The Dive Down

Episode 146: The Road to Las Vegas II: Jund, UW, Hammer

Episode  |  October 20th, 2021  |  1 hr 54 mins

This week we dive into part two of our series in our anticipation of the return to paper Magic — The Road to Vegas. Dave, Stan, and Shane go through the ins and outs of the next tier of Modern's meta. We're looking at two boomer decks — Jund (secretly zoomer?) and UW Control — and one newmer deck in Hammer. Find out which one we think is best positioned for MTG Vegas. Before that we talk about the latest Historic changes, and go through the results of one of last week's MTGO Modern PTQs. Stan controls. Shane hammers. Dave ionizes.

Episode 145: The Nation Speaks — Your Questions Answered

Episode  |  October 13th, 2021  |  1 hr 49 mins

This week's ep is a Patreon request by one of the first citizens of The Dive Down Nation - KilgoreTrout, aka Jason! He asked us to do a Q&A episode, and to make it even more fun we brought in some new technology to get audio submissions. We got questions from citizens around the world about Magic, collecting, and podcasting - so thanks to everyone who got involved! And special thanks to Jason for being a true citizen for so long!

Episode 144: The Road To Las Vegas: Murktide v. Burn

Episode  |  October 7th, 2021  |  1 hr 44 mins

In the first episode of a new miniseries (???), Stan and Shane talk about their experiences testing two of the top decks in the format in their preparation for the CFB Vegas event in November. How do Izzet Murktide and Boros Burn perform right now? Why are they good, and what might be their fatal flaws? Only one way to find out!
The Break Down: Dave's Not Here, Man
The Break Down, cont: Some Good Good Challenges
The Dive Down: Matchups and Putdowns

Episode 143: The People's Meta: A Deeper Modern

Episode  |  September 29th, 2021  |  1 hr 52 mins

On this week's episode Shane and Dave explore the depths of Modern in what we are calling.... "The People's Meta." We look at every deck from a recent 5-0 League dump to discuss their place in the metagame, what makes them interesting, and how they are implementing new cards and strategies. Before that, we go through Saturday's Showcase Challenge to look at what people are bringing to the top tournaments.
The Break Down: Showcasing Modern
The Dive Down: Mainstreams and Roguestreams
The Dive Down, cont: More. Patron. Shoutouts.

Episode 142: Consider This: Sleeve/Believe/Heave: Midnight Hunt ed.

Episode  |  September 23rd, 2021  |  1 hr 35 mins

The latest set has hit the digital shelves of Magic Online and Arena, and we are here to dig into a few new decks and run them through the Sleeve/Believe/Heave wringer! We first look at Esper Reanimator and Jeskai Phoenix in Modern, then head over to Magic Arena and dive into Izzet Delver in Historic. Do the cards of Midnight Hunt have what it takes to make an impact? Let's find out!

Episode 141: Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Spoilers, Pt. II

Episode  |  September 15th, 2021  |  1 hr 55 mins

This week, Stan leave Dave and Shane to their own devices as he returns to a parental-leave induced bliss. With dad gone, the last two friends decide to go wild and cover SCG's recent Historic satellites in a quick and fun break down followed by arguing about too many cards for far too much time. And they thought this would be a short one! Dave considers light up the night. Shane says the world "cool" 500,000 times in two hours. Somewhere, in the midst of a dream, Stan cringes.

Episode 140: Midnight Hunting & The Latest Historic Decks

Episode  |  September 9th, 2021  |  1 hr 50 mins

This week we're getting to band back together. Stan returns to take Shane and Dave through a tour of the format he's been playing most recently — Historic. He's learned a lot from playing at all times of the night and day and night and who knows what time it is anyway? After that, the team fully jumps into the Midnight Hunt. Dave likes some cards. Shane doesn't like them. Stan knocks the rust off.
The Break Down: Stan's Back... But For How Long?
The Break Down, cont: A Taste of Historic
The Dive Down: Midnight Hunt, Part 1

Episode 139: Spiking the New Modern, ft. Aspiringspike

Episode  |  September 1st, 2021  |  1 hr 52 mins

This week, Dave and Shane recruited our old friend Evart Moughon, aka Aspiringspike, to help us wrap our heads around all things Modern. We talk about his deck selection at the HBMO, the ever-changing Modern metagame, and his thoughts about the best decks in the format. Before that, we discuss Magic's 2022 product release roadmap. Does Spike think Hobbit aggro will be the new tier 0? Listen and find out!
The Break Down: All About 2022
The Dive Down: Dress Down Dive Down
The Dive Down, cont: Just a Lot of Questions About Modern

