Top 8 Magic – magic.facetofacegames.com
By Top 8 Magic – magic.facetoface
Top 8 Magic – magic.facetofacegames.comJun 22, 2019
Top 8 Magic: Magic Con Minneapolis
Brian David Marshall is joined by special guest Roman Fusco at Magic Con Minneapolis, where they talk about the Pro Tour, team drafting, and Roman's work on the March of the Machine cinematic trailer.
Top 8 Magic: Mike and Brian Battle Over Battles
Continuing their triumphant return to Top 8 Magic, Mike and BDM discuss all the battles from March of the Machine!
Top 8 Magic: The Return
BDM and Michael J make their triumphant return to Top 8 Magic to talk March of the Machine! With a slew of new mechanics what cards will pop out as the stars of the set?
Top 8 Magic: Grand Finals Deck Review: Omnathematics
The decklists are not fully revealed at the time of this recording but the metagame has been made public and many players have already shared their lists on social media. Omnath is towering over Standard with 72% of the field playing either one of the two big decks that have sprung up around the elemental. Only NINE players chose to play without it in Standard.
Omnath has even nabbed the top of the metagame list for Historic at 34%, pushing Jund Sacrifice, Rakdos Arcanist and Goblins, which had been such a big part of the last event down into much smaller percentages of the field.
Brian David-Marshall and Magic: The Gathering Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz talk their way through the metagame breakdowns, look at the various publicly known lists, and make their predictions for who they think will emerge on top of the insanely competitive field.
Your Hosts:
Top 8 Magic: Omnath's Bodyman
With less than a week until the Grand Finals Brian David-Marshall and Magic: The Gathering Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz discuss the state of Standard post-Uro ban and pre-grand reveal of the 32 Standard decks the players will bring to the virtual tables.
Topics include:
Has the over/under on the number of Omnath's changed?
Why aren't people playing Arboreal Grazer in their Omnath lists?
Red Bull Qualifier decklist discussion.
What does the Walking Dead Secret Lair mean?
Has WotC lost our trust?
Has the Free to Play Arena business model hurt Magic?
Why are the NY Giants and the NFC East soooooo bad right now?
Your hosts:
Brian David-Marshall - @Top8Games
Zvi Mowshowitz - @TheZvi
Top 8 Magic: Mythic Invitational Deck Review
Normally Brian David-Marshall and Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz would be doing a preview show for the Mythic Invitational -- showcasing the Arena-only Historic format -- but with the decks being revealed so close to the starter pistol for the event that was not possible. Instead they are looking through the decks while the early rounds of the event play out in the background.
Your Hosts:
Top 8 Magic: Quest for the Messed-up Magic Cards
With Zendikar Rising previews in full swing, Brian David-Marshall and Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz go on a quest to find the most messed-up Magic cards in the set so far. The duo go through the 41 rares and mythics that had been previewed as of Thursday Sept 3rd looking for the cards that most like to party, which ones are going to impact your Commander games and which ones meet the highest honor Zvi can bestow upon a card -- "That's a messed up Magic card!"
Your hosts:
Brian David-Marshall - https://twitter.com/Top8Games
Zvi Mowshowitz - https://twitter.com/thezvi
Top 8 Magic: Next Ban Up
With the Temur Reclamation dominated Players Tour Finals in the rearview mirror, Wizards of the Coast announced a huge swath of bans in Standard, Pioneer, Historic, and even Brawl. The announcement takes the total number of banned cards in this Standard format to ten -- a number of cards we have not seen banned at the same time since Urza's Block.
Brian David-Marshall and Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz walk through the history of banned and restricted cards in Standard, talk about the impact of these bans in the various formats, and Zvi brews a Lukka deck for Standard that he is excited to play with in this new Reclamation-less Standard format.
Meanwhile... BDM has been playing Teferi Tribal in Historic and is now in need of a new deck. Badly. Ping him on Twitter and tell him what you are liking now that the format has been shaken up a little.
Your Hosts:
Brian David-Marshall – @Top8Games
Zvi Mowshowitz – @TheZvi
Top 8 Magic: Standard Wolf Ratios
BDM and Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz climb back on the virtual bicycle to resume creating new episodes of the game's longest running (okay, okay, walking) podcast about all things MTG. In this episode the duo talk about:
- Zvi's wolf ratio -- how often has he cried wolf accurately and how many times has it just been a stray dog? SPOILERS Wilderness Reclamation was a MF'n wolf.
- This weekend's upcoming Player's Tour Finals Top 8 and the various weapons the 8 players will be bringing to the table.
- Their picks for the winner of the event. SPOILERS: Zvi does some math. Brian plays a hunch.. SPOILERS Zvi does some math. Brian plays a hunch.
- Gab Nassif's Historic control deck and what Zvi has done to tinker with it for the upcoming Historic Open.
The Hat Squad
2 Oath of Teferi (DAR) 200
5 Island (SLD) 64
4 Teferi, Time Raveler (WAR) 221
3 Plains (SLD) 63
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria (DAR) 207
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria (DAR) GR6
4 Shatter the Sky (THB) 37
4 Shark Typhoon (IKO) 67
2 Elspeth Conquers Death (THB) 13
3 Mystical Dispute (ELD) 58
4 Mind Stone (WTH) 153
1 Dovin's Veto (WAR) 193
2 Omen of the Sea (THB) 58
1 Essence Scatter (IKO) 49
3 Narset, Parter of Veils (WAR) 61
4 Hallowed Fountain (RNA) 251
4 Glacial Fortress (XLN) 255
4 Raugrin Triome (IKO) 251
4 Field of Ruin (THB) 242
1 Fabled Passage (ELD) 244
1 Castle Ardenvale (ELD) 238
Sideboard
2 Aether Gust (M20) 42
3 Dovin's Veto (WAR) 193
2 Essence Scatter (IKO) 49
1 Search for Azcanta (XLN) 74
3 Grafdigger's Cage (M20) 227
2 Tale's End (M20) 77
2 Cleansing Nova (M19) 9
Your hosts:
Brian David-Marshall - @Top8Games
Zvi Mowshowitz - @TheZvi
Top 8 Magic: You Still Had All These
The longest running Magic podcast is back with a new (and long-running) episode. Brian David-Marshall is once more joined by Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz as the pair discuss the upcoming Players Tour, recent bannings, the changes to companions, and how Zvi's Stompy deck has found a lane in the Standard metagame.
With Magic 2021 spoilers coming fast and furiously they spend the rest of the episode going through the cards and trying to determine if the reprinting of Baneslayer Angel means that we are going to see R&D start to shift further away from Mulldrifters over the coming year in an effort to pump the brakes on the crazy Standard rollercoaster we have been on for the last year and a half.
Your hosts:
Brian David-Marshall - @Top8Games
Zvi Mowshowitz - @TheZvi
Top 8 Magic: Bob Barker Says, Spay and Neuter Your Pets
The much heralded Banned and Restricted announcement has come and gone. While there is some immediate relief for Vintage and Legacy players from Lurrus, if you are a Standard player looking to avoid getting paired against a Companion deck anytime soon you are not going to be happy.
There was an interesting nugget buried in the last paragraph of the "Other Formats" section of the announcement in which Ian Duke said, "If we see signs of long-term health issues resulting from high metagame share of companion decks, we're willing to take steps up to or including changing how the companion mechanic works."
So what does that mean exactly?
Brian "BDM" Marshall had one easy suggestion on Twitter while Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz prefers the nuclear option.
https://twitter.com/Top8Games/status/1262400478731796483?s=20
The two of them put on their snazziest R&D/Organized Play hats and triaged the different options which ranged from forced mulligans to killing access to sideboard during games to some kind of Bark in the Park alternative Standard format.
Zvi also talked about his Mono Green Stompy deck -- Senior Stompy as BDM call it -- and whether or not it could be a real deck in the metagame moving forward. Here are links to his deck and to a similar but more mid-range build that did well in the past weekend's Redbull Untapped event.
https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/zvimowshowitz-05182020-the-return-of-senor-stompy
https://mtgazone.com/deck/mono-green-stompy-by-rint-red-bull-untapped-international-qualifier-1/
If you have any questions, feedback, or even an idea for a show topic you can find the hosts on Twitter at
BDM: @top8games
Zvi: @thezvi
The now elusive MichaelJ: @fivewithflores
Top 8 Magic: Mythic Choices with Zvi
BDM and Zvi catch up early in the week as Zvi mulls his options for the upcoming Mythic Qualifier on MTG Arena, which he qualified for largely by playing Limited and rarely sporting more than 13 lands in his decks. Fortunately that same deck -- with not that many more lands -- is reasonably playable in Standard.
The duo talk through some of the recent metagame shifts from the Weekend Championship which former Rookie of the Year Oliver Tiu won with Jeskai Yorion Fires. Standard is not only pet-friendly right now it is downright mandatory.
As Zvi settles firmly into the Top 8 Magic family the scope of the conversation broadened to include baller groceries and favorite TV shows.
Your hosts:
Brian David-Marshall - @Top8Games
Zvi Mowshowitz - @TheZvi
Top 8 Magic: Cycling Through Ikoria Limited with Zvi: Part 3 - Rares and Mythics
At this point it is widely accepted that Ikoria Limited's shining star is the cycling deck that features uncommon build-arounds like Flourishing Fox and Valiant Rescuer; super-efficient red removal like Flame Spill and Fire Prophecy; and other key cards like Drannith Stingers and Healers, Ominous Seas, and Zenith Flare. There is a plethora of cheap options all at common or uncommon.
As Brian and Zvi get to the rare and mythic cards in their set review they do so with an eye to how many of the pricey rares rise above the high standards of the pauperific staples of the cycling deck. How many cards in the rare slot would YOU take over a Flourishing Fox? Over a Fire Prophecy or Pacifism? Play along as Magic the Gathering Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz digs into which ones rise above the bar for him.
Your hosts:
Brian David-Marshall - @Top8Games
Zvi Mowshowitz - @TheZvi
Top 8 Magic: Cycling Through Ikoria Limited with Zvi: Part 2
Part 2 of BDM and Zvi's journey through Ikoria limited. This episode covers Red, Green, Multicolored, Artifacts, and Lands.
Your hosts:
Brian David-Marshall - @Top8Games
Zvi Mowshowitz - @TheZvi
Top 8 Magic: Cycling Through Ikoria Limited with Zvi: Part 1
Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz has gotten as low as 13 lands in the Ikoria Limited decks thanks to the power of "Cycling 1." He sits down with co-host Brian David-Marshall to look at the commons and uncommons in White, Blue, and Black as they try to figure out which cards make this draft format tick. They have already discussed the Companions and each other them have had success with them in Draft but is this a Prince or Pauper format? Do the commons and uncommons dominate the strategies or dies it all come down to the rare inhabitants of Monster Island?
Your hosts:
Brian David-Marshall - @Top8Games
Zvi Mowshowitz - @TheZvi
Top 8 Magic: The Ikoria Companion Piece
BDM and Zvi braved the scary new world of Skype-casting so the Hall of Fame Magic player and game designer could vent about free cards. Free cards are fun but not when everybody has them on exactly the turn they need them. Join Brian and Zvi for a brief discussion about the 10 cards with Companion and why Zvi is very wary about them.
Your hosts:
Brian David-Marshall - @Top8Games
Zvi Mowshowitz - @TheZvi
Top 8 Magic: Worlds 2020 Vision
Brian "BDM" David-Marshall is joined by Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz as they discuss the similarities and differences between the 16 Standard decks being played this weekend at the 26th World Championship.
Top 8 Magic: Totally Lost in Phoenix
Just another day at the office for BDM and Zvi as the Hall of Famer returns from his weekend in Phoenix to play in his first regional Players Tour event. Topics covered in this episode include:
- The Mono Blue Devotion deck designed by Sam Black and played by Zvi
- Zvi gets Fblthp'd
- How Mike Flores "saved some money" on a hotel room
- OH. MY. GOD! Was that an Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis in the Top 8??
- Are bans called for? (spoilers: they are not)
- Does a regional Players Tour "feel" like a Pro Tour?
Mono Blue Devotion
Zvi Mowshowitz -- Pioneer
4 Brazen Borrower
2 Fblthp, the Lost
4 Gadwick, the Wizened
2 Spectral Sailor
4 Thassa's Oracle
1 Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
2 Thassa, God of the Sea
2 Mass Manipulation
4 Witching Well
4 Ashiok's Erasure
4 Leyline of Anticipation
4 Omen of the Sea
17 Island
2 Mystic Sanctuary
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Your hosts:
Brian David-Marshall - @Top8Games
Zvi Mowshowitz - @TheZvi
Top 8 Magic: Theros Beyond One Part - Part 3
With the Prerelease coming up this weekend, Brian and Zvi talk their way through the newest Magic set with an eye toward what decks get some new toys and what building blocks will allow for some new decks. This episode covers gold, artifacts and lands. .
Top 8 Magic: Theros Beyond One Part - Part 2
With the Prerelease coming up this weekend, Brian and Zvi talk their way through the newest Magic set with an eye toward what decks get some new toys and what building blocks will allow for some new decks. This episode covers black, red and green cards.
Top 8 Magic: Theros Beyond One Part - Part 1
With the Prerelease coming up this weekend, Brian and Zvi talk their way through the newest Magic set with an eye toward what decks get some new toys and what building blocks will allow for some new decks. This episode covers white and blue cards.
Top 8 Magic: Hanging Out at the Mall (Again)
Brian "BDM" David-Marshall and Mike "MichaelJ" Flores get together for another episode of the longest-running Magic podcast. BDM's office is in the process of moving to a new building so they duo went back to the mall to sip iced tea and talk about some of the new cards that have been coming out for Theros: Beyond Death,
Topics covered in the discussion include:
-Valuable life advice MichaelJ picked up from his dad.
-The incredible editing and Magical prowess of Roman Fusco
-Some Theros cards
-The worst ways to lose
-A potential pie bet between Mike and Zvi
Top 8 Magic: Constellations of Cake: Part 2
For Part 2, Michael J Flores showed up with cake from Carlos's bakery in Hoboken to celebrate his PTQ win -- more than 23 years after his first PTQ win -- as is the tradition in NY. Topics included the PreTQ, PTQ, and what makes a good Magic format. Followed by some spoilerific discussion of the season finale of WATCHMEN as well as the first three parts of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.
Simic Flash by Michael J Flores
2 Aether Gust
2 Brazen Borrower
2 Mystical Dispute
1 Negate
3 Quench
3 Sinister Sabotage
4 Frilled Mystic
2 Hydroid Krasis
4 Growth Spiral
4 Nightpack Ambusher
4 Nissa, Who Shakes the World
3 Paradise Druid
4 Breeding Pool
2 Castle Vantress
2 Fabled Passage
7 Forest
7 Island
4 Temple of Mystery
Sideboard
1 Ugin, the Ineffable
2 Aether Gust
2 Mystical Dispute
2 Hydroid Krasis
4 Cavalier of Thorns
2 Lovestruck Beast
2 Shifting Ceratops
Top 8 Magic: Constellations of Cake: Part 1
The whole gang is together for this one -- sort of. First Brian David-Marshall and Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz chatted about ***spoilers*** Michael J's PTQ win this past weekend, the state of Standard, and what Zvi is hoping to find under his Utopia Tree this holiday season from the slowly-being-revealed Theros Beyond Death set.
Top 8 Magic: Mythic Championship VII Preview Show
We got your new deck hot takes hot off the presses. With Mike Flores on the road for business, BDM and Zvi had to maintain the homefront and get down to the business of looking at the decks for this weekend's MC. They started recording minutes before the decks went live and kept going until they had covered at least one of each of the archetypes with an eye out for the Dune Award for the deck with the most spice.
Top 8 Magic: The State of Standard with Zvi
BDM and Zvi look ahead to Mythic Championship VII and see where the Hall of Famer feels Standard is poised after three major events in pretty rapid succession -- not even accounting for the Twitch Rivals event where Zvi went 6-0 on Day One with his Jeskai Cavaliers deck.
