Is that Eric on two episodes in a row with us?  I think it is!  Eric brought us two very deep and interesting topics to discuss.  First off is a lot of talk about being casual, proxying, business models, and all sorts of nonsense.  It essentially boils down to a discussion on realizing that there are other reasons to play this game than the one you hold most dear, and you should freakin' realize that.

Follow Eric on Twitter - http://twitter.com/thewachman

After that, there's a long talk that actually outlasts two of the dorks (Brian Burrito and whatnot), and it's about threat selection in multiplayer.  In the middle there it turns into a brief discussion on playing jerk generals in EDH, but I'm not entirely sure how that happened.  Here's an article on Muse Vessel that Eric mentioned during this talk.
http://musevessel.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/gbm7/

And here's the infamous theory about the internet that I referenced at some point:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/3/19/

Of course, what episode would be complete without a Mad Lib?  This one is from our old buddy Jars, and we agree that it was pretty brilliant, even though none of us read it first and we had to take a musical break in the middle of doing it.  We also reveal the winners of the contest! If you heard your name on there and haven't contacted me, PLEASE DO!  And we did a quick rundown of the new Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons, which you can find here:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/673


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Technical Difficulty Music - Funeral for a Son by The Protomen - http://www.protomen.com
Break Music - Unrest in the House of Light by The Protomen - http://www.protomen.com

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We are joined this episode by none other than the Many-Named One himself, Eric!  Yay!  Lots of news this episode, from new Commander cards to M12 Planeswalker news to Planeswalker news from the next big set.  And we're on a new geeky network, and Swift is on iTunes!  Man that was a lot.  Of course Eric sidetracks us several times during all that.  Otherwise it wouldn't be any fun at all.


Don’t forget to enter the contest before it’s over on March 20!
http://themanapool.com/pool-notices/update-mana-pool-mbs-contest/

Follow Eric on Twitter - http://twitter.com/thewachman

M12 news:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/665

Innistrad:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/666

A.A.A. Network:
http://www.aaanetwork.org


Then Eric hits us with his Searing Meditation deck, which sounds like a lot of fun.  He got the set and didn't build a deck for roughly two and a half years, but I think it was worth the wait.  Of course, somehow this leads into some random discussions about EDH...somehow.  I'm not entirely sure how, really.  Better listen to find out.

From there, Brian takes us into the world of Mirrodin Besieged drafting, where he gives us a look at his first experience with it, which he claims was excellent.  We shall soon see.  From there the conversation turns to all kinds of nonsense, because Eric is here and he's entirely too much fun.

Quick aside: The music for this episode is from The Protomen.  It's Hope Rides Again, the first track from Act I, their first album.  I've given you 3 bits of it in an attempt to get you hooked.  They've taken the mythos of Mega Man and turned it into a badassed rock opera sort of thing, and it's seriously badassed.


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Hope Rides Again by The Protomen - http://www.protomen.com

New website is live! -  http://themanapool.com

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Holy crap we've updated the contest we mentioned in the last episode!  If you'd like to see what we've changed, go here:
http://themanapool.com/pool-notices/update-mana-pool-mbs-contest

We then follow up with a Mad Lib sent in by one of our listeners, Alex.  How awesome was it?  Well ideally you'd listen to find out, but I'll issue a little spoiler - pretty awesome!  And if you like our Magic Mad Libs, then you'll love this new section of the website:
http://themanapool.com/category/mad-libs-2/

We've got a whole mess of emails, since we haven't managed to check them on-air in a few weeks.  I mean it, we've got a lot!  Look at the title of this episode!  We are not screwing around here!

And since I played the old Beast deck on the last live episode, Mike decided I should do an Out of the Deck Box with it.  It's been a while since I talked about it, so I dug through the deck, told everyone what it does, and realized it really needs some changes.  So we kicked around some ideas for updates, most of which I actually executed in the time between recording and uploading.  Let me know if you guys have any other suggestions for it, I'm always willing to ignore our listeners!  I mean...listen to them.


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Super Mario's Sleigh Ride by The OneUps - http://www.theoneups.com

New website is live! -  http://themanapool.com

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-169-mailbag-and-beasts-t652.html
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What an episode we've got for you this time!  We've got a new contest, a super-secret special guest host, and...well that's about it.  But isn't that enough?

Okay, contest.  If you want the full skinny, you're gonna have to hit the website for the official rules and all that.  You can find it here:
http://themanapool.com/uncategorized/promo_contest/

Then there's a quick look at the new Deckbuilder's Toolkit, and some email, and really this was just a stalling tactic until our host arrived.  When he does arrive, holy crap it's Tom from Monday Night Magic!  I'm not entirely sure how I managed it, but I talked him into recording with us for a while!  He joins us to give us some insight into a Quest for Ula's Temple deck first, then we do some Tribal Story Circle shenanigans.  Of course with Tom on the job, all semblance of order went right out the window, so this isn't so much a deck as it is a lot of nifty possibilities.  We start off with Sunrise Sovereign, the giant that makes all other giants infinitely more terrifying.  Then there's the oldie-but-not-too-goodie Thrull Champion that made for an interesting deck idea.

After all that excitement, Tom turns and walks away, quite literally fading into the aether.  But we'll never forget Tom, for our man-crushes are far too strong for that.  Now, did I forget anything?


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Borrow Mega Nuke (Boomer Kuwanger from Mega Man X) by Armcannon - http://www.armcannon.com

New website is live! -  http://themanapool.com

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-168-tribal-time-with-tom-t651.html
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Join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool
Email us at themanapool@cardshark.com
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Visit Cardshark! http://www.cardshark.com
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