This was not the most intriguing week in Magic: The Gathering podcasts. Not a whole lot has been going on news-wise, and other than prerelease and release events, we haven’t seen much tournament action. This week, most shows discussed the new Standard metagame with the addition of Magic 2012, so there were a lot of interesting deck ideas being thrown around. Not a bad week to listen to podcasts, but not the most exciting, either.

I have a feeling next week’s article will be filled with interesting discussion about the Pro Tour Hall of Fame, if the chatter on Twitter in the last few days is any indication.

Let’s tune in.

Format Staples

Format staples are my favorite shows and the shows I believe are the most important for someone interested in Magic: The Gathering and podcasts to be listening to week in and week out. You want these in your seventy-five.

CommanderCast #34 – Liquid Swords

Running time 1 hour 24 minutes

• Show notes:

• It’s the colour everyone loves to hate! This week on CommanderCast, the monocoloured madness continues as we’re hit by a deluge of stack manipulation, boring combos, and card draw as we dive into the mono-blue segments! Andy is accompanied by Byron, Carlos and guest Neale in a laserbeam-focused show. It’s all mono-blue for the whole running time! What is blue’s role in the format? Is blue overhyped? How about obnoxious blue spells? If you like Islands, winning, or just making everyone mad, this week’s CommanderCast has something for you.
• Also, we try to sing the intro music. This doesn’t go well.

The Eh Team #44 – The Craziest Scumbag

Running time 2 hours 1 minute

• KYT, Scott, and Jay talk with Level 3 Judge Jason Ness.
• Jason is also a tournament organizer, so his insight on the show’s first talking point is very relevant. The guys discuss the Magic 2012 prerelease experience under the new format of prereleases being held at stores only.
• The topic has been discussed ad nauseam on this and other shows, but I think the regular recurrence of the topic should be an indicator to anyone concerned that this was not an altogether positive change.
• Jason tells his favorite Magic scumbag story about backpack theft at large events.
• Major thanks to Scott for the shout-out. Scott and I traded Commander deck lists; he provided me with an awesome Jenara, Asura of War/Birthing Pod deck, and I sent him my Zedruu the Greathearted list. Scott describes his experience playing the deck.
• The guys talk for a bit about the relevance of videos (AJTV, KYTV, etc.) versus articles. I will +1 the sentiment expressed in the show: I get all of my MtG news and information now from videos and podcasts. I used to love articles, but being pressed for time these days causes me to spend less and less time reading and more time listening to podcasts or watching videos.
• Speaking of videos, the guys spend some time talking about KYT’s most recent KYTV episode, which focuses on his Mono-Blue Podcaster deck.

Inside the Deck – M12 Prerelease

Running time 7 minutes

• Inside the Deck is hanging out at Yottaquest in Cincinnati, Ohio, to talk to players about the Magic 2012 prerelease.
• The show interviews attendees to find out what cards everyone is excited for and to ask how everyone feels about core sets.

Limited Resources #90 – Solo Reverberations

Running time 1 hour 2 minutes

• Show notes:

• This week on Limited Resources, Marshall flies solo covering a range of current topics. M12, SOM full block draft, and story time with Marsh all await you on the 90th episode of Limited Resources!

The Magic Show #237 – Your M12 Metagame

Running time 8 minutes

• Evan Erwin discusses the Standard metagame as it shapes up with the introduction of Magic 2012.
• Evan discusses various Splinter Twin decks, Valakut, Red Deck Wins, various builds of U/B control, Tempered Steel, and more.

Magic TV #95 – Standard and Magic 2012

Running time 16 minutes

• Tristan and LSV come together this week to discuss Magic 2012 and the impact it will have on Standard.
• LSV’s top three decks that were good prior to Caw-Blade’s dominance are:

• Valakut (Solemn Simulacrum is a great addition to the deck)
• U/B control
• Mono-Red burn

• New decks that the guys feel have a chance in this new Standard are:

• Splinter Twin
• Pyromancer Ascension
• Tempered Steel
• U/W control

Monday Night Magic #267 – Elemental Baja Blast

Running time 1 hour 13 minutes

• Tom and Jack are hanging out this week to discuss the Magic 2012 prerelease.
• Jack made it out to his prerelease, but Tom was unable to.
• Magic News:

• Magic 2012 being the first prerelease under the new rules (not allowing regional events) was the cause of some controversy, as players in a few very large cities were actually turned away from local game stores.

The Third Power #17 – Commander + M12 Cube Review

Running time 2 hours 8 minutes

• Show notes:

• In this episode of The Third Power, Usman and Anthony welcome Channel Fireball’s Tristan Shaun Gregson to talk about cracking packs and the cards from Commander (Tristan could only make it for the Commander review portion) and M12.

Top 8 Magic – FffreakShow with Brad Nelson

Running time 1 hour 40 minutes

• Show notes:

• Brad Nelson and I have been trying to sit down for a podcast going back all the way to GP Providence but distractions in the form of drafts, drinks, and physical exhaustion conspired against us. Finally, with more than a little den-mothering from Lauren Lee, we sat down and chatted with the tape running. Brad is the midst of a promotional blitz for the forthcoming biography about him “Grinder: The Brad Nelson Story” by Rich Hagon and we talked about having a book written about you, having Rich live in North Dakota for a couple of weeks, and what the last two years of his life have been like as he rose from MTGO shark to Player of the Year.

Untapped #16 – Soorani Song

Running time 1 hour 37 minutes

• Show notes:

• This week it was Frank Lepore and Trick Jarrett holding down the fort with the guest Shaheen Soorani, Pro Tour competitor and columnist.
• In this episode the guys talk about M12, Standard, Modern vs Overextended and Commander. Dig in for some awesomeness.

Yo! MTG Taps! #72 – FFFreak and Geeks

Running time 1 hour 14 minutes

• Show notes:

• Joey and Bigheadjoe are joined by reigning Player of the Year Brad Nelson to discuss the upcoming post-M12 Standard format! Also: An announcement! Be sure to listen to find out the big project that Brad has been working on over the past few months!

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 Hardcast #18

Running time 39 minutes

• Show notes:

• How reenergized are you to play standard post ban and with Magic 2012? Do people’s local stores change FNM formats during the first week/month of set release for more limited events?
• What would it take for Overextended to become a recognized format by WoTC?

• How do you re-price cards for this format when it doesn’t “exist”?
• Should people be watching the results of Overextended to see what to hold on to from this format?
• Gavin Verhey wrote an article regarding bannings and unbannings
• How different is a ban list generated by the player community versus WOTC?

• Cube question of the week – Jace, Memory Adept, in or out?
• FNM deck of the week – Li Meng’s Monoblack control top 8 at Chinese Nationals 2011

In Contention #49 – TitanCast

Running time 1 hour 33 minutes

• Show notes:

• In this episode, Sam and Kranny get back into the fold, discuss the developments in Legacy, and talk about the exciting cards in M12. They also express their disappointment in the return of the Titan Cycle, and why they believe they are bad for standard.

JudgeCast #31 – Blame Canada

Running time 1 hour 37 minutes

• Show notes:

• This episode is chock full of guest goodness. Riki returns for his second show in a row, Jose is also here. But wait, there’s more! We’re joined by Michael Jimenez, Californian L2 and fellow Canada-basher, and Andreas Jepsen, the intrepid Danish L3.
• Contents include inspiring stories, rules discussions, poorly-read-in-accent listener questions, Magic Celebration, and deep philosophical tournament organizer questions. And banter. Yes, the banter.

The Mana Pool #188 – Horde of Serious Notions of Fun

Running time 1 hour 52 minutes

• Show notes:

• After a bit of email and some news (including our long-lost interview with Amanda, which can now be found on Red Site Wins), we are joined by two very special guest hosts. No longer do we need wonder if these two are actually one and the same person, because I heard them both talking at the same time! Our two special guests are none other than the returning Adam Styborski and first time guest but long-time dork Chris Lansdell. If you want to find more about our guests, consult the links below.
• With introductions out of the way, we proceeded to talk about the various M12 events we attended, which included a vicious bad beats story from Stybs. After spending some time on M12 as a whole, we decided to do a Story Circle with our hosts. Apparently Chris does this a lot, since he ripped off the idea for his own show. But that means a better deck for all involved, right? We started with Pyromancy, and it just went out of control from there. With all the cards we rattled off, there’s a wonderful starting place for all you deckbuilders out there. Probably three or four starting places, actually. From here the discussion went far afield, covering such random topics as planking, scrapple, old Hot Pockets commercials, and Billy Madison. I really wish I was making this up. Hope you guys enjoy!

MTGCast Interviews the Men of Magic #54 – Drew Levin

Running time 1 hour 37 minutes

• Robert Martin interviews frequent Star City Games Open series Top 8 competitor Drew Levin.

Pauper to the People #16 – Not on a Boat

Running time 1 hour 10 minutes

• Show notes:

• Wherein our duo discusses the poverty line, Chris discusses his revisit of Affinity post New Phyrexia, and Matt speaks of his Pre-Release fortunes. Excelsior! This is Pauper to the People.

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.

AJTV – Episode #2 – Basic Brainstorming

Running time 34 minutes

• AJ Sacher presents the second installment of his video series in which he discusses how to properly use the card Brainstorm in any format in which it is legal.
• The gist of the video seems to be: hold the Brainstorm until the game state tells you what cards you need to be looking for. Digging for cards simply because a card in your hand allows you to isn’t always the correct play.
• AJ’s videos go hand in hand with his articles as excellent sources of learning high-level play. I definitely recommend watching.

MTG Brainstorm #8 – M12 The Good N The Bad

Running time 32 minutes

• Show notes:

• This week on the Brainstorm we talk about M12 and after a week of the of play what cards are HOT and the ones that are NOT. The deckdoc talks about his deck of the week and gives you some tips on how to play it. Us here at the Brainstorm want to thank you for listening to the show each week and remember if you have ideas on decks, cards and anything magic hit us up in the email and we will do your best to get back to you.
• Coming in the following weeks Mtgbrainstorm will be holding a online contest so please check back in a few weeks and we will have all the information you need on these contests.

Public Enemies #5 – Girls Scout Versus Keebler Elves

Running time 1 hour 21 minutes

• Show notes:

• Special thanks to Jack Bowen of Dredging For Humor podcast for creating our sick new intro!
• If they were to do a movie about you guys who would play each of you and why?
• Do you guys wanna talk about prerelease plans? If you’re going, what you hope to get, etc?
• Rules lawyering at FMN & using shop house rules (“gentlemans” mulligan, etc) w/o telling new players. Prizing out to top 2?
• Marketing: Flavor versus mechanics/playability?
• What decks are we playing if any? Are we playing anything competitive?

Public Enemies #6 – Durdles Teaching Durdles

Running time 1 hour 19 minutes

• Show notes:

• How did you do in your events?
• Favorite card after playing it in pre re Chandra is up to $40 in preorders and Jace is selling out at $40.
• Are people still just afraid of missing out on the next JTMS and buy up harder to evaluate planeswalkers, or is this all hype?
• The cost of Jace, The Mind Sculptor post banning. Particularly starcitygames price. M12 is the worst set financially since like 9th addition. Aside from the obvious concern running a store, do we expect this to have an impact on standard?
• What do you guys think about overlapping core sets in standard? (I can explain exactly what I mean by this question on the cast)
• Here are some topics: What you guys think of minorities in magic (women, kids, etc.) Kresh and Progenitus spoiled for FTV:L.
• Thoughts, comments, concerns, fears, uncertainties, doubts?
• I’m sure we’ve talked about it before, but we received another request to discuss gamer hygiene, or lack thereof.

Red Cast Wins #6 – I Twincast Guests at You

Running time 1 hour 8 minutes

• Show notes:

• We have two Guests tonight. Robert Martin of Podcast fame and Jason Clark our new writer on Red Site Wins. We hear some more stories of Sean making people quit magic and have some fun.

Running the Gauntlet #5 – Magical Bro-Love

Running time 2 hours 36 minutes

• Show notes:

• We have a special treat for you this week, guest host, Eric Collins. We had a great time with Eric and hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed having him on. We discuss Standard, Legacy, and our sealed pools at our local M12 prerelease, and end up meandering off into random discussions numerous times, but part of the magic world is just hanging out and having fun right?
• We announce our Special Episode, episode 10, which will be a video episode and we want you guys and gals to let us know what you would like to hear or see on that ep. We are going to have a special guest host, as well as Eric come back for that episode, so we are really stoked about it. We shout out all of our fans, and hope that even more people start listening to us between now and then. Thanks again to all of our fans and to our sponsor.

The Scoop Phase # 7 – Flashback to the Future

Running time 1 hour 21 minutes

• Show notes:

• This week on The Scoop Phase, the guys discuss the most broken card in Legacy…Azure Drake. Everything from its 2 power to its big 4 toughness. It even flies! What an OP card. But on a more serious note, Dae and Zac go over the predicted metagame for SCG Cincinnati and make their predictions for the top 8 decks. Are you a casual player trying to break into the competitive scene? Tune in for some tips about how to get better at the game. Come out to the PTQ in Hattiesburg, Mississippi (July 23rd) and Play-On Con in Birmingham, Alabama (July29th – August 1st). If you can find me at any of these events and say the phrase, “All Hail Lord Azure Drake”, you will win a free rare of my choice. Limit 1 win per person, please. Next week the guys will have a very special guest! Overextended pioneer and SCG Commentator, Gavin Verhey, will join The Scoop Phase for a night of debauchery and plundering. Or, more accurately, you guys will hear his opinion on not only Overextended, but also his opinion on Legacy.

So Many Insane Plays #4 – Cat Stax Fever

Running time 1 hour 54 minutes

• Show notes:

• Kevin Cron and Steve Menendian provide an in-depth analysis of Cat Stax, discuss related theories on Workshop Aggro, and address listener feedback on M12 and creature design in Vintage.

World at War #2 – Tea Time with Curtis

Running time 2 hours 44 minutes

• Show notes:

• In this episode we talk about some cards from M12 that excite us. Andrew has left us, so Chris Lansdell has taken his place! Chris argues that Mono Black control is a viable tournament deck, and we try to dissuade him. We share our views on Jace, Mill Card of the Year, and I share my joy of chaos Magic. We improved our preconstructed Commander decks, with Chris and Aleks taking the lead. In the end, it becomes a head to head showdown between the two of them. Chris ends up pulling the game out of the bag, and cusses all of us out furiously!