This is one crazy episode we've got here for you, folks! New Phyrexia has been completely spoiled, and we decided to have fun with it this time. To that end, everything in this episode is a look at the new set, no exceptions (except for all the tangents, of course). I mean it, we had no other topics this time around, nothing else we wanted to talk about, not even listener mail! New Phyrexia is serious business, much like the internet.

And when Brian steps away for a few minutes on baby business, I bring in the heavy hitters. We're joined by a pair of old friends (podcast whores) to look over all this new stuff. First off, joining us for a short while from his car, we have Eric of Many Names. Rubber pants are optional, of course. Then we're joined by none other than our favorite Ben Shout-Out recipient...Ben! Known as Panahinuva on forums all across the internet, he had a class let out early and was able to join us for the second half of the show.

So yes, we're just crawling with dorks. It was really a stupid amount of fun having these guys on the show to talk about the compleation of Mirrodin, you guys are gonna enjoy it! Find out which card makes Mike want to go lie down for a while, causes Brian to wish suicide on his opponent, and forces Dirk to consider rage-quitting. Also find out which card has flavor implications that had me laughing uncontrollably for a long time. I blame Ben and his roommate, personally.

New Phyrexia Visual Spoiler:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/articl ... a/spoiler#

Oh, and just because I forgot to mention it this episode, don't forget that we still have lotsa free stuff to give away for random reasons. Try to impress us and you might just get something! Free stuff is courtesy of Top Deck Games in Kernersville, NC. Randy's the owner, and he can be reached at 336-996-8088. Give him a call and see if he'll cut you a deal! Be sure to tell him we sent you!


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - The Sons of Fate by The Protomen - http://www.protomen.com

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We are living in an age of villains.  In case you haven't noticed, the bad guys are winning.  The Eldrazi are free.  Nicol Bolas is still scheming.  And now, the Phyrexians have taken over the plane formerly known as Mirrodin.  During these dark times, who do we turn to for hope?  The planeswalkers?  Bah.  Since this new breed of 'walkers came to light, the heroes haven't had much in the way of victory.  Dark times indeed.

To combat this, today we will remember the heroes of yore.  The ones who fought against, and triumphed over, the evils that now beset us daily.  Powerful planeswalkers, mere humans, and even artificial beings that we used to look to when things were at their darkest.  Perhaps this discussion will inspire a new hero to step forth and save us.  Is there a man among you here?  Is there not one who values courage over life?

Whoa, I sort of went off the deep end there.  And did I quote some Protomen there at the end?  That's the song featured in this episode, how appropriate.  Huh, I need to start sleeping more.  Right then, back to the episode.  We also have a brief discussion about the new Wizards event scheduling, particularly how it relates to a certain other high-level tournament series.  Then we've got the New Phyrexia preview cards that have been spoiled!  Yay!  There aren't many, but see which one had Dirk quite literally flustered.  Also, I used the word "eidetic" during this episode.  Go me.

Announcement about 2012's Tournament Structure:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/news/041411a

New Phyrexia Visual Spoiler:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/newphyrexia/spoiler#

Free stuff mentioned at the end of the episode courtesy of Top Deck Games in Kernersville, NC.  Randy's the owner, and he can be reached at 336-996-8088.  Give him a call and see if he'll cut you a deal!  Be sure to tell him we sent you!


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

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

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-175-heroes-of-mike-and-magic-t665.html
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Welcome to a very special episode of The Mana Pool, featuring a brand new guest host - Ralph the Guest Hosting Cricket!  He's a new addition to the show, and hopefully he'll be EATEN BY A F@#$ING GECKO soon.  Other than that, we've got a whole host of fun stuff to go over.

There's an exceptionally long listener Mad Lib to do first.  Then we've got a small rant about some EDH/Commander at a local card shop.  Then there's an entirely different small rant about the supposed balance of Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons. We couldn't find it! 

Then there's the main topic, which is another edition of the Mortal Guilty Edge Fighter Champion Tag Shodown, or whatever the hell it's called.  As always, this was entirely too much fun.  Spoiler alert: At least this time a green rare didn't win! 

And finally, we're going to throw out our own unique perspectives on the Ban Jace nonsense, as some guys who only sort of play Standard and have no personal stake in the debate either way.  I get the feeling this part will get us the most response.  Let us know what you guys think!

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

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

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Just so everyone is aware, we started off this episode short one Brian.  We spend the first half of the show going over our neglected listener emails, which we've been skipping over for the last several episodes.  Guess who answered the most rules questions that were emailed to us?  Bet you guessed wrong!

Luckily after all this we were able to find a Bryan to fill the void in our show, so that's excellent.  We talked about New Phyrexia and gave our general opinions about it, then stepped into a Story Circle with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.  You may or may not want to ignore one color that we added in.

After that, Dirk went to bed.  That means we had no one there to keep throwing out profound statements, so we lost our heads.  It just sort of degenerated into random conversations about whatever came to mind.  It happens.  Hope you guys enjoy!


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - The Will of One by The Protomen - http://www.protomen.com

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

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-173-phyrexian-ramblings-and-mail-call-t662.html
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Hey, welcome back!  As you can tell, this is another episode where we play out a game of Magic for all to hear.  Well, we're all on our separate computers, but we're still playing, just for all you listeners out there!  Bear with us, it's our first time playing with the new M11 rules, since we didn't want to switch in the middle of a campaign, you know?

It's Brian's turn as Planar Guide this time, running one of the new Zendikar scenarios.  Hopefully this won't turn into another Romp on Ravnica that caused us to skip Mike's last turn.  Jeez.  Brian assures us he's going strictly by the book, but we'll see.


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com

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

Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com
Join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool
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