I'm listening right now, sounding great. No Gavin... yet this show is so positive. No real bad news, a ton of great news... maybe Gavin is the ruiner of MTGCast??? Seriously though, I got to spend Monday Night with Gavin at the City Champs. He beat me... I had a bad night. Its all good though, can't win 'em all.
The mix of Casual/Tourney stuff is a great deal why I listen to MNM. You all usually cover all the news of the weak, as well as personal experiences. I love this show because its not boring... a lot of the strategy/recap shows are so dang boring. I like the mix of both, I wouldn't change your format a bit... keeping the Casual around gives this Podcast a dynamic that many other shows completely lack.
Anyway, I'm off to go watch some random action movie.
Personally, I'd rather have tourney/strategy info than casual stuff. I download and listen to podcasts for information's sake. The only radio/podcast show I listen to partially for entertainment is Mike and Mike in the morning on ESPN Radio.
--Jed
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L5R or MTG, if it's got Samurai, Knights or Soldiers, it's all good as far as I'm concerned.
Hey guys, good show. I've only been listening for a short while, and I think what's keeping me coming back is that you have a good mix of casual and tourney content. I've been playing magic since revised, and have played in a few tournaments and a LOT of casual games. I think something that might be interesting is hearing about good ways to become more competitive in tournaments.
Anyway, I've got a stumper for you. My play group and I had a huge free for all going. I get knocked out almost immediately, so I go throw on The Road Warrior. One of my buddies interrupts The Humungus' speech asking about the following situation. Our resident mad scientist has an Eon Hub and an Isochron Scepter (imprinted with Reality Ripple) in play. Then he plays Sands of Time when most everyone is tapped out. Just before his next turn comes around, he phases out the Sands of Time with the Scepter. The argument arose as to whether he got to untap during his untap step, and whether he got an untap step at all. I told them I didn't want to have anything to do with Sands of Time, so I'm passing this along to you guys.
Hello Tom and Derrek. This time the sound quality was great, just keep it up. Strange Days when Belgians are the third most active listeners of MNM.
As for the question, I personally like the mixture of casual and tournaments, with news mixed in. But I have to admit that having two tourney players to one casual is quite a good ratio also.
I'm a tournament player by heart, but I also have a lot of good memories from my carefree days playing multiplayer, without worries of (missed) work, taxes and family. The free-for-alls during high school or the 5-colour and emperor games in university all left plenty of great memories and stories...
I also have to agree with Tom, that Arena was, and propably will always be, the best MtG book. It gave out both Sewers of Estark and the Arena. The following Greenleaves-trilogy (which gave out Windseeker Centaur, Giant Badger,and finally Mana Crypt came out with Final Sacrifice, which I have not read, unfortunately.) never really got the atmosphere right. I actually bought the book before starting to play and kept going over the book to see what spells I could hope to open later on.
I think I need to go and dig it out for another re-read.
Hi guys, well done on the show It was good to hear Derek hitting full stride. And well done to Gavin on making the finals of his PTQ!
I like the mixture of casual and tournament stuff the cast has going on. You might say that I am a Die Hard casual player, and there aren't too many articles in e-print with a casual focus, while there are dozens of "decklist-card choice-playtest results" articles every day. MTGCast goes some way toward redressing the balance, and the casual atmosphere makes it a lot more enjoyable that it might be if it were just gavin and derek reading off decklists. (Unless it was in terrible English accents, of course). I'll try to come up with some future comment contest questions and email them in!
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I imagine Maro has a huge ancient book in his office titled "Tempo Defined" and inside it is hollowed out and there is a bottle of whiskey
I enjoy a nice mix of both casual and tourney, it's what helps seperate this and other similar podcasts. It's refreshing and having the mix allows you to reach out to more players. Also, if you just did competitive magic talk you'd just be limited the amount of topics to talk about and you could run dry inbetween major events.
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i would have to say keep the mix going cause the show is great just the way it is , if it isn't broke don't fix it . The Storm Riders by director Raymond Lee is one of my favorites right now , it's from Japan and dubbed in English very good movie , kind of love story with a lot of action mixed in
i like the mix as well. i dont get out to anything competitive very often so it's good to hear about both. and i don't see how the video games could be any good, but the xbox live arcade one sounds like it could be kind of cool.
Hi guys, once again a decent show, despite being one short. As to the question of competitive vs. casual talk, I personally prefer to hear a little of both. The game isn't really a game without casual play (it can turn quickly into a poker-like shark tank), but the competitive side really makes it exciting and encourages people to innovate.
As the judge for a local store's FNM, I see players from both ends of the spectrum and have to mediate where understandings differ, and though I am more competitive than casual myself, I can see the need for both. Explaining the Reveillark-Body Double-Greater Gargadon-Mogg Fanatic combo to a casual player is sometimes pretty tough, as is telling that same player, "I'm sorry, your Elves vs. Goblins deck isn't legal to play tonight" after they just spent $20 on it. But it's really a lot of fun to play a role in shaping some of these players into competitve PTQers.
When I first started running FNM, I did it filling in for a flaky judge to make sure the tourneys went off without a hitch. However, that experience has led me to become more serious about understanding the rules to the point where I'll be testing for my Level 1 cert at a PTQ week after next. (Wish me luck!)
Some quick notes on the other things y'all covered:
Video games: Sounds eerily like a Dreamblade-esque boondoggle in the making to me. Note to WOTC: focus on the fundamentals. You've already got a successful digital product and a successful cardboard one, too. Don't go tampering with the integrity of this brand by sticking it on everything with a video screen and buttons.
Next question (mainly for Gavin, if he's on next show): What areas should I concentrate on to prepare for my Level 1 judge exam?
I'm studying everything I can get my hands on, including the Comprehensive Rules, penalty guidelines, current Extended meta tech (the PTQ I'm testing at is, of course, Extended), judge question sites and blogs and articles like Cranial Insertion on MTGS, and taking the practice exams. Am I missing anything? Am I overdoing it? Thanks for any assistance.
Cheers,
PG
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International Magic Judge (Level 4)
Former US Southwest Regional Coordinator
Great Show again.
On the topic of Casual vs Tournament I prefer Casual since most of the people at my local shop play with whatever they want the more banned/restricted the better. I also like to play in tournaments like PTQ or FNM they offer a whole type of competitiveness to the game, which is fun to an extent with me.
The answer for the question would have to be Hot Fuzz.
The casual side is why I listen pretty much, there's a glut of strategy right now most of it bad, but it's always great to listen to Tom talk about Oozes. Speaking of which PLEASE bring back Tribal Time with Tom, especially as there's no more Dom to sigh when the segment begins lol
Kill Bill 2
Also, I'm going to have to call Derek out on this one, and you're definitely not the only one to make this mistake, but Ming Xu, one of the KL semifinalists, is CHINESE, not Japanese. I feel the need especially because I am Chinese. And lols at planar guide, but I think Gavin banned humility questions in like episode 15 or something after getting stumped by a Humility-related question.
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To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness; though if stupidity is lacking, the others are useless."
-Gustave Flaubert
I love the mix you have going between casual and competitive. I'm pretty much just a casual player, but when I get the chance to go to tourney's and such I really need to know what's going on, and I really like that you do both. I would say my favorite parts of the cast is usually Tom (and in this show Derek) talking about their first days of Magic or about obscure cards/decks and mainly the history of the game.
Derek was awesome this time around too! It was great getting his perspective and I find he's not just another Gavin, but has his own take on the game too. He shouldn't feel that Gavin has said everything about a competitive topic and voice his own opinion's too even if it is similar.
Oh yeah and about two (three, four?) shows back, I'd like to say that I don't mind hearing Tom talk about his job. It was pretty cool to hear that you missed the pre-release to deliver a baby.
keep up the good work it'll be nice to hear from Gavin about the PTQ.
Oh boy, will there be stories to tell next week! We will practically just be able to temporarily rename the show "Gavincast".
I'll be attending Grand Prix Vancouver this weekend. If you're there, stop by and say hi!
I think it's time to make a LaPille-esque list of my stops.
I present.... The Gavin Prix!
1/12 PTQ Hollywood in Phoenix - Played Doran, 5-2, top 16.
02/09 GPT Vancouver in Seattle - Played Affinity, 3-1-1, lost in quarterfinals
02/16 PTQ Hollywood in Seattle - Played Affinity, 5-0-2, lost in finals
02/17 GPT Vancouver in Seattle - Played Affinity, 3-1-1, won the tournament
02/24-25 GP Vancouver
03/01 PTQ Hollywood in Seattle
03/09 PTQ Hollywood in Vancouver, Canada
03/15 PTQ Hollywood in Seattle / 03/15-16 GP Philadelphia
For those who missed the exciting quips and dynamics of me this week, hopefully this article will give you some morsels worth enjoying and grimacing at
My life motto is that knowledge is power, and if i can learn anything from any experience, i want to. so I like all the aspects of the show. I am a HxC mtg player, but i love to just make a deck that will be fun to play, and will kill my friends. I am new to this forum, but the show is something that I look forward to. any talk of mtg is awesome, especially if it has humor. thanks.
the movie running scared is completely insane! i highly reccomend it if you havent seen it
Speaking of which PLEASE bring back Tribal Time with Tom, especially as there's no more Dom to sigh when the segment begins lol
How can I argue with a direct request for Tribal Time with Tom? We won't make it every week, but expect a re-visit to TTwT next week (at the least to help balance out "Gavincast").
I'll have to agree with the majority of the posters here. I like MNM because of the mix you provide. A little bit of casual, a little bit of tourney and a little bit of news. It's a well rounded cast, guys. I wouldn't change anything.
Derek: I would like to toss my two cents in about The ManaCast. I loved that podcast. I've listened to old episodes more than once because I found them so entertaining and informative. Granted, by the time I listened to them again, the metagame info was a little out of date. No matter. The underlying strategy is still important, even if the card choices have changed.
Bring back the cast. It will be well received. And don't change the format. The 'Sconny crew was doing a great job.
There's going to be Big Trouble In Little China if we don't reach 100 posts this week.
Firstly its good to be back after such a long interlude due to midterms, I was suddenly reminded of the terminator while I was writing my Biochemistry(which didn't really help me at all btw :-/).
I would prefer a more casual form of tourney coverage, not for the lighter tone that is found in it. But due to the fact that some facts/observations are better emphasized in this POV(point of view) as compared to a more strategy based format. This way more casual or not as notworthy details can be included without derivating too far from the main topic. Although I think MTGcast does a good job in either case since you have a good balance amongst you. Tom covers the casual crowd, Gavin has the tourney scene, and Derek covers.....everything else:cool:. Which is why I listen to you guys for the MTG news I cant keep up with. Another reason is that "random formats" also includes five color, and looking at your prize of the week, amnesia looks like would be fun to use in my 5-C deck (btw I forgot the link to the 5-Color format page before when I posted my deck, in case anyone is interested).
Hey, I have a deck that uses leviathan. Great show again guys. Regarding the numbers of viewers, whats the country you least expected to get a download from? I got the cards thanks guys.
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Currently Running:
Modern:
Burn
8-Racks
Brewing:
Modern Haakon
Modern 20-Ones
Legacy Meathooks
Also, I'm going to have to call Derek out on this one, and you're definitely not the only one to make this mistake, but Ming Xu, one of the KL semifinalists, is CHINESE, not Japanese. I feel the need especially because I am Chinese.
Oh man! totally called out - I had to re-listen to the podcast 'cause I didn't believe it at first. I really don't know how that happened! I speak japanese and 'Ming Xu' is VERY clearly not japanese. Maybe i'm just used to there being like 3-4 japanese players in every top8
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If you blame luck on all of your failures, you're never going to get better...
Last week I got an Ipod and the first thing I did was sign up for your Podcast so I could listen to it while I walk to work. Much like ROBO COP 2 I really enjoy your show. I play in both casual and tournament settings. Each week I do a current draft such as LLM and play group games with crazy multiplayer decks. I most say I love both the same and hope your show continues speaking about both. It is fun to play in group games where you can toss down 9cc bombs along with mana fixing to play silly stuff.
My idea for question of the week comes from Mario Pascoli vs. Jon Finkel in the finals of Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur. In game 4 Pascoli walks into Preeminent Captain not knowing it had First Strike and basically tossing the game away. What has been your biggest blunder in a game that still haunts you today?
Wow, I'm surprised there are so many people who would prefer the cast to focus on tournament stuff. Look around the web, guys! There are a bunch of casts like that already, not to mention six or seven articles every day on various websites. Personally, I don't think there any other podcasts like MNM. I guess the Magic Sock also has a casual focus but it has completely different feel (particularly solo show vs three people discussion).
I think you should continue to emphasize topics that are relevant to both competitive and casual players -- news about new video games, rumors about the next set, rules questions, combos, etc. Also, if Tribal Time with Tom was put on indefinite hiatus, you should definitely bring it back on occasion (I thought you might have retired it for a while because with Lorwyn tribal is more the rule than the exception right now). I like hearing about people's play experiences (looking forward to Gavincast) so I think the focus on casual/tournament play should come up that way -- Gavin and Derek can talk about their PTQs and City Champs and Tom can talk about whatever tribal tournament he played....
Also, I have to agree with Tom and Default User -- Arena is the best Magic novel I have read, no question. Last year I read the Ice Age cycle (The Gathering Dark, Eternal Ice and The Shattered Alliance) and the Time Spiral cycle. They were both fun to read and I enjoyed the characters like Jodah, Jaya, Teferi, and Leshrac but overall I still thought the writing was a little weak at times compared to what I normally read in non-Magic books. But Arena was awesome and had the best flavor of any Magic book -- when it depicted mages dueling it really felt like a real fight but at the same time you pick out the Magic cards they were using and see how the fight could actually be describing a game of Magic. ...and I love how at the end Garth One-eye goes Commando on everyone in the arena Schwarzenegger style!
Hmmm... action movie. Man, Aliens is right up there. That was the last movie that I was honestly scared by. I saw it at the Columbia in Atlanta on 70mm, and they had everything turned up to real life volume. The landing craft plunging through the atmosphere sounded very much like (I would imagine) and very much as loud as a landing craft plunging through an atmosphere would. The automatic guns sounded like they were being fired three inches from the side of your head. Screams, bone-crunches, and the sound of the lubricant-like alien slime dripping all left nothing to the imagination. Anyhow...
I really dig listening to the show. I take breaks occasionally from it, but am always quite amused when I tune in again. You've got a cool mix of personalities that appeal to a wide audience I think, and the occasional bit of misinformation that Tom (and previously Dom) throw into the mix and are subsequently called on cracks me up every time. Last week, when Tom was mentioning some of the "new" things he liked about the Shadowmoor packaging, only to find out that they weren't new at all really cracked me up.
As you may be able to tell, I'm a casual player. (In fact, I wrote a comment some time ago that was brought up in the podcast, requesting more multiplayer stuff.) I am not so big on the tournament scene, although I DO like hearing about it. I enjoy hearing Gavin's take on this aspect of things. And I like Mike Flores's articles on magicthegathering.com, probably mostly because he's a good writer that makes it interesting. So, in answer to the coverage question: I actually think you've got a good mixture ratio going on right now. I think a LOT of people play casual multiplayer, so that's one of the things that differentiates you from other Magic resources right now. I'd enjoy hearing about multiplayer combos, or cards that kinda suck or are so-so in duels, but are heinous in multiplayer. Things like: Forgotten Ancient, Taurean Mauler, and Hamletback Goliath; any of the "Hunted" creatures that will let you give the tokens to a player who is temporarily allied with you; how absolutely annoying card like Soul Warden are in huge games; ditto for Rhystic Study (an otherwise forgettable card). Combos like: [insert big creature], Reward the Faithful, and False Cure; Crypt Rats with Spirit Link and/or Scythe of the Wretched on them. Fun fun!
Ideas for future comment contests... Hmm... is this a request for topics? I think so...
- Favorite multiplayer combo
- Most annoying member of your playgroup, and why
- First rare ever pulled, or first that you can recall, and feelings on that card
- Whether some of your friends have left Magic, and why, and what they did with their cards
In the spirit of the combo of the week topic, I'd also like to bring up some of my recent favorite combos. I tend to be kind of a combo-seeking type, but try to do so using somewhat non-chase rares...
- Nacatl War-Pride / Pandemonium
- Harbinger of Night / Sadistic Glee
- Vulturous Zombie / Mindslicer
- Dross Golem / Sacrifice or Soldevi Adnate (Nets you way more mana than put in)
- Spire Golem or Scornful Egotist / Energy Tap (ditto above), into prosperity
- Amoeboid Changeling / Knight of the Mists
Well, that's it. Keep up the good work, guys!
Thanks,
Rick Kunkel
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The mix of Casual/Tourney stuff is a great deal why I listen to MNM. You all usually cover all the news of the weak, as well as personal experiences. I love this show because its not boring... a lot of the strategy/recap shows are so dang boring. I like the mix of both, I wouldn't change your format a bit... keeping the Casual around gives this Podcast a dynamic that many other shows completely lack.
Anyway, I'm off to go watch some random action movie.
LISTEN TO MAH SONGZ!
@BillyTheFridge
--Jed
L5R or MTG, if it's got Samurai, Knights or Soldiers, it's all good as far as I'm concerned.
Anyway, I've got a stumper for you. My play group and I had a huge free for all going. I get knocked out almost immediately, so I go throw on The Road Warrior. One of my buddies interrupts The Humungus' speech asking about the following situation. Our resident mad scientist has an Eon Hub and an Isochron Scepter (imprinted with Reality Ripple) in play. Then he plays Sands of Time when most everyone is tapped out. Just before his next turn comes around, he phases out the Sands of Time with the Scepter. The argument arose as to whether he got to untap during his untap step, and whether he got an untap step at all. I told them I didn't want to have anything to do with Sands of Time, so I'm passing this along to you guys.
As for the question, I personally like the mixture of casual and tournaments, with news mixed in. But I have to admit that having two tourney players to one casual is quite a good ratio also.
I'm a tournament player by heart, but I also have a lot of good memories from my carefree days playing multiplayer, without worries of (missed) work, taxes and family. The free-for-alls during high school or the 5-colour and emperor games in university all left plenty of great memories and stories...
I also have to agree with Tom, that Arena was, and propably will always be, the best MtG book. It gave out both Sewers of Estark and the Arena. The following Greenleaves-trilogy (which gave out Windseeker Centaur, Giant Badger,and finally Mana Crypt came out with Final Sacrifice, which I have not read, unfortunately.) never really got the atmosphere right. I actually bought the book before starting to play and kept going over the book to see what spells I could hope to open later on.
I think I need to go and dig it out for another re-read.
Set to default
I like the mixture of casual and tournament stuff the cast has going on. You might say that I am a Die Hard casual player, and there aren't too many articles in e-print with a casual focus, while there are dozens of "decklist-card choice-playtest results" articles every day. MTGCast goes some way toward redressing the balance, and the casual atmosphere makes it a lot more enjoyable that it might be if it were just gavin and derek reading off decklists. (Unless it was in terrible English accents, of course). I'll try to come up with some future comment contest questions and email them in!
love with mouth,
Tank
The Steamflogged
Human Rigger Minions committed to
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and Resisting The Tyranny of the
Viva La Assembly!
Quotes:
Current Casual Deck: Clockspinning Control
LISTEN TO MAH SONGZ!
@BillyTheFridge
As the judge for a local store's FNM, I see players from both ends of the spectrum and have to mediate where understandings differ, and though I am more competitive than casual myself, I can see the need for both. Explaining the Reveillark-Body Double-Greater Gargadon-Mogg Fanatic combo to a casual player is sometimes pretty tough, as is telling that same player, "I'm sorry, your Elves vs. Goblins deck isn't legal to play tonight" after they just spent $20 on it. But it's really a lot of fun to play a role in shaping some of these players into competitve PTQers.
When I first started running FNM, I did it filling in for a flaky judge to make sure the tourneys went off without a hitch. However, that experience has led me to become more serious about understanding the rules to the point where I'll be testing for my Level 1 cert at a PTQ week after next. (Wish me luck!)
Super secret answer to super secret question:
Attack the Gas Station! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0262246/
Some quick notes on the other things y'all covered:
Video games: Sounds eerily like a Dreamblade-esque boondoggle in the making to me. Note to WOTC: focus on the fundamentals. You've already got a successful digital product and a successful cardboard one, too. Don't go tampering with the integrity of this brand by sticking it on everything with a video screen and buttons.
Stumper question: If I have Humility, Blood Moon, Muraganda Petroglyphs, Celestial Dawn, and Crusade in play, what can my Dryad Arbordo, and if it still has power and toughness, what are they?
Next question (mainly for Gavin, if he's on next show): What areas should I concentrate on to prepare for my Level 1 judge exam?
I'm studying everything I can get my hands on, including the Comprehensive Rules, penalty guidelines, current Extended meta tech (the PTQ I'm testing at is, of course, Extended), judge question sites and blogs and articles like Cranial Insertion on MTGS, and taking the practice exams. Am I missing anything? Am I overdoing it? Thanks for any assistance.
Cheers,
PG
Former US Southwest Regional Coordinator
Favorite cards of all time:
Overall - Peacekeeper
Flavor text - Blazing Archon
On the topic of Casual vs Tournament I prefer Casual since most of the people at my local shop play with whatever they want the more banned/restricted the better. I also like to play in tournaments like PTQ or FNM they offer a whole type of competitiveness to the game, which is fun to an extent with me.
The answer for the question would have to be Hot Fuzz.
Kill Bill 2
Also, I'm going to have to call Derek out on this one, and you're definitely not the only one to make this mistake, but Ming Xu, one of the KL semifinalists, is CHINESE, not Japanese. I feel the need especially because I am Chinese. And lols at planar guide, but I think Gavin banned humility questions in like episode 15 or something after getting stumped by a Humility-related question.
To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness; though if stupidity is lacking, the others are useless."
-Gustave Flaubert
Derek was awesome this time around too! It was great getting his perspective and I find he's not just another Gavin, but has his own take on the game too. He shouldn't feel that Gavin has said everything about a competitive topic and voice his own opinion's too even if it is similar.
Oh yeah and about two (three, four?) shows back, I'd like to say that I don't mind hearing Tom talk about his job. It was pretty cool to hear that you missed the pre-release to deliver a baby.
keep up the good work it'll be nice to hear from Gavin about the PTQ.
DIE HARD with a VENGENCE
I'll be attending Grand Prix Vancouver this weekend. If you're there, stop by and say hi!
I think it's time to make a LaPille-esque list of my stops.
I present.... The Gavin Prix!
1/12
PTQ Hollywood in Phoenix- Played Doran, 5-2, top 16.02/09
GPT Vancouver in Seattle- Played Affinity, 3-1-1, lost in quarterfinals02/16
PTQ Hollywood in Seattle- Played Affinity, 5-0-2, lost in finals02/17
GPT Vancouver in Seattle- Played Affinity, 3-1-1, won the tournament02/24-25 GP Vancouver
03/01 PTQ Hollywood in Seattle
03/09 PTQ Hollywood in Vancouver, Canada
03/15 PTQ Hollywood in Seattle / 03/15-16 GP Philadelphia
For those who missed the exciting quips and dynamics of me this week, hopefully this article will give you some morsels worth enjoying and grimacing at
the movie running scared is completely insane! i highly reccomend it if you havent seen it
How can I argue with a direct request for Tribal Time with Tom? We won't make it every week, but expect a re-visit to TTwT next week (at the least to help balance out "Gavincast").
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Derek: I would like to toss my two cents in about The ManaCast. I loved that podcast. I've listened to old episodes more than once because I found them so entertaining and informative. Granted, by the time I listened to them again, the metagame info was a little out of date. No matter. The underlying strategy is still important, even if the card choices have changed.
Bring back the cast. It will be well received. And don't change the format. The 'Sconny crew was doing a great job.
There's going to be Big Trouble In Little China if we don't reach 100 posts this week.
-doc
I would prefer a more casual form of tourney coverage, not for the lighter tone that is found in it. But due to the fact that some facts/observations are better emphasized in this POV(point of view) as compared to a more strategy based format. This way more casual or not as notworthy details can be included without derivating too far from the main topic. Although I think MTGcast does a good job in either case since you have a good balance amongst you. Tom covers the casual crowd, Gavin has the tourney scene, and Derek covers.....everything else:cool:. Which is why I listen to you guys for the MTG news I cant keep up with. Another reason is that "random formats" also includes five color, and looking at your prize of the week, amnesia looks like would be fun to use in my 5-C deck (btw I forgot the link to the 5-Color format page before when I posted my deck, in case anyone is interested).
Keep up the good work guys.
Epic Sig by: Myself
Mindsplicer of [House Dimir]
Modern:
Burn
8-Racks
Brewing:
Modern Haakon
Modern 20-Ones
Legacy Meathooks
Oh man! totally called out - I had to re-listen to the podcast 'cause I didn't believe it at first. I really don't know how that happened! I speak japanese and 'Ming Xu' is VERY clearly not japanese. Maybe i'm just used to there being like 3-4 japanese players in every top8
My idea for question of the week comes from Mario Pascoli vs. Jon Finkel in the finals of Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur. In game 4 Pascoli walks into Preeminent Captain not knowing it had First Strike and basically tossing the game away. What has been your biggest blunder in a game that still haunts you today?
Later guys keep up the great work!
I think you should continue to emphasize topics that are relevant to both competitive and casual players -- news about new video games, rumors about the next set, rules questions, combos, etc. Also, if Tribal Time with Tom was put on indefinite hiatus, you should definitely bring it back on occasion (I thought you might have retired it for a while because with Lorwyn tribal is more the rule than the exception right now). I like hearing about people's play experiences (looking forward to Gavincast) so I think the focus on casual/tournament play should come up that way -- Gavin and Derek can talk about their PTQs and City Champs and Tom can talk about whatever tribal tournament he played....
Also, I have to agree with Tom and Default User -- Arena is the best Magic novel I have read, no question. Last year I read the Ice Age cycle (The Gathering Dark, Eternal Ice and The Shattered Alliance) and the Time Spiral cycle. They were both fun to read and I enjoyed the characters like Jodah, Jaya, Teferi, and Leshrac but overall I still thought the writing was a little weak at times compared to what I normally read in non-Magic books. But Arena was awesome and had the best flavor of any Magic book -- when it depicted mages dueling it really felt like a real fight but at the same time you pick out the Magic cards they were using and see how the fight could actually be describing a game of Magic. ...and I love how at the end Garth One-eye goes Commando on everyone in the arena Schwarzenegger style!
Hmmm... action movie. Man, Aliens is right up there. That was the last movie that I was honestly scared by. I saw it at the Columbia in Atlanta on 70mm, and they had everything turned up to real life volume. The landing craft plunging through the atmosphere sounded very much like (I would imagine) and very much as loud as a landing craft plunging through an atmosphere would. The automatic guns sounded like they were being fired three inches from the side of your head. Screams, bone-crunches, and the sound of the lubricant-like alien slime dripping all left nothing to the imagination. Anyhow...
I really dig listening to the show. I take breaks occasionally from it, but am always quite amused when I tune in again. You've got a cool mix of personalities that appeal to a wide audience I think, and the occasional bit of misinformation that Tom (and previously Dom) throw into the mix and are subsequently called on cracks me up every time. Last week, when Tom was mentioning some of the "new" things he liked about the Shadowmoor packaging, only to find out that they weren't new at all really cracked me up.
As you may be able to tell, I'm a casual player. (In fact, I wrote a comment some time ago that was brought up in the podcast, requesting more multiplayer stuff.) I am not so big on the tournament scene, although I DO like hearing about it. I enjoy hearing Gavin's take on this aspect of things. And I like Mike Flores's articles on magicthegathering.com, probably mostly because he's a good writer that makes it interesting. So, in answer to the coverage question: I actually think you've got a good mixture ratio going on right now. I think a LOT of people play casual multiplayer, so that's one of the things that differentiates you from other Magic resources right now. I'd enjoy hearing about multiplayer combos, or cards that kinda suck or are so-so in duels, but are heinous in multiplayer. Things like: Forgotten Ancient, Taurean Mauler, and Hamletback Goliath; any of the "Hunted" creatures that will let you give the tokens to a player who is temporarily allied with you; how absolutely annoying card like Soul Warden are in huge games; ditto for Rhystic Study (an otherwise forgettable card). Combos like: [insert big creature], Reward the Faithful, and False Cure; Crypt Rats with Spirit Link and/or Scythe of the Wretched on them. Fun fun!
Ideas for future comment contests... Hmm... is this a request for topics? I think so...
- Favorite multiplayer combo
- Most annoying member of your playgroup, and why
- First rare ever pulled, or first that you can recall, and feelings on that card
- Whether some of your friends have left Magic, and why, and what they did with their cards
In the spirit of the combo of the week topic, I'd also like to bring up some of my recent favorite combos. I tend to be kind of a combo-seeking type, but try to do so using somewhat non-chase rares...
- Nacatl War-Pride / Pandemonium
- Harbinger of Night / Sadistic Glee
- Vulturous Zombie / Mindslicer
- Dross Golem / Sacrifice or Soldevi Adnate (Nets you way more mana than put in)
- Spire Golem or Scornful Egotist / Energy Tap (ditto above), into prosperity
- Amoeboid Changeling / Knight of the Mists
Well, that's it. Keep up the good work, guys!
Thanks,
Rick Kunkel