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In this episode, there's some news that we need to go over. And when I say some news, I mean so much news that you might think that this was a news show or something. Seriously. We go over Cardshark member promotions for December, talk about Wizards' prerelease survey and related changes, the banned and restricted list, changes coming to a Magic Online near you, a brand new Duel Deck set coming out next year, and throw in a quick plug for the ongoing contest being run right here at the Mana Pool. See the links below for all that stuff. Oh yeah, and Worlds 2008 happened too. We'll tell you who won all the good stuff.

After three hours of news, we do have some content for you- binder pulls! What's that mean? Listen in and find out, and you'll soon find yourself flipping/digging/pawing/scratching/eating your way through your collection for hidden gems (Volrath's Dungeon) and lackluster duds (Molten Sentry). This was a fun one to put together, and we hope that you enjoy.

Cardshark Member Promotions

http:/ /www.cardshark.com/member_promotions.asp

Prerelease News

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/ Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/13c

B anned & Restricted List Announcement

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/ Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/15a

M TGO Changes

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/ Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/17a

D uel Decks: Divine vs. Demonic Announcement

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/ Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1737

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Music for this episode: Devour by Shinedown. Totally awesome. Check them out at http://www.shinedown.com

And don't forget to send your contest entries to us at themanapool@cardshar k.com. For full contest rules and whatnot, see the link below.

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums. org/episode-60-news-and-a-binder-pull-two-bits-t274.html

Contest information: the-mana-pool-contest-announcement-t 261.html
Email us at themanapool@cardshar k.com
Send me an article at submissions@cardshar k.com
Cardshark located at http://www.cardshark.com
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Hello again, and welcome to The Mana Pool! This is Mike, filling in for Chewie on the show notes this week. Speaking of this week, every Magic player knows the appeal of a quality "Enchant Creature" card. Why settle for simply playing creatures as-written when you can make them better? Yeah, that knight is pretty decent with his first strike and 2/2 body, but how about making him bigger, giving him flying and trample, and hey, let's throw some shroud on there for good measure. The only problem is that you have to dump a big pile of cards into your graveyard if something happens to the creature. Because of that built in risk of giving your opponent card advantage, most "serious" players avoid them. But "serious" is nothing we've ever taken seriously.

This week we have another comparative Out of the Deck Box feature, looking at what happens when 3 different dorks embrace the allure of the aura and make it the focus of their decks. From Dirk, we have a Green build geared towards making a creature so big, it would send Galactus running for cover. Mike submits a huge pile of White and Blue cards dedicated to exploiting the interactions between great auras and creatures that love to have them around. Finally, Chewie shows us what happens when some Red, White, and Blue auras with CIP triggers are put into a deck made to flip them in and out of play.

Whether it's magical rope ladders, terrible land bases, or way too many ideas in a deck at once, this is another episode with something for everyone.

And don't forget to send your contest entries to us at themanapool@cardshar k.com. For full contest rules and whatnot, see the link below.

We're now being broadcast on Radio Free Subspace! We're on Thursday nights at 8pm, but check it out anytime. It's an eclectic mix of all kinds of music and whatnot, and it's pretty cool. Give it a listen here:

http ://loudcity.com/stations/radio-free-subspace< /p>

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums. org/episode-59-out-of-the-deck-box-combo-auras-t268.html

Contest information: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/the- mana-pool-contest-announcement-t261.html

Send me an article at submissions@cardshar k.com

Cardshark located at http://www.cardshark.com

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It's official: Mike is leaving us. Not the show, he'll still be here as the rules guy and the old-school knowledge. But he's physically leaving us to take a job that is about 8 hours away. And he's doing so relatively soon. So he decided that we should all get together and play Magic one more time before he wandered off to the far reaches of what-have-you.

So we did. The four Mana Pool hosts gathered at my beautiful girlfriend's house, had a practice Thanksgiving (Dorksgiving) and played a mess of Magic. We then retired to my fabulous crappy apartment to record an episode live instead of over Skype. We were joined by Kat, Mike's girlfriend, who was sitting on my bed making a cute little robot doll while we recorded. She played the part of the peanut gallery during the show.

And here it is. We had just finished playing seven games of multiplayer free-for-all Magic, and then we came here to bring you all the big moments in every game. We also went over the slow moments. And the one game that we all thought would never actually end. And those couple games that just ended suddenly and with great style. So yeah, you'll get the full story of our (possibly) last gathering of the Mana Pool hosts for the purposes of playing Magic for hours on end. At least the last one that won't be a super-special occasion. We hope you enjoy!

And don't forget to send your contest entries to us at themanapool@cardshar k.com. For full contest rules and whatnot, see the link below.

Music for this episode: B.Y.O.N.E.S. (NES Of A Down Extended Mix) by detalub0

We're now being broadcast on Radio Free Subspace! We're on Thursday nights at 8pm, but check it out anytime. It's an eclectic mix of all kinds of music and whatnot, and it's pretty cool. Give it a listen here:

http ://loudcity.com/stations/radio-free-subspace< /p>

Forum link for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/ episode-58-multiplayer-mayhem-for-mike-t267.html

Contest information: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/the- mana-pool-contest-announcement-t261.html

Send me an article atsubmissions@cardshar k.com

Cardshark located athttp://www.cardshark.com

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Everyone that plays Magic started playing at some point. Which means that after everyone started playing, there was a new set that came out. This episode is all about our first new set. For Mike, that was Fallen Empires. For me, it was Homelands. Please don't hold that against us, at least we got over it and are still playing. For Dirk, it was Onslaught. We're going to take a look at each new set and explore the world they've created for it, which covers the story and the flavorful aspects. We'll then discuss the mechanical leitmotif for each set, meaning the keywords included and any strong themes running throughout the cards. And of course, the meat of each set review will be a look at the notable cards that originated there. We'll be hitting cards we just really like, cards that are excessively powerful, cards that are historically important, and cards that were just a lot of fun.

So sit back, relax, and take trip down our memory lane as we take a look at our first new sets. For those of you that weren't playing back in these times, especially the dark ages of Fallen Empires and Homelands, you'll get a look at where things were back then, and perhaps an idea of where they're going now.

And don't forget to send us your contest entries! For the full scoop, check out the link below.

We're now being broadcast on Radio Free Subspace! We're on Thursday nights at 8pm, but check it out anytime. It's an eclectic mix of all kinds of music and whatnot, and it's pretty cool. Give it a listen here:

http ://loudcity.com/stations/radio-free-subspace< /p>

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-5 7-ancestral-memories-t263.html
Contest information: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/the- mana-pool-contest-announcement-t261.html

RSS Feed: http://feeds. feedburner.com/themanapool

Welcome to our one year anniversary episode! To be perfectly honest, there's not terribly much that is completely new and awesome in this show. We really wanted to stick with one of our core concepts, something that the fans really appreciate. So we went over the Cardshark Member Promotions for the month of November and called it a day. You can find them here:

http:/ /www.cardshark.com/member_promotions.asp

Okay, not really. First there's a big announcement about the first Mana Pool Contest. We want everyone to send in their best Magic story. Cardshark.com, our fabulous sponsors, are donating a box of Shards of Alara to the cause, and each host picked out some of their foil rares to add to each winner. For the full list of prizes and the full contest rules and regulations rundown, see the forums. Or click right here:

http://cardshark.freeforums.org/the- mana-pool-contest-announcement-t261.html

As I said, we really wanted to do something that the listeners would really enjoy, a fan-favorite type of thing. So we decided to do an entire episode of Out of the Deck Box! We each picked out one of our decks that we really enjoy and went to town. I told everyone about my Pestilence deck. Brian expounded on his Shared Fate deck. Dirk discussed his Saviors deck. And Mike finished us up with his Big Black Stupid deck. We went through each deck and hit the important cards, the important concepts, the ideal plays, and the reason we love it so much.

Thanks again to everyone who has listened, posted on the forums, emailed us, and generally did anything whatsoever to keep the show going. We appreciate all of you, and we hope to keep entertaining you for the next year to come.

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode -56-the-one-year-episode-t262.html

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In honor of our one year anniversary of podcasting, I wanted to give everyone a look behind the scenes.  Here are some of the bits that didn't quite make it onto the feed for your listening pleasure.  The rest is explained in the clip.  Thanks a lot for listening throughout the year everyone, and enjoy the completely non-Magic goodness in this Bonus Episode!

To honor our one-year anniversary, we offer you this song for direct download.  By taking sound clips from around 10 episodes and splicing them together with Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim and a few of the DELETED buzzer sounds from Strong Bad Emails, Rob Anderson created something we dorks will treasure always. 

First featured in episode 52, this piece of audio goodness really captures the personalities of hosts of The Mana Pool.  He cuts down through all the Magic and the content of the show to show you a glimpse of who we really are and why we love doing the show.  So here it is for all to enjoy at your convenience.  I give you No One Expects the Mana Pool by JungleRatRob.

In this episode, we're taking a look at the Booster Draft format. Brian did a Shards of Alara draft on Magic Online and saved the results, so we're going to take a look, pick by pick, at the entire thing. We'll check out the cards in each pack and try to figure out just exactly what Brian took, or should have taken, and after we're all done we'll check out the deck he built and he'll tell us how he did with it.

In other news, here's the link to the article unveiling the full decklists for Duel Decks: Jace vs. Chandra.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/A rticle.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/11

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-55-ta ke-your-pick-t258.html
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Well tough. We're not doing that. Instead, Brian thought we should each pick a deck that wasn't our own and talk about it. After lots of âhuh?â we decided that it was, in fact, a good idea. Brian kicked us off by talking about my old roommate Corey's Sneak Attack deck. Dirk wanted to tell everyone how my Poison Ping deck works. Mike wanted to discuss Dirk's Bird tribal deck. Since I have a Bird deck too, Brian went over it and we spent a while discussing the similarities and differences. We'll have to do this again with some other decks, it's a lot of fun. And I finished things off by expounding on a deck with a very touching origin, Mike's Killer Instinct deck. It's a nice and simple episode, but it was a lot of fun. We hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did.

Oh yeah, if you'd like a look at the decklists in their entireties (is that even a word?), then check out the forum link at the bottom of these show notes. It'll be on the Facebook group too in case you guys wanna check it out there.

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.o rg/episode-54-out-of-someone-else-s-deck-box-t256.htmlEmail us at themanapool@cardshar k.com
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In this episode, Mike thought we should take a closer look at the Shards. Of Alara. Since this is a block just oozing with flavor, everyone seems to be talking more about the flavor and philosophy and whatnot of this one than they have in previous sets. Not ones to stand idly by while the bandwagon trundles along without us, we hopped on. And what a buffet it is! We looked at the flavor of the shards in various ways, including but not limited to:

- The colors that comprise each shard

- The colors that are missing from each shard

- The mechanical identity of each shard

- Citing examples from flavor text

- General setting and feel of each shard

In other news, there's also news in this episode. Wizards recently revealed the name and whatnot for the final set in the Alara block. You can find it, if you are so inclined, here:

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/ Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1702

W izards also FINALLY gave us some information about the next iteration of Duel Decks. Jace vs. Chandra is coming Nov. 7, and it looks to be seriously awesome. Two 60-card decks, each with 4 rares, which includes the foil alternate art versions of Jace Beleren and Chandra Nalaar. Six cards get new artwork featuring the planeswalkers in action. Control vs. Burn, baby! I can't wait. Check out the announcement showing some of the art the product information pages in the links below.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/ Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1700

http://www.wizards.com/m agic/tcg/productarticle.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/jacevschandra/product info

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardsha rk.freeforums.org/episode-53-savoring-shards-exploring-the-f lavor-of-alara-t253.html
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It must have been a full moon or something. Perhaps Karma reached out to slap us. Whatever the deal was, we had serious problems actually getting this episode recorded. The recording program didn't seem to want to record. Part of the way through, Brian decided to turn into Optimus Prime transforming into a truck. He didn't actually make it all the way through to the end of the episode. After he transformed, he rolled out. Dirk absolutely forgot how to read set labels. And we realized again that we were all incredibly stupid about Tarmogoyf when Future Sight broke.

This episode, we decided to talk about the recent Standard rotation. A truly ridiculous number of cards left Standard when Shards of Alara came out, putting an end to the largest Type II environment...ever. We lost Coldsnap, Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, Future Sight, and the Timeshifted sheet. Well, we didn't lose them, they just rotated out of most popular Constructed format. Extended and whatnot still have them, don't panic.

To commemorate this, we decided to take a look back at these sets from a different point of view. We wanted to check out some of the cards that came out of nowhere to define the format (Tarmogoyf, of course). We also wanted to take a look at some cards that just didn't live up to the hype. Not just the hype that Wizards built up, but the expectations we had about how much some of the cards would do. I think you'll find that our discussion leads us to believe that there's a lot more to be discovered and explored in the cards that just rotated out of Standard.

Not only do we have serious technical issues on this episode, but we also have what could be the single most awesome thing ever. Perhaps we had such problems because Karma wanted to balance out this particular show. One of our longtime listeners, JungleRatRob, decided to do a remix. He took a truly staggering number of audio clips from the show and mixed them with Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim. He sprinkled in a few of Strong Bad's "DELETED" buzzers for humorous impact.

What he got out of it was a piece of pure, unadulterated AWESOME. I'll be honest with you, I was in tears the first time I heard it because I was laughing so hard. Even my Mom liked it, and she doesn't listen to the show at all. As Mike put it: "Our musical entertainment is a survey of the true heart of the show. The rambling of lunatics, that is." Amen to that. He really managed to avoid any of the actual content of the show and deliver a piece of music that really cuts down to who we are and why we love to do the show. And for that we are forever indebted to you, JungleRatRob, for the effort you put into this, becaues you did for us. We appreciate it more than you can possibly imagine.

Music for this episode:

No One Expects the Mana Pool by JungleRatRob

Look for it for individual download soon, right here on our feed. Hit the forums and tell us what you think.

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.free forums.org/episode-52-standard-rotation-time-flies-in-a-snap -t248.html

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In this episode, which is brought to you with one more Polar Kraken than usual, we're going to take a long, hard look at being run out of cards. We have three decks that each win by depleting your opponents' libraries, albeit each one does so in its own particular fashion, which you can see further down in the show notes. Different colors go about milling in different ways, and we'll cover all the ones that come to us. Keep an ear out for a lively biological discussion about the classification similarities and disparities between crustaceans and cephalopods. And no, I'm not making that up.

Dirkâs Milling Deck

Creatures:

Drift of Phantasms x3

Soratami Mindsweeper x2

Lore Broker x4

Belltower Sphinx x4

Blizzard Specter x2

Vedalken Entrancer x4

Thought Courier x1

Lurking Informant x4

Artifact:

Millstone x2

Enchantment:

Seal of Doom x4

Instant/Sorcery:

Last Gasp x3

Psychic Drain x4

Glimpse the Unthinkable x3

Lands:

Swamps x8

Islands x8

Dimir Aqueduct x4

Brian's Milling Deck

10:Plains

11:Island

2:Azorius Chancery

1:Boreal Shelf

4:Ink Dissolver

3:Drowner of Secrets

3:Fallowsage

3:Information Dealer

3:Silvergill Adept

2:Wandering Graybeard

1:Surgespanner

1:Stonybrook Schoolmaster

1:Grimoire Thief

1:Riptide Chronologist

4:Merrow Commerce

3:Memory Sluice

2:Forced Fruition

2:Pemmin's Aura

2:Summon the School

1:Hoofprints of the Stag

Mike's Squid (Mollusc?) Alarm

Land (22)

15: Island

2: Cephalid Coliseum

2: Saprazzan Skerry

2: Sveylunite Temple

1: Shelldock Isle

Creature (14)

2: Cephalid Broker

2: Cephalid Looter

2: Chronozoa

2: Riptide Shapeshifter

1: Arcanis the Omnipotent

1: Isleback Spawn

1: Magus of the Future

1: Murkfiend Liege

1: Polar Kraken

1: Tidespout Tyrant

Non-Creature (24)

4: Accumulated Knowledge

4: Rune Snag

4: Serum Visions

4: Wistful Thinking

2: Capsize

2: Feldon's Cane

2: Homarid Spawning Bed

2: Intruder Alarm

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.fr eeforums.org/episode-51-ransacking-the-library-fifty-three-t o-go-t240.html
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Hey all! This is Brian, taking the reins of the showâs writing department for a week, and what a week it is to be here. The Mana Pool is proud to present its 50th Episode spectacular. Lions! Squires! Mana-producing, vigilancing, multi-color bears! Weâve got it all, so come on in!

In this episode, weâve got 50% more hosts than usual. Dirk, sadly, could not be there for reasons that Chewie will kill him for later. In the meantime, weâre joined by guest hosts in the form of Thomas (Mikeâs brother), AJ (dorking group member from days past), and Jason (garthok84 of the forums, and an increasingly present guest host). The six of us crowd around the proverbial campfire that is the internet recording program and regale you and each other with our stories from the Shards of Alara prereleases. With 4 locations, somewhere over 7 decks, and more Masters of Etherium and Broodmate Dragons than you can shake a very large stick at, this is the episode you donât want to miss!

After you listen to the show, log on to the forum thread for this episode. Tell us what you thought about it, and while youâre at it, share your own stories from the prerelease if you made it out. [Chewie note: All the decklists that were given to me by the various hosts and guest hosts and no-shows will also be posted in the forums, so go check them out there.]

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/episode-50-super-special-sha rds-prerelease-dorkstravaganza-t239.html
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Hello again, and welcome to The Mana Pool! Mike here one last time with one last rundown of one last Shards of Alara Preview episode before the Prerelease. We're finishing up from where we left off last time, and covering the additional cards that were shown Wednesday and Thursday.  Unfortunately, Brian could not be with us, but we have our wonderful guest host Jason filling in for him again.

We have a couple of cards that are not in the same cycle, one that isn't Skyshroud Elf, even more awesome names, and a really gross guy (but that's a plus).

As always, send us your emails, and feel ever so welcome to visit us on the forums and the Facebook group.  If you're going to the prerelease, have fun!  By the way, Chewie's Prerelease Survival Guide for Shards of Alara can be found at:
http://cardshark.com/resources/pdfs/Prerel easeSurvivalGuideshardsB.pdf

Shards of Alara Visual Spoiler:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/TCG/Ar ticle.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/shardsofalara/spoiler

 < /p>

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/ep isode-49-shards-of-alara-preview-5-t236.html
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Hello again, and welcome to The Mana Pool! Mike here again with yet another rundown of yet another Shards of Alara Preview episode. All the customary hosts are present and accounted for (no special guests, unfortunately), and we start to tackle the first part of a massive info dump that showed up in the Visual Spoiler over the past weekend. Tune in later in the week to get completely up to date.

Today, we have a very encouraging member of a new cycle, a vampire that likes to brawl, a card with an even better name ever, and just a bunch of other neat, neat cards. We close with a couple of interesting (at least to me) rules notes from the Masters Edition 2 FAQ.

Keep sending us your questions and comments (the email address given below broadcasts to all the hosts), and keep telling your friends. Maybe someday the name of our podcast can be in blue letters below a card from a massive weekend info dump. And you'll have heard about it first!

Shards of Alara Visual Spoiler:

http://www.wizards.com/magic/TCG/Ar ticle.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/shardsofalara/spoiler

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/ep isode-48-shards-of-alara-preview-4-t235.html

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In a world where Shards of Alara preview cards are shown at a rate much less frequent than in previous sets, there is no need for two episodes of The Mana Pool in a week. In this world, episode 47 of The Mana Pool is just being released, instead of coming out late last week. It covers the preview cards shown from September 10 to September 17 on the Magic website's Shards of Alara Visual Spoiler, found here:

http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/ar ticle.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/shardsofalara/spoiler

Also in this world, there is no Dirk on episode 47. Instead, he has been replaced by AJ, one of the other dorks that played Magic with the host dorks in college. He may or may not be using a Rock Band microphone to record. Please feel free to make fun of him either way, because it's funny. However, using a Logitech USB Desktop Microphone to do vocals in Rock Band would be funnier.

And finally, in this world gone mad, the new Magic Player Rewards textless cards have been shown, and we totally tell you all about them. If you'd like to see them as well as listen to us rant and rave about them, all you have to do is click the following link:

http://www.wizards.com/magic/TCG/Resource s.aspx?x=magic/rewards/welcome

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/ep isode-47-shards-of-alara-preview-3-t233.html
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Hello again, and welcome to The Mana Pool! Mike here again with a rundown of our second Shards of Alara Preview episode. Unfortunately, Brian could not join us because of other schedule obligations. Fortunately, we have a special guest. It's Jason (garthok84 of the forums), who had previously appeared to help us out in the Eventide prerelease aftermath, and he does not disappoint.

We start things off by taking care of a few things we missed the first time around. A new Cardshark Member Promotion for September appeared, hosted by one of our premium sellers, and it's quite spiffy. We have a few comments regarding the updates to the DCI Banned and Restricted List that were announced a week or so ago, as well as the announcement that States will start again in the U.S. in November, as well as Champs in Canada.

Then it's preview cards! Among them are revelations of three new keyword abilities, a Jedi, Doran 2.0, and a pants-wettingly powerful Planeswalker. The cards are great, conversation is good, and the episode isn't an hour and a half long. What is there not to love?

Thanks again for listening, and keep sending in your comments and questions. Who knows, maybe someday we can have a âmailbagâ segment, like all the grownup radio shows. Have fun, and go play some Magic! Or listen to the episode. You know, whatever.

Cardshark Member Promotions:
http:/ /www.cardshark.com/member_promotions.asp

Shards of Alara Visual Spoiler:
http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/ar ticle.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/shardsofalara/spoiler

Foru m thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/ep isode-64-shards-of-alara-preview-2-t232.html
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Hello, all, and welcome to the month of September. This is Mike, coming back from a weekend full of forgetting I agreed to write the show notes for this episode. Because this was our first episode of the month, we get things started with a rundown of the new Cardshark Member Promotions for September. Raffles! Free cards! Great deals! That guy who keeps trying to give away his excess Dissension uncommons (in addition to the other free cards he sends, of course)!

A semi-stealthy update to the Shards of Alara minisite means we're also officially starting Shards of Alara previews. There's a new Planeswalker, some funky artifact shenanigans, the best name ever, and NOT Bitterblossom. I wish I could remember more, but yeah... I forgot to write the show notes until just a little while ago. Have fun with the episode, and enjoy the links to the Cardshark Member Promotions and the Visual Spoiler for Shards of Alara.

Cardshark Member Promotions:

http:/ /www.cardshark.com/member_promotions.asp

Shards of Alara Visual Spoiler:

http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/ar ticle.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/shardsofalara/spoiler

Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.freeforums.org/ep isode-45-shards-of-alara-preview-1-t228.html
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There's also the matter of Shards of Alara previews. No, don't worry, the official previews haven't started yet. But they have shown a couple of interesting things. One is the Hellkite Overlord, which we mentioned on the last show. This time, we give you the full rundown of what the card does. If you'd like to follow along, go to Gatherer and look it up. The other interesting bit of info is the unveiling of the Shards of Alara Prerelease and Launch Party card. Just one for both this time, but boy is it amazing. It's a planeswalker. If you'd like to follow along, check it out here:

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Art icle.aspx?x=mtgcom/arcana/1660

Then we get into the meat of the episode. Since these episodes seem to be very popular, we like to do them whenever we get a chance. Last weekend, your four host dorks managed to get together to play some Magic. We got in four good games and one horrible waste of time. Don't play Assassin with just four people, okay? Trust us. Each game came complete with ridiculous card interactions that you just won't see anywhere but a multiplayer casual game, and we kept note of all the hilarity so we could bring it to you, our faithful listeners. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed playing.

Quick aside: For anyone interested in how my fantasy draft went, I got Adrian Peterson, Clinton Portis, Carson Palmer, TJ Houshmandzadeh, and Braylon Edwards for my core starters. Aw yeah.

