So many of our favorite podcasts had wonderful guests this week: Crazy Talk had Adam Barnello, The Eh Team had Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, Limited Resources had Tom Martell, Yo! MTG Taps! had Mike Flores, and on and on. This was a great week to hear the thoughts of the pros on today’s Standard and Legacy environments, the cards of New Phyrexia and their impact on metagames, and on the state of Magic in general.

Let’s tune in.

Format Staples

Format staples are my favorite shows and the shows I believe are the most important for someone interested in Magic: The Gathering and podcasts to be listening to week in and week out. You want these in your 75.

CrazyTalk #12 – Epic Beard Or Providence, Bitches!

Running time 1 hour 46 minutes

• Show notes:

• Legacy expert or the man with the epic beard, Adam Barnello, joins the Crazy Talk crew as this just might be one of the most knowledge-filled episodes yet. Featuring B/W Aggro, Mono Blue Control and Enlightened Tutor.

The Eh Team #37 – Paulo’s Gruesome Encore

Running time 1 hour 44 minutes

• KYT, Jesse, Scott, and Jay are joined by Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa.
• Interestingly, considering the guys are talking to a pro, the show begins with an in-depth discussion about playing on Magic Workstation and Magic-League.com. I personally don’t know much about playing on any of the online Magic software packages other than MTGO, so this was an interesting take on the other options available.
• Next up, another great question is posed to PV by JayBoosh about time management as a professional Magic player. People interested in becoming a pro and aiming for that lifestyle will enjoy this discussion.
• Keeping on time management as an issue, KYT inquires about the time required to write articles.
• Scotty also asks what Paulo’s top three New Phyrexia cards for Legacy and Standard are:

• Legacy:

• Mental Misstep
• Batterskull
• Jin-Gitaxis, Core Augur

• Standard

• Deceiver Exarch
• Batterskull
• Sword of War and Peace

• Though he can’t reveal very much, the guys also pick PV’s brain about his plans for Legacy in Grand Prix: Providence and Block constructed at Pro Tour: Nagoya.
• Paulo also gives some really great insight into how he tests for tournaments both in constructed and limited formats.

Limited Resources #83 – Magic with Martell

Running time 1 hour 12 minutes

• Marshall and Ryan are joined this week by Pro Tour competitor Tom Martell.
• There were problems with the audio on the episode and so some of the interview is missing, but once the audio kicks in and we start listening, you really don’t notice.
• The guys talk about limited theory, drafting with New Phyrexia, Finkel drafting, and more.
• Tune in for some great insight and entertaining discussion.
• Crack-a-Pack:

• Gitaxian Probe
• Hovermyr
• Glistener Elf
• Flameborn Viron
• Forced Worship
• Dementia Bat
• Spire Monitor
• Slash Panther
• Grim Affliction
• Porcelain Legionnaire
• Deceiver Exarch
• Greenhilt Trainee
• Shrine of Loyal Legions
• Lashwrithe

• With Tom on board, the guys have a more extended discussion about their pick than usual. Absolutely give this a listen.
• Finally, on a very bittersweet note, Ryan announces at the end of the show that he has accepted a position with Wizards of the Coast! Which is totally sweet! But it means that he cannot continue to be on the podcast, which is so, so bitter. Many congratulations to Ryan Spain from me, and I’m sure from all of my readers as well. I hope the job is every bit the dream job it seems to be.

Magic TV #90 – New Phyrexia Hit or Myth

Running time 15 minutes

• Tristan Shaun Gregson and Luis Scott-Vargas discuss the mythic rares of New Phyrexia to determine how playable they are and how well they meet the excitement and expectation of new mythics.

Magic TV Top 8 of the Week: Best Artifacts

Running time 11 minutes

• Tristan and Luis wrap up their “Top 8” series bringing us the best artifacts in the history of the game.

