Top 8 Magic – magic.facetofacegames.com

With the Prerelease coming up this weekend, Brian and Zvi talk their way through the newest Magic set with an eye toward what decks get some new toys and what building blocks will allow for some new decks. This episode covers white and blue cards.

Brian "BDM" David-Marshall and Mike "MichaelJ" Flores get together for another episode of the longest-running Magic podcast. BDM's office is in the process of moving to a new building so they duo went back to the mall to sip iced tea and talk about some of the new cards that have been coming out for Theros: Beyond Death,

Topics covered in the discussion include:

-The incredible editing and Magical prowess of Roman Fusco

-Some Theros cards

-The worst ways to lose

-A potential pie bet between Mike and Zvi

For Part 2, Michael J Flores showed up with cake from Carlos's bakery in Hoboken to celebrate his PTQ win -- more than 23 years after his first PTQ win -- as is the tradition in NY. Topics included the PreTQ, PTQ, and what makes a good Magic format. Followed by some spoilerific discussion of the season finale of WATCHMEN as well as the first three parts of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.

Simic Flash by Michael J Flores

2 Aether Gust

Sideboard

The whole gang is together for this one -- sort of. First Brian David-Marshall and Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz chatted about ***spoilers*** Michael J's PTQ win this past weekend, the state of Standard, and what Zvi is hoping to find under his Utopia Tree this holiday season from the slowly-being-revealed Theros Beyond Death set.

We got your new deck hot takes hot off the presses. With Mike Flores on the road for business, BDM and Zvi had to maintain the homefront and get down to the business of looking at the decks for this weekend's MC. They started recording minutes before the decks went live and kept going until they had covered at least one of each of the archetypes with an eye out for the Dune Award for the deck with the most spice.

BDM and Zvi look ahead to Mythic Championship VII and see where the Hall of Famer feels Standard is poised after three major events in pretty rapid succession -- not even accounting for the Twitch Rivals event where Zvi went 6-0 on Day One with his Jeskai Cavaliers deck.

Other topics include:

Zvi's crazy brew that combines Fires of Invention, Cat Food, and Niv-Mizzet Reborn into one deck that has a little something for everyone to hate on.

His other version of Cat Food that uses Emry, Lurker of the Loch and -- why not? -- Vantress Gargoyle.

While the metagame of Mythic Championship VI may not have been the most inspiring, it was some of the best played games either of the pair can recall in quite some time.

After his 14th Top 8 finish where does Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa rank in the all time Magic pick order?

With Veil of Summer banned, how the hell are you supposed to fight the recently unlocked Casualties of War from decimating your side of the table?

Where are the aggro decks?

Zvi has been streaming and guess what? He really likes it. You should follow him at twitch.tv/zvimowshowitz if you want more crazy decklists like the ones discussed here.

You can also follow him at @thezvi on Twitter (and if you don't already follow BDM he can be found talking about food, Magic, nonsense, and probably some more food at @top8games on that infernal website).

Brian David-Marshall (aka BDM) and Michael J. Flores (aka MichaelJ) [aka co-hosts of the longest-running Magic podcast in the game] get together outside Montasy Comics NYC where MichaelJ can normally be found FNMing his heart out. This Friday brought a different mission. Mike was preparing for what we assume is a lame duck Standard format with a PTQ on his docket for Sunday -- ONE DAY BEFORE A MUCH ANTICIPATED BANNED ANNOUNCEMENT SHOULD SHAKE THE FORMAT BY ITS LAPELS.

*It is important to note that 5th Avenue in the heart of midtown is miles away from the quaint and cozy corner of Waverly and Gay or the peaceful shores of the Hudson River in Hoboken. NYC was in full throat with actual f***ing jackhammers, ambulances, and hobo commentary.*

Mike was taking the night off from his beloved FNM to just test for the PTQ and there were plenty of options on the table -- including Karn? -- to deal with what should be Oko's last hurrah.

In the meanwhile Mike and BDM took the opportunity to be spectacularly wrong by guessing which cards would get crushed by WotC's banhammer before this podcast is even posted on Monday.

How'd we do?

Brian David-Marshall and Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz sat down at the Upper Westside location of Hex and Company (a burgeoning chain of NYC gaming cafes) to talk about Zvi's preparation for the upcoming Mythic Championship in Richmond. He walked through his approach to draft and why he thinks it is actually easy being green in Throne of Eldraine. He also reveals the deck that was almost his weapon of choice. At the time of recording he was pretty set on playing Cavaliers but was still hoping to go back to his ElkBlade brew; a deck that combines elements of the ubiquitous Food decks with the finishing power of Questing Beast and Embercleave. Hear how one of the greatest minds in the history of the game tackles one of the most frustrating metagames in his long memory of the game.

With the shining NYC skyline as a backdrop, BDM and MichaelJ enjoyed one of the few remaining gorgeous days of the year to talk about all the big news of the day.

What were the biggest flavor fails of Mythic Championship V?

What will Standard look like in two weeks at Mythic Championship VI now that Field of the Dead has been banned in Standard?

Which mountains will Mike use for the new Pioneer format?

Exactly how many cards will be banned in Pioneer by the time the Pro Tour rolls around for it next year?

It was a dark and stormy night... No seriously. It was both dark and stormy. What better weather to huddle up in the office and pore over pages and pages of decklists. The Top 8 Magic team was out in full force with Brian "BDM" David-Marshall, Michael "MichaelJ" J. Flores, and Zvi "The Zvi" Mowshowitz breaking down the Mythic Championship V field just days before the event happens. With decks being locked in more than a week before the actual event was to be played, how much innovation got locked out in the tight turnaround time? With 29 of the 68 decks featuring some flavor of Golos/Field of the Dead, and other two dozen+ sporting Oko, will something actually get banned on Monday? If it does, would another week of time given the field enough time to defeat the enemy? Find out what the trio thinks as all the regular members of the longest running Magic podcast are together again for the first time. This one is wall to wall Magic and you won't want to miss it (unless you are here for the TV/movies/basketball talk).