This week is a bit of a strange one.  We're short one Lead Rambler, so there's (supposedly) a lot less talking going on.  We're also running out of server space on our hosting site, because Chewie's a big idiot.  Don't worry, all is well now - until he screws it up again.  The way we fixed it, oddly enough, was to record this episode.  With space running low, we realized that the best way to fix it would be to record a really short one at a slightly lower quality and then remember to make all episodes from here out slightly lower quality so they don't take up all the server space.  Duh.

So with those two things, this episode is just some news and nonsense. We talk about the Introduction to Grand Prix video that the Walk the Planes guys did.  Well, Chewie talked about it.  You should totally go watch it, it's awesome.  Then we hit the Sorin vs. Tibalt decklists and You Make the Card 4, along with a quick jaunt down memory lane for the last three YMTC cards.

And of course there's discussion of addictions (Chewie's playing Skyrim now), pregnancies (Dirk's wife is SOOOO pregnant), and assorted other nonsense.  Of course, what strange episode would be complete without a look a little too deeply into Chewie's personal life?  By the way, the Old Man is awesome.  Like damn.


Intro to GPs vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiakR7NgtF0
Sorin vs. Tibalt: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/237b
You Make the Card 4: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/238



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

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Wow, is this really the first episode we've recorded since GP Charlotte?  In that case, we'll spend a few minutes looking back at the GP.  We also discuss the whole Cockatrice thing for a couple minutes.  Brian points out that what you should be doing is don't be moving.  There's fake new babies, a list of accomplishments (Mike is a failure, sadly) and the admission that we're all tired.  Like really tired.

But then we get into Dirk's episode topic!  Each dork get a planeswalker created for them by the other three dorks!  We take personality, play style, and whatever else we can think of into account when doing this.  Then we look at the 'walker from a flavor perspective, trying to figure out who their planeswalker allies and enemies would be, and figure out what planes they might want to frequent.  It's a lot of fun and actually, we ended up with some pretty good ones.  In fact, if you'd like to see them, you should head on over to this episode's post on TheManaPool.com.  The link is right down there.

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - Stronger Enough (Kelly Clarkson vs. Michael Jackson) by DJ Lobsterdust - http://djlobsterdust.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-270
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So here it is, the long-awaited Grand Prix Charlotte episode!  Chewie is there with the digital recorder, capturing everything just after it happens!  Mike, Brian, Bill (@SqueeGoblnNabob) and JT (@NerdPop140) are basically always nearby, and Jonathan Harvell, Kevin Baldwin (@TaureanMauler) & his lovely wife Angie, and Lyall Alfred (@NewSpectrum) make guest appearances whenever they're nearby.  We talk about our records, the decks we're playing, the people we've met, the Goldrush, funny stuff, stupid stuff, how hungry we are, how tired we are, and how AWESOME the whole thing is!

There are also a few special cameos, most notably Mike Flores (@fivewithflores), Adam Styborski (@the_Stybs), and...you know what? It's really late and I can't remember who was on this show and who was just on the MTGCast part.  So you'll just have to listen to find out all this stuff.  HA!

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music 1 - Dare by Stan Bush - http://stanbush.com/
Break Music 2 - The Touch by Stan Bush

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-269
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On this episode, of course we're gonna talk about From the Vault: Twenty.  I mean, duh.  Then we go on into more esoteric topics.  A listener known as Andrew Hunt (Magnor Criol on the forums) supplied us with six 60-card casual decks to talk about.  And we do.  At great length.  These are really pretty cool.  We go over each one, poking at the pros and cons, bouncing potential modifications off of each other, stuff like that.  The links to the TappedOut pages are below.

Then we have a slight interruption.  Jeremey Schofield (@J_Schofield) pops in to try to get money out of you!  Not for himself, but for Chewie!  Jeremey has spearheaded an operation to get Chewie a plane ticket to Grand Prix Las Vegas in June.  If you remember, GP Vegas is going to be Modern Masters Limited, which is most likely going to be completely amazing.  The GP itself is shaping up to be one of the biggest ever.  So if you'd like to chip in and help, all you have to do is click here: http://www.gofundme.com/2309p0

*Chewie note: By the time this was ready to be posted, we had already reached the goal of $500!  But if you still want to send in more, go right ahead.  Any excess funds will be split between beefing up the prize pool for the raffle-type thing he's doing and the rest will be donated to the MTGCast Network to keep it up and running.  Pretty cool huh?

Here are the decks in the order that we talked about them, feel free to follow along:

Shaper's Madness - http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/shapers-madness/
Consumerism - http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/consumerism/
Gloryscale Multifun - http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gloryscale-multifun/
Pointed - http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/pointed/
Infinite Murkfiend - http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/infinite-murkfiend/
A Draining Experience - http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/a-draining-experience/

From the Vault: Twenty - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1171

Be sure to check out the Cardshark 12 Year Anniversary Promotion!

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Intro by Tosus!
Break Music - Top Gun Anthem by Harold Faltermeyer and Steve Stevens (NES version arranged by Kyouhei Sada, Kazuki Muraoka, Kouji Murata, Unknown, courtesy of http://www.vgmpf.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-268
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Wow, we talked about a LOT of stuff this week.  We handled lots of it in quickfire, lightning-round fashion and you can find the links for those down there after these paragraphs.  Doing the live episode from the Prerelease and having Prillaman on one week means we missed a fair amount of news.  So even though it's not really news anymore, we still decided to weigh in with our opinions.  Yay opinions!

What does YOUR favorite guild-flavored floss taste like?

The main topic, however, is something new.  Yes, after more than five years of podcasting about Magic, Brian has managed to come up with something we've never talked about before.  We're all very proud of him.

