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!

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Syndication

Episode 194 - Cleverly Titled Live Episode (Live)

Holy crap, a live episode?  Is this why there's no Innistrad episode yet?  I think it must be!  Dirk, Mike, and Chewie gathered together to play some Magic, and so of course we recorded some of it for you.  Because we love you guys.  No really.  You think we get together and have to put up with each other in person because we like each other or enjoy playing this game?  Nope, it's just to give our listeners something different to listen to, that's it!

First up we have a Commander game.  Mike's using his edited Mimeoplasm deck, I'm using Hanna, Ship's Navigator, and Dirk is using his brand new Sharuum the Hegemon deck.  This one was a lot of fun and fairly brutal.  You'll get a kick out of it.

After that we played a 60-card game that was completely brutal.  There was just little to no hope for those of us that didn't win.  You'll hear it.  We made up for that horrible beating by playing another 60-card game that was much more awesome.  Since it's such a great thing to finish on a good game, we called it there.  We went on to play some Planechase, more EDH, and more 60-card games, since we were there another 5 hours or so, but sadly we couldn't record them all for you.  Trevor wouldn't have let us anyway.


Intro (and new Outro!) Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music 1 - DuckTales Theme Song
Break Music 2 - Darkwing Duck Theme Song

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-194-cleverly-titled-live-episode-live-t706.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
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Direct download: Episode_194_-_Cleverly_Titled_Live_Episode_Live.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 2:01pm EDT

Episode 193 - SCG Open Stories

This episode is all about recapping the events of the Star City Games Open Series that took place in Richmond just a couple weekends ago.  Do you want to know what the dorks were playing?  What led Mike on his winning, then losing, then winning tear?  What's up with Brian's odd silence on the matter?  And what the hell was Chewie doing the whole time, since he certainly wasn't playing?  All this and more will be covered right here in this very episode!

But that's not all!  There's also a discussion about the lineup of From the Vault: Legends. And the new artwork that some of the cards are showing off, of course.  Oh, and we weigh in with our two cents about the sudden announcement that Pro Tour Philadelphia was changed from Extended to Modern with only 3 weeks to go.  That's a big one, so even we casual players had an opinion on it.

From the Vault: Legends can be seen here: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/774

Donate to Dustin's Extra Life page! Help out some sick kids! - http://extra-life.org/participant/vognasty



Intro (and new Outro!) Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Go Go Power Rangers from The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers TV Show

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-193-scg-open-stories-t705.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_193_-_SCG_Open_Stories.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 11:19am EDT

Episode 192 - Completely Out of the Deck Box

Holy crap it's the Mana Pool!  Because you asked for it (well, at least a couple of you asked for it) this is an Out of the Deck Box episode!  We're taking a look at Mike's mono-white Wrath of Emeria deck in all its world-destroying glory.  Then Dirk cries havoc! and lets slip the Slivers of war.  Brian is up next with his Grixis-colored Phyrexia-aligned Rage Extractor deck, which made its first appearance at our last gathering.  I bring up the rear with a look at my Progenitus Commander deck, with a name that I blatantly stole from Claire, formerly of the Avant-Card Show.

Of course, that's not all we did this episode.  We took a look at the decks that were at the top of the standings at US Nationals, with their pigeons crapping all over everything and giving people meningitis.  And while Brian was away on baby care duties, we went over some emails, of course.  We always have emails.  And because I've patterned my podcasting manner (loosely, of course) after Kermit the Frog, the music is from The Muppet Show.  Oh yeah.


Intro (and new Outro!) Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - The Muppet Show Theme

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-192-completely-out-of-the-deck-box-t703.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_192_-_Completely_Out_of_the_Deck_Box.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 10:32pm EDT

Episode 191 - Bigheadjoe and the Mechanics

We are joined this week by the highly entertaining Bigheadjoe of Yo! MTG Taps and formerly of SCG Live.  He fits right in as one of the dorks, and I think you'll enjoy having him on to take Mike's place this episode.  Hold out until the end to hear an announcement from Joe about his new wrestling podcast.

We begin with Brian's experience at a recent FNM, followed by a massive bout of nostalgia.  I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I remember it was pretty awesome.  Then we have a nice discussion about the M12 Event Decks, FNM promo cards, and have a bizarre example of M12 print runs.  Blood Ogre, Angel's Mercy, Garruk's Companion, Child of Night - in that order, first 4 cards, of all three packs I opened on the air.  What the hell? 

Oh, and we finish the episode off with a nice big discussion about our favorite mechanics, a topic Dirk came up with a long time ago that we're finally getting around to.  Yeah, we've been putting it off for at least a couple months. 

I want to apologize for my (Chewie's) voice doing the Max Headroom thing this episode.  It starts around a third of the way through, and it lasts the entire damn episode.  I have no idea what caused it, but since it's just me and I wasn't speaking as much as usual this episode, I just let it go.  Sorry again, hope you can make it through.


Follow Joe on Twitter - http://twitter.com/omgwtfbhjftw

Intro (and new Outro!) Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Opening Theme from GI Joe: The Movie - taken from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN034sBeF4c

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-191-bigheadjoe-and-the-mechanics-t702.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_191_-_Bigheadjoe_and_the_Mechanics.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:33am EDT

Episode 190 - Quick Hits (Well For Us Anyway)

Before recording this episode, I put out a call for some topics that we could talk about that required no preparation ahead of time, and boy did you guys come through!  We got a whole massive list of stuff to talk about.  After we covered the Innistrad news from the San Diego Comic Con, of course.  Don't let's be silly.  Mark Rosewater tweeted a recap of the information that was revealed, and I gathered up all those tweets so we could then share them with all of you listeners out there.

We go through a few emails, which is where we get our first major discussion.  Tosus asks what he should do with his $500 worth of free stuff, so we kick that around for a bit.  Then there's a bit of reflection on the multiplayer products Wizards has released over the last few years, followed by a discussion on whether or not Commander should become a sanctioned format.  Then there's some serious discussion about how to keep things fresh when playing with the SAME people all the time.  Even if it's the SAME people using the SAME decks, you can still change some stuff up to make it fun, and we're gonna give you some suggestions.

Thanks to everyone who gave us some show ideas, we're gonna hold on to the ones we didn't get to for future shows!


Intro (and new Outro!) Music - Diamond by Swift - http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Creepy Doll by Jonathan Coulton - http://www.jonathancoulton.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-190-quick-hits-well-for-us-anyway-t701.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_190_-_Quick_Hits_Well_For_Us_Anyway.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 1:08am EDT