Other topics include:
Zvi's crazy brew that combines Fires of Invention, Cat Food, and Niv-Mizzet Reborn into one deck that has a little something for everyone to hate on.
His other version of Cat Food that uses Emry, Lurker of the Loch and -- why not? -- Vantress Gargoyle.
While the metagame of Mythic Championship VI may not have been the most inspiring, it was some of the best played games either of the pair can recall in quite some time.
After his 14th Top 8 finish where does Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa rank in the all time Magic pick order?
With Veil of Summer banned, how the hell are you supposed to fight the recently unlocked Casualties of War from decimating your side of the table?
Where are the aggro decks?
Zvi has been streaming and guess what? He really likes it. You should follow him at twitch.tv/zvimowshowitz if you want more crazy decklists like the ones discussed here.
You can also follow him at @thezvi on Twitter (and if you don't already follow BDM he can be found talking about food, Magic, nonsense, and probably some more food at @top8games on that infernal website).
Top 8 Magic: Wrong Answers Only
Brian David-Marshall (aka BDM) and Michael J. Flores (aka MichaelJ) [aka co-hosts of the longest-running Magic podcast in the game] get together outside Montasy Comics NYC where MichaelJ can normally be found FNMing his heart out. This Friday brought a different mission. Mike was preparing for what we assume is a lame duck Standard format with a PTQ on his docket for Sunday -- ONE DAY BEFORE A MUCH ANTICIPATED BANNED ANNOUNCEMENT SHOULD SHAKE THE FORMAT BY ITS LAPELS.
*It is important to note that 5th Avenue in the heart of midtown is miles away from the quaint and cozy corner of Waverly and Gay or the peaceful shores of the Hudson River in Hoboken. NYC was in full throat with actual f***ing jackhammers, ambulances, and hobo commentary.*
Mike was taking the night off from his beloved FNM to just test for the PTQ and there were plenty of options on the table -- including Karn? -- to deal with what should be Oko's last hurrah.
In the meanwhile Mike and BDM took the opportunity to be spectacularly wrong by guessing which cards would get crushed by WotC's banhammer before this podcast is even posted on Monday.
How'd we do?
The Top 8 Magic Mythic Championship VI Zvi-View
Brian David-Marshall and Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz sat down at the Upper Westside location of Hex and Company (a burgeoning chain of NYC gaming cafes) to talk about Zvi's preparation for the upcoming Mythic Championship in Richmond. He walked through his approach to draft and why he thinks it is actually easy being green in Throne of Eldraine. He also reveals the deck that was almost his weapon of choice. At the time of recording he was pretty set on playing Cavaliers but was still hoping to go back to his ElkBlade brew; a deck that combines elements of the ubiquitous Food decks with the finishing power of Questing Beast and Embercleave. Hear how one of the greatest minds in the history of the game tackles one of the most frustrating metagames in his long memory of the game.
Top 8 Magic: A Slow News Day
With the shining NYC skyline as a backdrop, BDM and MichaelJ enjoyed one of the few remaining gorgeous days of the year to talk about all the big news of the day.
What were the biggest flavor fails of Mythic Championship V?
What will Standard look like in two weeks at Mythic Championship VI now that Field of the Dead has been banned in Standard?
Which mountains will Mike use for the new Pioneer format?
Exactly how many cards will be banned in Pioneer by the time the Pro Tour rolls around for it next year?
Top 8 Magic Presents: The Mythic Championship V Preview Show
It was a dark and stormy night... No seriously. It was both dark and stormy. What better weather to huddle up in the office and pore over pages and pages of decklists. The Top 8 Magic team was out in full force with Brian "BDM" David-Marshall, Michael "MichaelJ" J. Flores, and Zvi "The Zvi" Mowshowitz breaking down the Mythic Championship V field just days before the event happens. With decks being locked in more than a week before the actual event was to be played, how much innovation got locked out in the tight turnaround time? With 29 of the 68 decks featuring some flavor of Golos/Field of the Dead, and other two dozen+ sporting Oko, will something actually get banned on Monday? If it does, would another week of time given the field enough time to defeat the enemy? Find out what the trio thinks as all the regular members of the longest running Magic podcast are together again for the first time. This one is wall to wall Magic and you won't want to miss it (unless you are here for the TV/movies/basketball talk).
Zvi’s Standard Adventures with the Doom Patrol
Aaaaaand they’re back not days after their last podcast. Zvi ran a Doom Patrol list — his modified version of the Doom Foretold deck Bryan Gottlieb has popularized for the new Standard — to a 12-1 finish in the big Arena Standard preview event over the weekend. He and BDM discuss the list, what changes might be made moving forward, and how the deck is positioned in the metagame.
While discussing the deck they digressed slightly into the Daryl Morey incident and the NBA reaction to his support of Hong Kong. This discussion happened BEFORE the Blizzard news about rescinding Blitzchung’s Hearthstone Grandmaster prize money and firing the casters of the event.
Zvi’s PT Prep: Limited
On the day of BDM getting to play with Throne of Eldraine cards for the very first time he sat down with Pro Tour champion and Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz to get his first takes on the new Limited format.
After the draft, BDM and Michael J. Flores connect to talk about the draft (***spoilers*** it did not go well) and discuss the cards Mike is thinking about buying from Face to Face Games for this new Standard format. After that the two discuss the new fall TV season and what they have been watching so far.
Zvi’s Adventures in Eldraine Parts 1 & 2
Once upon a time there was a Hall of Famer and Pro Tour champion named Zvi who was going to be attending the Mythic ball in Richmond. Before he could attend that ball the wicked tournament organizer said had to complete all his chores; poring over the new cards as they were released to public, thinking about building new decks, and talking about the new cards for multiple hours on the longest running Magic podcast on the game’s history.
Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz joins Pro Tour Historian emeritus for another episode — and then another one after that — of Top 8 Magic.
Find out which cards have the noted deckbuilder excited about the upcoming Standard format, which one he fully expects to get banned in Modern, and what the gamblers line would be for Hall of Famer-elect Reid Duke to register a copy of Garruk, Cursed Huntsman in his 75 cards for Richmond.
Mardu Burn... for the machines
This podcast contains no actual modern Mardu Burn list but it does eventually get around to why not. There is extensive Magic talk though as your hosts Brian David-Marshall and Michael J. Flores both had a topic of interest.
BDM wanted to dwell on some of the new cards spoiled from Throne of Eldraine — specifically the possibility of the Adventure mechanic allowing for a Rube Goldberg-like buyback mechanic on the spell side.
MichaelJ was talking on the eve of a large local MCQ — no PTQ — wait? still an MCQ? — and he was in full pyro mode talking about his beloved burn deck and all the various permutations from Rakdos to Boros to Naya and even the apocryphal Mardu Burn.
After well more than an hour of Magic talk they turn their attention to what shows they have been watching — which for two very busy guys is a disturbingly large amount of television content.
Brian Got a Microphone
The longest running Magic: The Gathering podcast returns to talk about this year's newly renamed Magic Hall of Fame, swings at some savage rumors, and finishes up on where Modern will be after a trio of key bannings and un-bannings. Pro Tour Historian, Emeritus Brian David-Marshall is joined by onetime Resident Genius Michael J Flores AND A BRAND NEW MICROPHONE for our, um, four hundred and eighty-seventh episode!
Landsick
Michael J Flores and Brian David-Marshall are reunited and MichaelJ doesn’t feel so good. The classic line-up for Magic’s longest-running podcast is back together after a brief interruption. MichaelJ was away on vacation and after sleeping on a boat for close to two weeks he has been diagnosed with landsickness — which apparently is not what happens when you miss Lan D Ho but something much more serious.
The guys decided to celebrate by playing a little FNM. Mike played his MonoGreen Standard deck that BDM refers to as “last year’s model” while Brian opts for a little Core set draft. First couple of minutes are pretty noisy as “Table for 8” is a lot louder than one for two. After the noisy intro the guys take it to the streets after their rounds to recount the evening and then talk about the future of WPNQs, PTQs and all things related to the recent OP announcements.
Future of Magic eSports: First Takes/Hot Takes
BDM and Zvi with their immediate reactions to the new esports announcement.
