The Mana Pool

Hello again, and welcome to The Mana Pool! This is Mike, filling in for Chewie on the show notes this week. Speaking of this week, every Magic player knows the appeal of a quality "Enchant Creature" card. Why settle for simply playing creatures as-written when you can make them better? Yeah, that knight is pretty decent with his first strike and 2/2 body, but how about making him bigger, giving him flying and trample, and hey, let's throw some shroud on there for good measure. The only problem is that you have to dump a big pile of cards into your graveyard if something happens to the creature. Because of that built in risk of giving your opponent card advantage, most "serious" players avoid them. But "serious" is nothing we've ever taken seriously.

This week we have another comparative Out of the Deck Box feature, looking at what happens when 3 different dorks embrace the allure of the aura and make it the focus of their decks. From Dirk, we have a Green build geared towards making a creature so big, it would send Galactus running for cover. Mike submits a huge pile of White and Blue cards dedicated to exploiting the interactions between great auras and creatures that love to have them around. Finally, Chewie shows us what happens when some Red, White, and Blue auras with CIP triggers are put into a deck made to flip them in and out of play.

Whether it's magical rope ladders, terrible land bases, or way too many ideas in a deck at once, this is another episode with something for everyone.

And don't forget to send your contest entries to us at [email protected]. For full contest rules and whatnot, see the link below.

We're now being broadcast on Radio Free Subspace! We're on Thursday nights at 8pm, but check it out anytime. It's an eclectic mix of all kinds of music and whatnot, and it's pretty cool. Give it a listen here:

http://loudcity.com/stations/radio-free-subspace

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-59-out-of-the-deck-box-combo-auras-t268.html

Contest information: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/the-mana-pool-contest-announcement-t261.html

Email us at [email protected]

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Cardshark located at http://www.cardshark.com

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It's official: Mike is leaving us. Not the show, he'll still be here as the rules guy and the old-school knowledge. But he's physically leaving us to take a job that is about 8 hours away. And he's doing so relatively soon. So he decided that we should all get together and play Magic one more time before he wandered off to the far reaches of what-have-you.

So we did. The four Mana Pool hosts gathered at my beautiful girlfriend's house, had a practice Thanksgiving (Dorksgiving) and played a mess of Magic. We then retired to my fabulous crappy apartment to record an episode live instead of over Skype. We were joined by Kat, Mike's girlfriend, who was sitting on my bed making a cute little robot doll while we recorded. She played the part of the peanut gallery during the show.

And here it is. We had just finished playing seven games of multiplayer free-for-all Magic, and then we came here to bring you all the big moments in every game. We also went over the slow moments. And the one game that we all thought would never actually end. And those couple games that just ended suddenly and with great style. So yeah, you'll get the full story of our (possibly) last gathering of the Mana Pool hosts for the purposes of playing Magic for hours on end. At least the last one that won't be a super-special occasion. We hope you enjoy!

And don't forget to send your contest entries to us at [email protected]. For full contest rules and whatnot, see the link below.

Music for this episode: B.Y.O.N.E.S. (NES Of A Down Extended Mix) by detalub0

We're now being broadcast on Radio Free Subspace! We're on Thursday nights at 8pm, but check it out anytime. It's an eclectic mix of all kinds of music and whatnot, and it's pretty cool. Give it a listen here:

http://loudcity.com/stations/radio-free-subspace

Forum link for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-58-multiplayer-mayhem-for-mike-t267.html

Contest information: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/the-mana-pool-contest-announcement-t261.html

Email us at [email protected]

Send me an article at [email protected]

Cardshark located at http://www.cardshark.com

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Everyone that plays Magic started playing at some point. Which means that after everyone started playing, there was a new set that came out. This episode is all about our first new set. For Mike, that was Fallen Empires. For me, it was Homelands. Please don't hold that against us, at least we got over it and are still playing. For Dirk, it was Onslaught. We're going to take a look at each new set and explore the world they've created for it, which covers the story and the flavorful aspects. We'll then discuss the mechanical leitmotif for each set, meaning the keywords included and any strong themes running throughout the cards. And of course, the meat of each set review will be a look at the notable cards that originated there. We'll be hitting cards we just really like, cards that are excessively powerful, cards that are historically important, and cards that were just a lot of fun.

