After several straight weeks of guest hosts, the dorks have decided to break the streak and go it alone. And what better way to kick it off than with another of our trademark Magic Mad Libs! Brian whipped up a good one this week, leaving us all laughing our various and sundry bits off.

After that we venture into the territory of nostalgia and do a Mythic Conscription for Onslaught! This was the first new set when we all started playing together, and as such it holds a very special place in our hearts. After taking this second look, it turns out there are a lot of really solid and powerful rares in the set, but we had some troubles finding actual mythics. Let us know what you think deserves to be mythic!

Support us on Patreon! - https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-373
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The dorks are joined by another Kickstarter backer this week, Stark Maximum! Stark has a thing for the flavor of the game, so he has two very Vorthosy topics for us to discuss! First, he wants to discuss everyone's favorite italicized words, flavor text! He and the dorks talk about some of their favorite flavor texts, touch on a few different kinds (flavors?) of flavor text, and discuss some of the characters who first made their mark on the game of Magic in italics.

From there, Stark steers us into a more general discussion about planeswalkers. But we're chatting about planeswalkers not as cards, but as actual characters. We poke around some of the story that surrounds some of the walkers, discuss the planeswalkers who, as Stark put it, have A story but don't fit into THE story. You know, stuff like that.

This episode was a fun one and we hope everyone enjoys! Let us know about your favorite flavor text and planeswalker as a character not as a card

Follow Stark on Twitter - @StarkMaximum
The Love Song of Night and Day - http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature/145#1
Black Labels, a Peculiar Flavor Special Short Story by Myke Okuhara - http://themanapool.com/peculiar-flavor/black-labels-peculiar-flavor-special-short-story/

Support us on Patreon! - https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-372
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast
Email us at dorks@themanapool.com
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On this episode the dorks are joined by another of the Kickstarter backers, Clayton Clemens! Clayton is a pretty cool guy (even though he's one of those Canadians) and doesn't afraid of anything.

He's here to get us to talk about Cube! Waaaaaaaay back in our first year, Brian built a Cube and we played it and talked about it on an episode. That was episode 29, for those keeping track. But Cubing has really taken off since then, and we've fallen WAY behind on it. That's what Clayton is here for though! He tells us all about what a Cube is and how you do it and the different flavors and oh my god so much information!

Don't worry though, there are PLENTY of sidetracks, tangents, rabbit holes, and various other off-topic conversations, just in case you forgot what show you were listening to. Like I said, Clayton's pretty cool!

Follow Clayton on Twitter @Teele87
Clayton's Peasant Cube - http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/19284
Brian's Cube from TMP's first year - http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-29-to-the-third-power-cubed/
Black Labels, a Peculiar Flavor Special Short Story by Myke Okuhara - http://themanapool.com/peculiar-flavor/black-labels-peculiar-flavor-special-short-story/

Support us on Patreon! - https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-371
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast
Email us at dorks@themanapool.com
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Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions

We're joined this week by fellow podcaster and all-around awesome guy, Mr. Jason Roskam! He's one of the hosts of the Higher Standards podcast, which focuses solely on, oddly enough, the Standard format. Imagine that. But we're not here to talk about Standard! Mr. Roskam tells us all about how he plays Magic with his son! It involves keeping him interested in the game while still helping him to improve and learn more, which is a pretty nifty balancing act. From there the discussion turns to some ideas for how to make Magic, competitive and otherwise, a little more welcoming to newer players. Do you have any ideas? Let us know!

After that, we turn to Dirk for another edition of Dirk's Creature Corner! This time (in case you couldn't tell from the title) Dirk is turning his eye towards the fishy existence of Merfolk! Dirk points out all the biological, physiological, evolutionary, and cultural reasons why merfolk just...won't work, whether they are the Leggy or Finny variety. We had a lot of fun discussing fish gills, fish necks, fish hands, fish junk, and of course, fish boobs. There's a lot of talk about the potential origins of these fish people - did they come straight from fish or were they perhaps already on land and backed back into their aquatic homes

This one was a lot of fun, and be sure to let us know what creatures we should dissect in the next episode of Dirk's Creature Corner!

Follow Mr. Roskam on Twitter - @roskam76
Check out Higher Standards on MTGCast - http://mtgcast.com/topics/mtgcast-podcast-shows/active-podcast-shows/higher-standards
The Mana Pool Episode 38 - The Eventide Prerelease Ordeal - http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-38-the-eventide-prerelease-ordeal/

Support us on Patreon! - https://www.patreon.com/themanapool

Intro & Outro Music – Diamond by Swift – https://myspace.com/swiftband

This episode’s post: http://themanapool.com/podcast/episode-370
Check out our archive at http://themanapool.com/category/podcast
Email us at dorks@themanapool.com
Follow us on Twitter at @TheManaPool
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheManaPool
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Brought to you by Mana Pool Productions