Hello again, and welcome to the show notes! This is Mike, filling in for Chewie because he's out of town at MAGFest, having a nice time and being a generally all-around lucky jerk.

We were all feeling kind of wiped out by our various goings-on, but we kicked things off in the usual way: random banter and listener emails. After that, we decided to take a look at the Mirrodin Besieged Mechanics article Wizards posted earlier in the week, which previewed a number of very interesting cards from the upcoming set.

And finally, FINALLY, we get around to the mysterious topic that we keep mentioning having to put off because of time issues. Was it all worth it? Actually, that's kind of what the topic is about.

Thank you all for reading, and go listen to some dorks!


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com

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Hello everyone!  Chewie here.  Welcome to 2011!  We kick this thing off with some listener mail, some of which we've had since last year (sorry about that).  Then there's a fair amount of other stuff to touch on, but nothing important enough to put in the show notes.  Moving on!

I got a copy of Stowaway from Cardshark for us to review a few weeks ago, and we finally got to get together and play!  The full review is in the episode, but it's a lot of fun and I think it's well worth the small investment if you enjoy playing card games.  You can check it out right here:
http://www.cardshark.com/stowaway

Then we've got the last color in the Core Set: Mana Pool Edition, and that color is Green.  I know you're all really waiting to hear what Dirk had to say, so we made him go last in each category.  Ha!  So sit back, take a listen, and enjoy all of what 2011 has to offer.


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com

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For hitting 150 episodes and/or 3 years of being on the air, our old buddy Jungle Rat Rob of The Retro League podcast has put together another one of his awesome audio montages, spliced together with Praise You by Fatboy Slim.  Lots of these clips came from our guest host episodes, so keep an eye out for some voices from other podcasts, including the Avant-Card Show, MTG Radio, and possibly even Rob himself.  There may or may not even be other voices on here somewhere, I'm not entirely sure.

As always, Rob has managed to capture the essence of the show's appeal.  I really believe that people listen to us because we remind them of their own group of friends.  We try to make each other laugh while we're sitting around talking about Magic.  I think everyone can relate to that, because anyone listening to this show probably does that on a regular basis.  Much like our podcast, there is very little actual Magic content here, so it's appropriate.  It really seems like I spend a lot of time giggling, doesn't it?  Thanks again to Rob for the most excellent hilarity, we appreciate it as always!

Just made it in before 2011!  On this episode we take a look at some listener mail, check out how Worlds ended this year (complete with a quick look at some of the decks in the Top 8), take a look at the nonsense surrounding the next two Magic expansions, and talk about the recent rules changes to EDH (or Commander if you prefer). 

Then we have the Black installment of the Core Set: Mana Pool Edition.  This time we have 6 staples from my favorite color!  I've typed about this several times before, so if you have no idea what I'm talking about, check the last few episodes.  I hope you guys enjoy it, and we'll see you again next year!


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Brinstar from Metroid by Hirokazu Tanaka - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirokazu_Tanaka

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-158-the-last-show-of-2010-t617.html
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Just in time for Christmas, it's a late episode!  Sweet!  This episode has a lot of stuff going on, starting with emails covering everything from subliminal messages to holiday habits. Then we have news, which is really not news anymore but it's our take on these news items.  We've got the big Commander announcement, some decks from the Star City Invitational, and a quick rant about Tomoharu Saito's non-induction to the Hall of Fame and how little Wizards said about it.

Then there's a brief musical interlude and we go right back into Core Set: Mana Pool Edition.  In case you don't remember, Brian came up with this idea a while back.  For each color, he came up with six things that each color always does all the time, which I refer to as "staples".  Then each of us took this list of staples and found cards to fit them.  The catch is that each card we choose must be one that has never been printed in a Core Set.  Easy, right?  Well this time we're taking on Blue, and we've got lots of interesting choices.  Let us know what you think or what you'd throw in a Core Set.


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Zeromus by The Black Mages - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Mages

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-157-blue-with-a-splash-of-news-t615.html
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Other than the random technical issues that caused us to start late, caused Mike to sound funny this entire episode, and caused Brian to be muted for most of the episode, it went off without a hitch!  We went over a mess of emails, then did the White section of Brian's Core Set: Mana Pool Edition.  And to go along with the White section of that, Brian requested an Out of the Deck Box for Mike's mono-green mana ramp deck.

Yeah, it made no sense to us either.  Check the forum post for this episode for the deck list as usual.  Hope you guys enjoy!


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-156-white-with-a-splash-of-green-t614.html
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.libsyn.com
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What's that?  A live episode?  Where did this come from?  Well honestly it came from Brian's house, but that's not important.  Due to a lack of Dirk during this episode's recording, Brian decided Mike and I should roll over there to play his newly-bought Scars of Mirrodin Intro Packs.  He had Myr of Mirrodin, Metalcraft, and Phyrexian Poison.  We played a three-man game, then traded decks and did it again, then traded again and did it one more time.  It was a lot of fun, and you'll get to hear some of our usual nonsense, including me trying to coax Brian's wife to actually say something on the air.  Spoiler alert - it doesn't work.

If you want to know what's in the decks, check here:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/547


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-155-scars-intro-packs-live-t611.html
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.libsyn.com
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Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/themanapool
Visit Cardshark! http://www.cardshark.com
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Moo.

After beginning with a study into arcane languages and comic strips, we're gonna set this thing on FIRE!  We'll take a look at a few of the new products Wizards has in store, the Magic Online Deck Series: Legacy and the Premium Deck Series: Fire & Lightning, then move into Brian's new idea for a segment.  There's no official name, so I'm going to call it Core Set: Mana Pool Edition. 

He has come up with 6 staple card ideas from each color and instructed us to pick cards to fulfill these roles in our Core Set.  The catch is, we have to use cards that have previously been printed that have never been in a Core Set before.  So to coincide with our Burn episode, we're doing Red.  Let us know what you think, and what your choices would be.

Then we take a closer look at Burn.  We're gonna focus on its role in multiplayer, a role that is classically underestimated.  We'll take a look at all the ways Burn can be used in multiplayer, as well as which flavors work the best.  All you red mages out there take note!

Magic Online Deck Series: Legacy
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/579

Premium Deck Series: Fire & Lightning
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/576


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Trogdor by the Brothers Chaps - http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-154-burninating-the-countryside-t606.html
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In this action-packed episode of The Mana Pool, we're taking a look at all the two-for-ones in Magic.  No, not Buy One Get One Free, and not killing a creature in response to it being targeted by an aura.  We're talking about a whopping TWO power for ONE mana!  Back in the day this defined entire tournament scenes, but were all of them that good?  Well stay tuned and find out, because we're gonna hit them all. 

While we're at it, we've got email spam replies (yes really), news about the third Duels of the Planeswalkers expansion, a couple of rules questions, and a discussion of Fran Drescher as a harpy.  I love doing this show sometimes.  Hope you all enjoy!


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift
Break Music - Double Dragon (Opening Theme) by Kazunaka Yamane

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-153-two-for-one-special-t605.html
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.libsyn.com
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