Ponder

The Arena Open was just announced. Is it for you? We look at what the Arena Open structure is and compare its format and cost to similar paper tournaments. We also look forward to the CFB Pro Showdown, and Jamie gives us a Curated Cuties of ICoria list.

What's more important when designing future sets? Innovation is important to keep the game fresh, but without balance power creep and narrow strategies can take over. We each ponder which is more important, how this trade-off has affected past sets, and what might be coming in the future. We also ponder krakens.

From the days of Superstars to the creation of CFBPro, from Magic TV to Magic FM, our special guest Mashi Scanlan has been innovating Magic content. In our first Channelfireball podcast crossover, Mashi weaves the tales of his life's story and CFB's together. Then we ponder mutating our pets.

Human drafts have finally arrived on Magic Arena, and people (especially Jamie) couldn't be happier. Was it a make or break necessity for Ikoria? We discuss how people are returning in droves after frustration with bot drafting and what that means for players. We also say goodbye to our DCI numbers.

She's had a week to sink her teeth in, but that's all she needs. Jamie is here to give us the run down on Ikoira limited. We ask her what the early strategies are, what's good and what's overrated. We also get hyped for her Eleague competition and wrap up by pondering porcuparrots.

After a quick celebration for human drafts on Arena, we start the deep dive into Ikoria. To review some of the most powerful cards, we decide to pit them against each other. We review the mythic Apex beasts, the Mythos cycle, and the new planeswalkers in a head to head elimination to find out which will be the last cards standing.

Forget "Battle-Cruiser Magic". Ikoria is bringing us giant creatures so big that we had to create a whole new term, "Dreadnought Magic". We talk about mutating giant monsters, why TJ loves cycling, and ponder if Companions are just Magic's version of Pokemon waiting to happen.

This episode may be coming out on April Fool's, but the world's crazy enough right now. Magic is moving on with changing ways to play, and we look ahead towards the release of Ikoria and future releases and tournaments. We also ponder replacing TJ with more Jamie.

Episode 101 - MagicFest Online and Adaption in Crisis

Our 100th Episode! This episode has 10 questions, 10 answers from the Magic podcast community, and 1 great time. Special thanks to Lords of Limited, Color of Magic, 75 Card Pickup, Best of 3 Podcast, Building Blocks Podcast, Eyes on the Mise, Midweek Metagaming, The Dive Down, The Vorthos Cast, and Scry Me a River.

Getting to Mythic Rank is every competitive Arena player's goal, and this week Jamie made the top 10! But how hard do you have to work to maintain it, and what happens if you can't? Jamie shares her experience with us. We also say good bay to some cards hit by the B&R and ponder the solitude of Arena.

Episode 98 - A Brand Built on Teaching with AdamAntMTG

Last weekend was the biggest Magic tournament that no one knew about. DreamHack was in Anaheim, had a ridiculous prize pool, but an extremely small attendance. If you blinked, you might have missed it. Speeding right along behind it is even more Secret Lairs. We ponder why they're coming so fast and what you might miss out on if you don't plan accordingly.

Sixteen players. Three days of Magic. A million dollars in prizes. Some quickly thrown in pineapples. The weekend was huge in the world of Magic, and we talk about what we liked and didn't, from the players, to coverage, and Arena tie-ins. We also ponder a design for PV's champion card.

Even though Jamie was trying to finish up her Arena Mythic rank, she still had time to catch some of the PT Phoenix limited play and gives us her professional opinions. And in case you haven't had enough yet, there's another Secret Lair release coming up. Is this too much yet? We finish up by pondering where we'd be right now without Magic.