Hey everyone!  During the holidays, what better way to celebrate the season than by doing the last of the Old vs. New discussions!  And how appropriate that we did the "organized religion" guild for the holidays?  Actually, that's probably not terribly appropriate.  But either way, it's time for the Orzhov!  Sure the guild leader and the lieutenant are the same character for both discussions, but that's part of the fun!  Right?  Yeah, we'll call it fun.  Yeah black and white fun times!  What's black and white and...something...all over?  Yeah, I couldn't come up with anything when we recorded the episode either.  Anyway, enjoy it!

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - nope, all business this week

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-306
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It's been a long time since the four of us actually recorded an episode, so we've got a lot of ground to cover on this one.  First off, we have to apologize for the sound quality of the last episode.  And we know we screwed up how Vorel of the Hull Clade works.  Our bad.  We're allowed one major screw up every couple years, right?  Then Mike tells us about some drafting he's been doing.  After that there's a mess of news type stuff (the links are down there a little further of course).  Then we sorta screw around a bit, sharing some random non-Magic nonsense until the musical break.

After that, it's time for the good stuff.  As if you didn't know from the ridiculous title, this episode continues the Old vs. New: Ravnica Guilds with the Gruul Clans!  The discussions here were really good, and this might be our all-around closest Guild OVN yet.  Holy crap. 

No really, this was a great one.  Hope you guys enjoy!

Links!

Battle the Horde: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1372

This year's Holiday Card: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1380

MTG Merch: http://www.mtgmerch.com/

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - Hope Rides Again by The Protomen - http://www.protomen.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-305
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-305-a-seriously-gruuling-show-t971.html
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Since we didn't want to skip another week, we looked around and dug up an old episode we had in the can.  Originally recorded back in August (probably), this live episode is...a little weird.  For some reason, Audacity decided to ignore the usual desktop mic and listen to the crappy built-in mic on the laptop.  So because of that...it sorta sounds like we recorded it in a bathroom.  Sorry about that.  I'm pretty sure it's still perfectly serviceable, it's just not the usual glorious sound quality that you're used to.

As far as what's actually going on in this one, it's a live episode.  That means we're all sitting around playing some Magic!  We begin with a Commander Planechase game, and those are usually a blast.  Since it's been SO long since we recorded this, I couldn't tell you one way or the other.  After a quick musical break, we play a really quick and really filthy 60-card Archenemy game.  I mean it, it was awful.  Even Mike, who was the villain, felt bad about it afterwards.  So to make up for it we did another one.  This time Chewie was the bad guy, and it went a lot longer than the first one.  Not in a bad way, it was just a lot more fair.

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - Golbez, Clad in Darkness from Final Fantasy IV by Nobuo Uematsu - http://www.nobuouematsu.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-304
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-304-from-the-arcane-lavatory-live-t968.html
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You knew it was coming.  Deep down, you knew.  Once they announced the new Commander product, you even started asking for it.  As the decks were revealed, you even demanded it. 

Well who are we to ignore the pleas of our beloved fans?  So here we go.  The four of us gathered at Brian's house along with John, The Fifth One.  You might recognize him from some of our Prerelease Field Recordings, he's been there for a couple of them.  But we each grabbed an unedited Commander 2013 deck and commenced beating the holy living crap out of each other.  In an epic three hour game (and that's not counting the break for lunch in the middle) we traded haymakers, board wipes, and verbal barbs until only one dork stood victorious!

Which of the green decks did Dirk play?  Which of the dorks almost lost their temper and all interest in the game?  Who ended up winning the whole shebang?  Which of those was a trick question?  For answers to all of these and more, tune in to listen.  Don't worry, after the editing the game wasn't the full three hours. 

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - Shot Through the Heart by Bon Jovi - http://www.bonjovi.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-303
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-303-commander-shenanigans-2-command-harder-t965.html
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It's all Simic, all the time in this episode!  Well that's a slight exaggeration.  First we had to shoot the breeze, discussing the True-Name Nemesis, Grand Prix DC's imminent encroachment by Chewie, and the state of MTGCast.  But THEN, then it was the whole Simic thing.  Yeah, we've got another Old vs. New for you.  It turns out that Simic is pretty deep, so we spent a long freakin' time on this one.  Dirk even went off for a while.  A couple times.  No kidding.

But at this point I'm just taking up space so the post on the website doesn't look funny.  So we hope you enjoy all the turquoise glory!  Get it?  Blue and green?  Turquoise? Anybody?

My mom thinks I'm funny :p

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - No breaks, work to do!

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-302
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-302-what-s-with-the-elf-wizards-t964.html
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Chewie enjoyed asking people Three Questions at GP Charlotte so much that he decided to truck up to Pittsburgh and do it again! As always, Chewie's asking Three Questions to anyone willing to answer them, whether they're a listener, judge, pro player, innocent bystander, or just someone that catches his eye. 

The real purpose of this show, like most of the stuff Chewie does, is to entertain you, the listener.  Rather than asking the same old questions that everyone else does, he's looking to give you a slightly more off-the-wall look into these Magic players and judges and what-have-you by catching them off guard and putting them on the spot. 

