The Mana Pool
Join Brian, Mike, Dirk and Chewie as they discuss all things Magic: The Gathering. Since there are plenty of tournament and strategy podcasts out there, we've decided to focus on the fun of the game in all its many forms, from Prereleases to multiplayer free-for-alls to whatever else we can come up with. Give us a listen!

Categories

podcasts
general
Non-podcast Audio
60 Card Challenge
Previews

Archives

2024
March
February
January

2023
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2022
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2021
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2020
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2018
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2016
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2015
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2014
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2013
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2012
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2011
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2010
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2009
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2008
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2007
December
November

July 2011
S M T W T F S
     
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31

Syndication

Episode 189 - Magic Jeopardy (and the Movie)

This episode has it all - thrills, chills, suspense, controversy, a happy reunion and a heartfelt goodbye.  You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll yell at your mp3 player.

Well, maybe not all of that.  But most of it!  This episode sees the return of our disease-ridden rambler Brian!  Okay, so that's a bit much, but whatever he's back yay!  To celebrate being back, he's got a brand new idea for the show - Magic Jeopardy!  With 30 questions across 6 categories, he's going to put the other three dorks to the test!  Who will come out ahead?  And what sort of controversy will arise?  Let us know what you think of the Magic Jeopardy so we'll know if we should bother doing it again.

After that, we answer another mess of emails and rules questions from our inbox, and one in particular catches our eye.  A couple episodes ago, Ben sent us a question about casting voice talents for a Magic cartoon, which we discussed briefly.  Ryan Gregersen went several steps beyond and sent us his ideas for the cast of a live-action Magic: the Gathering movie, complete with IMDB links!  So of course this discussion sidetracked us for a good long time while we looked up actors and kicked ideas around.  It was a lot of fun, we hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did.

And if you are at all interested in helping out with Extra Life as described at the beginning of the episode, my good friend Dustin's donation page can be found below.  If you don't want to help him out, then start your own drive and get people to donate to you!  All that matters is that you're helping!
http://extra-life.org/participant/vognasty


Intro (and new Outro!) Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - The Weight of Instruction by Swift

Be sure to check out all the great stuff on the website! - http://themanapool.com

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-189-magic-jeopardy-and-the-movie-t697.html
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com
Join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool
Email us at dorks@themanapool.com
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/themanapool
Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx
Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Direct download: Episode_189_-_Magic_Jeopardy_and_the_Movie.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 11:49am EDT

Episode 188 - Horde of Serious Notions of Fun

After a bit of email and some news (including our long-lost interview with Amanda, which can now be found on Red Site Wins), we are joined by two very special guest hosts. No longer do we need wonder if these two are actually one and the same person, because I heard them both talking at the same time! Our two special guests are none other than the returning Adam Styborski and first time guest but long-time dork Chris Lansdell. If you want to find more about our guests, consult the links below.

With introductions out of the way, we proceeded to talk about the various M12 events we attended, which included a vicious bad beats story from Stybs. After spending some time on M12 as a whole, we decided to do a Story Circle with our hosts. Apparently Chris does this a lot, since he ripped off the idea for his own show. But that means a better deck for all involved, right? We started with Pyromancy, and it just went out of control from there. With all the cards we rattled off, there's a wonderful starting place for all you deckbuilders out there. Probably three or four starting places, actually. From here the discussion went far afield, covering such random topics as planking, scrapple, old Hot Pockets commercials, and Billy Madison. I really wish I was making this up. Hope you guys enjoy!


Our long-lost interview with Amanda Stevens is on Red Site Wins: http://redsitewins.com/2011/06/02/amanda-chewie-and-3-other-dorks-aka-the-mana-pool-interview/

Adam Styborski

Weekly columnist for DailyMTG: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Archive.aspx?author=Adam%20Styborski
The Pauper Cube: http://thepaupercube.wordpress.com/
Writer for Gathering Magic: http://www.gatheringmagic.com/author/adamstyborski/
Casual Editor for Quiet Speculation: http://www.quietspeculation.com
Twitter: @the_stybs

Chris Lansdell
Host of Horde of Notions: http://www.hordeofnotions.com/
Writer for Mana Deprived: http://manadeprived.com/chris-lansdell
Occasional host of Mana Screwed: http://mtgcast.com/?cat=57
Twitter: @lansdellicious


Intro (and new Outro!) Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Bending Back As Far As I Can by Swift

Be sure to check out all the great stuff on the website! - http://themanapool.com

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-188-horde-of-serious-notions-of-fun-t695.html
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com
Join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool
Email us at dorks@themanapool.com
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/themanapool
Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx
Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Direct download: Episode_188_-_Horde_of_Serious_Notions_of_Fun.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 9:58pm EDT

Episode 187 - Guest, Interrupted (and M12)

We are joined this episode by one Robert Martin, also known as The Beme. You might know him as the interviewer from The Men of Magic, or maybe from the Hardcast, or maybe even the suddenly-defunct Mana Screwed podcast (go listen to their episodes, dash it all!). He also pops up on Monday Night Magic sometimes! But today, he's here with us!

