The Mana Pool

First we have to resurrect Squanto, since Vegas worked him to death. From there, the episode takes off and never really stops. Squanto, Mike, Brian, and I discuss the differences between the three major types of Magic decks: Aggro, Control, and Combo. At great length. No really, we're really pretty thorough. Pros, cons, examples, rantings, ravings, questions, arguments. Pretty much everything except the kitchen sink and a shotgun blast.

Then we introduce a new segment to the show, Out of the Deck Box (possibly to be renamed later), where one of us dorks just picks a deck from his casual collection and talks about it. Since this was my idea, I started it up with my oldest surviving deck idea and one of my all-time favorites to play. I simply call it the Graveyard Deck. Here's the list:

Creatures

4 Nether Shadow

4 Ashen Ghoul

4 Nether Traitor

4 Abyssal Gatekeeper

2 Phyrexian Plaguelord

1 each of the following:

Ascendant Evincar; Mortivore; Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder; Havoc Demon; Patron of the Nezumi; Braids, Cabal Minion; Magus of the Abyss; Woebringer Demon; Dross Harvester; Liege of the Pit; Devouring Strossus; Hell's Caretaker; Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper

Spells

4 Buried Alive

2 Dread Return

1 each of the following:

Recurring Nightmare; Attrition; Death Pit Offering; Hecatomb;

Land

2 Cabal Coffers

1 Phyrexian Tower

19 Swamp

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/viewtopic.php?t=118

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February is Classical Music Month here on The Mana Pool!

Opening music: Hallelujah chorus from Messiah by Handel

Closing music: Mars, Bringer of War from The Planets by Gustav Holst

On this episode, the whole dorky crew goes over what they played at the Morningtide Prerelease and how it went for them. We cover our single Sealed flight experience, then how Two-Headed Giant treated us. Spoiler: It stomped us. Hard. Of course, then we just had to talk about some of the other stuff going on at the tournament, but that's nothing worth mentioning in the show notes. Except that we were basically accused of cheating before the tournament even started. How's that? Listen and find out!

We couldn't let the new set come out without mentioning how some of the new cards in the set work with cards from previous sets, of course. Here are the quick combos we came up with.

Everbark Shaman and Battlewand Oak

Slithermuse and Stormbind

Spitebellows and Momentary Blink

Veteran's Armanents and Militia's Pride

Maralen of the Mornsong and Aven Mindcensor

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Opening and closing music: Storm Warning by Ill Mic

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You know, we do 13 cards and we go to right around an hour. This time we only had 5 cards, so how long did we go? Right around an hour. In this episode, we discuss, at great length, some of the things you can do with the 5 preview cards that have popped up since the last episode. We actually came up with some doozies this time, let us know what you think. There's also Brian's Prerelease article thing that he's doing, where you guys tell us all about your Prerelease experience. The deck you played, how you did, what you thought, whatever you can think of. Brian will sift through all this and pick out some favorites, then use those to write an article for Cardshark about the Prerelease as a whole. Email all that to us or post them in the Prerelease thread here:

http://cardshark.freeforums.org/viewtopic.php?t=105

We also take a fair amount of time to discuss the Prerelease experience, so if you're thinking about going, be sure to listen closely. Also check out my Prerelease Survival Guide, located on the home page of Cardshark. We also go into a few topics that we've had to put on the backburner due to Morningtide previews, but they'll all be coming up sometime soon. This is the last of the preview Not-Quickies, so next week we'll be back to the random stuff that we come up with off the tops of our heads, exclusive to the Mana Pool.

Big shoutout to wolfstalker for helping us spread the word!

Forum thread for this episode here: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/viewtopic.php?t=107

Morningtide Card Preview Archive: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/morningtide/preview

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Wow. We've done this for 10 episodes now. That's pretty crazy. Seems like only a couple months ago we got this whole thing started...

Oh wait, I guess that's when it was. Never mind then. Mike, Brian, Squanto and I (da Chewie, of course) discuss the 13 new Morningtide preview cards to come out since our last look. This was supposed to be a quickie episode, but with 13 cards to talk about, we're lucky to fit it to within an hour (PROTIP: We just missed it).

Also in this episode is the second mention of Brian's Prerelease article thing. We want you, the listeners, to hit us with your Prerelease experiences. Give us decklists, records, stories, whatever you can come up with. You can post them here on the forums in the Prerelease thread (not made yet) or you can email them to us. However you want to do it is fine with us. Brian will sift through the stuff, pick out some favorites, and incorporate that into his big Prerelease article that he'll write for Cardshark.

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In this episode Squanto, Mike, Brian, Dirk and I (da Chewie!) take on the issue of proxies. When is it okay to use proxies? When is it not okay? And what should you do when confronted with someone using proxies? And what about using your foil lands in place of normal lands at a Limited event? We tackle these hot-button issues right here in the Mana Pool.

