We are joined this episode by none other than Laura Diemer and Bill Boulden, aka Laura by Spruke.  You might know them from clips played right here on the show, or perhaps you bought their album, Katana & Tonic, on iTunes or one of the other digital music distribution services.  If not, then maybe you should!

Last weekend most of us went to the SCG Open in Charlotte.  We played lots of EDH, so of course we're gonna talk about some of the crazy stuff that went on in a few of those games.  Bill (Bloodworth, not Spruke) and Brian played in the Standard Open.  Bill's going to write up a tourney report that I'll put on the site once it's done.  Brian went into detail about his rounds at the beginning of this episode.  If you wanna check out his deck, then I have the link for you!
http://themanapool.com/the-deck-box/brians-bw-tokens

After having a few random musical and Magical discussions with Laura, she tagged out and Bill took over.  Bizarre last-minute scheduling issues work out well every once in while, you know?  With Bill we did more random discussions and a Story Circle with one of the most...let's say interesting (yeah, that's it) generals ever.  If you'd like to follow along at home, you can find that right here:
http://themanapool.com/the-deck-box/storycircle218edh

Bill and Laura were both a lot of fun to have on the show!  If you guys enjoyed their presence, let us know and we'll see if we can't get one or both of them on again sometime in the future.  In the meantime, why not go buy their album over on iTunes?  It's called Katana & Tonic, and it's awesome!


Follow Bill on Twitter: @ThaGatherin
Follow Laura on Twitter: @LauraGDiemer


Intro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Quick Break Music from Double Dragon by Kazunaka Yamane
Outro Music - Armchair Girlfriend by Laura by Spruke - http://youtube.com/Spruke

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

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As featured in Episode 216, here is the awesome new audio montage made for us by Daniel Beach (who was also a guest host on that one).  He took an unfinished Sprukestep track from the upcoming Factor Friction album that Spruke posted up to SoundCloud and peppered in a lot of random Mana Pool goodness. He said he did it entirely in Audacity, which is pretty ridiculous for a free program.

Just like Jungle Rat Rob before him, Beach has managed to capture the essence of The Mana Pool.  As I've been saying for a very long time now, we're here for your entertainment first and foremost.  If you learn something along the way, that's freakin' great, but our primary function is just to ensure that you have fun listening to us.

And just because he gave it to me, here's the list of sources that Beach used to make this little bit of awesome.  I hope you all enjoy!

Background song: For You (Eldrazi Stomp Mix) by Spruke
Episode 85 - M10 Rules Update Discussion
Episode 88 - Magic 2010 Preview 2
Episode 97 - Land Before Time
Episode 113 - Multiplayer Mayhem Live
Episode 122 - Multiplayer Mayhem Live 2
Episode 129 - Mortal Instinct Fighter Calibur Vs!
Episode 140 - Duel Decks at Ten Paces
Episode 163 - All of MBS (and Half of Chewie)
Episode 172 - Adventures on Zendikar (Live)
Episode 200 - Blame It On the Listeners
Episode 209 - Dirk and a Half
Episode 213 - Rant Over (DKA Preview 2)
Episode 214 - Crisis II: Dork Harder (DKA Preview 3)
Avant-Card Show Episode 32

It finally happened!  Yes, we finally remembered to grab none other than Jack Antonio Sabato De La Hoya Other Name Lacroix to guest host!  And let me just tell you, this guy is a wealth of information.  We talked briefly about the the latest SCG Open results, and Jack gave us some of his insight there.  With his help, we also covered a wide variety of Commander topics, such as the importance of versatility, misconceptions about the format, proper threat density, the number of lands and mana rocks you should play, politics, and who knows what else.  Well if you listen, you'll know what else!

But that's not all!  We did a Story Circle!  If you want to check out the full result list from that, there's a link right below this paragraph.  And of course we can't have an episode of The Mana Pool without a requisite amount of random nonsense, right?  Of course not.  It's there.  Trust me on this.  Would I lie to you?  About the important stuff, that is.  The answer I'm looking for here is no, by the way.  Jeez.
http://themanapool.com/the-deck-box/storycircle217edh/


Follow Jack on Twitter: @JackLacroix

Intro and Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - What Now My Love by Miss Piggy

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-217-commander-month-you-don-t-know-jack-t765.html
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Welcome to the first show of Commander Month here on The Mana Pool!  We're kicking it off with one of our long time listeners and constant source of good ideas, Daniel Beach.  If you enjoyed Episode 214, he was the inspiration behind having the ACS guys on again.  If you didn't enjoy it...blame Beach for that.

But because it's Commander Month, we've asked Beach to do an Out of the Deck Box for one of his decks, and he chose the one he's named Progenitalia and Friends.  Back in Episode 192 I pulled my Progenitalia deck Out of the Deck Box, and it was fascinating to see just how incredibly different Beach's deck was from mine.  That's probably because he's a better player than me, just so we're clear.  If you want to check out either of these decks, you'll find a link on the next line down.

Beach's Progenitalia: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/progenitalia-and-friends/
Chewie's Progenitalia: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/progenitalia/

We didn't stop with that though!  We hit up the Random Card button on Gatherer until we bumped into a legendary creature and did a Story Circle! If you want to see the full list for that, it's right here:
http://themanapool.com/the-deck-box/storycircle216edh/

And other than that, we did an old Mad Lib again, talked about the Rules Update, discussed the Event Decks, discussed briefly the results of the first DKA-ready SCG Open (which had the best name for a Legacy deck EVER) and mentioned the Super Bowl Halftime show and how much we love Betty White.  We hope you enjoy!


Daniel Beach on Twitter: @Beach7125



Intro and Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - For You (Mana Pool Mix) - music by Spruke, mixed by Daniel Beach

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-216-commander-month-a-day-at-the-beach-t763.html
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Well, it's the week after the prerelease, so you know what that means, right?  We've got to tell you all about how we did!  Find out who did well, who didn't do well, and how the webmaster Scott did in his first tournament ever!

But of course, prerelease episodes are more than just Sealed tourney reports.  We also took the second half of the show to run through some of the listener mail that needs to be read on-air.  Rules questions, prerelease stories, and general hilarity.  Interspersed throughout the episode are rants and discussions of various things.  These things include lame intro packs, a good game of EDH at Lucky's, Chewie not playing Thalia, Columbia House and BMG, and this one highly obnoxious guy who seems to run through the whole account of the prerelease.  We hope you enjoy!

Also, there were a few URLs from emails that we agreed to share with everyone:
Ace's Altered Art - http://AcesAlteredArt.com
Bury St. Edmunds Wargaming Club - http://burywargamers.blogspot.com/


Intro and Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music - Easy by Laura by Spruke - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybRVsCwDTqc

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-215-dka-prerelease-and-mailbag-t760.html
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