CommanderCast #19 – Ib Halfheart Is Top-Tier

Running time 1 hour 14 minutes

• Andy, Adam, Jeremiah, and Carlos are back with a really great episode of CommanderCast.
• The show gets rolling with a discussion of Commander Leagues.
• The guys discuss how they run their local leagues, and offer up ideas and recommendations for listeners interested in starting leagues of their own.
• Deck-Building Challenge

• The show is accepting submissions for deck-building challenges for Carlos. In order to make the challenge more difficult, go to the show's website to vote on which restriction you would prefer Carlos to work under: no artifacts, $40 budget, or old-frame cards only.

• In the Strategy segment this week, the guys discuss pressure decks in Commander. These are decks that are meant to put pressure on all players (you and opponents) in order to speed up everyone's play and to force people to take action rather than sculpt their hand or ramp their mana over the course of the first seven turns.
• I was so excited by this concept that the first thing I did after finishing the show was to put together a pressure deck built around Ashling the Pilgrim. It really sounds like a blast.
• In a second Strategy segment, the guys also run down a few of their own "legendary plays"—things that happened in Commander games that can only happen in Commander games. These are crazy games states that led to really entertaining plays.
• In a brand new Technology segment called "Entourage," the guys are taking listener-submitted Commanders and offering up a few cards that would work well in a deck with that Commander.
• I really enjoyed the Entourage segment. It appears to have started off as a joke with this week's Commander—Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician—but was really entertaining and holds a lot of promise to be a great segment in the future. So, get out there and send them Commander ideas.
• To close out the show this week, the guys weigh the pros and cons of Trinket Mage and Treasure Mage (who is riding a dragon he made with science!) This was an interesting discussion, and to be honest, it seems like any deck that can manage it should probably run both of them.

CrazyTalk #4 – Maybe I'm Wrong

Running time 1 hour 41 minutes

• KYT, Jonathan, and Frank start off the show revisiting the idea of Legacy players' skill level as compared to Standard and Extended players. Jonathan comes to the defense of Legacy players with his thoughts on why that perception exists and why he thinks it is inaccurate (sorry for all the name trouble, Medina!)
• Jonathan talks to the guys about his experience playing in a Legacy tournament the previous weekend.
• Frank joins the show as Jonathan relates his story of the difficulty of playing the High Tide deck in Legacy.
• Next up, the guys talk about the Affinity deck that Blake McCracken won the Star City Games Open in Dallas–Fort Worth with, how well-positioned the deck is, and whether it will have any success moving forward due to being a more known presence.
• KYT asks Frankie to discuss the Dredge deck in Legacy, including what cards are common, how to play the deck, and how to play against it.
• Moving on to listener questions, KYT asks Jonathan his thoughts on the recent price spike of Sword of Fire and Ice, which leads to another discussion of the overall increase in Legacy staples.
• The guys cover the recent Team America deck lists played by Gerry Thomson and others, comparing the different card choices made in each.

The Hardcast #8 – Two New Team Members

Running time 34 minutes

• Paul Reitzl joins Tristan and Robert to announce his joining the ChannelFireball.com writing team.
• After the big announcement, Paul leaves Robert and Tristan to their usual coverage of the week in ChannelFireball.com articles.
• Tristan has a recommendation for what to play at FNM this week, a mono-White Emeria deck. The deck list can be found in the show's notes.
• The show seems to have had some technical difficulties this week. The audio is a little choppy in places.

Limited Resources #75 – Sliding Scales

Running time 1 hour 28 minutes

• Marshall and Ryan reevaluate a few cards of Mirrodin Besieged after playing them for a while in the new limited environment.
• Marshall presents an interesting ethical dilemma he encountered on MTGO.
• This week's Crack-a-Pack is:

• Master's Call
• Koth's Courier
• Mirran Spy
• Blisterstick Shaman
• Serum Raker
• Phyrexian Rager
• Horrifying Revelation
• Pistus Strike
• Rusted Slasher
• Accorder Paladin
• Vedalken Infuser
• Plague Myr
• Myr Turbine

• Pretty unexciting Crack-a-Pack this time, but everyone is very likely to open a pack just like this one in a draft. Marshall and Ryan offer their thoughts on the pack, evaluate the cards, and in the end take Myr Turbine.

