Mon, 1 December 2025
The dorks continue checking out the Avatar set! And it's just after Chewie's 45th birthday! What is going on here? Where is the Avatar? What happened to my cabbages? Gallery: https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/avatar-the-last-airbender/card-image-gallery
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Then_Everything_Changed_When_the_Fire_Nation_Attacked.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 7:00am EST |
Wed, 19 November 2025
Yup, the dorks are looking at the Avatar: The Last Airbender set. And it's our 18 year anniversary! Holy crap! Mechanics: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/avatar-the-last-airbender-mechanics
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Long_Ago_the_Four_Dorks_Lived_Together_in_Harmony.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 7:00am EST |
Tue, 11 November 2025
The dorks (except Mike) get together to discuss what we've been playing lately along with a bit of personal nonsense. You know how it is, we're dorks and we're just chatting!
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool
Direct download: Gaming__Other_Nonsense_-_Dorks_Just_Chatting.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 9:00am EST |
Wed, 29 October 2025
Since it's Halloween time the dorks thought they'd get into the spirit of things by telling you all about some spooky stories. These come from folklore, our childhood, the bookstore, and the internet, and all of them spooked us, or unsettled us, or at the very least just stuck with us, and we want to share them with you. We also got several suggestions from the TMP Discord, which you should totally join too!
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Spooky_Stories_That_Spooked_Us_-_The_Mana_Pool_737.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 9:00am EST |
Fri, 17 October 2025
Welcome to Supply Lines, a running feature here on TMP where the dorks will be looking at resource management in games. What games? All games, because Chewie is convinced that they're all just different styles of resource management dressed up in genre pants. This is the second Supply Lines episode, after starting with Magic: The Gathering (for obvious reasons) in episode 723. For this one we decided to go to one of the most hardcore examples of resource management in games, Dungeons & Dragons! Chewie has been playing Baldur's Gate 3 and the other dorks actually play D&D, so they've all got stuff to say. This episode focuses on all the resources you have to manage for character creation, which is surprisingly a lot to the point it can be absolutely overwhelming to new players. We'll discuss every aspect of it we can think of and cover why the limitations and restrictions are good actually. Along the way we'll get sidetracked several times, as is our wont. Let us know what's your favorite part of character creation, and yes, tell us all about your favorite character you've ever made. Just this once we'll allow it. Supply Lines MTG: https://youtu.be/pmxl27XMHS8
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Supply_Lines_DD_p1_-_Character_Creation_-_The_Mana_Pool_736.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 1:00am EST |
Tue, 7 October 2025
On this fictional episode of The Mana Pool, the dorks are taking a look at books that don't actually exist. Whether they're macguffins that drive the story, plot points that provide exposition or power to the protagonists (or antagonists), or a self-referential meta thing that makes your head hurt, fictional books have been important in fiction across all kinds of genres and mediums, and we're going to talk about a whole mess of them! What's your favorite fictional book, whether we did or didn't cover it in the episode? Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Fictional_Books_in_Fiction_-_The_Mana_Pool_735.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 8:00am EST |
Fri, 26 September 2025
The dorks dive back into the Spider-Man (and the Through the Omenpaths digital nonsense version) Magic set to pick out a mess of cards to talk about. As usual with Universes Beyond stuff, we're talking about what the cards do and what they represent from the source material. Radioactive spider blood! Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Your_Friendly_Neighborhood_Spider-Cards_-_The_Mana_Pool_734.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 8:00am EST |
Sun, 21 September 2025
The dorks swing over to both the Spider-Man set and the Arena non-Spidey version at the same time to discuss what the new set looks like. Spider-Man mechanics article - https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/spider-man-mechanics
Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Doing_Whatever_A_Spider_Can_-_The_Mana_Pool_733.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 11:51am EST |
Wed, 10 September 2025
The dorks called an audible this week, so here's the Dorks Just Chatting that resulted. We're all over the place this week, talking about Weird Al, how AI art isn't art and how AI just sucks in general, Brian's long-forgotten first RPG waaaay back on the NES, how Chewie has been playing two classic game compilations, a few weird combat encounters in games new and old, the release of Silksong after all this time, and ACL repair. Hope you all enjoy as much as we did!
