The Mana Pool

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/swiftbandBreak Music - The Show Must Go On by The Protomen - http://www.protomen.comThis 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 Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

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 introK.I.L.R.O.Y. for the abscondingSam for the adorabilityDaniel Morgan (Beach) for the detective work assistanceThe listeners for being awesome these last six yearsThe 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/swiftbandBreak Music - Don't Stop Me Now by The Protomen - http://www.protomen.comThis 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 Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

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/cmdrdecksTwitter - @CMDRDecksEmail - [email protected]

Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1346Vintage Masters - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/10212013/vintagemastersSheldon 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.htmlCommander 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/269cJust 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/swiftbandBreak 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 Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

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/swiftbandBreak 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 Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

It's time for another edition of Old vs. New on The Mana Pool! Finishing up the guilds in Return to Ravnica, we're hitting the old Azorius guild this time around. How do the various Isperias stack up against each other? Well they don't, because they don't go in the same category! Yeah, Chewie didn't know any better either. This one actually gave us some of our closest matches ever, along with some of our most one-sided. Yeah, the Azorius are pretty hardcore.

Also, we were short one Dirk due to his grab school work again. But rather than bring in a couple of suckers...I mean guest hosts, to replace him, we just soldiered on without him. There was a bit of talk about Mike's Launch experience, a rules update, and the usual nonsense. Hope you all enjoy!

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who - http://thewho.comThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-297 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-297-peacekeepers-lawmakers-t955.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Sadly this episode we are one Dirk short of a full cast due to grad school holding him down and beating him. But to replace him, we brought along two guest hosts! We have a half-Dirk veteran, our old buddy Bill Bloodworth (@SqueeGoblnNabob) joining us again! And the other half of Dirk is our buddy from GP Charlotte and GP Pittsburgh, JT Kohnen (@NerdPop140)! You know and love him as CyberPunkOtaku01 on the forums.

So what were we actually talking about this episode? Well of course the Prerelease results were the first thing. Everyone but Chewie is here to tell you all about how they did and what they played. Chewie missed his first Prerelease in no one knows how long, but at least Brian's sealed pool still thinks it's a Ravnica block.

After that, we had to talk about all the cards that are rotating out of Standard. It's not something that we usually talk about, but it's a tradition here on The Mana Pool! Every rotation we rant and rave about all the crap we don't have to hear about any more, and it's great! Since Bill and JT pay attention to Standard, and Mike and Brian do too, it's a really good discussion.

A moment of silence please for JT's Deadeye Navigator deck. It will be missed.

JT's NerdPop blog: http://nerdpopularity.blogspot.com/

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - We Don't Need Another Hero by Tina Turner - http://www.tinaturnerofficial.com/This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-296 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-296-standard-rotation-halfa-dirka-piece-t954.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

All the dorks are present and accounted for this episode, as we cover the entire Theros set! As usual, we jump around kind of haphazardly to discuss any and all of the cards that catch our fancy. There's really nothing else to say, so now I'm just filling space on the website. How are you doing? Everything okay? Did you remember to eat? You should probably do that. Also, have you called your mom lately? I bet she'd love to hear from you. And you. No, not you, that other guy. You. Take off that silly ass hat. Seriously man.

Theros Card Image Gallery: http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/theros/cig

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - My Hero by Foo Fighters - http://www.foofighters.comThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-295 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-295-the-full-theros-t953.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

We're joined this week by Tom Delia, formerly of the now-defunct MTG Radio podcast, current streaming guy on TwitchTV, and member of this year's winning Community Cup team!

After talking a bit with Tom, which is only fair because he's on the show and all, we jump right into the previews! And goodness knows there are lots. And lots. And we didn't even get them all. Seriously. But anyway, enjoy our ranting about new cards!

Theros Card Image Gallery: http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/theros/cig

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - Hero of the Day by Metallica - http://www.metallica.comThis episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-294 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-294-theros-spoilers-with-mtg-radio-t952.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Preview season is alive and well here on The Mana Pool! Since we're short one Mike, we decided to draft one of our oldest young listeners, Ben Ahrendt! He's been around for almost as long as we have! You can follow him on Twitter @Panahinuva.

But there's really nothing else going on, so here's the link to the Card Image Gallery: http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/theros/cig

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - Heroes by The Wallflowers - http://www.thewallflowers.com/This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-293 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-293-theros-spoilers-with-the-final-boss-t951.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Hey look, there's a small handful of Theros previews out already! And then an Izzet Old vs. New. Izzet Old vs. New? Yes, yes it is! Look, these are the jokes, get used to them. But we didn't do it that many times. I don't think. Anyway, we did those two things. We also took a look at Mark Rosewater's State of Design column and the Theros teasers contained within. That was pretty much it. It was a lot of fun though, so I hope everyone enjoys it!

Theros Intro Pack Rares - http://wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1307Mark Rosewater's State of Design column with Theros teasers - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/262

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.myspace.com/swiftbandBreak Music - Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler - http://www.bonnietyler.com/This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-292 Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-292-izzet-theros-time-already-t950.html Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool