Our newest episodes post on GatheringMagic.com every Friday at 12am Eastern. It will be posted on this site one week later. Thank you for listening!
Forced Fruition Episode 1: Protect the Planeswalker
Welcome to Forced Fruition, the weekly show where we find ways to broaden our views on playing the game of Magic. Forced because we’re imposing some kind of rule or theme on our game, and Fruition because we’re going to learn something. On this episode, we dive into a THS-THS-THS draft. Very quickly, I realized …
The Puzzle Box: Improving the Artifact Archetype
Welcome back to the Puzzle Box! I recently had an intensive weekend course. It involved spending every night with my class and professors from a Wednesday evening to a Saturday evening. There was lots of reading to do, and it was all seminar/discussion format so everyone actually had to do all of the reading, and …
Brainstorm Brewery #91 – And Then There Were 3
Podcast: Download (Duration: 56:31 — 25.9MB) With Ryan taking a week off for travel it’s up to the other three to hold down the fort. While it was a relatively slow week for finance, the gang finds plenty to discuss. What is the forecast for reprints of Modern Staples, namely lands? Who goes overboard with …
Funning For Your Playgroup: Silver-Bordered Cards in Blue and Black Appropriate for Commander
This article is the second part in the Funning For Your Playgroup series, which explores silver-bordered cards appropriate for Commander. Like white, blue and black Un- cards offer a lot to a casual Commander playgroup with a strong social contract. Blue Carnivorous Death-Parrot 1U Creature — Bird Flying 2/2 Checks and Balances 2U Enchantment …
Winning a PTQ with Mono-Black Devotion
So this past weekend, I won a PTQ in Tallahassee, Florida. I’d like to give a big shoutout to the tournament organizer, Gamescape, and its owner, Benjamin Bloodworth, for consistently putting on the best tournaments and running the best local shop I’ve ever been to in my twenty years of playing Magic. I played Mono-Black …
Episode 25 – Xenagos, God of Formats
Podcast: Download (Duration: 31:00 — 12.4MB) Our 25th episode is chockablock full as we uncover Conspiracy, speculate on the potential cards in FTV: Annihilation, and do our own fantasy Pro Tour Born of the Gods draft. Cameron also spends a bit of time evaluating Xenagos, God of Revels. He likes it. He likes it a …
Funning For Your Playgroup: Silver-Bordered Cards in White Appropriate for Commander
In an interview on CommanderCast #137, during a rapid-fire question-and-answer session, the hosts asked Sheldon Menery, “Would [the Rules Committee] ever consider making the Un- sets legal?” Sheldon’s answer was an expectedly simple, “No.” Sheldon’s justification behind the answer was not explored, but it can be easily intuited. Mainly, many of the silver-bordered cards require …
Casually Infinite – Understanding Bots
On MTGO, interacting with bots ends up being a mandatory endeavor at some point. While trading between players is often the most profitable, sometimes you need to interact with a vendor with a large number of cards in order to pick up what you need. Bots drive the MTGO economy in very significant ways. We …
Weekend Review March 7-9
“Leave the last 10 percent for the next guy.” This sound line of reasoning has been promoted by the guys from the Brainstorm Podcast and I tend to agree, although it may seem counter-intuitive initially -”Why give up profit margins on my speculation targets that hit?” Because cards are ultimately only worth what someone is …
C(ube)+C(ommander) Magic Factory #5 – Nature of the Beast Review
For the last installment in this series of C+C Magic Factory, we’ll be reviewing the Commander 2013 deck, Nature of the Beast. Here’s a review of the grading system we’ll be using. The first grade for each card is a Cube grade, the second is a Commander grade. Cube: [A+]: First-pick card on power level alone …
Pitt Imps Podcast #59 – Still No Playmat
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:46:40 — 24.4MB) In this weeks episode of the Imps we argue about how fun Sealed is then we go over GP Barcelona. After that rant we go into GP Melborne and SCG ATL. We decide weather or not to buy the Jace vs Vraska deck coming out, complain about being snubbed, …
Great Expectations
This is a headline that makes me chuckle every single time I read it: “Apple posted quarterly results that beat estimates Monday … shares dropped more than 5%.” For those who don’t follow non-Magic finance, the reason this happens (and it happens all the time to all kinds of companies) has to do with expectations. …
Serum Visions – Tarmogoyf and Saaz: Kindred Spirits
Welcome back to Serum Visions, everyone! I am writing a finance article this week! After a couple of months of process articles that weren’t particularly inspired by MTG, I think it’s time to take it back a little. With our favorite green creature reaching a very upsetting $200, and Misty Rainforests and Scalding Tarns both …
Brainstorm Brewery #90 – Dreams Denied
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:02:26 — 28.6MB) It’s a new finance landscape than it was a year ago and the gang is left with as many questions as answers as we watch cards that spiked to unprecedented levels are beginning to normalize. Pro Tour Born of the Gods made some people a lot of money, but …
Pro Tour Born of the Gods: Modern Meta Analysis
Hello, fellow speculators! It’s the week of Grand Prix Richmond, destined to be the most-attended Constructed tournament ever, and the format is Modern. Registration is already shattering previous records for every past event except Grand Prix Las Vegas, the Modern Masters Limited GP. I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that Modern …
Going Bigger and Attacking the Format
After introducing my Naya Midrange deck, I promised to go over changes I felt were optimal and that is exactly what we are going to do today. First, we’ll explore what changes I made for a local grand prix trial for GP Richmond. Afterward, we’ll get to how we can go bigger and effectively dismantle …
Getting L.U.C.K.y: Leaving Money On The Table
Recently I was conversing with a friend of mine on Standard. My opinion on Standard used to be: absolutely not. I couldn’t imagine spending $500 on something that was going to rotate out in a year. My argument was that Standard changes too much to try to keep up. On the other hand, Legacy seemed …
Weekend of February 28-March 2 Review
You see, I’m a bit of a cynic. While many if not most players believe that Wizards has been looking for the proverbial, “Sweet Spot,” with the banning and un-banning process in Modern, I believe that what is and will continue to actually happen is that Wizards will ban and un-ban cards as they …
All Magic Has a Price #5 – Is It Time to Get Out?
True Cost: The lowest amount of real cash needed to acquire a card. All Magic Has a Price Gravestorm J. Graves Tampa, FL Let me know your thoughts at jwgravesFL@live.com Follow @jwgravesFL About AMHaP All Magic Has a Price focuses on Magic: The Gathering finance from the player’s point of view. AMHaP discusses …
The Puzzle Box – Larger Inside than Out: Infinity Drafting
“Are you a restrictions-breeds-creativity kind of guy?” This is the question that our dear community manager, Jason Alt, asked me when I was wondering about what he wanted for the site. The answer was yes, but actually I had no idea how strongly that answer applies. I know that there are people who live outside …
Brainstorm Brewery #89 – Brews and Ale
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03:00 — 28.8MB) It’s a podcast mishmash as Houston Whitehead (@TNSGingerAle) from Tap ‘n’ Sac drops by to talk about scumbaggery, his article series on Brainstorm Brewery, and podcasting. How can you deal with a dealer who is severely underpricing cards in his or her case not knowing they went up? How …
The Value of a Common Man
Either as Magic players or Magic financiers, we each try to get the most value out of the things we do related to the game. It has turned into a lifestyle for many of us, but we all do it on the most basic levels. Before we got to where we are in regards to …
Pitt Imps Podcast #58 – PT Born or the Gods
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:47:49 — 24.7MB) In this weeks episode of the Imps we spend a lot of time on the PT. We go over changes implemented during the event as well the new Modern Meta after the bannings/unbannings. We touch on SCG St.Louis and make mention of what your game day will be like. …
Conjured Currency – Pod, Post-Prohibition
[Editor's note: DJ submitted this article before the pro tour took place. Some of his metagame predictions didn't turn out quite the way he thought they would, but the thought process behind them is still valuable and informative. DJ will be back next time to address what went wrong in assuming Kiki Pod would be more popular than …
A Constructed Player’s Finance Article: Two Approaches
Welcome back, brewers. This week, you’re getting a slightly different article. Considering that this is Brainstorm Brewery, I wanted to write a finance-related piece for once. Fair warning: I’m a player first and a financier second, but I thought it might be interesting to see how a player takes a look at finance. I also …
