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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 consistent results among the format's top archetypes, interesting trends within online data, and how we rank the current Modern staples.
Timestamps:
Links from this week's episode:
Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?
email us: [email protected]
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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 — and try to create a roadmap for how to think about playing against format-warping cards in general. Finally, we talk quickly about a couple of non-Ring decks you can consider right now.
Rings Decks
Timestamps:
Links from this week's episode:
Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?
email us: [email protected]
Support The Dive Down
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
Timestamps:
Links from this week's episode:
Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?
email us: [email protected]
Support The Dive Down
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 doesn't exist on Macs.
Timestamps:
Links from this week's episode:
Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?
email us: [email protected]
Support The Dive Down
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 Ring. Shane registers quiet skepticism about all these hobbits.
• Devon & Evart's Wild Weekend
Timestamps:
Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?
email us: [email protected]
Support The Dive Down
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 legendary lands of Rivendell. After that we encounter the denizens of Khazad-dûm and Moira. Then Stan cracks a pack.
Timestamps:
Links from this week's episode:
Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?
email us: [email protected]
Support The Dive Down
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 the deck and for Dave to have an argument with ChatGPT about math. Finally, we talk about what's on Devon's mind as he gets ready for Dreamhack Dallas. It's all in a week on The Dive Down!
• Risky Keeps?
Timestamps:
Links from this week's episode:
Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?
email us: [email protected]
Support The Dive Down
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
Timestamps:
Links from this week's episode:
Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?
email us: [email protected]
Support The Dive Down
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 Nixilis is really a win more. Devon takes us through an interesting new Boros Tokens list he's been working on.
• Adventures in Pioneering
Timestamps:
Links from this week's episode:
Saturday 5/13 Modern Challenge
Modern Humans w/ Coppercoat Vanguard
Sunday 5/14 Modern Challenge
Coppercoat Vanguard in Pioneer
Rakdos Sacrifice w/ Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin
D00mwake's Boros Tokens
Mason Clarke's NeoSoulflayerTraxa
Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?
email us: [email protected]
Support The Dive Down
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 tempted.
• Some Aftermath
Timestamps:
Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name?
email us: [email protected]
Support The Dive Down
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