I was surprised to find that not many podcasts spent much time talking about the Hall of Fame voting rules controversy. Perhaps everyone got burned out between Twitter chatter and articles?

In any event, this was a fairly standard week that saw most shows doing their regular weekly thing. As much as we love these podcasts, we can’t complain about that, now can we? Almost everyone had something to say about SCG Cincinnati, not only because it was the first major tournament in a few weeks, but also because it was the first tournament to see Magic 2012 cards become Standard-legal.

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 seventy-five.

CommanderCast #35 – Real Talk Redux

Running time 1 hour 41 minutes

• Andy, Donovan, Alex, and newcomer Brionne are together this week to wrap up the show’s monocolored Commander deck series. This week’s color of choice is White.
• Community Segment: Rules Committee Real Talk II

• Alex, who is on the Commander Rules Committee, answers listener questions.

• Community Spotlight: Castles and Crooks

• The guys recommend the gaming and cooking blog Castles and Crooks.

• Strategy Segment: Mono-White

• Brionne brings us some strategy for playing a mono-White deck in Commander.

• Technology: Mono-White Technology

• Each of this week’s hosts pick a few good cards to consider.

• Alex: Tempest of Light, Honor the Fallen
• Donovan: Oath of Lieges, Divine Intervention
• Andy: Gift of Estates, Balancing Act
• Brionne: Soltari Visionary, Crib Swap

• Entourage Segment: Celestial Kirin

• The guys discuss a number of decent cards to use in a deck built around one possible mono-White general: Celestial Kirin.

CrazyTalk #17 – The Drunk Asian

Running time 1 hour 52 minutes

• KYT, Alex, and Frank are joined by Mark Sun and Justin Richardson.
• First up, the group has an interesting discussion about picking decks in Legacy. Is it a better idea to pick one deck and stick with it, or is it okay to switch it up and play a bunch of different decks from week to week?
• The Five: Justin Richardson

• How did you get into Legacy?

• Friends invited him to a Legacy tournament and loaned him the cards needed. Justin liked the format enough to keep playing.

• What’s your favorite Magic card and why?

• Rude Awakening

• What do you want to be known for in the Magic community?

• Justin primarily wants to be known as a good Magic player.

• If you could pick one person in the Magic community to join you in a bar fight, who would it be?

• Chris Deroche

• What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

• I once played Battle of Wits in a tournament.

• The guys also discuss a handful of decks from the Star City Games Legacy Open in Cincinnati on July 17 including Mana-less Dredge (first place), Blue Zoo (second place), Junk Depths (third place), and Reanimator (twelfth place).

The Eh Team #45 – Friends Don’t Let Friends Play More’n One Sorin’s Vengeance

Running time 1 hour 34 minutes

• KYT, Jesse, Jay, and Scotty all together again.
• This week, Jesse kicks off the show with his plans for SCG Seattle (which was last weekend).
• The guys also discuss a number of deck lists at recent tournaments including the Japanese 2011 Nationals.
• KYT discusses his mono-Blue Podcaster deck.
• Jay transitions the discussion nicely into M12 Limited, which he strongly dislikes, calling it boring.
• Following the M12 discussion, Jay also hits on what I think could be an amazing business model: renting cards at major events.
• Finally, to wrap up the show, the guys discuss their feelings about the recent Pro Tour Hall of Fame voting controversy.

Horde of Notions #13 – Dredging For Chris of Horde of Notions

Running time 1 hour 10 minutes

• Show notes:

• Jack, Adena, and Jack from Dredging for Humor (The Banned) pull out all the stops to put on an all-star show despite Chris and Noyan’s absence, talking trash, trading jokes and talking about their pre-release experiences (with Adena and Banned ACTUALLY being able to recall theirs!). Also in the mix are Red Velvet-Chandra’s newest modeling look-The Dangerous Book For Boys, And Zombie Beach Alien Babes.
• Enjoy!

Inside the Deck – SCG Cincinnati Part I

Running time 10 minutes

• This week, Inside the Deck is at the Star City Games Open in Cincinnati speaking with regular Top 8 grinders (GerryT), traders (Jonathan Medina), and more.
• Everyone is talking about the various archetypes to be expected at tournaments now that M12 is available, and the primary differences in power level between M11 and M12.

Limited Resources #91 – M12 Rare Review

Running time 2 hours 20 minutes

• Jon Loucks joins Marshall this week to discuss the rares and mythic rares of Magic 2012.
• Tune in to hear the guys’ thoughts on which bombs you need to look out for in M12 Limited.

