And the final Alara Reborn Preview is upon us! We are Mikeless in this episode, but that's okay because we have joining us the amazing Jason, also known as garthok84 on the forums, who was the third place winner of our big contest at the beginning of the year. He takes up the slack from Mike's absence and is generally a horrible human being throughout the entire episode. Which is what we look for in a guest host named Jason.

But of course, we have a whole thoctar-load of previews to get through. Which is really hard considering all the random tangents, animal interruptions, challengers appearing, and poisoning of the forum members that are going on. But we eventually get through them all. You know, eventually. It's a seriously funny ride this time around though, so if you can make it through the whole thing, we hope you enjoyed it. Contrary to what you hear me say in this episode, we did not go past two hours. I just thought we did because I can't tell time.

Alara Reborn Visual Spoiler:

http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/alarareborn/spoiler

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-78-alara-reborn-preview-3-t321.html

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Hello to all you folks out there in Internet Land! This is Mike, filling in on the notes for Chewie because... uh... because he told me to, really. Welcome to another Alara Reborn preview episode! As usual, Wizards dumped a whole truckload of stuff on us through the main site and other venues since we last sat down to record, so we're just doing a partial update of the official spoiler list as it stands (stay tuned later in the week for the rest).

We are Brian-less this time, as Chewie does not have veto power over Tom, but we were able to get Bill (of kuraiseraphim fame) to join in, with a special silent mystery guest (Warning: episode contains spoilers regarding the identity of the mystery guest). Fire up your audio player of choice and look forward to good burn, awesome names, Chewie only getting B/R cards, solid commons, and the Yeti hitchhiker.

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We are again Dirkless this episode, as he is off with his bride gallivanting around our nation's capital. So instead we have Ben, known on the forums as Panahinuva, who was one of our contest winners from a few months ago. Most excellent. Well you know what the deal is. First we have some stuff to go over as usual, shout-outs and whatnot. Be sure to check out the Avant Card podcast, brought to you by Christian, who is SpaceNinja on the forums. Episode 3 is out now, which is very funny. You can find it at www.avantcardshow.com.

And then we jump into the Alara Reborn previews. For those of you following along at home, we start at Unscythe, Killer of Kings and go all the way up the visual spoiler to Jenara, Asura of War. We skip over the couple we've mentioned before of course. If you want to follow along or just check out all the previewed cards, go here:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/alarareborn/spoiler

Wake up Mike. Mike? Helloooo?

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On this episode, we begin Mikeless, because something stupid happened at work. Then we dive into Brian's Scarecrow Deck, which was requested as an Out of the Deck Box. Here's the list for that.

We Wish We Had A Brain
14: Swamp
4: Cloudpost
2: Temple of the False God
2: Rupture Spire
1: Shimmering Grotto
1: Vesuva
2: Chainbreaker
1: Wingrattle Scarecrow
1: Rattleblaze Scarecrow
3: Watchwing Scarecrow
2: Thornwatch Scarecrow
3: Scuttlemutt
3: Scrapbasket
2: Transguild Courier
2: Bringer of the Black Dawn
1: Scarecrone
1: Painter's Servant
1: Grim Poppet
3: Reaper King
2: Mana Cylix
2: Scarscale Ritual
2: Fate Transfer
1: Dregs of Sorrow
2: Patriarch's Bidding
2: Plunge into Darkness

Then we have to talk about the latest news, which is the release of the Divine vs. Demonic decklists. Just as we get started, we suddenly find ourselves no longer Mikeless! So whole once again, we dive into the two decks and give you our full opinions. Not to spoil too much, but half the hosts have already purchased this product. Just so you know. If you wanna check it out, go here:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/33

And then we have some special preview cards. In the latest Player Rewards mailing there was an oversized card from Alara Reborn. On the back of this oversized card are pictures of the the Prerelease card and the Launch card. So we go over all three of them for the benefit of our listeners. Of course, just about 3 hours after we wrapped up recording, the Alara Reborn minisite went live, complete with a massive visual spoiler. I guess that means you know what's going on next week here on the show. If you want to check that out too, it's right here. I have it bookmarked.
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/alarareborn/spoiler

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First off, Brian got sick and died, so we are without his services for this episode. Then there's a bit of Magic news, including Alara Reborn Intro Pack decklists and the announcement of Zendikar. Then there's the feedback we've gotten from people in various places, new members on the Facebook group, and all that good stuff. And Cardshark Member Promotions, because it's a new month.
Zendikar:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/153

Alara Reborn Intro Packs:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/159

And be sure you check out the April Fool's Draft Viewer. Click around and check out the packs. No really. It's well worth it.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/activity/158

Then we have a very special thank you to send out to Elton Sean, who did something supremely thoughtful for us. We really appreciated it, and so we spend a fair chunk of time talking about it. And that leads us to the next bit of the show. Lots of people playing Magic right now have either quit playing at some point in the past or at least thought really hard about quitting. We discuss those times for each of us: what caused us to think about quitting, and why we ultimately decided against it.

Then it's time for some dragons. There was a request at least a hundred years ago for an Out of the Deck Box featuring Dirk's Dragon Deck. So of course we had to honor that request. Mind you it hasn't been updated in a while, and we even discussed ways to make it better. Here's the entire list.

Dirk's Dragon Deck
1 Vampiric Dragon
3 Ryusei, the Falling Star
4 Kilnmouth Dragon
3 Two-Headed Dragon
3 Dragon Tyrant
2 Bladewing the Risen
3 Bladewing’s Thrall
3 Furnace Whelp
2 Furnace Dragon
1 Rorix Bladewing
1 Homura, Human Ascendant

1 Oversold Cemetery
4 Zombify

1 Tatsumasa, the Dragon’s Fang
3 Eon Hub
2 Cryptic Gateway
3 Quicksilver Amulet

2 Urborg Volcano
9 Mountain
9 Swamp x 9


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