Music for this episode: Swift - To Phoenix by Foot, off their third album A Communication Manual

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Forum thread for this episode: http://cardshark.fre eforums.org/episode-43-back-to-basics-combat-strategies-tric ks-t217.html
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âThe way I remember it, it started with a general overview of the structure of the turn, then we looked closer at the general structure of combat, then we went through combat very carefully, step-by-step, and spoke in some detail about special abilities that affect certain steps. With the usual amount of anecdoting and pointless rambling sprinkled in there. And Brian giving explanations that take twice as long and make half as much sense =Pâ

So there you have it, straight from the Rules Guy's mouth. Or fingers, since he typed that. We don't call Brian the Lead Rambler for nothing, and we do love him for it. Of course, if we're going to call out Brian for his rambling, then we should also call out Mike for randomly waxing about pre-Sixth Edition rules and how they didn't make any sense. He does that at least twice in this episode, perhaps more. And while we're at it, we pick on Dirk for not knowing something obvious close to the beginning of this episode. It turns out he's not dumb, he was actually not paying attention because he was trying to find something related to the Shards of Alara discussion we had just prior to recording.  And of course, let's not leave me out of the merrymaking.  I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make a Facebook page for the show.  Not at all.  Behind the scenes here at The Mana Pool!

Right then, hope everyone enjoys the episode and learns something useful. Or at least remembers something useful. Or at least gets a kick out of a bunch of dorks discussing combat until we're ready to actually fight.  Thanks for listening, and if you know how to start a Facebook page for the show, please let me know.

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On this episode of The Mana Pool, we decided to practice what we preach. Last time, we gave you the basics on Sealed. For this episode, we wanted to show you those basics in action. To do this, we've done two things. First, I opened a Sealed pool of cards (a Shadowmoor Tournament Pack and two Eventide Booster Packs) and copied down the contents. I then sent the list to Dirk, Mike, Brian, and myself. Each of us had the following assignment: Build a Sealed Deck out of this pool, write it down, and be prepared to discuss. Amazingly, all four of us did this assignment, and we discussed our four very different decks. Just as a quick preview, there was a black/green deck, a green/white deck, a green/red deck, and a black/white deck. So not only have we talked about building a Sealed deck, but we have shown that there is no absolutely ârightâ way to build one out of a given pool. You can find the entire Sealed pool and our decklists here:

http://themanapool.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=366568

And you'd think that would have been a good episode, right? Wrong! That wasn't enough for you, our dear listeners. We had to take it a step further. Not only did we build 4 different decks before we recorded, but we also decided to build another one from an entirely different Sealed pool live on the air! I opened up the cards at the beginning of the episode, and during the discussions of the individual decks, I was sorting and typing up this new list. It went out to the dorks, and we went through the entire process of building a deck out of it. There's much discussion, disagreement, explanation, reasoning, despair, and ultimately, harmony. You can find the entire pool and the final decklist in the same post as before, but here's the link again:

http://themanapool.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=366568

Hopefully you found this educational, or enlightening, or at least entertaining. Let us know what you thought, whether you do it on the forums, in the Facebook group, or just in an email, so we'll know if we should do something like this in the future.

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For Episode 41, I opened a Sealed pool of cards, a Shadowmoor Tournament Pack and two Eventide Booster Packs. Each host dork took this Sealed pool and made a Sealed deck. Here is the original card pool.

Land:

Madblind Mountain (U)

Sunken Ruins (R)

White:

Kithkin Shielddare

Kithkin Zealot

Last Breath

Recumbent Bliss

Suture Spirit (U)

Windbrisk Raptor (R)

Blue:

Banishing Knack

Briarberry Cohort

Dream Thief

Ghastly Discovery

Oona's Grace

Prismwake Merrow

Put Away

Black:

Ashling, the Extinguisher (R)

Crowd of Cinders (U)

Disturbing Plot

Gloomlance

Merrow Bonegnawer

Rite of Consumption

Smoldering Butcher

Splitting Headache

Red:

Blookmark Mentor (U)

Bloodshed Fever

Hotheaded Giant

Inescapable Brute

Puncture Bolt

Smash to Smithereens

Green:

Bloom Tender (R)

Devoted Druid

Gleeful Sabotage

Nurturer Initiate

Phosphorescent Feast (U)

Tower Above (U)

Wickerbough Elder

Wildslayer Elves

Artifact:

Antler Skulkin

Chainbreaker

Hoof Skulkin

Lurebound Scarecrow (U)

Shell Skulkin

Black/White Hybrid:

Beckon Apparition

Bloodied Ghost (U)

Edge of the Divinity

Nightsky Mimic

Unmake

Red/White Hybrid:

Duergar Assailant

Duergar Hedge-Mage (U)

Fire at Will

Blue/White Hybrid:

Aethertow

Enchanted Evening (R)

Thoughtweft Gambit (U)

Turn to Mist

Green/White Hybrid:

Barkshell Blessing

Elvish Hexhunter

Safehold Elite

Safewright Quest

Black/Green Hybrid:

Quillspike (U)

Stalker Hag (U)

Blue/Black Hybrid:

Merrow Grimeblotter (U)

Blue/Green Hybrid:

Favor of the Overbeing

Grazing Kelpie

Shorecrasher Mimic

Slippery Bogle

Red/Green Hybrid:

Boggart Ram-Gang (U)

Loamdragger Giant

Morselhoarder

Mudbrawler Raiders

Tattermunge Duo

Tattermunge Witch (U)

Red/Black Hybrid:

Emberstrike Duo

Sootwalkers

Torrent of Souls (U)

Tyrannize (R)

And here are the four decks that came from this endeavor. Note the differences and, even though they're different colors, note the similarities.

Brian's Sealed Deck, by converted mana cost

1â Merrow Bonegnawer, Nurturer Initiate, Elvish Hexhunter

2â Bloom Tender, Devoted Druid, Safehold Elite, Disturbing Plot, Gleeful Sabotage, Rite of Consumption

3â Quillspike, Stalker Hag, Hoof Skulkin, Tower Above, Unmake

4â Ashling the Extinguisher, Crowd of Cinders, Soldering Butcher, Wickerbough Elder, Wildslayer Elves

5â Gloomlance, Torrent of Souls

6â Morselhoarder

7â Loamdragger Giant

Land:

10x Forest

7x Swamp

Dirkâs Sealed Deck, by color

Lands

9 Plains

7 Forests

Green

Bloom Tender

Tower Above

Wickerbough Elder

Wildslayer Elves

White

Kithkin Shielddare

Last Breath

Recumbent Bliss

Suture Spirit

Windbrisk Raptor

White/Black

Bloodied Ghost

Edge of the Divinity

Unmake

White/Red

Duergar Hedge-Mage

Fire at Will

White/Blue

Ãthertow

Turn to Mist

White/Green

Safehold Elite

Safewright Quest

Green/Black

Stalker Hag

Green/Red

Boggart Ram-Gang

Loamdragger Giant

Morselhoarder

Green/Blue

Favor of the Overbeing

Slippery Bogle

Mike's Sealed Deck, by color

Red:

Bloodmark Mentor

Puncture Bolt

Green:

Bloom Tender

Devoted Druid

Gleeful Sabotage

Nurturer Initiate

Tower Above

Wickerbough Elder

Wildslayer Elves

Artifact:

Chainbreaker

Hoof Skulkin

Lurebound Scarecrow

Red/White Hybrid:

Duergar Assailant

Green/White Hybrid:

Barkshell Blessing

Elvish Hexhunter

Safehold Elite

Black/Green Hybrid:

Quillspike

Blue/Green Hybrid:

Grazing Kelpie

Red/Green Hybrid:

Boggart Ram-Gang

Loamdragger Giant

Morselhoarder

Mudbrawler Raiders

Tattermunge Duo

Tattermunge Witch

Red/Black Hybrid:

Sootwalkers

Land:

11 Forest

6 Mountain

Chewie's Sealed Deck, by card type

Creatures

Elvish Hexhunter

Kithkin Zealot

Suture Spirit

Safehold Elite

Nightsky Mimic

Devoted Druid

Quillspike

Bloodied Ghost

Duergar Hedge-Mage

Stalker Hag

Crowd of Cinders

Sootwalkers

Ashling, the Extinguisher

Smoldering Butcher

Windbrisk Raptor

Spells

Safewright Quest

Barkshell Blessing

Beckon Apparition

Last Breath

Fire at Will

Unmake

Recumbent Bliss

Aethertow

Gloomlance

Thoughtweft Gambit

Land

8 Plains

6 Swamp

3 Forest

As a second exercise for this episode, I opened another Sealed pool, again a Shadowmoor Tournament Pack and two Eventide Booster Packs, and we constructed a deck live on the air. Here is that pool.

White

Recumbent Bliss

Cenn's Enlistment

Light from Within

Flickerwisp

Woeleecher

Safehold Sentry

Blue

Consign to Dream