So sit back, relax, and take trip down our memory lane as we take a look at our first new sets. For those of you that weren't playing back in these times, especially the dark ages of Fallen Empires and Homelands, you'll get a look at where things were back then, and perhaps an idea of where they're going now.

And don't forget to send us your contest entries! For the full scoop, check out the link below.

We're now being broadcast on Radio Free Subspace! We're on Thursday nights at 8pm, but check it out anytime. It's an eclectic mix of all kinds of music and whatnot, and it's pretty cool. Give it a listen here:

http://loudcity.com/stations/radio-free-subspace

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-57-ancestral-memories-t263.htmlContest information: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/the-mana-pool-contest-announcement-t261.html

Email us at [email protected] Send me an article at [email protected] Cardshark located at http://www.cardshark.com

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Welcome to our one year anniversary episode! To be perfectly honest, there's not terribly much that is completely new and awesome in this show. We really wanted to stick with one of our core concepts, something that the fans really appreciate. So we went over the Cardshark Member Promotions for the month of November and called it a day. You can find them here:

http://www.cardshark.com/member_promotions.asp

Okay, not really. First there's a big announcement about the first Mana Pool Contest. We want everyone to send in their best Magic story. Cardshark.com, our fabulous sponsors, are donating a box of Shards of Alara to the cause, and each host picked out some of their foil rares to add to each winner. For the full list of prizes and the full contest rules and regulations rundown, see the forums. Or click right here:

http://cardshark.freeforums.org/the-mana-pool-contest-announcement-t261.html

As I said, we really wanted to do something that the listeners would really enjoy, a fan-favorite type of thing. So we decided to do an entire episode of Out of the Deck Box! We each picked out one of our decks that we really enjoy and went to town. I told everyone about my Pestilence deck. Brian expounded on his Shared Fate deck. Dirk discussed his Saviors deck. And Mike finished us up with his Big Black Stupid deck. We went through each deck and hit the important cards, the important concepts, the ideal plays, and the reason we love it so much.

Thanks again to everyone who has listened, posted on the forums, emailed us, and generally did anything whatsoever to keep the show going. We appreciate all of you, and we hope to keep entertaining you for the next year to come.

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-56-the-one-year-episode-t262.html

Email us at [email protected]

Send me an article at [email protected]

Cardshark located at http://www.cardshark.com

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In honor of our one year anniversary of podcasting, I wanted to give everyone a look behind the scenes. Here are some of the bits that didn't quite make it onto the feed for your listening pleasure. The rest is explained in the clip. Thanks a lot for listening throughout the year everyone, and enjoy the completely non-Magic goodness in this Bonus Episode!

To honor our one-year anniversary, we offer you this song for direct download. By taking sound clips from around 10 episodes and splicing them together with Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim and a few of the DELETED buzzer sounds from Strong Bad Emails, Rob Anderson created something we dorks will treasure always.

First featured in episode 52, this piece of audio goodness really captures the personalities of hosts of The Mana Pool. He cuts down through all the Magic and the content of the show to show you a glimpse of who we really are and why we love doing the show. So here it is for all to enjoy at your convenience. I give you No One Expects the Mana Pool by JungleRatRob.

In this episode, we're taking a look at the Booster Draft format. Brian did a Shards of Alara draft on Magic Online and saved the results, so we're going to take a look, pick by pick, at the entire thing. We'll check out the cards in each pack and try to figure out just exactly what Brian took, or should have taken, and after we're all done we'll check out the deck he built and he'll tell us how he did with it.

In other news, here's the link to the article unveiling the full decklists for Duel Decks: Jace vs. Chandra.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/11

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-55-take-your-pick-t258.htmlEmail us at [email protected] Send me an article at [email protected] Cardshark located at http://www.cardshark.com RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Well tough. We're not doing that. Instead, Brian thought we should each pick a deck that wasn't our own and talk about it. After lots of "huh?" we decided that it was, in fact, a good idea. Brian kicked us off by talking about my old roommate Corey's Sneak Attack deck. Dirk wanted to tell everyone how my Poison Ping deck works. Mike wanted to discuss Dirk's Bird tribal deck. Since I have a Bird deck too, Brian went over it and we spent a while discussing the similarities and differences. We'll have to do this again with some other decks, it's a lot of fun. And I finished things off by expounding on a deck with a very touching origin, Mike's Killer Instinct deck. It's a nice and simple episode, but it was a lot of fun. We hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did.

