Magic: The Podcast A New Podcast About the Popular Card Game is Insightful and Engaging

Magic: The Podcast is relatively new, having sprouted up in mid-January, which is about Magic: The Gathering, which is my favorite card game, outside of Japanese Hanafuda. I've been playing Magic for several years now, and I still consider myself a newer player to the game. The game is nearly thirty years old, having been created in the very late eighties/early nineties, and was originally created as a game to teach kids counting techniques and adding/subtraction memorization skills. I have to say, it works. I've found myself able to count in my head much easier than before playing the games. I've played plenty of rounds of Friday Night Magic, but I've discovered drafting on Saturday nights locally at a new hobby shop. I have friends that are into Warhammer, Pokemon and other board/card games which weren't really my thing.  I've always been more into video games.  Until I got into Magic: The Gathering. 

    I wasn't very social as a child, and rarely made friends in high school, so I didn't do the whole social gaming games, like Magic, Dungeons and Dragons, and other games that weren't necessarily nerdy to me, but rather too social for me at the time

    You see, I have always had leaning disabilities, many that stem from my lack of math skills, but also because I always had socialization issues. I've spoken on these before, but I recite these facts again because I began playing Magic much later in life. I've heard about Magic:The Podcast, from Twitter,because  they sent me a Tweet. I don't know exactly what made them send me a message, I'm assuming my Tweet : "Magic:The Gathering, and Chill?" but who knows? I've mentioned Magic quite a few times because I appreciate the game, it's a medium that reminds me of chess in card form, but faster paced. I'm a huge chess fan, it's probably my favorite of all board games, but Magic was the first card game I've delved into, having created several decks over the last few years, adding boosters here-and-there. So I subscribed, and listened to the first five episodes, and found them to be entailed with information about, and outside the cards. I also like the show is hosted by dabblers rather than extremists, it allows for a more objective view to a subjective medium. 

    Magic: The Podcast is hosted by Johnathan Edwards and Andrew Edwards, and Max Roche. I have to assume that Johnathan and Andrew are brothers, but I'm not quite sure. The show invites guests on like many other podcasts, where people who are experts/collectors and innovators thwt have been touched by, or dabble into Magic give their insight. So-far there's a great deal of early-on episodes, as I've stated, this is a very new podcast in respects, but it's entertaining, and somewhat educational, but it's more towards the interview/informer type of podcast. The first episode had on two comedians that discussed their love of Magic: The Gathering, and did a big of improv, which is their specialization. They've  discussed other aspects of the show, which are Comander, the newer of game variants that has begun to sprout up in the community. The two comedians' names are Andy Hill and Sean Tabares, who host a podcast called the Commander Brew. So Magic: The Podcast could inevitably become a podcast to promote other Magic podcasts, kind of like Podcast 411, but specifically for Magic. 

    The second episode is about the art of Magic: The Gathering, which was more about prints, the artists at conventions and trade shows, and the guest was Josh Krouse, who apparently has the single online collection of Magic: The Gathering artwork in existence currently, but also information on how to collect prints and artwork as a layman. There is also an E block where Johnathan discusses some of the more famous  kickstarter campaigns in the Magic Community. This show was informative, as Krouse is an afficianado on the art, and a mass collector who has over fifteen years of expertise in playing Magic: The Gathering. The show is well done, and the overall podcast has been rather intriguing so-far. Coming from someone who has tried numerous times to get a podcast off the ground, it's fun to hear people talk about something they love, just for the sake of discussing it, as the community is large, and always pandered to by individuals that simply want to get subscribers. Granted, I will assume that Johnhathan and company want subscribers, but having someone that is observing, and learning as he goes with an open mind, there is some strategy discussed,mbut it's not overbearing, nor underrepresented. 

   The third show is completely different, and brings in a musician that uses Magic: The Gathering as their influence, and makes some pretty intriguing music. Cody Avdek who is the musician behind  Spectrums by Visible Spectrum, uses the five main colors and shades behind the cards in Magic as the influence for the progressive rock stylings on the album. This is a pretty cool idea, and I have heard a bit about this from others in the community, but still being a bit outside of what are considered outsiders, I learned the majority about this project from this particular episode, all of which can be downloaded at Magic: The Podcast here: https://t.co/g63qyqErcZ

   The last show, which is a preview of their Shadows Over Innistrad is a very technical discussion, but for me it felt very technical which is not good or bad. There is a debates between Johnathan and Max, and they discuss mana amounts and other aspects of the game that are too much to mention here. There's a lot of discussion in only twenty-five minutes, and one of the better usages of time. There is a huge difference from Episode 1, to episode 5(?) and shows promise for the overall show. At this point, that is all the episodes for this infant podcast, but I would like to see how it matures over the next few months. Magic is a huge game, it is always being updated, morphed and formed to fit the now, and even if you are the most knowledgable on the game, it is always changing, and feels new whenever you go up against a player with the newest of the new decks. Honestly, this game is impossible to pin down, and becomes a respect/envy of those who bring out the best cards, and newest cards, but like anything, it comes down to simply reading the card. I'd recommend this podcast for anyone who has thought of Magic: The Gsthering, and may want to understand a bit about it, because their links give you enough information, and delving into many apps, websites, and resources on the game. 

   Magic is very akin to chess in that it takes minutes to learn, and a lifetime to master, and may seem strange, or odd, but really is just a fantasy card game that is fun, and quite sociable. Magic: The Podcast reiterates these points, and does so in a friendly, likable fashion. 

Twitter @MagicthePodcast 

Johnathan Edwards: @justfinethanku

Andrew Edwards: @silvinlight

Max Roche: MTG_JLP

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