Boom Traveler
BDM & Mike Flores react to the aftermath of Hogaak Summer at the most recent Mythic Championship in Barcelona.
Top 8 Magic #434 - The Worlds Best Comic Podcast
*spoiler alert* If you haven’t watched Spider-Man: Far From Home you should STOP LISTENING WHEN BDM TELLS YOU TO. *spoiler alert*
Brian David-Marshall and Mike Flores are reunited for another episode of the longest running Magic podcast in the game. Before they did though, Brian met up with Top8Magic superfan, and professional comic book illustrator, Butch Mapa at Joe’s Coffee Shop on the iconic corner of Waverly and Gay in the West Village of NYC.
Later that day Mike and BDM reconnected to discuss their respective Prerelease weekends, why BDM thinks Prereleases should go away, and whether or not banning Bridge from Below will solve some of the problems that have emerged in the wake of Modern Horizons. (Spoilers; Mike thinks there may be a more problematic card that needs to be banned from that set and posits a new breakfast cereal/combo deck).
If you haven’t watched Spider-Man: Far From Home you should DEFINITELY STOP LISTENING WHEN BDM TELLS YOU TO. That’s pretty much the topic of conversation the rest of the way.
Top 8 Magic #483 - Core Set 2020 Preview: White Mike and Zvi
With BDM out of town, Mike tags in Pro Tour Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz to preview the White cards from Core Set 2020.
Top 8 Magic #482 - Tablet for Two: Topical Island
BDM and Zvi find themselves on the road again away from Brian’s trusty co-host MichaelJ. They huddled up around a tablet in some business class motel on the other side of the country to discuss a variety of timely topics from the results from Mythic Championship III to the Wild West metagaming of the Red Bull tournament series to some discussion of the previewed gold cards from Magic 2020 to see which ones Zvi feels might breakthrough in Standard despite obvious roles in Limited and Commander formats. There is even a smattering of politics to keep it extra topical.
Top 8 Magic #481 - Daze of Future Past
Mike and BDM get together again on the eve of Mythic Championship III for another Top 8 Magic. Followed by a special bonus section of Zvi and BDM analyzing the MCIII decklists!
Top 8 Magic #480 - Playing weirdo Tetris
Mike and BDM return to their old haunt at Waverly and Gay, to discuss crowd-funding travel for pro play, the weight of the impact Modern Horizons is already having on Modern (especially two specific cards), and the MPL challenger invitations.
Top 8 Magic #479 - The eternity of the Internet
BDM has returned from Canada, and he and Mike Flores get together to discuss Brian's Preprerelease first picks, more Modern Horizons cards that Mike is excited to try in Modern, and what they're watching (that isn't basketball).
#478 - On the Horizons
BDM and Mike Flores are back together, a little less noisy, and going over all of the White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green cards from Modern Horizons previewed so far, that aren't slivers!
#477 - Breaking vases since 1999: a talk with Zvi Mowshowitz
BDM is in San Francisco this week, without Mike. But good thing he is, as this gave him the chance to connect and catch up with Pro Tour Hall of Famer and old friend, Zvi Mowshowitz about Magic the Gathering old and new.
#476 - The week that was
BDM and Mike discuss the Magic events of the past week (as well as some non-Magical ones as well).
Group game Magic
Mike and BDM get together in a mysterious mall to talk the best new cards in Standard, while Brian turns Mike on to a strange new way of playing "group game" Magic.
Top 8 Magic #474 - Commence the Endgame!
SPOILERS ALERT!!
Note to Listener: If you have not watched Avengers Endgame or the Battle of Winterfell episode of Game of Thrones... when BDM says “stop listening” at the half hour mark of the podcast you should really, really, REALLY stop listening and skip over the remaining hour or so of the recording. If you are not sure when to stop just immediately fling your headphones away when BDM says... COMMENCE THE ENDGAME!
Top 8 Magic #473 - Turret Ogre still has reach!
Mike and BDM get together again a second time this week to discuss comics, more War of the Spark story and preview cards, and once again confirm a key piece of prerelease advice.