Magic TV Top 8 of the Week: Best Counter Spells

Running time 13 minutes

• Tristan and LSV count down the eight best counterspells in the history of Magic.
• Tune in for their discussion of each card and the runners-up.
• And the winners are:

  8. Forbid

  7. Remand

  6. Counterspell

  5. Spell Pierce

  4. Cryptic Command

  3. Daze

  2. Mana Drain

  1. Force of Will

Monday Night Magic #268 – Bill Cosby and Demon Corsets

Running time 1 hour 42 minutes

• Show notes:

• It’s an extra-special (and slightly late) week brought to you by Tom and special guest host Usman from The Third Power podcast (and writer on SCG) and his fantastic blog, idratherbecubing.wordpress.com!
• We talk some about the upcoming HoF 2011 ballots and how in some ways we don’t really care. August FNM promo is Cultivate. DoTP 2012 Digital Face-off. Suspected Innistrad cards from the secret files of DoTP 2010. Innistrad bringing changes to store events. Detailed info about the WPN levels. Usman helps run down the SCG Cincinnati Open Series event and some interesting decks in the Legacy portion.
• Don’t Google This

• I am not going to even hyperlink it, www.meatspin.com. My score was 6 and that is all I will say. IMDb links to Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, Stealth, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash.

Yo! MTG Taps! #73 – The Real Caw Bladey

Running time 49 minutes

• Another great recent events and news episode from Joey Pasco and Bigheadjoe.
• The guys cover the decks of note at the most recent Star City Games Open in Cincinnati.
• Now that we are a few weeks away from the ban of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic, the guys examine the new Standard environment and whether the ban was necessary.
• The guys quickly cover the Top 8 Legacy decks from SCG Cincinnati.
• Joey brings up an idea put forth by Brian David-Marshall that would see Wizards of the Coast ban cards more often than they do currently, which would “shake the format up” more regularly.
• Another idea discussed by the guys would be to do away with prerelease events. With such little lag time between the prerelease and release days, why not do away with it all together?

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.

East West Draft Cast #21 – Flushing Meadows

Running time 1 hour 15 minutes

• Show notes:

• On this week’s episode of EWDC, Greg and Jeff welcome Russell back to the show for a Pick-A-Card segment and an update on the Standard Roto League. Find out how Russell’s mono-white deck came together and how it’s fared so far during league play. As always, if you want to follow the roto league action, check out the league spreadsheet here.

In Contention #50 – The Big 5-0

Running time 1 hour 28 minutes

• Show notes:

• In this episode, Sam and Kranny are joined by Reuben Bressler, who recounts his top8 performance at SCG – Cincinnati in Legacy. They also cover The Hall of Fame, how standard has changed with m12, and a certain little prize that Sam got in the mail for being a level 1 judge.

The Mana Pool #189 – Magic Jeopardy (and the Movie)

Running time 2 hours 5 minutes

• Show notes:

• This episode has it all – thrills, chills, suspense, controversy, a happy reunion and a heartfelt goodbye. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll yell at your mp3 player.
• Well, maybe not all of that. But most of it! This episode sees the return of our disease-ridden rambler Brian! Okay, so that’s a bit much, but whatever he’s back yay! To celebrate being back, he’s got a brand new idea for the show – Magic Jeopardy! With 30 questions across 6 categories, he’s going to put the other three dorks to the test! Who will come out ahead? And what sort of controversy will arise? Let us know what you think of the Magic Jeopardy so we’ll know if we should bother doing it again.
• After that, we answer another mess of emails and rules questions from our inbox, and one in particular catches our eye. A couple episodes ago, Ben sent us a question about casting voice talents for a Magic cartoon, which we discussed briefly. Ryan Gregersen went several steps beyond and sent us his ideas for the cast of a live-action Magic: the Gathering movie, complete with IMDB links! So of course this discussion sidetracked us for a good long time while we looked up actors and kicked ideas around. It was a lot of fun, we hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did.
• And if you are at all interested in helping out with Extra Life as described at the beginning of the episode, my good friend Dustin’s donation page can be found below. If you don’t want to help him out, then start your own drive and get people to donate to you! All that matters is that you’re helping!

Mana Sculpting #13 – A Brave New World

Running time 50 minutes

• Show notes:

• Check out our new site at www.manasculpting.com for all the latest articles, podcasts, and decklists brought to you by the team.
• This week we cover the Brave New World that is standard post M2012 and we have Trevor’s brother on the cast for the first time.

MTGCast Interviews the Men of Magic #55 – Pat Cox

Running time 46 minutes

• Robert Martin interviews Pat Cox, who recently made Top 8 of Pro Tour: Nagoya and won the Star City Games Invitational.

