The Mana Pool

Chewie, Mike, Brian, and Dirk have been talking about Magic: The Gathering on the internet for almost 10 years (at the time of this writing). Since there are so many shows about strategy and tournaments, these dorks focus on all the fun you can have with the game outside of that, from flavor to philosophy to game design to history to whatever else we can come up with. We're funny, we're serious about what we do, and we love it!

I hope you all recovered from the monster that was Episode 400, because it's time to get back to our normal work! Because of the bizarre timing of holidays, previews, and 400...we haven't actually looked at the new set yet. Our bad.

But all that changes now...once we're done talking about how Wizards is trying to fix some of their recent massive screw-ups in community goodwill. But after that we're hitting all the big flashy cards in Oath of the Gatewatch. Then a few others. Then the Expeditions. Then some final thoughts. Got it? Ready...BREAK!

LINKAGEJudge suspension update - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/learning-opportunities-2016-01-13Proxies discussion update - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/proxies-policy-and-communication-2016-01-14Oath of the Gatewatch Card Image Gallery - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/oathofthegatewatchAll the new Expeditions - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/never-wasted-holiday-2015-12-24

Support us on Patreon! - https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-401Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at [email protected]Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

Chewie, Mike, Brian, and Dirk have been talking about Magic: The Gathering on the internet for almost 10 years (at the time of this writing). Since there are so many shows about strategy and tournaments, these dorks focus on all the fun you can have with the game outside of that, from flavor to philosophy to game design to history to whatever else we can come up with. We're funny, we're serious about what we do, and we love it!

There's only one way to celebrate this massive milestone - but we couldn't rent an elephant. So instead we're bringing back a fan favorite - Exiled! Remember that? The deckbuilding competition loosely based on Food Network's show Chopped that Brian came up. Its only other appearance was on Episode 337 (the link is below) waaaaay back in September 2014. You should totally give it a listen first if you haven't heard it yet!

On this go-round, your host dorks are playing the role of the judges so that we can grab some guests to be contestants! We're joined by four suckers friends to go through four rounds of restrictive and insane deck construction. Those suckers friends are:

Bill Bloodworth (Squee) of Monday Night Magic & Enchant World - @SqueeGoblnNabobBryan Prillaman, recently (unjustly IMO) suspended L3 judge, of JudgeCast - @BryanPrillamanChris Lansdell, reformed podcast whore and writer for StarCityGames - @lansdelliciousAndrew Hunt, longtime TMP listener, enthusiastic deckbuilder, Kickstarter backer - @IdleCommenter

Everyone get ready, because this episode went for an hour for every hundred episodes! That's FOUR HOURS in case math & reading aren't your strong suit. Be sure to check out the links below for the stuff we talked about in the episode, including the TappedOut page for all the decks our suckers friends built! And thank you all so much for getting us all the way to the big 400! We couldn't have done it without you, and we love you all!

LINKAGE!The Exiled decks on TappedOut - http://tappedout.net/users/ExiledTheShow/deck-folders/Chris Lansdell's RW Soul Sisters Deck Tech - http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/deck_tech_rw_soul_sisters_with.htmlThe beginning of the Alien Bug Thing Saga, read on from here - https://twitter.com/TheManaPool/status/684033918463553536

Support us on Patreon! - https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-400Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at [email protected]Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

Chewie, Mike, Brian, and Dirk have been talking about Magic: The Gathering on the internet for almost 10 years (at the time of this writing). Since there are so many shows about strategy and tournaments, these dorks focus on all the fun you can have with the game outside of that, from flavor to philosophy to game design to history to whatever else we can come up with. We're funny, we're serious about what we do, and we love it!

We may be short one dork this week, but that's not gonna stop us! We're taking one of the (read: the only appropriate) Legendary creature from Battle for Zendikar and doing a Story Circle! And we end up with an awesome deck for our troubles!

But that's not all! After we're done with the Omnath deck with all its token-generating insanity, we decided to do a second Story Circle with a completely different flavor of token generation! Remember Endrek Sahr? Yay mono-black tokens!

Story Circle Decklists - http://themanapool.com/the-deck-box/storycircle399edh

Support us on Patreon! - https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-399Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at [email protected]Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

Chewie, Mike, Brian, and Dirk have been talking about Magic: The Gathering on the internet for almost 10 years (at the time of this writing). Since there are so many shows about strategy and tournaments, these dorks focus on all the fun you can have with the game outside of that, from flavor to philosophy to game design to history to whatever else we can come up with. We're funny, we're serious about what we do, and we love it!

There's only one thing going on in this episode, but there is seriously a lot of it! We're doing another Mythic Conscription, this time for a more recent example of the pendulum swinging back after a period of overpowered cards ruling Standard. So get to experience the lower power level but without the archaic design choices of the extremely old sets. Champions of Kamigawa was around the time when Wizards was starting towards the modern design philosophies that we currently know and love.

But because Kamigawa was printed during a time when we dorks were all playing together, we've got a LOT more to say about these rares. We've all got nostalgia goggles to see around, and some of them are just generally better than some stuff from older sets anyway. Let us know what you think would or wouldn't be mythic!

Support us on Patreon! - https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-398Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at [email protected]Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

Chewie, Mike, Brian, and Dirk have been talking about Magic: The Gathering on the internet for almost 10 years (at the time of this writing). Since there are so many shows about strategy and tournaments, these dorks focus on all the fun you can have with the game outside of that, from flavor to philosophy to game design to history to whatever else we can come up with. We're funny, we're serious about what we do, and we love it!

This episode begins with Brian and Mike regaling us with the tale of their adventures in the blighted, frozen wasteland of Atlanta. They went to GP Atlanta, in case you didn't know. Between the main event, side events, meeting some of you guys, and the prize wall they've got plenty to tell! Sealed, Draft, Commander, and even Legacy all come into play!

After that we're doing a segment we haven't seen in a good long while. It has gone by many names, but this time we're simply calling it a Flavor Fight! The Random Card button in Gatherer gave us 8 rare non-legendary contestants, and we pitch them against each other in a single elimination tournament! We're ignoring card stats and going right to the art and flavor of the card to determine the winner! These are always a lot of fun, so let us know what you think!

Support us on Patreon! - https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - The Trooper by The Protomen - http://www.protomen.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-397Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcastEmail us at [email protected]Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPoolLike us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPoolSubscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManaPoolAnd Google+ too: http://gplus.to/themanapoolCardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspxSubscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Wanna send us something? Let us know first, then ship it to:The Mana PoolPO Box 2257Kernersville, NC 27285

Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions