Mana Brain Podcast

Fixing Magic

Timestamps 0:00 Intro Thesis 2:06 Gameplay - Problem Cards & Risky Mechanics 19:01 Bans 25:17 Ban Timing Windows 30:09 Cards to Ban and How to ban them 36:30 Fun is more important than Data 38:01 Actually Playtest the Cards 48:32 Simplify the Cards 53:32 Not Learning Lessons, Repeating Mistakes 58:04 Play Draw Problem 1:03:42 Big Spell Finishers, ETBs, Planeswalkers 1:13:52 Tournament Rounds are Too Long 1:22:24 Prices & Finance - MH3 Pro Tour 1:26:42 Too Many Sets Too Fast 1:37:14 Anecdotal Player Reactions to MH3 1:40:34 Staples are too Expensive 1:42:45 Collector Boosters 1:45:00 Mythic Rarity 1:49:32 Standard Rotation 1:50:05 Financial Barrier to MTG 1:55:36 Premium Priced Packs 1:57:42 Arena Economy 1:59:51 Precon Deck Viability 2:07:29 Digital Redemption 2:13:06 Prize Support 2:16:59 Promos 2:21:53 The Value of Tournament Coverage 2:27:32 Consistency & Simplicity 2:34:47 Too Many Card Variants 2:45:42 Missing Cards on MTGO & Arena 2:59:08 Digital Exclusive Cards 3:01:00 Organized Play Problems 3:09:12 Game Stores & Singles Distribution 3:22:13 Card Stock Quality & Foil Curling 3:33:27 Don't Fire Your Most Talented People 3:35:56 Viewer Comments 3:52:49 Force of Will is Duct Tape 3:55:22 More Comments 4:05:27 Time to Sell Out 4:13:51 Goodbye

Outlaws of Thunder Junction Set Review

0:00 Intro 0:29 Ping Lands 3:44 Overall Set Impressions 4:54 Akul, the Unrepentant 7:18 Annie Joins Up 9:48 Archmage's Newt 12:47 Arid Archway 13:42 Assimilation Aegis 15:56 Aven Interrupter 19:10 Beastbond Outcaster 23:42 Bovine Intervention 26:23 Bristly Bill 27:40 Bruse Tarl, Roving Rancher 31:06 Canyon Crab 32:59 Caught in the Crossfire 37:06 Caustic Bronco 39:51 Claim Jumper 43:18 Collector's Cage 47:00 Colossal Rattlewurm 50:53 Conduit Pylons 52:19 Demonic Ruckus 54:23 Duelist of the Mind 56:44 Dust Animus 59:11 Ertha Jo 1:01:59 Esoteric Duplicator 1:04:21 Fblthp, Lost on the Range 1:07:31 Final Showdown 1:12:51 Fomori Vault 1:14:04 Forsaken Miner 1:16:27 Fortune, Loyal Steed 1:18:16 Freestrider Lookout 1:20:01 Frontier Seeker 1:24:12 Geralf, the Fleshwright 1:25:57 Getaway Glamer 1:27:44 Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds 1:29:56 Gisa, the Hellraiser 1:31:41 Grand Abolisher 1:34:19 Great Train Heist 1:36:02 High Noon 1:38:02 Highway Robbery 1:40:54 Honest Rutstein 1:42:07 Insatiable Avarice 1:45:46 Jace Reawakened 1:48:56 Kaervek, the Punisher 1:51:08 Kambal, Profiteering Mayor 1:53:02 Kellan Joins Up 1:54:21 Kellan, the Kid 1:56:43 Kraum, Violent Cacophony 1:57:35 Lavaspur Boots 1:58:21 Legion Extruder 1:59:49 Lilah, Undefeated Slickshot 2:02:37 Lively Dirge 2:04:02 Lotus Ring 2:06:40 Magda, the Hoardmaster 2:08:07 Magebane Lizard 2:10:59 Make Your Own Luck 2:12:49 Malcolm, the Eyes 2:14:45 Memory Vessel 2:16:00 Nexus of Becoming 2:16:53 Nurturing Pixie 2:18:39 Oko, the Ringleader 2:21:35 One Last Job 2:24:24 Outcaster Trailblazer 2:26:32 Pest Control 2:27:15 Phantom Interference 2:29:10 Pillage the Bog 2:31:13 Pitiless Carnage 2:33:01 Railway Brawler 2:34:39 Requisition Raid 2:36:25 Riku of Many Paths 2:38:42 Ruthless Lawbringer 2:40:12 Satoru, the Infiltrator 2:43:03 Scorching Shot 2:44:17 Seize the Secrets 2:45:06 Seraphic Steed 2:48:20 Shoot the Sheriff 2:50:34 Simulacrum Synthesizer 2:52:25 Slick Sequence 2:53:57 Slickshot Lockpicker 2:55:30 Slickshot Show-Off 2:57:17 Smuggler's Surprise 2:58:55 Spinewoods Armadillo 3:00:46 Step Between Worlds 3:01:47 Tarnation Vista 3:04:18 Three Steps Ahead 3:06:16 Thunder Salvo 3:07:02 Tinybones Joins Up 3:08:55 Tinybones, the Pickpocket 3:10:38 Torpor Orb 3:12:10 Unfortunate Accident 3:13:05 Vadmir, New Blood 3:14:57 Visage Bandit 3:15:39 Vraska Joins Up 3:16:05 Wylie Duke 3:19:17 Commander Exclusive Cards 3:23:04 Outro ► Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/AmmiO ► Twitter | https://twitter.com/AmmiObejas ► Twitch | https://www.twitch.tv/ammio ► YouTube Media Channel | https://www.youtube.com/@AmmiO ► VOD Channel | https://www.youtube.com/@AmmiOVods

The Dream Is Dead - How Bad Card Designs Ruined Magic

0:00 Intro & Topics 3:09 2017 Jund 10:26 vs. Pioneer Rakdos Midrange 29:10 2013 Standard UW Control 34:02 vs. Pioneer UW Control 39:06 Gifts Storm 42:25 vs. Pioneer Lotus Field 46:31 Everything is an Avengers Level Threat 52:57 Powercreep 55:20 Balanced ≠ Fun 56:22 Dark Souls - Bed of Chaos 1:00:36 Too Many Beds of Chaos in Magic 1:05:25 Commander-Fication of Magic 1:09:14 Overly Wordy & Complicated 1:12:05 Examples of Powerful yet Fair Cards? 1:13:22 Made-for-Commander Cards 1:16:41 Problematic Designs - Lack of Consistency 1:19:43 Gotcha Cards 1:23:09 Incompetent Designers 1:28:37 Abilities in the Wrong Order 1:30:25 Unnecessary Extra Abilities 1:31:44 No Limits or Safety Valves 1:32:10 Titan Triggers 1:32:49 Asymmetrical Stax 1:34:15 White Removal Hits Everything 1:35:11 Randomness - Determining Games via Dice Rolls 1:45:34 Breaking the Color Pie 1:50:15 Interaction Windows 1:52:22 Every Format is Unfun 1:54:13 What about Standard? 1:59:20 The Unfun Isn't Endemic to Magic 2:02:00 Pioneer Horizons 2:07:16 Large Tournament EV 2:20:59 Other TCGs Tournament EV 2:23:56 What's Wrong With Me? 2:25:21 Q&A Background Music: The Thought of You - TrackTribe Space Jazz - Kevin MacLeod MydNyte - Noir Et Blanc Vie Inspired - Kevin MacLeod Jazz Club - Kriss FynestLyk - Noir Et Blanc Vie Baeb Steps - Noir Et Blanc Vie A Typical Ride Out - Noir Et Blanc Vie A Brand New Start - TrackTribe Cosmic Groove - Cooper Cannell Great Whyte 18 - Noir Et Blanc Vie ► Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/AmmiO ► Twitter | https://twitter.com/AmmiObejas ► Twitch | https://www.twitch.tv/ammio ► YouTube Channel 1 | https://www.youtube.com/@AmmiO ► VOD Channel | https://www.youtube.com/@AmmiOVods

Every Ring is Fine

Discussion on what has gone wrong with the Modern format and why it's so bad now, as well as proposed solutions. *This episode contains visual elements and is recommended to be viewed rather than only listened to. You can follow Dylan at his Twitter or support him on Patreon. ► https://twitter.com/PariahPopular ► https://www.patreon.com/iHumanMTG Music: Anchors Aweigh - Charles Zimmerman Etude Op. 10 No. 3 (Tristesse) - Chopin Siegfried Idyll - Wagner Timestamps: 0:00:00 Intro 0:01:16 August 7th Bans and Lack Thereof 0:14:18 Main Topic (Modern Bad) 0:14:44 Bad Play Patterns 0:35:00 Problems Summarized 0:35:47 Everything is an Avengers-Level Threat 0:37:50 Other Format Issues 0:39:39 43 Banworthy Cards 0:40:11 Ban the Evoke Elementals 0:41:25 Ban Force of Vigor 0:42:45 Ban Force of Negation 0:44:06 Problems with Free Answers 0:47:21 Ban The One Ring (financial discussion) 0:54:12 Ban Orcish Bowmasters 0:57:06 Ban Wrenn & Six 0:59:30 Ban the Triomes 1:03:45 Ban LotR Landcyclers (Lorien Revealed) 1:06:39 Ban Boseiju 1:08:07 Ban Urza's Saga 1:10:45 Ban Blood Moon 1:14:09 Ban Ragavan 1:16:48 Ban DRC 1:17:34 Ban Murktide 1:18:58 Ban Creativity 1:19:44 Ban Amulet 1:20:28 Ban Hammer 1:21:10 Ban Cascade 1:22:40 Ban the War Walkers 1:24:23 Ban Companions 1:25:26 Ban Yawgmoth 1:25:51 Ban Breach 1:26:25 The Cost of Bans 1:30:08 The Price of Modern 1:40:34 Technically Diverse 1:42:21 2023 Modern is the worst format ever 1:47:19 Who likes Modern? 1:52:57 How to fix Modern 1:57:11 What's safe to unban? 2:19:21 Pioneer 2:22:04 Balanced ≠ Fun 2:32:02 In Memoriam ► Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/AmmiO ► Twitter | https://twitter.com/AmmiObejas ► Twitch | https://www.twitch.tv/ammio ► YouTube Channel 1 | https://www.youtube.com/@AmmiO ► VOD Channel | https://www.youtube.com/@AmmiOVods

Phyrexia All Will Be One - Set Review

Set review of Phyrexia All Will Be One, covering new cards' applications in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, and Commander. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:33 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines 2:48 The Mycosynth Gardens 3:32 Green Sun's Twilight 4:38 Nahiri, the Unforgiving 7:41 Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler 8:56 Unctus, Grand Metatect 10:19 Venerated Rotpriest 12:17 Vindictive Flamestoker 13:58 Ally Fast Lands (reprint) 14:10 Blue Sun's Twilight 14:34 Cankerbloom 15:09 Capricious Hellraiser 16:27 Conduit of Worlds 17:12 Geth, Thane of Contracts 17:57 Kemba, Kha Enduring 18:45 Kethek, Crucible Goliath 20:04 Melira, the Living Cure 20:54 Minor Misstep 21:59 Mirran Safehouse 23:24 Norn's Wellspring 23:54 Phyrexian Arena (reprint) 24:14 Phyrexian Obliterator (reprint) 24:34 Skrelv, Defector Mite 25:31 Skrelv's Hive 26:17 Soulless Jailer 26:54 The Filigree Sylex 27:35 Thrun, Breaker of Silence 28:08 Tyrranax Rex 29:00 "Battle" Card Type 29:35 Outro Music (in order): --- Marxist Arrow by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/ --- Acid Jazz by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Jazz_Sampler/AcidJazz_1430 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ --- Commander Impulse - DivKid --- Baeb Steps - Noir Et Blanc Vie Patreon Twitter YouTube Twitch Facebook