This episode covers the Friday of GP Pittsburgh.  The event was sort of dead by the time Chewie got there, but after being filled with glorious Indian food he was more than willing to wander around and talk to people.  He got some of his tournament buddies, a mess of judges, the judge manager, G-Fabs, and even a whole Commander game full of Twitter folks like Norbert88 and Brainstorm Brewery's Jason Alt.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know what your answers would be!

Your host: Chewie
Twitter: @TheManaPool
Email: [email protected]

Mike and Brian kick off the episode by telling us all about the SCG Classic they went to last weekend.  Brian played a green-red deck, while Mike took his Maze's End construction. After that, Chewie joined them for a couple games of EDH.  Then we spend a bit of time discussing the Commander 2013 card that was TEARING UP the top tables at the Legacy AND Vintage Champs.  How completely random.

Then, because we are Dirkless, we can't do an Old vs. New for any of the guilds left that have green in them.  Or blue.  So we took to Boros!  We compare crap with awesome, amazing with fantastic, decent with okay, and pretty good with also pretty good.  Who won?  We don't remember, so you'll have to listen to find out!

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - The Show Must Go On by The Protomen - http://www.protomen.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-301
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-301-a-classic-and-boros-t963.html
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Well, here it is.  We've been at it virtually nonstop for six years.  We started 300 (plus) episodes ago in November of 2007 and haven't looked back.

And that's the reason for this episode!  We've actually never looked back, and that's ridiculous.  So this episode is all about the past.  It starts with a look back at the various firsts and notable things we've done, be it segments or popular episodes or whatever.  Then we've got to discuss all the various and sundry guests we've had on the show over the years (yes, all of them).  Almost a full third of our episodes have involved a guest host of some sort after all.  We finish it all up with the first actual look at our annual bizarre reality-twisting episodes.

We hope you guys enjoy this.  It's pretty light on Magic content, but it's loaded with plenty of fan service, nostalgia, and nonsense.  Thanks for everything!

Special thanks:
Tosus for the intro
K.I.L.R.O.Y. for the absconding
Sam for the adorability
Daniel Morgan (Beach) for the detective work assistance
The listeners for being awesome these last six years
The dorks for their time, their constant companionship, and all the fun for the last however many years

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - Don't Stop Me Now by The Protomen - http://www.protomen.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-300
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-300-the-six-year-retrospective-t962.html
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We are joined this episode by Uriah Oxford, the progenitor of the CMDR Decks video series!  Why?  Because he's awesome!  And because we have the entirety of the Commander 2013 decks to talk about!  But first, there's a bit of other news to discuss.  Mike and Brian have to tell us about their latest foray into FNM, or Standard, or drafting, or whatever.  It was all of the above mixed together.  Then there's a new Duel Decks and Magic Online Vintage Masters.

After that, we're off into Commander previews!  We're taking a hard look at each of the decks, checking out both the new awesome cards and the old awesome cards in each one.  And there are some seriously awesome cards here.  I mean holy crap.  But that's pretty much it for the rest of the episode, so we hope you enjoy!

Be sure to check out CMDR Decks!
Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/cmdrdecks
Twitter - @CMDRDecks
Email - [email protected]

Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1346
Vintage Masters - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/10212013/vintagemasters
Sheldon Menery's article about Uriah's Eight-and-a-Half-Tails deck - http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27184_Other-Peoples-Decks-Uriah-Oxfords-Eight-And-A-Half-Tails.html
Commander 2013 Card Image Gallery - http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/commander2013/cig#
Commander 2013 Decklists - http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/269c
Just the new cards, posted after we recorded - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1349

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - Bring Me to Life by Evanescence - http://www.evanescence.com/

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-299
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-299-commander-2013-with-cmdr-decks-t961.html
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As if you couldn't tell from the title, we're joined this episode by former Muse, former Gathering Magic writer, former Star City Games writer, current DailyMTG writer and longtime Mana Pool listener Bruce Richard!  Be sure you pronounce that all French-like, it turns out he's Canadian.  But don't hold that against him, he's still completely awesome! You can follow him on Twitter @manaburned

We begin the episode by getting Bruce to give us some background.  Who he is, where he came from, that sort of thing.  From there we dive right into Commander previews, because heaven forbid we have any freakin' time at all between preview seasons.  But at least these cards are pretty cool, if not a little wordy at times.

After an appropriate enough musical break, we've got a really fun Magic Mad Lib, followed by a brand new Story Circle!  We've gotta do a Commander-style Story Circle with one of these new legendary dudes, and if you were listening closely to the previews I'm pretty sure you'll be able to figure out which one.  If you want to see the full list we came up with, just click here: http://themanapool.com/the-deck-box/storycircle298edh/

Bruce's many, many archives:
StarCitygames:  http://www.starcitygames.com/tags/BruceRichard/2000-01-01/2013-10-17
Muse Vessel:  http://musevessel.wordpress.com/category/windborn-musings/
GatheringMagic:  http://www.gatheringmagic.com/author/BruceRichard/
Dailymtg.com:  http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Archive.aspx?author=Bruce%20Richard

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - Map of the Problematique by Muse - http://muse.mu/

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-298
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-298-serious-fun-with-bruce-richard-t957.html
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