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool
Direct download: Al_AI__Classic_Games_-_Dorks_Just_Chatting.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 8:00am EST |
Wed, 27 August 2025
The dorks take on the existence of creatures that science doesn't support, known as cryptids. We're picking out some of them to talk about in a bit more depth, explaining what they are and why they probably don't exist. If there are any more weird stuff topics you want us to talk about be sure to let us know!
Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Cryptids_-_The_Truth_Is_Out_There_-_The_Mana_Pool_732.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 8:00am EST |
Tue, 19 August 2025
The dorks head back into the Edge of Eternities gallery, poking around at cards in the set that are neat and tripping into tangents along the way. After a while we pause our gallery perusal and start discussing some of the potential ramifications of EoE and its setting and mechanics. Will we be coming back to the Edge in the future? Will spaceships (or other things to Station) become as ubiquitous as vehicles? Does this mean more sci-fi Universes Beyond will be coming up? It's just a good old-fashioned dork discussion, so let us know what you think! Edge of Eternities Gallery - https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/edge-of-eternities/card-image-gallery
Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: The_Ramifications_of_Going_to_Space_-_The_Mana_Pool_731.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 8:00am EST |
Wed, 6 August 2025
The dorks return to take their first (and possibly only) look at Edge of Eternities! Because of real life we haven't actually seen terribly much of the set, so a lot of this will be our first reactions to some of the more spicy cards that Twitch chat suggested. At the end, Mike & Chewie sorta forgot they hadn't ended the episode and moved to the Odds & Ends, so you get a good amount of Baldur's Gate 3/D&D talk. And we're not sorry! Edge of Eternities mechanics - https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/edge-of-eternities-mechanics
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool |
Tue, 29 July 2025
With Brian still on a boat, the remaining dorks return to just talk about whatever comes to mind! We touch on the recent celebrity deaths before heading into video games we've been playing lately. We spend a fair amount of time on Baldur's Gate 3 since two of us have been playing it (and it's really freakin' good). We complain about Windows 11 hardware requirements too, because that's capitalist nonsense. From there we wander for a while, hitting Stranger Things, being inundated with Star Wars & Star Trek shows, really bad scenes in otherwise not horrible films, and Brussels sprouts. We end the episode by circling back to Baldur's Gate, discussing getting old, and some random DoorDash nonsense. Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool
Direct download: Geeks_Only_Gabbing_-_Dorks_Just_Chatting.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 8:00am EST |
Wed, 16 July 2025
The dorks are looking back at their years of playing video games and choosing some of their favorite weapons to share! Sometimes it's for the wow factor, sometimes it taught a valuable lesson, sometimes it's just iconic, and sometimes it's so silly that it is permanently memorable. What are some of your favorite weapons in games, and why?
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool |
Wed, 9 July 2025
The dorks couldn't settle on a topic for this week, so we turned to our Discord community of Pooligans for some ideas! We're answering three excellent questions on this episode, ranging from relatively simple to "gaining a deeper understanding of how the dorks' minds work" so we hope you enjoy! Thanks to chfuji and Violet Moon for the questions! If you have any questions or topics you'd like the dorks to tackle in the future, be sure to let us know! I've finally started a list of all the ideas and topics and suggestions and we'll be pulling from it whenever we can.
