Hello again, and welcome to episode 86 of the Mana Pool!  Brian here, as your on-duty lifeguard for this episode.  Please make sure that your life vests are securely fastened and your diving boards are locked in their upright positions, because today we’re going to hit the rapids.  We should reiterate that The Mana Pool is not responsible for any lost or damaged items, limbs, or personality traits.

We open up with the usual formalities, including being Dirkless yet again, and shouting out to new members on the forums and the Facebook page.  We are also now on Twitter, so check out the new link at the bottom of these notes and follow us as we go about our (normal?) lives.  We’ve got some updates on Chewie’s upcoming match against the Avant-Card Show podcast, which has changed somewhat.  You can still find them at http://www.avantcardshow.com

At this point we embark on a long rant regarding pro players, casual players, new players, skill levels, stereotypes, and common misconceptions.  This is kind of an offshoot of last week’s thorny topic of the M10 rules changes, more regarding how others have reacted to the changes and what their discussions have said about them as players and theorists.  Regardless of whether you’ve been playing for 20 minutes or 20 years (how’d you manage that, anyway?), you’ll hopefully find this rant/discussion/ramble interesting.

Don’t get caught up here, though, because we’ve got a ways to go.  Allied and enemy color pairings, favorite cards, crazy situations, and untold wit abound.  Duels of the Planeswalkers on your right, rocky patches on your left, and an introduction to our Divine vs. Demonic series straight ahead stand between you and the shore.  Should you reach the end of this expedition, make sure to tip your dorks and come back soon!

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode86-a-truly-astonishing-amount-of-random-magic-musings-t353.html
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