Oh yeah, if you'd like a look at the decklists in their entireties (is that even a word?), then check out the forum link at the bottom of these show notes. It'll be on the Facebook group too in case you guys wanna check it out there.

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-54-out-of-someone-else-s-deck-box-t256.htmlEmail us at [email protected] Send me an article at [email protected] Cardshark located at http://www.cardshark.com RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

In this episode, Mike thought we should take a closer look at the Shards. Of Alara. Since this is a block just oozing with flavor, everyone seems to be talking more about the flavor and philosophy and whatnot of this one than they have in previous sets. Not ones to stand idly by while the bandwagon trundles along without us, we hopped on. And what a buffet it is! We looked at the flavor of the shards in various ways, including but not limited to:

- The colors that comprise each shard

- The colors that are missing from each shard

- The mechanical identity of each shard

- Citing examples from flavor text

- General setting and feel of each shard

In other news, there's also news in this episode. Wizards recently revealed the name and whatnot for the final set in the Alara block. You can find it, if you are so inclined, here:

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1702

Wizards also FINALLY gave us some information about the next iteration of Duel Decks. Jace vs. Chandra is coming Nov. 7, and it looks to be seriously awesome. Two 60-card decks, each with 4 rares, which includes the foil alternate art versions of Jace Beleren and Chandra Nalaar. Six cards get new artwork featuring the planeswalkers in action. Control vs. Burn, baby! I can't wait. Check out the announcement showing some of the art the product information pages in the links below.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1700

http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/productarticle.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/jacevschandra/productinfo

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-53-savoring-shards-exploring-the-flavor-of-alara-t253.htmlEmail us at [email protected] Send me an article at [email protected] Cardshark located at http://www.cardshark.com RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

It must have been a full moon or something. Perhaps Karma reached out to slap us. Whatever the deal was, we had serious problems actually getting this episode recorded. The recording program didn't seem to want to record. Part of the way through, Brian decided to turn into Optimus Prime transforming into a truck. He didn't actually make it all the way through to the end of the episode. After he transformed, he rolled out. Dirk absolutely forgot how to read set labels. And we realized again that we were all incredibly stupid about Tarmogoyf when Future Sight broke.

This episode, we decided to talk about the recent Standard rotation. A truly ridiculous number of cards left Standard when Shards of Alara came out, putting an end to the largest Type II environment...ever. We lost Coldsnap, Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight, and the Timeshifted sheet. Well, we didn't lose them, they just rotated out of most popular Constructed format. Extended and whatnot still have them, don't panic.

To commemorate this, we decided to take a look back at these sets from a different point of view. We wanted to check out some of the cards that came out of nowhere to define the format (Tarmogoyf, of course). We also wanted to take a look at some cards that just didn't live up to the hype. Not just the hype that Wizards built up, but the expectations we had about how much some of the cards would do. I think you'll find that our discussion leads us to believe that there's a lot more to be discovered and explored in the cards that just rotated out of Standard.

Not only do we have serious technical issues on this episode, but we also have what could be the single most awesome thing ever. Perhaps we had such problems because Karma wanted to balance out this particular show. One of our longtime listeners, JungleRatRob, decided to do a remix. He took a truly staggering number of audio clips from the show and mixed them with Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim. He sprinkled in a few of Strong Bad's "DELETED" buzzers for humorous impact.

What he got out of it was a piece of pure, unadulterated AWESOME. I'll be honest with you, I was in tears the first time I heard it because I was laughing so hard. Even my Mom liked it, and she doesn't listen to the show at all. As Mike put it: "Our musical entertainment is a survey of the true heart of the show. The rambling of lunatics, that is." Amen to that. He really managed to avoid any of the actual content of the show and deliver a piece of music that really cuts down to who we are and why we love to do the show. And for that we are forever indebted to you, JungleRatRob, for the effort you put into this, becaues you did for us. We appreciate it more than you can possibly imagine.

Music for this episode:

No One Expects the Mana Pool by JungleRatRob

Look for it for individual download soon, right here on our feed. Hit the forums and tell us what you think.

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-52-standard-rotation-time-flies-in-a-snap-t248.html

Email us at [email protected]

Send me an article at [email protected]

Cardshark located at http://www.cardshark.com

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool