MTG Salvation

Awesome show guys! I was very amused by the DFL talk. As for flavor text...

"Someday, someone will best me. But it won't be today, and it won't be you." - Last Word

That is probably my favorite flavor text ever.

Keep up the great work.

Great cast guys. The only constructed format I play anymore is EDH, and there are a few Eventide Cards that might make the cut. The retrace cards are actually pretty good, especially Oona's Grace. The R/W and B/W lieges look pretty good too. Keep up the good work guys.

Good cast guys. No Toe Riot E.

I went 3-2 at the Prerelease because of a stupid play mistake in round 5 game 3. I was playing G/R and mulled to six, ending up with Runes of the Deus, 4 mountains, and something that was mono-green. He starts off strong with seedcradle witch into g/w Duo. I draw a mountain, mountain, Rosheen Meanderer. After he drops the duo, I drop the Meanderer. He plays a white spell to give the duo vigilance and swings with it. I miscounted his open mana and blocked with the giant. I still don't know why. There was no reason to block. Of course he pumps his duo with the witch and I am totally out of the game.

That game aside, I don't like Shadowmoor limited at all. There are so many bombs that it is usually just a race to see who gets their bomb first. At that point, you either have the removal or you don't. Every single game of Shadowmoor limited I have played has been decided by a bomb.

Awesome cast guys. I was laughing constantly.

For me, a casual deck is a deck based around specific interactions that you want to see happen. That is, the primary goal of the deck is to get those interactions happening. Winning the game is either a secondary goal or a perk of the interaction. In this sense it isn't the deck that is casual, it is the way the deck is played. If your goal is simply to make the biggest Ornithopter you can as quickly as possible, you might play Arcbound Ravager, artifact lands, and Cranial Plating. Your goal isn't to win, it is to make a big Ornithopter. It just so happens that the interactions between those cards lend themselves to winning very easily. Perhaps your goal is to have Blowfly Infestation kill as many of your oppenents creatures as possible in a game. Then you might play cards like Forbidden Orchard, Varchild's War-Riders, and Genesis Chamber in order to make sure your opponent has creatures to kill. It comes down to motivation. If you are playing to win, and winning is all you care about, then you are playing competitively. If you are playing to experience things within the game, and winning is just something that either happens or doesn't, then you are playing casually. The deck itself is not casual or competitive. I'm not saying that casual players don't play to win. I'm saying that winning isn't their # 1 goal.

Great show guys. I guessed Derek's age, but missed Tom by a few years. My pet card design is as follows:

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Cave of Consistency

Land

When Cave of Consistency comes into play, draw a card.

T: Add one colorless mana to your mana pool.
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Wizards would probably make it come into play tapped and/or legendary. Cantrips are one of my favorite mechanics in Magic, and I have always wanted a cantripping land.

Quote:
306.4. A creature or planeswalker is removed from combat if it leaves play (such as by being destroyed or removed from the game); if its controller changes; if it stops being a creature or planeswalker, respectively; or if an effect removes it from combat.

So what happens if a planeswalker becomes a creature during combat? I think it is removed from combat, because of the word "respectively" in the rule.

Great podcast guys. I loved how the only time Gavin talked over someone was when he said "I'm not gonna talk over anyone." As for guesses on ages, (you're welcome for the idea btw ;); or maybe I should say sorry for bringing it up) I think Derek is 25 and Tom is 35. Derek thinks like I do and I am 25. Tom obviously has loads more experience than the other two in many areas and my calculations show that the only way he could have such great insights is to be 10 years older than Derek, right in the prime of his life. He is definately not a man baby, but from his voice he definately is a man, baby.

Excellent show guys. My favorite color combo is probably black/green. Together they can take care of almost any problem permanents and I love using the graveyard as a resource. My second favorite would have to be blue/green. You get the drawing/trickiness of blue and the great creatures of green.

And now for something completely different.

We know that Gavin is 17 years old (or there abouts). I was curious as to Tom and Derek's ages. My guesses would be mid twenties and early twenties, respectively. Also, the voicemails are really great.

Keep up the great work guys.

Great cast guys. I really enjoyed it. Gavin, you are doing a good job of not talking over people. Also, was there something wrong at the end or was Tom talking over Gavin?

With regards to the changes, here is the most important quote from Mark Rosewater's article "Living Changerously":

"As far as the current player base goes, there's always more we can do but right now we know the game is healthy and we believe there are things coming down the road that will make you even happier.
That means the key thing is to find better ways to grow the game by bringing in new players." (emphasis added)

If you find yourself asking "WTF were they thinking," read just the bolded parts above for your answer. Wizards is willing to take a smaller short term hit in losing current players for a larger long term gain in new players. They also know that MTG is like smoking, you never really quit. Right now, WOTC is caring about new players. If you post on a MTG website, you are not one of the people that WOTC cares about right now. These changes are not meant to appeal to people like us, hence all of the negativity in most of the forums related to MTG.

The only change that really affects me in a negative way is the mythic-rare, because I don't buy fat packs or precons*, I do collect whole sets (smaller set size makes it easier), and I realize that there is essentially no appreciable difference in having 10 commons or 11 commons per pack. I have to agree with Tom when it comes to having all Planeswalkers be mythic-rare (which they will be). It really sucks. However, the fact that I am posting on this site means that WOTC doesn't give a Rat's Nest about what I think.

* When people first realized that Jitte was good (it wasn't immediate) I went to every Wal-Mart and Target in Columbia, SC and bought every single Rat's Nest precon they had because it was like putting 3 to 5 dollars in your pocket per precon.

Good show guys. I was laughing the whole time. My new favorite moment of MTGcast is Gavin leaving to help his mom and you hear him get up and say "I'm coming" in the perfect mom-answer tone. It beats out the Gavin + Math = WTF moment. Was it just me or was Rocket especially vocal during this episode?

I would buy one of each scarecrow in Shadowmoor for my Reaper King EDH deck (currently using a Proken as the general:(). Or maybe I would put it toward a Tolarian Academy if they had any. Or i might invest in some Unset basic lands.

I was really impressed with the air time sharing between Gavin and Derek. There were very few times that you talked over each other. Good job guys.

Great show guys. Arrgh...Phlegm! had me rolling Tom.

My favorite pack was actually quite recent. I had lost in the finals of an LLM draft, but we had split the packs before hand. The TO put the packs in two piles and told the winner to pick a pile. He picked his and started busting them. He busted Chameleon Colossus and I said, "Well I guess I'm getting the crap rares." After he busted all of his packs, everyone in the store turned to me to see if I would bust mine. I usually don't just bust packs (I prefer to play some type of limited with them), but the Shadowmoor prerelease was the following weekend, so I wasn't planning on too much more Lorwyn limited. I started busting them. Crap, Crap, semi-Crap, nothing very good. I open the last pack and slowly slide the last card sideways. It's a foil (probably some crappy common).....It's colorless (could it really be?).........OH MY GAWD it's a foil Mutavault!!! Even though I lost in the finals I felt like the winner driving home.

As for player cards, I use them as proxy backings for constructed decks (and sometimes as proxy EDH generals...I still don't have a Reaper King yet).

"Knowing is half the battle," wasn't that G.I. Joe and not Transformers (granted both had PSAs at the end of the shows)? BTW, if you haven't seen the edited G.I. Joe PSAs on Youtube, you are missing out.

I missed the combo of the week.

Quote from pitimp

My goodness, I thought it would be a fun little in-joke, but I was wrong. I updated the front page to be a more "politically correct" title.

I liked it Tom. It was pretty funny. The guys complaining are probably like the guy you played in the last round at the prerelease.

Great show guys. I have never played any online magic so I don't have a favorite moment. I do have a cool Shadowmoor combo though. Painter's Servant and Grindstone makes a six mana, colorless, infinite mill combo. Might be neat for Legacy. I pulled this off (with proxies) against some guy the other day and the look on his face was priceless. He had a weird name that sort of rhymed with "I'll sock yo mama" and he was apparently a big time politician. Anyway good show and keep it up.

Great show guys. My favorite prerelease moment happened at the Lorwyn prerelease. I opened Mirror Entity, but other than that it was a mediocre sealed pool. I was 2 and 1 going into round 4 against one of the guys that I play with at the local store. Game one stalls out on the ground with both of us above 15 life. I drop the entity and pass. He drops some guy and passes. On my turn I untap, draw, and turn my team sideways. He spends 3 or 4 minutes blocking and then I tap all my mana and say all of my guys are 7/7, take 21. He says "Oh, so that's what that guy does?". The next game played out exactly the same way, except that I hit him for 30+ damage in one turn. The other funny thing about that Prerelease was that at the end of it we still didn't know if planeswalkers were any good because nobody had gotten one into play.

To be honest I only made it a third of the way through the show before I had to turn it off due to the poor sound quality. I could not understand a single thing Dom said (and it wasn't because of the accent). I tried to listen for as long as I could because I was really looking forward to this show, but the strange half echo was just too annoying.

The reason I listen to the podcast is because I can get Magic info while I am working, as opposed to having to stop working to read an article.

I play magic because I have to in order to make sure my decks work correctly. I get the most enjoyment out of building the decks and then I play them in order to tweak and perfect the decks. I also enjoy the strange situations that can arise in game, with huge plays and come from behind victories. I also like making new friends through the game and helping new players learn to play and build collections.

I have to agree with bateleur and say no more talkshoe, please!

I did hear Gavin do the British accent, and it wasn't that bad.