The Magic Show #226 – One Sword to Rule Them All

Running time 10 minutes

• Evan begins this week's show with a discussion of the recent explosion of the price of Legacy staples.
• Open Series Update

• Evan reviews the results of the Star City Games Open in Dallas–Fort Worth Standard and Legacy tournaments, including Gerry Thomson's double Top 8 performance (which included a first-place finish in the Standard portion).
• Evan's Metagame Shift segment takes a close look at the deck that Brian Kibler has been testing and writing about in his articles, which is a Blue/Black Infect deck (as I am writing this recap, Kibler just lost with the deck in the semifinals to none other than Gerry Thomson).
• Also of note in recent metagame developments is the mono-Red Goblins deck played by David Kilhefner.

Magic TV #82 – The State of Extended

Running time 14 minutes

• Tristan, LSV, and Humphrey (packing his play set of Gruesome Encores) are back to discuss Extended. They examine the health of the format and what can be done to improve it. If you have thoughts on what should be done to make Extended an exciting format, the guys ask that you send in your recommendations so that they can talk about it on the show and hopefully begin a community dialogue that may eventually reach Wizards of the Coast.

ManaNation #121 – Interviewing Zac Hill & Mark Rosewater, Part 2

Running time 15 minutes

• ManaNation.com's Trick Jarrett is back with the second installment of his interview with Wizards of the Coast insiders Mark Rosewater and Zac Hill.
• The first question of the interview is really interesting: If you could play Magic against anyone in history, alive or dead, who would you choose?
• Mark and Zac spend some time talking about a few interesting behind-the-scenes WotC design and development ideas.

Monday Night Magic #251 – Bringing You 100% More Women

Running time 1 hour 18 minutes

• Tom, Jack, Eric, and Tristan are joined by Adena (also known as PRSgrrl from the live call-in episode) for an episode of Magic news and developments.
• The Commander banned list was updated again, with no new additions.
• Wizards of the Coast has announced Innistrad as the new set to be released in the fall.
• The group speculates on what they think the set will be and refer to Mike Linnemann's ManaNation.com article analyzing the spoiled artwork.
• The Two-Headed Giant rules have been changed as they relate to poison with the latest rules update. A team must have 15 poison counters to lose the game in the Two-Headed Giant format.
• The deck lists for the next installment of the Duel Decks series—Knights vs. Dragons—have been released. The group debates the quality of the lists and provides their thoughts.
• New throwback drafts have been made available on Magic the Gathering Online. For only 10 tix, players can draft the three sets of the original Mirrodin block: Mirrodin, Darksteel, and Fifth Dawn.
• Two separate product mockups have been released for the next Magic set to be released, codenamed "Action." Wizards of the Coast is still being coy about the name of the next set, which will either be "Mirrodin Pure" or "New Phyrexia."
• Adena recaps the ManaNation.com article by Titus Chalk, Women in Magic: The Game's Lost Tribe, for the rest of the hosts and the listeners.
• The crew discusses the results of the Star City Games Open Series in Dallas–Fort Worth.

Mr. Suitcase #27 – Why So Blue, Jack?

Running time 1 hour

• Eric McCormick is joined by a special co-host on his own show this week, Monday Night Magic's own Jack Lacroix.
• Eric and Jack are talking about Blue cards in Commander and the reputation that the color has in the format.
• This was an enjoyable listen. If you play Commander, you may want to tune in to learn a little bit about some of the strong commanders that Blue has to offer, playing against Blue players in Commander, and how to be the Blue player in a Commander game.

MTGCast Interviews the Men of Magic #19 – Eric "The Watchman" McCormick

Running time 1 hour 6 minutes

• The Men of Magic show was very busy this week! Three interviews in one week.
• First up, Robert and Chris interview Eric McCormick, occasional co-host of Monday Night Magic and host of Mr. Suitcase.

MTGCast Interviews the Men of Magic #20 – Lauren Lee

Running time 54 minutes

• Robert interviews the one and only Mulldrifting Lauren Lee herself.
• This was a great interview to get some insight from someone who made it to the Pro Tour and realized upon getting there that competitive Magic wasn't exactly where she wanted to be. I imagine this could be somewhat enlightening for a number of PTQ grinders who haven't really considered what they would do beyond qualifying for the tour.

MTGCast Interviews the Men of Magic #21 – Jonathan Medina

Running time 59 minutes

• Robert and Chris talk with Jonathan Medina about trading, tournament play, podcasting, and Jonathan's aspirations for the future.

MTG Tournament Cast #1 – Rough Draft

Running time 47 minutes

• Another new podcast joins us this week with Jake Antonetz and David Campano getting together to discuss recent metagame developments.
• The show gets under way with a look at Standard, specifically the results of the Star City Games Open in Dallas–Fort Worth.
• The first deck the guys focus on is Gerry Thomson's tournament-winning Blue/White/Black Caw-Blade list, which was unique in that it ran sixty-one cards rather than the traditional sixty.
• Moving on, Jake and David discuss the Goblins deck played to a second-place finish at SCG Dallas–Fort Worth by David Kilhefner.
• David is particularly interested in the third-place deck piloted by Dustin Dragoo. The deck was a Blue/White Caw-Blade list, which oddly enough played zero copies of Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
• Briefly, the guys talk about the fourth-place SCG Dallas–Fort Worth deck, which was Naya-Vengevine piloted by Ryan O'Connor.
• Jake, being a big fan of Gerry Thomson, relates his experience getting to actually meet him while attending the event in Dallas–Fort Worth, which ends the Standard portion of the show.
• The guys also cover the Legacy portion of the Dallas–Fort Worth event, focusing on the Tezzeret Affinity deck, which won the event for Blake McCracken (with a shout-out to KYT on Crazy Talk, who was brewing a similar list even prior to the deck's finish at DFW).
• Attention is also given to the interesting twelfth-place deck, which was mono-Red played by Drew Feder.
• Jake and David spend a few moments discussing their goals for their new podcast, what they hope the show will become, and the information they hope to provide to listeners.
• ChannelFireball.com's recent new series "Running the Gauntlet" also gets some discussion time. The guys really like the idea of the series and recommend that readers tune in to learn more about the current Standard metagame.
• The show concludes with what decks Jake and David have been playing and places where they can be contacted on the Internet.

Super Friends #1 – Brian David-Marshall

Running time 57 minutes

• Justin Treadway returns with another installment of the spectacularly titled Super Friends.
• This week, Justin has a few questions for Pro Tour historian Brian David-Marshall.
• This was an excellent show. I'm really excited to have another interview series in the podcast arena. Justin feels like a natural host.

Yo! MTG Taps! #59 – All Talk, No Action

Running time 1 hour

• Joey Pasco is joined this week by Scotty Mac and Jay Boosh of The Eh Team. With Bigheadjoe in Dallas doing coverage for Star City Games Live, the guys join Joey to discuss the latest in Magic news.
• Scotty and Jay recount their experiences at the TCGPlayer.com tournament in Toronto, a tournament Jay was able to attend as a result of an awesome community push for support on Twitter, which resulted in a contest on The Eh Team podcast.
• JayBoosh played Boros, a deck that he is comfortable with, having played it at a number of events.
• Scott played a deck built with Smi77y of The Eh Team called Tezzeret the Mind Hammer.
• The guys cover the Star City Games Open Series events in Memphis and Dallas–Fort Worth, including the race between Alex Bertoncini and Gerry Thomson to the top of the Star City Games Open Series Player's Club.
• In looking at the recent Standard metagame, Joey asks Scotty and Jay for their thoughts on Caw-Blade, its variants, the Goblin deck played by David Kilhefner, and Naya Vengevine played by Ryan O'Connor at SCG Dallas–Fort Worth.
• Joey touches on the Blake McCracken Tezzeret Affinity deck that won the Legacy portion of SCG Dallas–Fort Worth.
• The recent announcement of Innistrad and the complete lack of information about "Action" is of concern on the show as well.
• The guys spend a little time discussing the flavor of Innistrad and give praise to Mike Linnemann's article analyzing the spoiler art.