The Magic podcast world is still reeling from the announcement of Modern as a format. Everyone wants to get a jump on the format. Speculators want to figure out the cards to buy, grinders are looking for the latest tech, and pros are busy making their Top 10 lists.

What do you need to know to be prepared for Modern? 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 #39 – Commandercast.com

Running time 1 hour 53 minutes

• Show notes:

• Another block of CommanderCast episodes comes to an end, and with it, the migration from the sputtering, depleted husk of CommanderCast.blogspot.com to the new, vibrant CommanderCast.com. For our grand finale to the season, Andy is joined by three CommanderCast cornerstones; Byron, Donovan and Carlos. Together, the three hit topics like life gain, the Kokusho issue, and in a super-community segment discuss what they feel are the best and worst attributes of Commander.

In Contention #51 – Modern Magic

Running time 50 minutes

• I’m not sure any podcaster currently recording has as much insight or interesting things to say about the Modern format as Sam Stoddard.
• In this week’s In Contention, Sam and Kranny really go in depth to examine the Modern format, including the Banned List, seemingly strong archetypes, the apparent lack of a viable control deck, and the possibility and necessity of reprints of Modern staples.
• If you are interested in Modern and looking for a great introduction to every facet of the format, you must listen to this episode.
• In particular, listen in to the last portion of the episode for Sam and Kranny’s debate about the price of staples (shock lands, Tarmogoyf, and Dark Confidant). What do you guys think about WotC’s responsibility for reprinting cards to allow players to get into the new format? What is the minimum amount that a competitive Modern deck should cost?

In Contention #52 – Modern Top 10 Influential Cards

Running time 1 hour 26 minutes

• Sam and Kranny are joined by a guest on this episode to discuss what they feel will be the top ten most influential cards in the Modern format.
• This is a great episode because the guys do a great job of explaining in depth why they feel these cards will have a significant effect on the format.

• Blood Moon
• Grove of the Burnwillows
• Green Sun’s Zenith
• Wild Nacatl
• Vendilion Clique
• Life From the Loam
• Dark Confidant
• Gifts Ungiven
• Lotus Bloom
• Tarmogoyf

Inside the Deck – Vintage Championships

Running time 6 minutes

• At this year’s GenCon, Inside the Deck met up with a number of players competing in the Vintage Champs tournament to get their thoughts on the Vintage format.
• Vintage being such a truly small subculture within the greater Magic population seems to have really created a very open and welcoming attitude among the players. Aside from the incredible expense of getting into the format, this video does leave the viewer wanting to know more about how to give it a shot.

The Magic Show #240 – Our New Modern Format

Running time 12 minutes

• Evan Erwin and Brad Nelson completely geek out together about Modern becoming the format of choice for Pro Tour: Philadelphia. Regardless of your feelings about the late change to the Pro Tour, watching two guys who care this much about the game get this excited about it is a blast.
• The guys kick off the show with a review of the Banned List, discussing the cards they feel were appropriately banned and those they feel may have been put on the list too hastily.

Magic TV #99 – The New Modern Format

Running time 18 minutes

• Luis Scott-Vargas and Tristan Shaun Gregson come together this week to discuss the creation of Modern as a format.
• Specifically, the guys focus on the Banned List, offering up their thoughts on the cards chosen to be banned.

Magic TV Top 8 of the Week: Best Cards in Modern

Running time 9 minutes

• Tristan and LSV run down the eight best cards in Magic’s newest format: Modern.

  8. Wild Nacatl

  7. Path to Exile

  6. Punishing Fire

  5. Thoughtseize

  4. Tarmogoyf

  3. Shock lands / fetch lands

  2. AEther Vial

  1. Dark Confidant

Monday Night Magic #272 – Jack’s Special Wednesday Evening Magic Edition

Running time 45 minutes

• Show notes:

• It’s late, but it is also not always better in the end. Sometimes, it’s also amazing. Jack brings you a special Wednesday evening edition of MTGCast!

Monday Night Magic #273 – Ted Williams Frozen Head

Running time 57 minutes

• Show notes:

• Jack, Tom (back from Italy!), Carlos and Usman bring on the brodeo.
• We go over the fully spoiled deck lists for DD: Ajani vs Bolas and the announcement of the next duel decks with Venser vs Koth.
• September FNM promo is Teetering Peaks.
• Hall of Fame class 2011 is official with Nakamura, Jonsson, and O’Mahoney-Schwartz.
• Mark Rosewater drops a bunch of Innistrad hints in his latest State of Design article and official Innistrad previews start next week!
• And we have the official announcement of the first DoTP 2012 expansion, now featuring new loading screens! OMG!
• Link to all of the silver bordered white cards and link to the article about Ted Williams head and the Tuna Can.

Untapped #18 – Vidcast from GenCon

Running time 29 minutes

• Jonathan, Trick, and JR recorded a videocast in their hotel room at GenCon.
• The show begins with Medina and JR trying to work out a trade for a Black Lotus, which was oddly entertaining.
• From there, the discussion meanders from their wives’ and girlfriends’ feelings about their GenCon attendance to grinding trades on the convention floor and the various people and things to see over four days of gaming at GenCon.

Yo! MTG Taps! #76 – Young Modern

Running time 1 hour 2 minutes

• Joey Pasco and Bigheadjoe kick off this week’s show with a close look at Star City Games: Richmond and the TCG Player $75K.
• Moving on, the guys express their disappointment with the recently spoiled From the Vault: Legends card list.
• To wrap up the show, the guys give us their take on the Modern format announcement and the Banned List currently in place.

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 #41 – Altered-Art Extravaganza with Special Guests!

Running time 1 hour 37 minutes

• Show notes:

• In this episode of the Avant-Card show, we talk to two extremely talented artists (and/or craftsmen?), Andrew Sitte and Eric Klug, who talk about their processes, how they got into alters, the most expensive and/or fun cards they’ve ever altered, and why we should (or shouldn’t) create a 3D alter of a topless (and well-endowed) unicorn bursting out of a birthday cake. And, in typical Avant-Card style, we include for your listening pleasure many unrelated and rambling tangents that end up in some really odd places. However, we break from tradition by more or less staying on topic and talking about Magic, specifically cards and art, for most of the show, reversing our normal 20% Magic / 80% random nonsense ratio. Don’t worry, we’ll try to get back to our typical standard of as little Magic content as possible (while still calling ourselves a Magic podcast) in the next episode. Enjoy!

East West Draft Cast #23 – I’d Like to Buy a Bowel

Running time 48 minutes

• Show notes:

• This week on EWDC Jeff and Greg try a few new segments and some tried and true.

Freed from the Reel #131 – Cao Cao’s Modern Life

Running time 34 minutes

• Show notes:

• Listen to the dulcet tones of Keya and AJ as they examine the upcoming From the Vault:Legends in all its Commander-boosting glory, and make preparations for everyone to live in a Modern world.
• News:

• From the Vault: Legends complete list and gallery
• Modern is a full-fledged format, with a pro tour and updated ban list
• Super-duper Modern ‘release’ events coming to MTGO
• Bugfixes and a new User Agreement

• Prices:

• From the Vault: Legends Value

• Cao Cao, Lord of Wei – ???
• Captain Sisay – 6.86
• Doran, the Siege Tower – 6
• Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker 1.5
• Kresh the Bloodbraided – 2
• Mikaeus, the Lunarch – ???
• Omnath, Locus of Mana – 3
• Oona, Queen of the Fae – 0.90
• Progenitus – 22.5
• Rafiq of the Many – 5.75
• Sharuum the Hegemon – 4.75
• Sun Quan, Lord of Wu 0.10
• Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir – 0.40
• Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre – 6.50
• Visara the Dreadful – 1
• Total value of From the Sets: Legends – 61.26 plus 2 new cards! #great value

• Whatcha been playin’:

• AJ: Nothing!
• Keya: Various Modern Decks, mostly ports of old decks.

The Hardcast #20 – 10 Reasons Why You Should Listen This Week

Running time 40 minutes

• Show notes:

• Paulo article this week talks about the 10 reasons on how to lose match.:
• Exciting weekend of magic at Gen-Con with Ocho, LSV, and Owen in the top 8 of nationals. Congrats to Ocho for making the team!
• Why is U/W Caw-blade still the best deck, after SFM and Jace 2.0 where banned?
• A look at the Modern World – Not just how it has changed but when can we expect changes
• TCG Championship happened last weekend – Your thoughts on the decks that did well
• Cube question of the week

• Should blue have an aggressive creature based strategy in Cube? How does one evaluate Phantasmal Bear?

• 5 up and 5 down
• Final Thoughts and End of show

The Mana Pool #193 – SCG Open Series

Running time 2 hours 20 minutes

• Show notes:

• This episode is all about recapping the events of the Star City Games Open Series that took place in Richmond just a couple weekends ago. Do you want to know what the dorks were playing? What led Mike on his winning, then losing, then winning tear? What’s up with Brian’s odd silence on the matter? And what the hell was Chewie doing the whole time, since he certainly wasn’t playing? All this and more will be covered right here in this very episode!
• But that’s not all! There’s also a discussion about the lineup of From the Vault: Legends. And the new artwork that some of the cards are showing off, of course. Oh, and we weigh in with our two cents about the sudden announcement that Pro Tour Philadelphia was changed from Extended to Modern with only 3 weeks to go. That’s a big one, so even we casual players had an opinion on it.
• From the Vault: Legends can be seen here.
• Donate to Dustin’s Extra Life page! Help out some sick kids!

MTG Brainstorm #12 – Deck Building & That Dang Caw-Blade

Running time 1 hour 19 minutes

• Show notes:

• This week on the Brainstorm we are bring you a few deck lists made by the crew and we are looking for some feedback on these decks. Also we talk about more caw-blade and how it’s changing the game, and we try to think of a ways that we can take caw-blade down.

MTGCast Interviews the Men of Magic #61 – AJ Sacher

Running time 1 hour 9 minutes

• Robert Martin is joined this week by Star City Games Open series grinder AJ Sacher.

Pauper to the People #21 – The Human Pauperpede

Running time 55 minutes

• Show notes:

• The deck lists aren’t the only things that are blue, as Chris and Matt discuss the anatomy of a Tom-Matt-Jack configuration. Sure, there’s also some blue deck challenge updates, but you’re really tuning in to see who gets to be the front section of this creation aren’t you? Also, Icelandic T-Shirts, General Patton lawn care, and apathetically turning 30. This is madness. This is Pauper to the People.

Public Enemies #10 – From the Vaults Trolls

Running time 1 hour 16 minutes

• Show notes:

• In this episode Jay returns to the crew to discuss From The Vaults: Legends, The Hall Of Fame, pee flaps on underwear, and much more!

Scrubland #51 – So…It’s Come to This

Running time 1 hour 31 minutes

• Show notes:

• This week, the Scrubs welcome girl and L2 judge Allison Medwin to the cast. We talk about judge/girly stuff for a while, then start breaking down the new Modern format. If you know anything about this podcast, it’s that drunken rants are the norm. We are forced to form a militia to fight the beast known as Casby when Modern discussions start getting personal. It’s another action packed week of lovable antics, what can we say WELCOME TO SCRUBLAND!

Scrubland #52 – Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

Running time 23 minutes

• Show notes:

• The scrubs are learning that there is nothing more dangerous than a woman scorned. In this spill-over episode, Allison Medwin teaches the boys a thing or two about what it means to be a woman in the MTG community. DSale obviously already knows everything and attempts to take back the block, but we all know who’s wearing the pants on this podcast. Play nice children, WELCOME TO SCRUBLAND!

Yawgmoth’s Soap Opera #28 – Alternate Art Force of Will now on MTGO

Running time 46 minutes

• Show notes:

• This week the YSO crew sits down and as ever talks about Classic. We have a DE to dissect as well as talk about how important creatures seem to be in the format is spite of popular belief.

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.

Fatal Flaw #4 – Abuse Your Illusions

Running time 1 hour 25 minutes

• Show notes:

• Top 5 Unsavory Characters in your local card shop (the personalities you love to hate and hate to love)
• The Modern banned list- our perspective
• Jay’s Jund deck (if you get lost- we had some corrupted audio 1/2 way through so the deck list will be posted on the blog and he will talk more about it when he gets back in 2 weeks)
• Aadel’s UB Illusion deck using Lord of the Unreal and Phantasmal Image
• Aadel’s reaction to several articles and a podcast dealing with women in Magic, including an interview at Red Site Wins and plans to attend the Innistrad Pre-Release
• Shout out to Judge Cast (hosted on MTGcast) and Red Site Wins
• Decklists will be up shortly on Jay’s blog

The Great Debate #4 – Theft

Running time 20 minutes

• Show notes:

• In this episode of The Great Debate the topic is GenCon and more specifically the thefts that took place there. Chris, Gavin and Sam discuss how players can protect themselves, who is to blame and what can be done to stop thieves before they get started.

The Great Debate #5 – Hall of Fame

Running time 35 minutes

• Show notes:

• Chris, Gavin and Sam discuss all manner of topics related to the Pro Tour Hall of Fame. Who should go in this year? Who is next? Are the criteria clear? Should Mike Long get more votes than he does? Should a criminal record stop you getting in?

Lowered Standards #5 – Illusionary Journey

Running time 25 minutes

• Show notes:

• This week Jon and Steve talk about some Magic news, talk breifly about their experiences at GenCon, and 9th place deck at Starcity Open Richmond: ILLUSIONS!
• Link to Illusions decklist

Red Cast Wins #8 – Sean the EDH Sensei

Running time 1 hour 21 minutes

• Show notes:

• The group talks about the Showdown between Amanda and Luis. Sean lets them know they are both TERRIBLE at EDH but probably equally terrible. Jason joins us from Gencon and helps fuel the discussion about standard. Amanda also runs into a shady character at FNM and we let everyone know what to do in this situation.

World at War #5 – Trolls are Green!

Running time 42 minutes

• Show notes:

• In this wonderful episode of World at War, we decide to hold off on telling you about our cards, because we felt the need to solidify the set’s tribes and lore. As you can tell, we figured that Trolls will be our green tribe, Dwarfs for red, Cats for white, and Merfolk were obviously blue. We go into the philosophies of each tribe, and talk about the reasons for suspecting each tribe of the Zombie plague. Our homework this week is to find a name for one or more tribe(s), and also to finish making the 5 cards(each) from the last episode.