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool |
Tue, 24 June 2025
Most of the dorks are back! This week we're talking about world events that happen every four years...for some reason? Then Chewie talks about taking two teenagers, one of whom had not ridden a roller coaster, to Carowinds to ride roller coasters! After all of that of course we have to talk about the Final Fantasy Prerelease because ALL OF US WENT! Dirk & Mike talk about their decks, while Chewie takes over talking about how Brian & Sam did. Great fun was had by all. From there, Chewie goes into why he's less interested in Magic these days, but how thinking critically about it for all those years has stirred a deep interest in how elements of game design come together in all the games he plays. Then we devolve into the usual nonsense, like GYATT and D&D and Skyrim and how there weren't any good Jasons back in the day. Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool
Direct download: Theme_Park_Prerelease_and_Game_Design_-_Dorks_Just_Chatting.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 8:00am EST |
Wed, 11 June 2025
The dorks return to finish up with the Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set! Along with the usual tangents and distractions, of course. It is still us after all. Card Image Gallery: https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/final-fantasy/card-image-gallery
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: The_Finalish_Final_Fantasy_Preview_Episode.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 9:00am EST |
Wed, 28 May 2025
The dorks are back, bouncing around the Card Image Gallery for the Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set! As usual for UB, we're primarily checking out how well these cards reflect their source material. That's it really, you know the drill. There's probably one more episode of this coming, so be sure to let us know or come hang out live to let us know cards you want us to be sure we cover! Card Image Gallery: https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/final-fantasy/card-image-gallery
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Even_More_Final_Fantasy_MTG_Previews.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 8:00am EST |
Wed, 21 May 2025
Now that the full previews have begun, the dorks dive back into card from the upcoming Universes Beyond Final Fantasy set! We're hitting the mechanics as usual, then poking around to check out the main characters of some of the games. As has become our thing with these UB sets, we're going to be taking a look at how the card mechanics reflect the source material they're based on. So strap in, grab your giant sword of choice, and let's take a look! Mechanics: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/final-fantasy-mechanics
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE |
Wed, 14 May 2025
Originally we were going to make this episode about everything Star Wars other than the movies, but it turns out we spent WAY too much time on the video games. There are SO MANY video games. And we only covered a fraction of them! We'll dive into 2D platformers, 1st and 3rd person action, racing, grand strategy, real time strategy, Virtual reality, flight simulator, and probably more that I'm forgetting! What's your favorite Star Wars video game?
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE |
Wed, 7 May 2025
Welcome to Supply Lines, a new running feature here on TMP where the dorks will be looking at resource management in games. What games? All games, because they all have a variety of resources that the player needs to manage to be able to play! To kick it all off, we're starting with the game that we and our audience probably have the most experience with - Magic: the Gathering. We'll sprinkle in some examples from other card games as they come up of course, but MTG is the primary focus of this initial episode. Be sure to let us know what you think! And please let us know what types of games you want to hear us cover in the future!
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Supply_Lines_-_Resource_Management_in_MTG.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 8:00am EST |
Tue, 29 April 2025
What exactly is a roguelike? Well it's a video game...genre? Sort of? Genres are all made up and stupid. In this episode, the dorks will dive into what makes a roguelike a roguelike, with lots of relevant conversations about various aspects of the whole thing. And be sure to let us know your favorite roguelikes and why! Stay tuned for the end when Mike & Chewie get all caught up in...D&D stuff? Wait what?