I suppose I should tell you what that is.  There are a lot of cycles in Gatecrash.  Hey, there are a lot of cycles in every Magic set.  But outside of those cycles, there are a lot of really cool cards that stand alone.  Well this episode, we decided to take a look at those noncycled (uncyclic?) cards and imagine what they would look like as part of a cycle.  From Giant Vacuum to...well I'm sure we named some more, we made up some cycles that just seemed to work.  Or that sounded like fun.  Or that were completely ridiculous.  Whatever it was, we were all over it.  And it led to some fun and interesting discussions too, so we hope you guys enjoy it!

Be sure to check out the Cardshark 12 Year Anniversary Promotion!

B&R update: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/232
Extort in Commander: http://mtgcommander.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15321
Dragon's Maze buy-a-box is Render Silent: http://www.wizards.com/ContentResources/Wizards/Sales/Solicitations/2013_02_04_DGMBAB_Solicitation_en_US.pdf
DGM prerelease stuff: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1156
Guild letters: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1165

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - The Case for Mars from the Symphony of Science - http://symphonyofscience.com/

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-267
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We're joined this episode by none other than Bryan Prillaman, one of our favorite dorks.  You know, the mossy guy formerly on Avant-Card Show and now JudgeCast.  We really love that guy.  And our own Brian got sick and died, so we had to find a replacement at the last minute.  And since it was last minute, this episode is all over the place.  We did cover a few important things though, so let's list those:

-Missed triggers policy update: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/233
-Gatecrash Event Decks: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1161
-Gatecrash Intro Packs: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1152

Yeah, that's all the important stuff.  Now for some unimportant stuff that you will be far FAR more likely to remember:

-Children are plague factories
-Judge tag
-The baby on the meat hook twitched
-Condescending Charm, coming in Dragon's Maze

Man I've missed Prillaman.  Check out the picture for this post on the website, it's him.  Man he's a goober.

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - Psychosocial Baby by Isosine (Mashup of Slipknot's "Psychosocial" and Justin Bieber's "Baby")

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-266
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Yes you read that correctly!  The dorks venture forth into the long dark of Lucky's Card Shop in Greensboro NC to bring you field reports straight from the Prerelease!  Actually it's quite well-lit in there, but that wouldn't have sounded anywhere near as cool.  But yes, Chewie brought his Tascam DR-08 recorder with him to catalogue everything we did while we were there.  Well, maybe not everything.  I mean, he didn't take it to the bathroom or to McDonald's with him.  Okay he did, but he didn't use it at those two places.

Anyway, Prerelease.  With a Simic, an Orzhov, and two Boros players in our crew, somebody was probably going to do well.  And they did, but you'll have to listen to find out who and how good.  Or just, you know, pay attention to the forums and Twitter and stuff.  Whatever.  We discussed how rounds went, talked to other players, got a few good stories, and had an all-around good time.  So give it a listen and let us know what you think, since this is the first time we've done this.

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - various NES soundbites courtesy of The Videogame Music Preservation Foundation - http://vgmpf.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-265
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We are joined this episode by a VERY special guest, Graham Stark from LoadingReadyRun!  Graham, who is a very funny fellow it turns out, hangs out with us for the first half of the episode.  We talk about what LRR is, Magic, having a real job, drafting, Magic, Gatecrash, Guilds, and more Magic.  Probably some other stuff too, it's been a while since we actually recorded this one.

After Graham takes his leave of us so he can go be funny on camera and stuff (definitely a rough life), we turn our sights to the full Gatecrash set.  We take a look at some cycles that have been revealed or fully fleshed out, check out some reprints, hit the last of the mythics, and generally just go over anything that looks cool.  We hope you enjoy!


Follow Graham on Twitter: @Graham_LRR

Check out LoadingReadyRun at.... http://www.loadingreadyrun.com

Watch the Friday Nights series: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/936

Gatecrash full set: http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/gatecrash/cig#

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - Airbase by Anamanaguchi - http://anamanaguchi.com

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This episode had a great many possible titles to pick from.  Here are two of the ones I didn't choose:  Five Alarm Fire, How Much Mustard Did They Have?  And that's why I love this game.

We're joined this week by our old friend Bill Bloodworth, who is Kurai_Seraphim on the forums and @SqueeGoblnNabob on Twitter.  It's almost a tradition to have him here with us when preview season hits, so why change things now?  We talked a little bit about the GTC Event Decks (there's only a little bit of info, after all), and a fair amount about the tokens in Gatecrash.  And from there, it was all spoilers.  Yeah, there were a lot.  So...we hope you enjoy!


Gatecrash Spoilers
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/gatecrash/cig

Gatecrash Event Decks
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1146

Gatecrash Tokens
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1147
 
 
 
Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - Lap Dancing Lady by Tony Ferrino

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This episode we are joined by none other than Dr. Science himself, Cluze!  He did a Magic Mad Lib with us, which is always fun.  Before that, we talked about a bunch of announcements and news and stuff.  No really, look at all these announcements and news and stuff we talked about!  Well, the links are down there somewhere.  I'm sure you'll find them.

Then we hit the Gatecrash previews, of course.  That's why you're all here, after all.  And we went on about them.  And on.  And then on some more.  Holy crap, the second part of this episode was as long as a normal episode!  But we were definitely thorough, and took at least a glance at everything that had been spoiled up to that time.  So sit back, enjoy, and let us know what you thought.

Follow Cluze on Twitter @lacluyze - he's a pretty cool guy.  Then go listen to him over at Card Advantage while you're at it.

Magic 2014
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1141

Fan Kits
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1142

Duels 2013 Deck Pack 3
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1143

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftband
Break Music - The Black Gate (from Return of the King) by Howard Shore - http://www.howardshore.com/

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-262
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