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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September 2012
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Syndication

The full set has been revealed, so we have to spend a nice long time talking about it!  You've come to expect this though, right?  All the shows out there are doing it, man.  Of course, we've been doing it longer, but that's beside the point, right?

But we're not going to start out with the awesome new stuff, no no.  We have to go back to the Commander banned list update, because we missed something the first time around.  Here's a link so you can follow along:
http://www.mtgcommander.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12253

The Intro Packs for Return to Ravnica have been revealed, so you should probably check those out too.  They seem pretty good with just a cursory glance:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1067

Also, our resident Rules Guy gets blue-balled by a less-than-interesting Rules Update:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/214b

And of course, the full set for RTR is here:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/returntoravnica/cig


Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music – A Kind of Magic by Queen - http://www.queenonline.com

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-249
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-249-return-of-the-ravnica-or-the-guildpact-strikes-t845.html
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Direct download: Episode_249_-_Return_of_the_Ravnica_or_The_Guildpact_Strikes_Back.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 3:35pm EDT

Yup, it's more Return to Ravnica previews!  You know it, you love it.  Or maybe you just tolerate it.  I know we do!  Here's the link:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/returntoravnica/cig#

We also talked about these expensive guild shirts:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/213

And this No Shyfts comic:
http://www.5colorcontrol.com/noshyfts/?p=467

And we talked at length about the Escapist Expo tournament, which is pretty cool.  Chewie and Bill finished in the top 16, and Mike had a serious, SERIOUS problem.  No, I mean it.  I'm not even playing, this was really bad.  But you'll have to wait until the end of the episode to hear all about that!  HA!  That's called a teaser.
http://www.escapistexpo.com

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by The Police - http://www.thepolice.com/

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-248
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-248-the-rules-guy-gets-busted-t843.html
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast
Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool
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Direct download: Episode_248_-_The_Rules_Guy_Gets_Busted.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:12am EDT

Look, it's really late.  You're getting this episode really early because I'm going to be at the Escapist Expo all weekend.  Mike and I were up way too late getting our respective decks for the big Saturday tournament up and running, then I had to go ask the hot nurse upstairs if she had a needle to help me get this MASSIVE splinter out of my hand.  Seriously, you guys should have seen it, it was crazy.  So now it's 3am and I still haven't finished posting this.  But you don't care about any of that, you just wanna know what we talked about don't you?

First off, Mike and Brian told us all about their experiences at the Magic Celebration, which was pretty awesome.  Then we had to...let's say discuss.  We had to discuss the fact that the Prerelease cards are the same as the Intro Pack rares.  See?
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1057

From there, it was pretty much just all previews all the time.  We covered everything that we could find that had been officially spoiled.  I wonder what they'll come out with next?  Probably a stack of pancakes!
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/returntoravnica/cig

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music – Be Water My Friend (Bruce Lee) by Melodysheep - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud-AUboZl3A

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-247
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-247-stack-of-pancakes-t842.html
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast
Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool
Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool
Email us at dorks@themanapool.com
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Direct download: Episode_247_-_Stack_of_Pancakes.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 3:22am EDT

Yup, it's preview time again!  We are returning to Ravnica in the next set, Return...to Ravnica.  Really?  Is that the best they could come up with?  Maybe the next time they do this we can just all it "Printing Money" or "Preying on Nostalgia".  Anyway, the Card Image Gallery is right here so you can follow along:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/returntoravnica/cig#

We also talked about the upcoming Duel Decks: Sorin vs. Tibalt.  Of course, that's basically all we know, so congratulations to us for covering that one so well.  Here's a link:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1049

Also, the first Magic Player's Championship happened, and it sounded completely awesome.  The new World Champion was...huh?  Not the World Champion?  Player of the Year?  But that's decided by pro point accumulation throughout the year isn't it?  Not anymore?  Weird.  Anyway, it was Yuuya Watanabe, and here's the full coverage:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/tpc12/welcome

Also, Chewie is still going to the Escapist Expo in Durham next weekend (Sept 14-16).  If you're at all interested, here's a link to the Magic events that are happening all weekend:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119032-The-Escapist-Expos-Official-Magic-The-Gathering-Schedule

And finally, Dirk has an important announcement, so don't leave until you get to the end!


Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music – Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens (from Fantasia 2000)

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-246
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-246-return-to-ravnica-address-unknown-t841.html
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast
Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool
Our Google+ page: http://gplus.to/themanapool
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Direct download: Episode_246_-_Return_to_Ravnica_Address_Unknown.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:53pm EDT

We've got a lot of stuff going on here.  Chewie announces that he's going to the Escapist Expo in Durham.  For the full list of stuff going on at the Expo, you can just click here:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119032-The-Escapist-Expos-Official-Magic-The-Gathering-Schedule

Brian's got a Magic Mad Lib for us!  It's totally not Boomerang.  Trust me on this.

Then we get into the first main topic, which is the fancy new Duel Decks: Izzet vs. Golgari decklists.  We spend entirely too long discussing these, but it's all in good fun.  You can follow along here:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/210

From there we've got a look at the Izzet and Golgari colored decks that we've built.  It's amazing how only one of these actually has anything to do with the guild itself, and it's twice the size of a normal deck.  Pretty cool huh?

Also, here's the Storage Wars episode we talked about at the very end:
http://www.aetv.com/storage-wars/video/sheets-and-geeks-33993138#33993138

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – http://www.swift-band.com
Break Music – Overload by Zappacosta

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-245
Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-245-dredging-in-the-woods-t840.html
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast
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Direct download: Episode_245_-_Dredging_in_the_Woods.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:47am EDT