk Post-RC Pioneer hype decks and where cards from Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth could find homes in Modern. That's right, two guests, two formats, and a whole lotta takes. Devon loves Evart's dogs. Evart loves The One R...

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth spoilers are in full swing, so we dive into a bunch of cards that could see play in existing Modern decks or even create some new ones. Plus we recap the results of the latest Pioneer Regional Championship in Dallas. We attempt to Press the Enemy and get a Stern Scolding. But we Forge Anew with some Orcish Bowmasters and a determined Frodo in the legend...

This week on The Dive Down we go deep on that deck that people can't stop talking about — Boros Convoke in Pioneer. Dave and Devon talk about the core strategy of the deck, the flex cards and why people use them, how to mull, what to keep, and matchups — the good, the bad, and the middle. Get ready for Devon to explain how his perceptions about some matchups have changed since he started playing t...

Stan and Shane combine forces to discuss the NRG Pioneer $10K in Minneapolis, and then give some hot takes about the changes to the B&R cadence and Standard's new 3-year rotation. What latest tech from March of the Machine (and it's Aftermath?) had an impact in Pioneer? And what do WOTC's changes mean for the future of our formats? Listen and find out! The Break Down: Hyrule via Knutsford The...

This week d00mwake joins Shane and Dave to go through a quick tour of the weirdness that happened in Modern and Pioneer MTG this week. We dive deep into the wild Modern Challenge on 5/13, a new + interesting deck d00mwake has been playing in Pioneer, and the somewhat surprising places new cards have appeared in the last few weeks. Dave declares his love for Sultai Shadow. Shane wonders if Ob Nixil...

This week it's time for... you guessed it... more card talk on The Dive Down. With Dave out, Stan and Shane do double duty with a look at the cards that stand tall in the Aftermath of MOM and ask the question: how many bulk rares do you have to sacrifice to despark a planeswalker? After that we take a quick trip to Middle Earth to talk about some tempting new information. Listen. Now. You've been...

We kick off the show with a chat about a ton of Modern data that's been collected since the Yorion ban, and review matchups for the top decks in the format. Then we dive into four new Pioneer decks d00mwake helped put together to keep experimenting with cards from March of the Machine. Stan takes another Elves deck through the grinder, but Gruul with dinosaurs? Devon then plays his own Gruul dino...

It's Sleeve Believe Heave week for new cards from March of the Machine. We play Modern and Pioneer with cards like Ancient Imperiosaur, Rona, Herald of Invasion, Fairie Mastermind, and more! The Break Down: Four Modern decks! The Dive Down: Some Pioneer decks too! Become a citizen of The Dive Down Nation!: http://www.patreon.com/thedivedown Show the world that you're a proud citizen of The Dive Do...

This week we get to look at the first paper Modern tournament featuring the new cards of March of Machines - the $20K Modern RCQ that took place in Richmond this past weekend. We go over the metagame, the performances, and the top 12 decks! Following that, d00mwake is back to talk to us about a bunch of brews he has for Pioneer, featuring some hot tech from MOM. Is Jeskai Ascendancy back? Is Invas...