Being that this is a casual-centric Magic podcast, we don't venture much into the world of competitive sanctioned Magic.  But when we do, we spend a LOT of time talking about it on the next show!  That is this show.  In case you haven't heard, Mike, Brian, and Chewie went to a Standard PTQ last week.  Why might you have heard?  Well, that would be because Chewie ended up making Top 8!  Of course, we have to spend a good amount of time talking about that, because it's not something that happens every day, you know?

Chewie's PTQ Tournament Report:
http://themanapool.com/articles/kamikaze-standard-ptq/

Oh yeah, and there's this weird little thing called Planechase that has been making the preview circuit lately.  We're going to talk about all the cards and planes and phenomena that were spoiled at the time of this recording.  Hope you all enjoy, and be sure to listen to the outro music.  It's really good.

Planechase Visual Spoiler:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/planechase2012edition/cig

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music – The Chase by Giorgio Moroder from Midnight Express

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In which we discuss what happened to Dirk, refute the notion that there's no such thing as a free lunch, explain why it's good that we didn't record the previous game, and play some Magic.  No really!

Mike, Brian, and Chewie lead off with a fairly quick game of Commander, where Chewie's relatively new Johan deck got off to a ridiculous start.  Holy crap.  Then there's another Commander game after that!  After that, we clear up some confusion about whether or not Mike realizes we're not playing EDH anymore, and proceed to play a game with normal decks.  I can't really call it a 60 card game, but you'll see why.  And we decided to end up with a relatively quick game of Horde Magic again Brian's green Horde deck.  Been a while since you heard about that format, hasn't it?

So that's our second long-lost live episode.  During the last two games, Brian's daughter Sam was awake and running around and happy, so you'll just have to deal with all the assorted baby noises, toy noises, and Chewie turning around to talk to her.  She's so cute. And he has focus problems when there's a baby around.  Also, we hope you enjoyed the I Fight Dragons sampler platter.


Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Break Musics – All of these are by I Fight Dragons (played on the episode in this order) off their album Kaboom! - http://www.ifightdragons.com
Save World Get Girl
My Way
Kaboom!
With You

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We begin by taking a quick look at the Avacyn Restored Event Decks, in all their glorious whatever-it-is.  After that, we have a riveting discussion about what happens when you cast Eaten by Spiders on Avacyn.  Another listener-inspired topic that we tackled is a simple one: What was the first card you ever really coveted?  This leads us to all kinds of nostalgia and manages to infiltrate the main topic of the episode.

Main topic you say?  Well AVR has lots of shiny new angels and a fair number of new demons, but what about the old guard?  Both have been around since the first printing of Magic, but what are we dealing with here?  What have these two types looked like throughout the history of the game?  We'll discuss some of the ancient creatures of each type and throw out plenty of personal experiences with them too of course.

Two things should become pretty obvious from this discussion.  First, Brian doesn't actually know the names of any angels or demons in the game of Magic.  And second, demons DO NOT get along with Mike, so much so that we named the episode after this phenomenon.  You're gonna love these horrible, horrible demonic bad beats stories all the more when you realize that these ALL come from the demons that Mike is playing WITH, not against!

Avacyn Restored Event Decks: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/967


Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music – Lights Out by Pitch the Woo – http://www.facebook.com/pitchthewooband

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Yeah, we just had 3 episodes of previews, so you know what that means - the Prerelease episode!  Bill Bloodworth (you know, @SqueeGoblnNabob) joins us for this one, since he was the cause of the funniest thing any of us have seen at a Prerelease for a VERY long time.  Brian talked about his experience, Bill told his story, and Mike and Chewie covered their two apiece.  Definitely a lot of fun.  So be sure to tune in to hear about the bitch scoop, slamming the door, How to Miracle (from Bill), How Not to Miracle (from Mike), Chewie Righteously Blowing things, and of course...GRISELBRAND!

Of course, before we get to the Sealed events, we have a few things to discuss.  In a quick message on DailyMTG by Helene Bergeot (and aren't they all quick?), it was revealed that Guillaume Matignon's suspension was cut in half.  If you'll recall, he was one of the Guillaumes responsible for GuillaumeGate.  Guillaume Guillaume.  Okay, I think that's out of my system now.  But he was one of the guys behind the New Phyrexia godbook leak.  Or so we thought...*dramatic pause*

Also, there was plenty of talk about the Helvault promotion on the whole.  We'll go over the ups, the downs, why it was or wasn't crazy good, and bat around a few ideas for improving future events and stuff.  Let us know what you think!

GRISELBRAND!


Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music – Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-228-the-helvault-experience-play-boros-t804.html
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