Wow. Last week I was excited by the new shows that popped up, but look at all the new goodies this week! This community is growing by leaps and bounds. This week we were joined by Conquering Commander, Draftcore, Lowered Standards, Tapping It Taber Style, and World at War. Unreal.

On a very sad note, I received notice from the always hard-working Christopher Otwell who runs the MTGCast.com network that all RSS feed links from the site have been corrupted and are not recoverable. If you previously subscribed to RSS feeds for individual podcasts via iTunes, please read the excerpt below:

Every iTunes subscriber will have to drop any podcasts that they have subscribed to in the past with the broken links, and then subscribe to a complete new set of Podcast feeds. Those iTunes feeds will be made active within the week. The Website's new Podcast Feeds are available IMMEDIATELY.

In order to add those new links into iTunes, you will have to do a "Copy Hyperlink" on the RSS Subscription Link of the Podcasts that you want to listen too. Then in iTunes, go to "Advanced -> Subscribe to Podcast...", and paste that information into the dialog text box. Then click OKAY. This will manually subscribe to the new MTGCast RSS Feeds within iTunes.

This isn’t too difficult to do really, but it is a bummer to see Chris struggle with something like this. I’m sure this is upsetting and difficult for him. My sincere thanks go out to him for working so hard to bring so many podcasts to us week after week.

That said, we do still have a bunch of great stuff to listen to this week.

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 75.

CommanderCast #31 – Violence of the Sun

Running time 1 hour 31 minutes

• Show notes:

• Despite an awesome team-up of power outages and technical issues, I still managed to get this podcast done. It’s late, yes. But at least it’s here, which is more than was supposed to happen gauging the opposition it encountered on the way to completion.
• This week Andy is in the cipher with Carlos, Justin and Brionne. The subject is the new Commander product. We briefly touch on the banlist update, but otherwise maintain a laserbeam focus on the new products. Here’s our hands-on review, our experiences, and some predictions based on our weekend of intensive play.
• As always, you know http://commandercast.blogspot.com/ is posting up full show notes, links, and extra content including the Thursday mid-week update.

CrazyTalk #15 – Outnumber Us!

Running time 1 hour 54 minutes

• Show notes:

• For this less-Medina episode, KYT summons the two most influential Chinese players in the world (Tom Ma and Mark Sun). The guys talk about Tom’s trials and tribulations with his Hive Mind deck and Mark highly recommends Reid Duke’s NO RUG list to our listeners. Asians unite!
• Inkwell Looter’s 32 Jaces

The Eh Team#41 – Summer Camp

Running time 1 hour 46 minutes

• The entire Eh Team is all together again this week, which is always exciting but this week is especially cool because they are joined by Marshall of Limited Resources.
• Marshall is just getting back from his trip to Renton to compete in the Magic Online Community Cup, which the Community Team won!
• Marshall recounts the amazing experience of playing with LSV and everyone else on the team.
• Marshall’s discussion of Luis Scott Vargas was very touching. LSV sounds like the coolest guy to hang out with.
• Smitty asks the guys for their thoughts on the banning of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic and rejoices in the fact that he believes Valakut will not be a competitive deck, despite the bannings.
• The guys cover what they believe the standard and legacy metagames will look like post-banning and with Magic 2012 in the mix.
• A potential Garruk spoiler in Magic 2012 has Marshall and KYT a little nervous while Jesse is very excited.
• KYT takes a back seat for a few minutes while Marshall, Jesse, Jay and Scott discuss the Commander preconstructed decks and their experiences playing them.
• Another great Eh Team episode. Be sure to stay tuned for outtakes at the end.

Horde of Notions #11 – Groklar of the Stone Stick

Running time 2 hours 6 minutes

• Chris, Noyan, Jack and Adena are joined by the always entertaining Michael J. Flores.
• Flores talks with everyone about the ban of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic and dreamcrushes anyone who would even consider playing Valakut over any kind of Deceiver Exarch + Splinter Twin deck.
• Everything about this episode is pretty fantastic. The Horde of Notions crew with their penchant for rogue decks just lobs softballs at Flores for two hours which he just knocks out of the park over and over.
• Particularly perfect podcast listening is at roughly the 48 to 52 minute mark when Chris asks about Jon Finkel, Kai Budde, Steve Sadin and Bob Maher. Flores’ speaks very highly of Jon Finkel (as he always does) but in this episode it is particularly hilarious. I already have Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids in my Amazon wishlist, but after listening to this show I went ahead and added it to my shopping cart.
• Also, oh snap! Michael J. Flores gives my buddy Smitty some huge, huge compliments. Good for Smitty. I can’t wait to see one of his decks get there.

Inside the Deck – Commander Unboxed

Running time 15 minutes

• To begin the show, our regular host Jonathan Beach breaks down the names, commanders and other key cards found in each pre-constructed deck.
• Jonathan Medina also joins the show to discuss the Commander decks with the Jonathan Beach.
• Medina tells us about his favorite decks, favorite cards and the cards he believes will either hold their value or even increase in value over time.
• To wrap up the Jonathans quickly discuss the banning of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic and end the show with a few shout-outs.

Limited Resources #87 – Community Cup Wrap-up

Running time 1 hour 43 minutes

• Marshall is joined by two of his Community Cup teammates, George “Whiffy Penguin” Efelis and Michelle “Sunie” Roberson.
• This is a pretty entertaining show. There isn’t much to recap honestly, but the Community Cup sounds like a blast and Marshall and his two guests do a great job of walking us through the entire experience.

The Magic Show #234 – The Banning of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic

Running time 10 minutes

• Evan Erwin reveals his excitement over the banning of Stoneforge Mystic and Jace, the Mindsculptor.
• Hilariously, Evan also eats crow very well on camera, re-airing all of the times in the past when he hyped a card way out of proportion on his show because he was excited about it (Time Reversal, anyone?). This was mighty big of him to do and was used to great effect in the show.
• To be fair to himself, Evan also shows us an old clip of his thoughts on Stoneforge Mystic when it was initially spoiled. He hit the nail on the head that time.

Magic TV #92 – PT Nagoya, MTGO Community Cup & GP Kansas City Recap

Running time 26 minutes

• Tristan-Shaun Gregson and Luis-Scott Vargas sit down to discuss LSV’s wild ride over the last few weeks.
• LSV describes his experiences playing in Pro Tour Nagoya (where he made Top 8), the Magic Online Community Cup (where he was a member of the team that beat Wizards of the Coast) and at Grand Prix Kansas (which he won).
• I realize that everyone, everywhere says this all the time, but what a master! LSV is just a stone-cold master of the game.

Magic TV#93 – The Banning of Jace & Stoneforge

Running time 7 minutes

• LSV and Tristan discuss the metagame in Standard after the banning of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic.

Magic TV Top 8 of the Week – Best Combos

Running time 8 minutes

• By popular demand, LSV and Tristan recap the top eight best combos in Magic history.
• The combos are as follows:

  8. Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek

  7. Vampire Hexmage + Dark Depths

  6. Forbidden Orchard + Oath of Druids

  5. Flash + Protean Hulk

  4. Illusions of Grandeur + Donate

  3. Time Vault + Voltaic Key

  2. Dark Ritual + Necropotence

  Channel + Fireball (of course ? )

Monday Night Magic #265 – Oh My God, It’s Wade Boggs!

Running time 58 minutes

• Show notes:

• Tom, Jack and Adena come together like a long-distance Voltron to bring you a bunch of M12 discussion, new sealed products and so much more!
• Link to the unofficial M12 spoiler on MTGSalvation, discussion of the likely new Garruk and Chandra. See the new limited product, Booster Battle Packs. We also do some speculation on the upcoming Premium Deck Series product, Graveborn (Worldgorger Dragon, please?). Jack is now legit, and congratulations for being a new writer for ManaDeprived.com and here is his first article and will focus on Commander.
• What Have We Been Playing?

• Adena and Tom having been playing some DoTP 2012 and Jack is a Commander playing machine.

Yo! MTG Taps #70 – Brewmaster’s Delight

Running time 1 hour 7 minutes

• Patrick Chapin joins Joey Pasco and Bigheadjoe for an in-depth discussion about the banning of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic.
• The Joes pick Patrick’s brain about how a number of decks are expected to perform in the post-banning metagame.

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.

The Mana Pool #184 – Time Travel and Room Elephants

Running time 2 hours 40 minutes

• Show notes:

• We’re joined again here at The Mana Pool by Eric of Many Names, who can add one more name to his repetoire - Judge. Yes, Eric went to GP: Kansas City and passed his test, so you guys get to hear all about it right here!
• Then we've got another handful of listener mail, including one that we took extra care to answer. It involved either moving cards from Standard back to Alpha, or bringing cards back from Alpha to the current Standard. We weren't sure which, so Brian took one, and the rest of us went the other way. Either way it was an interesting discussion, hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did.
• Dirk and I discussed Duels 2012 a bit, and then we had to turn to the elephant in the room. And yes, we talked about it for a good while. And we have lots of good discussion about it and the reasons that we either are or are not surprised by it. Let us know what you think!
• We're talking about the Jace and Stoneforge Mystic bannings here, by the way. Just so we're clear.

Mr. Suitcase #28 – GP: KC 5 Quick Chats

Running time 34 minutes

• Show notes:

• I start this episode off from GP KC talking to a couple of artists who were present at the event: Eric Deschamps and Daarken.
• You can find their websites with art and contact information here:

• http://www.ericdeschamps.com/
• http://daarken.com/

• With each of them I got to talk to about how they got started both as artists and working for WoTC.
• Next up is @mtgmomdotcom Megan Holland where we talk about what she does. Make sure to check out her famous calendar and photos from the GP!
• Before the action starts I talk with Tom Martell about his sealed pool and how to build a pool with few bombs. For more advice from Tom on Drafting and other topics check out his blog or follow him on Twitter:

• http://tommartell.com/
• http://twitter.com/#!/semisober

• Last for this episode towards the end of the GP I talk with Steve Port of Legion Events. Do you want to find out what it is like to be a Premiere Tournament Organizer give this a listen.
• Steve can be reached at his website: http://legionevents.com/

Mr. Suitcase #29 – GP: KC Interview with Trick Jarrett

Running time 22 minutes

• Show notes:

• At GP Kansas City I got to sit down and talk with Trick Jarrett the man behind Gathering Magic. He shared his story of some of the turning points in the Sites past and his thoughts on gathering talent and making a name for yourself.

Mr. Suitcase #30 – GP: KC Interview with Zac Hill and Ryan Miller

Running time 19 minutes

• Show notes:

• I chatter on with Zack Hill and Ryan Miller of WoTC. You can follow them on Twitter:

• Zac Hill
• Ryan Miller

We had some great conversation about working at Wizards and even their views on banning cards.

Raiders of Teferi’s Puzzle Box #28 – Just Because a Candle is Scented Doesn’t Mean It’s Flavored

Running time 58 minutes

• Show notes:

• Banning rhymes with banding…
• In an attempt to make the world right and bring Michael Jackson back from the grave wizards has decided to slay the dragon that is Caw-Blade. To me this means anything can happen example: Monkeys can fly, Charlie sheen can regain sanity, and wizards can bring back the ultimate ability banding!!!
• You ever wake up with a snoring spouse and think; damn I hope the weather is just as beautiful.
• Once we talked about banding, and twice we talked about places gas comes from your body. But today what we bring you is extra spicy, with a side of antacid.
• Raiders love tacos, so you’re in for a treat!
• Make mine DC! Green Lantern is out and Ryan Reynolds looks sexy in the suit! Eat your heart out Hallie Berry! Also, stay tuned for a heated star wars vs. Star trek debate in a future cast