• 8. Trinisphere
• 7. Sensei's Divining Top
• 6. Umezawa's Jitte
• 5. Skullclamp
• 4. AEther Vial
• 3. Time Vault
• 2. Memory Jar
• 1. Black Lotus, Sol Ring, Mox Emerald, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault

Monday Night Magic #260 – A Milli Vanilli

Running time 1 hour 21 minutes

• Monday Night Magic is hosted this week by Tom, Jack, Adena, Eric, and Robert. The co-hosts are also joined by David, a listener who is hosting an MTGCast listener event in Seattle, Washington, on June 4. See the show notes for more information about the event.
• Magic news:

• New Phyrexia event deck lists are now available.
• The deck list and the name of the first planeswalker opponent in Duels of the Planeswalker 2012 are now available.
• The Extended and Block formats are now eligible Friday Night Magic formats. Petition your local store if you would like to try either format at your next FNM.
• Wizards of the Coast has announced a new format called “Modern” as one of the formats to be played in the MTGO Community Cup. The format includes all cards from Eighth Edition forward; it has its own banned list; and if it proves to be popular enough, Wizards may actually make it a new sanctioned format.

• The crew also discusses the decks they have been playing recently, and discuss a few listener e-mails.

The Third Power #14 – You’re Doing It Wrong

Running time 2 hours 14 minutes

• Show notes:

• In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony get some help from two cube experts – land aficionado, Adam Prosak and master of attacking for 2, Kenny Mayer, to talk about commonly made mistakes both in drafting cube and when designing cubes along with some banter about M12, Mindless Nulls and rocket surgery.
• Blog post with Crack-a-Pack polls
• UrbanDictionary definition of “rocket surgery”
• Shatterproof, an outtake (rightfully so, such terrible chorus vocals!) from Cannibal, the Musical

Yo! MTG Taps! #66a – Oops I Twin (41 minutes) and #66b – The Best Standard Format Ever (58 minutes)

• Show notes:

• The guys are joined by Michael J. Flores to talk about why Splinter Twin Combo will eventually dethrone Caw-Blade as Standard’s best deck, and why the current Standard format is potentially the best in Magic’s history. Be sure to download both parts!
• Mike Flores’ TCG 5k-winning Splinter Twin decklist
• Mike’s SCG article on his Splinter Twin deck (featuring videos

The Sideboard

The Sideboard includes shows that may or may not record every week but are quality podcasts that you may be interested in. At a minimum, I will provide the show notes, but in the case of better-than-usual episodes will provide recap or commentary. You don’t run them in every deck, but they are often a great metagame call.

Avant-Card Show #36 – NPH at the Prerelease, and the Case of the Missing Pork Chop

Running time 2 hours 1 minute

• Show notes:

• As the New Phyrexia contagion spreads, we remark on a few cards that have been of interest to us in multiplayer, and discuss the cards that were played at the prerelease, and how they performed. Bryan gives us a status report on how the Kiki-Jiki deck is doing, and the changes he’s made recently. Debbie joins us, even though she has a few-day-old in her arms—now THAT’s dedication. Andrew provides expert commentary on New Phyrexia, and suffers the tragic loss of a pork chop on-air. And, an ACS first—we take our first caller on-air! Mr. Chris Lansdell joins us again to discuss NPH, his podcast Horde of Notions, and the usual unsavory topics we grace you with every episode.
• Also this episode, we have declared a monocolored EDH war! Each of us will build a monocolored EDH deck and compete online, then report the play-by-play in a future episode! Stay tuned for more details as we create and tune our decks in preparation for the prismatic showdown!

The Hardcast #14 – ChannelFireball Returned

Running time 1 hour 7 minutes

• Show notes:

• This week Robert Martin and TSG review the following
• Preview GP Providence – what decks will do well, who do we think could be a top 8 competitor there
• Is it time to sell out of legacy?
• Community Cup team with Luis
• Hands on Demo of Duel of the Planeswalker 2012 – Including Sneak Preview of 2012 Cards never before seen
• Commander Pre-Cons – The Inside story from a member of the dev team
• Paulo article talks about the importance of planning for everything for the month long event
• Website issues fixed and back up to normal business
• Cube Quandary of the week: How many X Spells to run in Red?
• Top 8 Artifacts from the Magic TV show – Trinisphere, Sensei’s Diving Top, Umezewa’s Jitte, Skullclamp, Aethal Vial, Time Vault, Memory Jar, Power 9,
• FNM Deck of the week: RUG Splinter Twin Combo

