Podcast

This is probably the reason you’re here, but I’ll explain just in case. Started in November of 2007, The Mana Pool is a podcast for all the things that casual Magic players might enjoy. We talk about new cards, old cards, decks we’ve played, Commander/EDH, drafting, tournaments we attend, flavor, tribal, basically anything we can think of. We answer rules questions for listeners. We have segments like Out of the Deck Box (showing off our decks), Story Circle (building a deck on the fly live on the air), Magic Mad Libs (just what it sounds like), Mortal Instinct Fighter Calibur Vs (a flavorful random creature tournament fight), and several others that show up from time to time. Whenever we all get together, we record a live episode of us playing games, which listeners seem to enjoy because it gives more insight into who we are rather than because of the games themselves. Hope you enjoy!

Episode 589 – I’m Not Going Out to Take Pictures

By The Mana Pool | Published April 26, 2020 Leave a comment

The dorks head back to the Ikoria Card Image Gallery to take a look at all the weird stuff this plane has going on. We begin, of course, with the actual Sharknado. From there we find more shark things, a ridiculous number of mashed-up creatures (like a Porcuparrot and a Tigorilla), and the usual assortment of neat spells, stories told through cards, and assorted other weirdness.

I’m still not going outside to take pictures of ANY of these critters!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:53:30 — 39.0MB)

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Episode 588 – Companions and Ultimatums

By The Mana Pool | Published April 19, 2020 Leave a comment

The dorks are back on Ikoria! Since time is forever limited we weren’t able to take a look at the ENTIRE set, but we did hit a lot of the high points. Brian is blown away by the Triomes (for some reason), the new cycle of wedge Ultimatums are pretty amazing, and the rest of the Companions are bizarrely entertaining. Then we circle around and hit the rest of the Mythic Rares that we hadn’t covered yet and called it a night.

On the next episode we’re gonna come back to Ikoria and take a look at all the bizarre nonsense that’s going on in this set. In the meantime let us know what you think of any of the stuff in the set whether we’ve covered it or not!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:55:57 — 39.8MB)

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Episode 587 – The Biggs & Wedge Commanders

By The Mana Pool | Published April 12, 2020 Leave a comment

Right smack in the middle of Ikoria previews, WotC decided to preview all of Commander 2020. Since that was confusing for a lot of people, we’ve decided to separate C20 and Ikoria previews on The Mana Pool. This episode is all about Commander, in case you couldn’t tell from the title.

We’re starting with the three-color legends and moving into the partnered legends. From there it’s a free-for-all as we bounce around the card image gallery and call out whatever looks awesome. What are your favorite cards from the set?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:53:56 — 39.1MB)

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Leave a comment Tagged Commander, Commander 2020, previews

Episode 586 – Magic Kaiju Battle Go!

By The Mana Pool | Published April 5, 2020 Leave a comment

The dorks are back! Why are we back? Because Godzilla!

No, seriously. Godzilla cards. In Magic. Like for real. Well, sort of for real. It’s…bizarre.

Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths previews are here! And there’s some pretty awesome stuff here other than just the inclusion of everyone’s favorite Kaiju. Join us as we talk about all the awesome new stuff!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:09:35 — 44.5MB)

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Episode 585 – Just Chatting

By The Mana Pool | Published March 22, 2020 Leave a comment

This episode is going be a bit different. With all the coronavirus stuff going on across the world and tensions running high everywhere, the dorks couldn’t just ignore it all and talk about Magic. While escapism is great, sometimes you’ve got to face the facts. So the first part of this episode is all about how COVID-19 is affecting us and why we need to embrace social distancing. This is genuinely important. Please stay home unless you HAVE to leave.

But after that, we decided to do something different. We’re doing an entire episode of final thoughts! We’re touching on the big Year of the Phoenix update from Hearthstone that introduces an ENTIRE NEW CLASS (!) and sends a lot of heavily-played cards to the Hall of Fame. Then there’s the Castlevania anime, Designing Women, random bits of racism in public, working from home, DoorDashing during these troubling times, ManaStrike, and how movie theaters actually work. Then we’re doing a new Mad Lib, sent to us by Infinious, and it turned out REALLY well.