Next up we hit even more Morningtide preview cards on the official Wizards Morningtide previewed card archive. Not content with the 16 we covered in episode 6, we discuss 12 more cards that have popped up since that episode was recorded.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/morningtide/preview

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Opening and closing music: Lovesick by Swift

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It's the Best of 2007 show for the Mana Pool! Squanto, Brian, Dirk and I (da Chewie!) discuss all the best things to come out of the Mana Pool in 2007. This includes but is not limited to the Best Single Card We Never Got Around To Discussing, the Thousand-Year Elixir. We go over the Chris Millar article that discusses the Elixir, and talk about Brian's experiences both with and against it. Here's the article:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/cm99

Then comes the part everyone wants to hear, the Morningtide preview cards. Wizards is doing something new this time around by having all the cards officially previewed in magazines and various other places listed in one spot. At the time of this recording there were 16 cards here, but there are definitely more already, so go check it out. We're going to cover anything that has come up since this episode next time, so stay tuned. Here's the link:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/morningtide/preview

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Opening and closing music: Slave by Social Outcast u.b.

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Then Mike poses a question about playing in multiplayer. What if you have a guy who just plays one deck all the time? Not one semi-decent deck because it's all he has, but one seriously overpowered infinite combo mill-you-all-for-your-entire-library deck? We discuss a few options for what to do about this guy, and not all of them are nice. Then it sort of turns into a semi-intervention. Then we finish with my favorite Swift song of all time.

Big shoutout to Piroflameboy on the forums! You're officially our first fan! Thanks muchly, yo!

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Opening music: Swell Guy by Swift

Closing music: The Guatemalan by Swift

Check Swift out at http://www.swift-band.com

Note: This episode was recorded the night before Rosewater's article "What Do You Know, Part II", but due to technical difficulties and time constraints, it was not posted before the article came out.

The rotating cast of dorks keeps on spinning. Joining me again this episode is Mike, our resident rules guru and all-around Mike kinda guy. The latest edition to the cast joins me as well. That's Thomas, who is Mike's brother and freshly bearded.

First on the agenda is a price comparison. We compare all the Future Sight and Lorwyn rare dual lands at Cardshark and at our unnamed-yet-really-well-known competitor. Spoiler alert: Cardshark is really a lot cheaper. No kidding.

Next up, we discuss how the Time Spiral block and 10th Edition managed to sneak members of the Lorwyn tribes in under a big sheet that said "Nostalgia?. No really, did anyone really expect anything when they timeshifted Verdeloth the Ancient or Lord of Atlantis? Of course not, you just thought it was a nod to the old-school. What about Merfolk Looter and Siege-Gang Commander in 10th Edition? Didn't notice that either, did you? We touch on lots of these cards and how they fit into Lorwyn's race-based tribes.

And before anyone gets lost in all the hype surrounding the races of Lorwyn, we talk about how the classes of Lorwyn can matter too. Do you have a Soldier deck that needs some attention? Militia's Pride doesn't need Kithkin to work well, and neither does the Kinsbaile Balloonist. Veteran of the Depths works wonders with the Catapult Squads and Catapult Masters in my Soldier deck, and there's not a single other Merfolk in there. Just some food for thought about a few of the classes that are prevalent in Lorwyn and how they could fit into your class-based tribal decks.

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Opening music: Whack It by Swift

Closing music: Enjoy the Silence by Swift

Check Swift out at http://www.swift-band.com

Welcome to The Mana Pool. Come on in, the water's fine. I'm Chewie, as always. Joining me today:Squanto - n00b, American Indian, and head writer for the showDirk - still the greenest player alive, and casual player extraordinaireMike - our resident rules guru and all around Magic know-it-all (but in a good way)In this episode, we revisit last episode's Clash deck and discuss how it performed and how we could possibly improve it. Spoiler alert - It went 2-6 and needs some card draw BADLY.Then we let Squanto throw random cards from Lorwyn at us and see what we come up with for them. Being a n00b and also a sponge for Magic knowledge (luckily his pants are not square in the least) he picked out some artifacts and enchantments from the new set that interested him and decided to ask us some questions about each one. In the order we tackled them - Zephyr Net, Faerie Tauntings, Deathrender, Rings of Brighthearth, and Runed Stalactite.And at the end we take a quick and impromptu look at the new boxed set, Duel Decks: Elves vs. Goblins. It looks pretty cool.Email me at [email protected] me an article at [email protected] located at http://cardshark.freeforums.orgCardshark located at http://www.cardshark.comOpening music: Perhaps by SwiftClosing music: Feminine by SwiftCheck Swift out at http://www.swift-band.com