MTGCast Interviews the Men of Magic #56 – Tom Gustafson

Running time 41 minutes

• Robert Martin interviews the host of Monday Night Magic, Tom Gustafson.

Pauper to the People #17 – Paupinator: Rise of the Commons

Running time 1 hour 13 minutes

• Show notes:

• Some have seen visions of a dystopian future, where robots are masters, and humans are slaves. Those chosen few have been silenced in favor of bringing a more pleasing podcast to your ears. Matt discusses his R/U/G Pauper build, Chris continues to discuss his Affinity build, and a lucky winner receives a draft set for us passing 100 Facebook fans. Tweak accordingly. This is Pauper to the People.
• Games Radar – Legend of Zelda “A Link to the Past” re imagined as a Magic: the Gathering set
• They also have them for Legend of Zelda one and two. Pretty sweet, and you have to admire that dedication to a hobby.

Scrubland #47 – Chomp Chomp Chomp

Running time 1 hour 10 minutes

• Show notes:

• The new Standard metagame is here, and Scrubland gets down and dirty with the results from Japanese Nats and SCG Cincinnati. But first, we’ve got to talk about Overextended. It’s a week you have to hear to believe folks. WELCOME TO SCRUBLAND!

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.

Lowered Standards #3 – Bullfighting Federation of Minnesota

Running time 39 minutes

• Show notes:

• Our mission is to bring a 30-40 minute podcast on the cheaper side of Standard. This week, we talk about the new M12 planeswalkers, Red Deck Wins, and common archetypes of Magic decks!

MTG Brainstorm #9 – Just Some Deck Ideas

Running time 59 minutes

• Show notes:

• This week on the brainstorm we talk about some deck idea, we have some show listeners Sergio and Mike join us and talk what kind of decks they like running and what colors they like. Phil and Jones gives there input on a great deck that Jones found on www.mtgdeckbuilder.net the link is below.
• Deck of the week
• Check this deck also on www.mtgbrainstorm.com the Brainstorm team gives you different idea on cards check it out and see what you think.

Public Enemies #7 – Obviously Tangent Needs to Learn to Give Names to Episodes as Well

Running time 1 hour 48 minutes

• Show notes:

• Norbert thinks that people who listen to bad music are worse than magic players.
• M12 is already boring Boosh but Tangent and Jeebus may have different opinions including Tangent’s M12 release experience.
• The trolls respond to a question about Garruks Companion’s flavor text.
• Netdecking versus Rogue Brewing. Mark Rosewater and Aaron Foreskin getting shit for being “defensive” about HoF selections.
• Special thanks to Jack Bowen of Dredging For Humor podcast (@DredgingHumor on twitter) for creating our sick intro!
• Also special thanks to Jacob Bascle (@FreemindGraphx on twitter) for creating our sweet logo! Please send questions or feedback to: publicenemiesmtg@gmail.com

Red Cast Wins #7 – Samurai Showdown Sean’s Glove of Twisting

Running time 1 hour 30 minutes

• Show notes:

• We have Jason back on to discuss M12 limited experiences. The gauntlet gets thrown down between Amanda and Luis who will have a face off determined by the fans!

Running the Gauntlet #6 – Vala-deck is Terri-bad

Running time 2 hours 16 minutes

• Show notes:

• This episode was really crazy. We talked about everything from SCG Standard Open Cincinnati, to Legacy, to altered art cards, to magic theory, to how to protect yourself at events. We have a lot of actual content for you this week, and I hope you enjoy it.

The Scoop Phase #8 – Cheerio, Mate! (w/ Gavin Verhey)

Running time 58 minutes

• Show notes:

• Well, the guys finally got him. Gavin Verhey joins Daedae and Zac on today’s episode of The Scoop Phase They go in-depth on not only SCG Cincinati, but also Gavin’s brainchild, Overextended. Please tune in to hear Gavin’s view of both formats and to hear tips on what cards you should be playing. Gavin even shares his own Budget deck for Overextended! After Gavin has to take his leave, Dae and Zac go over this week’s Budget Deck of the Week. This week is a bit zany, but they cover the Cheeri0s deck.
• If you’re interested in Overextended, please visit Gavin’s website at http://www.mtgoverextended.com/

Tapping It Taber Style #5 – Where’s Alan?

Running time 1 hour 27 minutes

• Show notes:

• Back to Taber for another week of fun filled M12 launch parties and cracking packs. We go into Game Day (Aug 13th), What we got for cards, And where we buy our cards from. Hold on and prepare to be Entertained
.