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE |
Tue, 15 April 2025
Oh hey, the set about dragons has a bunch of dragons in it! Weird. Guess we should probably take a look at some of them huh? Card Image Gallery - https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/tarkir-dragonstorm/card-image-gallery
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Episode_721_-_Dragonstorm_Has_Dragons.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 9:00am EST |
Tue, 1 April 2025
The dorks are back! First Chewie recaps Cheevos For Charity 2025, which was a glorious time that raised over $1500 for Trans Lifeline! After that we give Tarkir: DragonStorm the usual treatment. You know, looking at the mechanics and then bouncing around the gallery calling out whatever we like. Don't worry, we'll be back again to check out all the big scary dragons and stuff. Tarkir Dragonstorm Mechanics - https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/tarkir-dragonstorm-mechanics
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE |
Mon, 17 March 2025
If you've ever been slept, poisoned, charmed, stunned, slowed, or...made an atheist (?) then this episode is for you! The dorks are talking about (as the title says) status effects in games. Of course we spend a lot of time on RPGs, but status effects are common in all kinds of games. We brought up several different action games and card games just to hammer this point home. Let us know what you think! Corrupted Blood Incident: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrupted_Blood_incident
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Episode_719_-_Status_Effects_in_Games.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 8:00am EST |
Thu, 13 March 2025
The dorks couldn't come up with something to talk about this episode, so we asked the Pooligans in our Discord community for some ideas! Mycroft wanted to know if we had anything to say about building toys, from Lego to Gunpla, so we talked about that for a while. Then Pana was curious which cartoons we thought might be good to bring back for another run, sort of like DuckTales or She-Ra or any number of other excellent examples. And we spent WAY too long just talking about old cartoons. Don't blame us when you have to go look up old cartoon theme songs. Even though it's totally our fault. Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool
Direct download: Building_Toys__Old_Cartoons_-_Dorks_Just_Chatting.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 9:00am EST |
Wed, 5 March 2025
The dorks take their first look at the long-awaited Final Fantasy Universes Beyond MTG set! We're all FF dorks to one degree or another, so we're doing like we did with the Lord of the Rings set - taking a look at how the mechanics of the card matches up to the thing it is depicting. Between the four of us we have all the games covered (for the most part) so this should be fun. Find out which commander we think is terribly done, who we think is just boring, who is horribly overrated, and which ones are absolute home runs! And be sure to let us know what you think too! Final Fantasy Gallery - https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/final-fantasy/card-image-gallery
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Episode_718_-_The_First_Final_Fantasy_Episode.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 9:00am EST |
Wed, 26 February 2025
No, you're not hallucinating and you haven't fallen into a time portal (unless you're coming from the future, in which case SAVE US!). It's Chewie, Cluze, and Squee, together again! No we're not resurrecting anything, we just wanted to get back together and try desperately to ignore the direction the world is going by talking about whatever nerdy nonsense we've been fooling with lately. We bounced around from a Japanese honorifics lesson because of Yakuza 0 to rambling about the MCU to falling into food shows to discussing all the shows we have and have not finished to the horrors of trying to find a good barber to not taking down holiday decorations...and that's not even everything!
Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE |
Thu, 20 February 2025
To celebrate the fake retail holiday Valentine's Day (which was the day after we recorded this), the dorks wanted to shift gears away from the negativity of episode 715. So for this episode we're each talking about some things that we love! Not our partners or families or any of that stuff, we mean nerdy nonsense! Movies, games, shows, whatever we want! So tell us, what are some nerdy things YOU love? Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE |
Tue, 11 February 2025
The dorks take a look at the mechanics and gallery of Aetherdrift. You know the drill, we do this sort of thing all the time. Sorry we missed the blue shell by the way. Aetherdrift Mechanics - https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/aetherdrift-mechanics
Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE |
Wed, 5 February 2025
Gamers, amirite? Whether it's opponents across the table, friends next to you, or randos online, eventually they're all going to do something while you're playing that just grinds your gears. The dorks are going to get into all the things that gamers do that annoy them. Not just to vent, but also to help us all recognize that some of our quirks or tics or whatever that we don't pay attention to might just be bothering the hell out of everyone else involved. Remember Rule 2! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Episode_715_-_Dont_Hate_the_Game_Hate_the_Player2.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 9:00am EST |
Wed, 22 January 2025
The dorks take a look at the main antagonists & final bosses of the first six Final Fantasy games! These range from just nothing to one of the best villains in gaming, period! We'll be going through each game in order to see how the big bad evolved (or didn't) over time. And don't worry, we'll come back to this again in the future to cover more that we didn't get to! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE
Direct download: Episode_714_-_The_Villains_of_Final_Fantasy_pt_1.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 9:00am EST |
Tue, 7 January 2025
The dorks kick off 2025 by looking back at the stuff that happened to us over the last year. Life events, games we played, shows we recorded, that sort of thing. Apologies for anyone going into excruciating details. We're also taking a look forward at things we're hoping to do or experience in the next year. You know, it's your typical year transition introspection thing. Be sure to let us know what you're looking forward to in 2025! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE |
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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