Episode 138: Evaluating the Impact of Modern Horizons 2, ft. Mishra's Babble

Episode  |  August 25th, 2021  |  1 hr 58 mins

With Stan and Dave out this week, Shane recruited the hosts of Mishra's Babble for another crossover episode. They spend time evaluating the metagame and decks from the Hunter Burton Memorial Open, then head into The Dive Down to evaluate the impact of MH2 on the meta, their deck selection, and how they think about the format.
The Break Down: Meet The Babblers
The Break Down Pt.2: HBMO
The Dive Down: MH2 is Still Crushing It

Bonus 14: My Other Hammer is Also Red ft. MHayashi

Episode  |  August 20th, 2021  |  1 hr 5 mins

MTGO grinder and deck designer, Matt Hayashi, aka MHayashi, joins Stan to talk about Mono Red Obosh, Hammer of Bogardan, and some of Matt's other favorite strategies in Modern.

Episode 137: Does Stoneblade Cut It in This Meta?

Episode  |  August 11th, 2021  |  1 hr 45 mins

This week we tackle a top-tier Patreon request! Sean D asked us to look at Stoneforge Mystic in Modern, and we were more than happy to oblige. We each played a deck featuring Stoneforge in very different ways, and of course are happy to bring you our takes. Before that, we take a look at two wild Modern challenges that give us a lot of hope! And don't miss Housekeeping for some very important announcements!
The... Housekeeping??: A Can't Miss Housekeeping
The Break Down: More Modern Challenges
The Dive Down: Rock, Paper, Stoneblades

Episode 136: Historic Horizons: New Cards Same as the Old Cards

Episode  |  August 4th, 2021  |  1 hr 46 mins

Jumpstart: Historic Horizons is upon us, and we are contractually obligated to have takes for you. So here they are. We go over the new mechanics, the economy issues, and, most importantly, the stand-out cards in the set. Before that, we look at some of the most recent high-level Historic tournaments to take a look at the current meta before it gets shaken up.
The Break Down: Historic Insights
The Dive Down: Seeking Perpetual Conjuration
The Dive Down, cont: Just a Whole Lot of Cards

Episode 135: Modern ManaTraders and Metagamers

Episode  |  July 28th, 2021  |  1 hr 43 mins

This week we do a deep dive into some STATS. We look at the big ManaTraders event from last weekend - what decks made it to the swiss, and how did they perform? We even get a tournament report from the one host who qualified! Following that, we take a look at the evolving Modern metagame from the last 3 weeks of tournament data to see how the format is shaking out.
The Break Down: Historic What?
The Dive Down: Crashing ManaTraders
The Dive Down, cont: Hammer Seems Good

Episode 134: Five Cards You Want Banned in Modern

Episode  |  July 21st, 2021  |  1 hr 50 mins

In this weeks ep, we reveal the results of The Dive Down Nation's Modern Ban survey. What are the five cards you voted on to be removed from Modern, and more importantly.... what are our takes on the results?! Before that, we go over some Tasha's Hideous Laughter math that citizen of the Nation Stefan generated, and briefly discuss Sunday's Modern Challenge Top 8!

Episode 133: Izzet You Glad We Played Murktide?

Episode  |  July 14th, 2021  |  1 hr 46 mins

First up this week, we take a quick spin through last week's Modern Leagues and pick out a few extremely cool decks to chat about. After that it's an Izzet world and we just delve right into it. That's right, it's UR week on The Dive Down (again) as we take a deep look at one of the latest best decks of Modern Horizons 2 Modern — Izzet Murktide. We discuss why we think the deck is suited to the meta right now, how to play it, and how to beat it (we think). Tune in to find out if this is a control deck, a midrange deck, or a tempo deck — we have a definitive answer! (Warning: We do not have a definitive answer.)

Shane loves Counterspell. Dave loves Garden State. Stan loves 8-2s.

Episode 132: Venture Into the Adventure: MTG n' D&D Spoilers v1

Episode  |  July 7th, 2021  |  1 hr 52 mins

Well, we've finally arrived at The Forgotten Realms, and talk about what mechanics and cards from the latest set we think have the potential to impact Historic, Modern, and Pioneer. Before that, we talk about the weekend's Modern Challenges to continue to keep up with the dynamic Modern meta.