At least, he starts out here with us. Due to circumstances beyond his control, he had to leave us before we actually got to the meat of the episode. He did stick around long enough to give us his take on the new Chandra and Garruk though, and those are the important ones. Before he left, we were reading listener mail and determining the best way to tell our listeners to RTFC. Ah, like that.

But after that, we took a nice long look at the full set of Magic 2012, and I'm pretty sure we like it. I mean, it sure sounds like we do. Also, Dirk is calling it! Amphin Cutthroat is heralding the introduction of Salamanders in Innistrad! HA!

I'd like to apologize to everyone expecting something removal-related for this appropriately-numbered episode. In all honesty, we had forgotten that this one was going to be 187. We prostrate ourselves before you and humbly beg forgiveness.

Follow Robert on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thebeme


Intro (and new Outro!) Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Children of Africa (The Story of Us) by Symphony of Science - http://www.symphonyofscience.com/

Be sure to check out all the great stuff on the website! - http://themanapool.com

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-187-guest-interrupted-and-m12-t694.html
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com
Join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool
Email us at dorks@themanapool.com
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/themanapool
Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx
Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool


Direct download: Episode_187_-_Guest_Interrupted_and_M12.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 3:30pm EDT

Episode 186 - Commander Shenanigans (Live)

After many requests for us to talk about the various cards in the new Commander decks, we decided to go one better.  We all gathered at Brian's house, picked out one of the Commander decks, and played them in a 4-player game.  Yeah yeah, we know everyone else is doing this too.  The reason everyone else did this is because these decks are freakin' awesome, and people love to hear about them!  So we jumped on the bandwagon with the rest of the world.  The upside of us doing it is you get to hear our...unique take on things.

Just so we're clear here, Brian chose Zedruu the Greathearted, Dirk was playing Kaalia of the Vast, Mike had Riku of Two Reflections, and Chewie was rolling with The Mimeoplasm.  Spoiler Alert: The Mimeoplasm became something completely ridiculous every time it got played, but Riku set the record for number of times entering the battlefield.  Oh, and Veteran Explorer is the greatest thing ever for multiplayer.  Trust me on this.  Go to Cardshark and buy some.


Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - This was just one game, we didn't take a break!

Be sure to check out all the great stuff on the website! - http://themanapool.com

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-186-commander-shenanigans-live-t692.html
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com
Join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool
Email us at dorks@themanapool.com
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/themanapool
Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx
Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Direct download: Episode_186_-_Commander_Shenanigans_Live.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 11:00am EDT

Episode 185 - Cubes, Power Outages, and M12

This is a weird one.  Eric of Many Names joins us one final time before his family gets back into town, so we're trying to make the most of it.  We mine his brain for some information about Cube Draft on behalf of one of our listeners.  More specifically, he talks about creating your own Cube.  For reference, you can find Eric's own Cube list here.

And of course, we have a full load of M12 previews to go over, starting with the new Jace!  We recorded this well before they revealed any other new planeswalkers, so be patient and you'll hear us rant about them eventually.

There was also a momentous decision by the US Supreme Court that we discussed for a short while.  Don't worry, it's definitely something Magic dorks are interested in.  Well, a good number of you anyway.

I'd like to dedicate this episode to Mario, Jumpman, and Ryu Hayabusa.  They died so we could have appropriate music for the various times the call got cut off due to power outage at Chewie's house, Eric being forcibly muted, and Skype deciding it was sick of us being able to hear each other.  Remember them fondly, everyone!


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

Intro Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Too many other issues for a break!

Be sure to check out all the great stuff on the website! - http://themanapool.com

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-185-cubes-power-outages-and-m12-t691.html
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com
Join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool
Email us at dorks@themanapool.com
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/themanapool
Cardshark Member Promotions: http://www.cardshark.com/Promotions/Member-Promotions.aspx
Subscribe to our RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/themanapool

Direct download: Episode_185_-_Cubes_Power_Outages_and_M12.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 3:43pm EDT