Horde of Notions #7 – Kosher Bacon

Running time 2 hours 33 minutes

• Show notes:

• Chris, Jack, Noyan and Adena are joined by newly-minted level 1 judge Josh to touch on a ton of topics:
• Going in-depth on the New Phyrexia event decks:
• Looking at Fish and Hawkward in Standard: (Josh’s Tempered Steel deck)
• Answering listener emails and comments, with even more deck discussion!
• A new format, 93-94
• Barrel Roll – Worthy Cause
• Random Geekery

• Altered MTG Card Art for some awesome alters
• CDC Zombie Apocalypse Guide
• Zombie Holiday video
• DCI Rapture guide
• Terraria

• Show’s website: http://www.hordeofnotions.comwww.hordeofnotions.com
• Intro track: Killer Instinct theme by Nintendo
• Outro track: Do No Wrong, by Azrael UK

The Mana Pool #179 – Listener Appreciation Sequel

Running time 2 hours 7 minutes

• Show notes:

• It’s that time again! We’ve left our listener emails for far too long, and now we’ve got to devote an entire episode to them! I was afraid this episode was going to end up kind of boring, but I was wrong. The great thing about going over a whole load of listener mail is that they lead us to all kinds of places. I’m talking everything from the Rapture to Standard to Cyndi Lauper to another take on a Magic RPG and all points in between. It’s a heck of a trip, thanks to all of our emailers for leading us along! If you guys would like to email us in the future, we have a new email address! It’s dorks@themanapool.com, please start sending your emails there!
• In between all this nonsense, we managed to actually talk about some things that matter, like the new planeswalker and decklist and trailer from Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, which you can find on http://themanapool.com. And we did a new Mad Lib too! We also talked about the New Phyrexia Event Decks (holy crap!) which you can find here.
• Floor Rules in case of Rapture
• Abe Sargent’s Magic RPG:
• Ed Grabianowski’s Magic RPG
• Intro Music – Diamond by Swift
• Break Music – The Poetry of Reality by The Symphony of Science
• http://themanapool.com
• Forum thread for this episode
• Join our Facebook group
• Follow us on Twitter
• Cardshark Member Promotions
• Subscribe to our RSS feed

MTGCast Interviews the Men of Magic #44 – Anthony Palmerio

Running time 53 minutes

• Show notes:

• In this episode of the MTGCast Interviews the Men of Magic, Presenting series, the Host(s) interviews: Anthony Palmerio.
• This is the second interview of the week for the Men of Magic. This interview is with Anthony Palmerio although he is in high school has created The Proffessors a video cast on Blackborder.Com. Find out about his goal of being a movie director and so much more.

MTGCast Interviews the Men of Magic #45 – Smi77y

Running time 1 hour 2 minutes

• Show notes:

• In this episode of the MTGCast Interviews the Men of Magic, Presenting series, the Host(s) interviews: Smi77y
• First interview of this week with the man who started 60cards.com a member of The Eh Team podcast, rogue deck designer, and best of all husband and father. Take a journey for an hour with him.

MTGLeaks # 10 – Magic 2012

Running time 12 minutes

• Greg returns to share with us the rumors and official spoilers available for this summer’s Magic 2012.

Pauper to the People #9 – Giant Spider FTW

Running time 1 hour 34 minutes

• Show notes:

• Myriad options stand before you. Do you choose the path of green, or stake a darker claim in Black and White? Assuredly, your answers lie somewhere in the shade of gray surrounding you. Luckily, your guides Chris and Tuna stand ready to help. Also, Hexproof. It’s a word now. This is Pauper to the People.
• Pauper Cube: http://thepaupercube.wordpress.com/
• Links discussed:

• www.facebook.com/paupertothepeople
• www.mtgpad.com
• www.mtgoacademy.com

Scrubland #41 – Cleric-al Error

Running time 1 hour 16 minutes

• Show notes:

• Sale, Casby, and Chris are back at it again this week, with some in-depth looks at what did well in Louisville, and the first SCG Super IQ. We’ve also got local store owner Rick Ralsten with us to talk about running big events, attracting new players, and MTG in general!
• Decklists discussed this week can be found at: SCG Super IQ

Top 8 Magic – Splinter For the Win with MichaelJ

Running time 1 hour 35 minutes

• Show notes:

• Kudos to our own Michael J Flores for winning the TCGPlayer.com WWS Big Apple this past weekend with the long-threatened Splinter Twin/Deceiver Exarch combo deck. Mike fought his way through a 200+ person field that was split into two separate flights which merged into a single elimination Top 16. There, he squared off with Chris Leveque and Grixis Twin, GP winner Dave Shiels with Caw-Blade, MOCS competitor Reid Duke with Blue-Black Control, and finally — in a show down between the grizzled veteran Flores and the young upstart Flores — Edgar Flores with Caw-Blade.
• We talked the Monday after the tournament about the big win, his individual card choices, and the operational techniques he used to get through the very long and grueling event. Here is the decklist he used and as a bonus I have included Top8Magic intern Matt Ferrando’s Bant Blade list which he played to a Top 16 finish — after winning a SCG IQ qualifier with it last week.

In Development

Shows in development are newer podcasts. I will keep you guys up to date on new shows as they arrive on the scene, at a minimum providing show notes and possibly providing recap and analysis (I'm more likely to start writing about new shows once they've made it through five episodes and have begun to hit their stride). Consider these shows the cards you play with for the first time at the prerelease: You are excited to try them out but no one is sure how much play they will see.

AJTV – Episode #1 – Playing Against Standstill & Team America Vs. BUG

Running time 1 hour

• AJ Sacher has started a new video series in which he discusses . . . whatever Magic topics he chooses in a more casual way than his articles allow.
• AJ’s first topic is “having a game plan.” He uses the example of playing against the Standstill deck, which he feels many people do not do well.
• I have to admit, this is seriously cool. AJ cuts SCG Open series video coverage into his video in order to talk about specific plays to illustrate his point. His first example involves a match between Drew Levin playing Standstill and Edgar Flores playing Team America.
• The next video example of Brad Nelson playing The Rock against Tomoharu Saito playing Standstill is really interesting.
• AJ’s final Standstill video is one of his own matches versus Calosso Fuentes, which is also really interesting. He illustrates three different approaches on how to play against Standstill. I don’t play a lot of Legacy, but I would like to start soon, and I found this portion of the video very informative.
• Next up, AJ discusses discard (Hymn to Tourach) as a strategy in Legacy and the impact that Mental Misstep has had on decks capitalizing on that strategy.
• To wrap up his first show, AJ talks about Grand Prix: Providence—what he expects the field to look like and his plan to battle it.

Red Cast Wins #2 – Got Burn?

Running time 1 hour 12 minutes

• Show notes:

• The group takes a look at the new Event Decks and their thoughts on the cards in each. We talk a bit about going rogue and have some laughs at the reactions people have to some rogue tactics.

Mana Sculpting #7 – Deck Building Shownotes

Running time 1 hour 12 minutes

• Show notes:

• The Deck Building Cast
• Introduction
• Upcoming Chaos Draft awesomness explained
• Richness vs power
• Deckbuilding standard style
• 3 Types of Build design
• 3 Types of Play Style
• Color Selection (understanding the magic color pie)
• Understand the foundation, engine, and bling of…

The Scoop Phase #1 – Beginning of the Scoop Phase

Running time 1 hour 1 minute

• Show notes:

• Welcome to the Scoop Phase! In this Episode, Daedae and Zac explore the world of Podcasting and introduce themselves to the Magic community. They also discuss the merits of Legacy and why YOU should be playing the format. Arguments ensue over Standard and stories are told of past magic experiences. Please tune in and enjoy two podcast newbs making a fool of themselves.
• Twitter: Scoopphase