In this episode Mike, Brian, and Thomas join me (the Chewie!) for some scrumptious dorkiness! This time we go over some of the Standard decks that did well and made it big at Worlds this year. The big standout is the return of Dragonstorm, this time in mono-red with Spinerock Knoll as the super-secret tech. But we cover several other big decks too. In the middle of that there's a very short rant about playing tournament-level decks in the Casual Magic room on Magic Online, just to warn you.

Then Mike poses a question about playing in multiplayer. What if you have a guy who just plays one deck all the time? Not one semi-decent deck because it's all he has, but one seriously overpowered infinite combo mill-you-all-for-your-entire-library deck? We discuss a few options for what to do about this guy, and not all of them are nice. Then it sort of turns into a semi-intervention. Then we finish with my favorite Swift song of all time.

Big shoutout to Piroflameboy on the forums! You're officially our first fan! Thanks muchly, yo!

Email us at themanapool@cardshark.com

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Opening music: Swell Guy by Swift

Closing music: The Guatemalan by Swift

Check Swift out at http://www.swift-band.com

Note:  This episode was recorded the night before Rosewater's article "What Do You Know, Part II", but due to technical difficulties and time constraints, it was not posted before the article came out. 

The rotating cast of dorks keeps on spinning. Joining me again this episode is Mike, our resident rules guru and all-around Mike kinda guy. The latest edition to the cast joins me as well. That's Thomas, who is Mike's brother and freshly bearded.

First on the agenda is a price comparison. We compare all the Future Sight and Lorwyn rare dual lands at Cardshark and at our unnamed-yet-really-well-known competitor. Spoiler alert: Cardshark is really a lot cheaper. No kidding.

Next up, we discuss how the Time Spiral block and 10^th Edition managed to sneak members of the Lorwyn tribes in under a big sheet that said “Nostalgia?. No really, did anyone really expect anything when they timeshifted Verdeloth the Ancient or Lord of Atlantis? Of course not, you just thought it was a nod to the old-school. What about Merfolk Looter and Siege-Gang Commander in 10^th Edition? Didn't notice that either, did you? We touch on lots of these cards and how they fit into Lorwyn's race-based tribes.

And before anyone gets lost in all the hype surrounding the races of Lorwyn, we talk about how the classes of Lorwyn can matter too. Do you have a Soldier deck that needs some attention? Militia's Pride doesn't need Kithkin to work well, and neither does the Kinsbaile Balloonist. Veteran of the Depths works wonders with the Catapult Squads and Catapult Masters in my Soldier deck, and there's not a single other Merfolk in there. Just some food for thought about a few of the classes that are prevalent in Lorwyn and how they could fit into your class-based tribal decks.

Email us at themanapool@cardshark.com

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Opening music: Whack It by Swift

Closing music: Enjoy the Silence by Swift

Check Swift out at http://www.swift-band.com

Welcome to The Mana Pool.  Come on in, the water's fine.  I'm Chewie, as always.  Joining me today:
Squanto - n00b, American Indian, and head writer for the show
Dirk - still the greenest player alive, and casual player extraordinaire
Mike - our resident rules guru and all around Magic know-it-all (but in a good way)

In this episode, we revisit last episode's Clash deck and discuss how it performed and how we could possibly improve it.  Spoiler alert - It went 2-6 and needs some card draw BADLY.

Then we let Squanto throw random cards from Lorwyn at us and see what we come up with for them.  Being a n00b and also a sponge for Magic knowledge (luckily his pants are not square in the least) he picked out some artifacts and enchantments from the new set that interested him and decided to ask us some questions about each one.  In the order we tackled them - Zephyr Net, Faerie Tauntings, Deathrender, Rings of Brighthearth, and Runed Stalactite.

And at the end we take a quick and impromptu look at the new boxed set, Duel Decks:  Elves vs. Goblins.  It looks pretty cool.

Email me at themanapool@cardshark.com
Send me an article at submissions@cardshark.com
Forums located at http://cardshark.freeforums.org
Cardshark located at http://www.cardshark.com

Opening music:  Perhaps by Swift
Closing music:  Feminine by Swift
Check Swift out at http://www.swift-band.com