Top 8 Magic – Looking Ahead to Magic 2012

Running time 1 hour 54 minutes

• Brian-David Marshall and Mike Flores are back to discuss Magic 2012 spoilers.
• In typical Magic player fashion the show kicks off with a discussion of the most recent Pro Tour draft that Mike was in with Patrick Chapin and others during Pro Tour Nagoya.
• Of course, the banning of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic is given its due discussion.
• Listen in for sure. Typical hilarious card evaluation and hyperbole ensue. Top 8 Magic is always great. The audio quality of this one was really pretty excellent as well. Marshall at Limited Resources should be pleased.

Voice of Seraphim #28 – Silent Partner

Running time 1 hour 29 minutes

• Show notes:

• Welcome to Episode 28 of the Voice of Seraphim your source for all the news and information related to Magic Online and the Seraphim Clan! Join hosts Dicax and Eldritch_Song along with Osric to discuss recent clan events, Warmark Events, possible bans and a New Phrexia crack-a-pack.

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.

Conquering Commander #0 – Hit People With Them

Running time 1 hour 49 minutes

• This is an interesting concept for a podcast. Seven well known Commander players and Twitter personalities come together on Skype to build a Commander deck. Our seven hosts are:

• Jay Boosh (The Eh Team
• Carlos Gutierrez (Commander Cast)
• David Campano (MTG Tournament Cast)
• Jake Antonetz (MTG Tournament Cast)
• Neale Talbot (Quiet Speculation)
• Andrew Lawley
• Matt Becker

• The commander chosen for the inaugural episode of the show is one of the new “wedge” legends from the Commander set: Riku of the Two Reflections.
• As indicated in the show notes, this first episode is “a little rough” because with seven guys talking over each other, it gets kind of rowdy, but the show is still enjoyable as an inside look into the mind of Spike building a Commander deck.
• I recommend listening for sure. There is a lot to learn about deck building here. If nothing else you may (like me) learn about a few new cards you hadn’t heard of before that are great for Commander.
• Here is the final deck list that the guys came up with.
• Here’s to hoping that the guys build a deck around all of the new legends in the Commander set. I think that would make this series pretty epic for any and all players new to the format.

Draftcore #1 – Left, Right, Left!

Running time 29 minutes

• Show notes:

• In our first episode I introduce myself and the podcast.
• I also speak a bit about how I plan for this podcast to evolve in the future.
• This week’s draft format is NPH, MBS, SOM (Standard Scars Block).
• Each pack is read out entirely and the drafted card is described each time.
• This will continue throughout the duration of the podcast.

RTFC Podcast #5 – Pain of Loss/Sigh of Relief

Running time 1 hour 38 minutes

• Show notes:

• Jace and SFM are out of standard 4 months earlier, thanks to the banlist. We discuss why, and what will happento Standard on July 1st.

Lowered Standards #1 – The Beginning

Running time 34 minutes

• Show notes:

• Tired of the same old Standard? Want to try something new at your FNM? Look no further than LOWERED STANDARDS! Each week, your intrepid hosts Steve and Jon will break down a fun, low budget FNM deck including some improvements and suggestions for using at your local FNM Standard environment.
• This week on LOWERED STANDARDS, we meet the hosts and give you a little insight into our past, take a look at “Fresh Meat” as featured at the mothership website, and talk about our COMMANDER CARD OF THE WEEK!

Public Enemies #3 – Stupid Questions Get Stupid Answers

Running time 1 hour 3 minutes

• Show notes:

• The quesions for Public Enemies were asked by you the listners. If you are unhappy with the questions and therefore the answers then please come up with better questions!
• The new Banned/Reserved list update!
• Commander decks?
• Commander single prices?
• Why put Ruination in a Commander Deck? esp a copy deck?
• A EDH deck that uses Gleemax? (WTF?) (Broader topic – thoughts on silver bordered cards in EDH)
• Any fresh type 2 ideas for post-BAN?
• What is in M12? Actually going to have new Garruk and new Chandra! (And new Jace)
• New jace options? (The new Jace?)
• MTGS rumour mill? (Yup, it’s a thing)
• Dumb counterproductive trolling?
• Luis getting to GP montreal and the #freedual raffle. http://www.redsitewins.com
• Strictly better discussion came up again. Do we go there? what is this?
• Modern format: Thoughts/ideas and reasons why it is good or bad for the game?

Runnin the Gauntlet #2 – Bye Bye Birdie

Running time 1 hour 52 minutes

• Show notes:

• They say that when it rains it pours, and we here at Runnin’ The Gauntlet have hit the jackpot. We started the cast fully prepared to spend most of the next 2 months talking about Jace and Stoneforge…and then they both get banned, giving us exactly what we thought we were going to have to wait until October for: Standard without them. Is it Christmas already?
• This week we introduce a new member of the Runnin’ the Gauntlet team, Will Lavasque, and we hit the banning news head on. We found ourselves talking about everything BUT the bannings (go figure) even though that’s what the episode was supposed to be centered around. From there, we finish up our community cup coverage and we discuss a lot about commander; everything from good tactics to secondary market knowledge. We introduce a regular segment this week with Will’s Story Corner, and have a great time just talking about experiences we have had at events and stories we have heard.
• Here is the Planeswalker Constructed card pool like we promised:

Tapping it Taber Style #1 – A Good Place to Start

Running time 45 minutes

• Show notes:

• A podcast about small town Magic and the influences of the big cities. We go into what we play, why we play it and the fun behind it. Alos we talk about the B&R list for the 20th. And a tad bit about EDH (Commander).

The Scoop Phase #5 – Calling for Backup

Running time 1 hour 43 minutes

• Show notes:

• Happy One-month anniversary! This week on The Scoop Phase, we go over the big news…Shock getting reprinted in m12. Also some Planeswalker and Squire getting banned or something like that. We reach out to our listeners and to all players in general to try to teach people Magic etiquette. How to act around Judges, Pros, and even girls. We look forward to SCG Baltimore and make our predictions on the metagame. We end off with our Budget Deck of the Week. This week, we go over Mono Black Control.
• Don’t forget about our contest, guys. When we hit 100 followers, Zac will post a tweet for all the subscribers to retweet. A winner will be chosen at random to receive one Badlands. Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/scoopphase! Don’t worry, here’s another chance to win!

So Many Insane Plays #2 – Vintage Metagame Overview

Running time 1 hour 29 minutes

• Show notes:

• Kevin Cron and Steve Menendian discuss listener feedback on the least unrestrictable card in Vintage, address the lack of Banned and Restricted list changes in Vintage on 6/20/11 and provide an overview of the Vintage metagame.

World at War #1 – Goat Herding and Turd Monsters

Running time 2 hours 2 minutes

• Show notes:

• The first episode, and it is the best so far! In this episode, we introduce ourselves, and talk about the new commander preconstructed decks. We give you our thoughts, and views on them, and, just like on every episode to be, a game of Magic: The Gathering will be played on the air. We set four of the five Commander decks, Counterpunch being left out, against each other. All throughout the game, we keep up discussion about the decks. How can they be improved?”, “What kinds of strategies should be implemented”, and stuff like that. In the end, the mysterious Alex is victorious, but not without any battles with the rest of us.
• On next week’s episode, you can expect improved versions of the Commander preconstructed decks, with a limit to the amount of cards that can be changed. We will talk about the M12 spoilers, and look forward to our thoughts on Jac3 (that’s Jace the 3rd). Goats and turd monsters are sure to be present, and Riku will stare longingly at his reflection, again
.