About the show
The Dive Down is a Magic: The Gathering podcast focused on the latest decks, trends, and strategies for the casual spikes in Modern, Pioneer, Explorer, and more!
Each week your hosts Dave, Shane, and Stanislav discuss the latest innovations, competitive events, and level-up topics for paper and online players.
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedivedown
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Episodes and Blog Entries
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Episode 104: Must-Knows For (Today's) Modern Tournaments
Episode | December 24th, 2020 | 1 hr 54 mins
This week we take a journey into the ManaTraders Modern Tournament Series. We talk about the decks we played with and against, potential mental and strategic approaches to events like these, and some hot hot takes about Modern and Magic. We also spend some time talking about Stan's recent successes, and the first batch of Kaldheim spoilers!
The Break Down: Stan's Satellite Results!
The Dive Down: Our Manatraders Results!
The Wind Down: Kaldheim Spoiler Results! -
Episode 103: The Best Decks in Historic
Episode | December 18th, 2020 | 1 hr 55 mins
This week The Dive Down goes back to Historic. After bursting out briefly in song, the crew breaks down the metagame from last weekend's SCG Satellite Tournaments and reels in shock from one or two insights. Dave manages to make a recap of the Arena Open all about him. Stan is unsurprised. Shane is amused. After that we dive down into three of the best decks in Historic... that we haven't spoken about that much yet.
The Break Down: Satellite Results
The Break Down, pt 2: Customer Servicing into Day 2
The Dive Down: Best Titans, Best Wizards, Best Cats -
Episode 102: A Tribal Quest: Hives, Grenades, and Skeletons
Episode | December 11th, 2020 | 1 hr 59 mins
It's time for another top-tier Patron request episode! This time, long-time citizen of the nation Sean asked us to talk about tribal decks. We cover the history of tribes in Magic, common aspects of tribal decks, and do a Sleeve/Believe/Heave of some of the less popular tribes of Modern. Prior to that, we spend a long time breaking down the Historic decks and meta of the Zendikar Rising Championship that took place last weekend!
The Break Down: A Historic Championship
The Dive Down: Tribe Talk
The Dive Down, cont: Which Deck Will Stan Qualify With? -
Episode 101: Historic 101: An Intro For Casual Spikes
Episode | December 4th, 2020 | 1 hr 51 mins
For the first week of our NEXT 100 episodes, we finally took the plunge into Magic Arena's non-rotating format: Historic. We will help you understand how to assess and buy into Historic, what the decks and meta are like, what playing on Arena is like, and our thoughts on if Best of One is really Magic.... Enjoy the beginning of a new podcast adventure!
The Dive Down: 88 Goblins
The Dive Down, cont: Pants, Pants, Pants
The Dive Down, cont: Gruul Smash -
Episode 100: One. Hundred. Decks.
Episode | November 20th, 2020 | 2 hrs 26 mins
It's Episode 100, so we pulled out all the stops for a live streamed recording of mini-dives into the 100 most important/cool/powerful decks of Modern, from inception to today. That's... a lot of decks! Join us for an extra-long episode full of fun and surprises!
The Break Down: One
The Dive Down: Hundred
The Wind Down: Decks -
Episode 99: A Few of Our Favorite Things
Episode | November 13th, 2020 | 1 hr 49 mins
We took things a little easy this week as we prepare for the big episode 100 live stream, and asked The Dive Down Nation to prompt us with: "What's your favorite ______?" We got a TON of awesome questions, so thank you, Nation! We talk about our favorite spells, overheard conversations, books, draft formats, and more. Prior to that we have an installment of Cool Decks, Inc, where we talk about a few recent... well... cool decks that we've seen popping up in Modern.
The Break Down: Cool Decks Inc.
The Dive Down: All of our favorite stuff! -
Episode 98: Auditing Modern Mono-White Taxes
Episode | November 6th, 2020 | 1 hr 50 mins
We spend this week looking at an up-and-coming deck in Modern: Mono-White Taxes. We spend some time looking at the history of Taxes decks, how this deck works, and if we think it's actually that good. Before that we breeze through some Modern Challenge and Qualifier results from Magic Online.
The Break Down: Challenging Tournaments
The Dive Down: Challenging Sandwiches
The Dive Down, cont: Challenging Playpatterns -
Bonus 10: Songs About Cards ft. MTGRemy
Episode | November 3rd, 2020 | 1 hr 11 mins
In our latest bonus episode, musician and comedian MTGRemy joins us for a conversation about making Magic-inspired parody songs and sketches for YouTube.
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Episode 97: Pioneer: A G.O.O.D. Format?
Episode | October 30th, 2020 | 1 hr 50 mins
On the one year anniversary of Pioneer, we give the format a performance review. We look at what happened over the last year, and what are the Goals, Obstacles, Opportunities, and Decisions that we can evaluate and make for the newest competitive Magic format.
The Break Down: A Call From Corporate
The Dive Down: A History Lesson
The Dive Down, cont: A Performance Review -
Episode 96: The Unifying Theory of Good Magic Formats
Episode | October 23rd, 2020 | 1 hr 42 mins
This week Stan and Shane pair up to explore what can make Magic great, and why Modern has been a fan favorite in 2020. Before that, we look at a quartet of Modern and Pioneer challenges to see where the meta is headed.
The Break Down: Breaking it Down
The Dive Down: Building it Up
The Wind Down: Moving it Around -
Episode 95: We Did It For Science: The Titanic Power of Uro and Omnath
Episode | October 16th, 2020 | 1 hr 47 mins
In the first installment of "We Did It For Science," we look at two cards we just aren't (or weren't) that interested in playing with: Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath and Omnath, Locus of Creation. Are these cards good, REALLY good, or TOO good? You're going to have to listen to find out. Before that, we take a (fairly) quick look at a few recent Challenges to see what's going on in the metagame.
The Break Down: Always Challenging
The Dive Down: Jump Into the Pile
The Dive Down, cont: Four Arms to Hold You -
Episode 94: Zendikar Rules! New Innovations in Modern & Pioneer
Episode | October 9th, 2020 | 1 hr 49 mins
Stan and Shane are on their own this week, so they talk about their recent playtesting in Modern and Pioneer in a vaguely Sleeve/Believe/Heave part two. Before that, they go over the weekend's Pioneer and Modern Showcase Challenges to see what's performing well and what the meta looks like. And then they finish with an extended Wind Down where they answer a bunch of listener questions.
The Break Down: Dave's Not Here, Man
The Break Down, pt. 2: Just Kidding
The Dive Down: Stan and Shane Play Decks!
The Wind Down: Getting Personal -
Episode 93: Sleeve/Believe/Heave: Zendikar Rising Edition
Episode | October 2nd, 2020 | 1 hr 48 mins
This week we apply our patent-pending Sleeve/Believe/Heave rating system to 3 potentially breakout Modern and Pioneer decks. Are they the real deal, or not worth your time? Only one way to find out. Prior to that, we look at the winning decks and statistics from the most recent Manatraders Modern tournament.
The Break Down: Manatraders Modern 15k
The Dive Down: Oops All Spells!
The Dive Down, cont: Oops No Life! -
Episode 92: The Early Risers of Zendikar Rising
Episode | September 25th, 2020 | 1 hr 45 mins
We take a good, long look at the latest decks, trends, and strategies in Modern and Pioneer, but this time with the cards of Zendikar Rising! We start with Cool Decks (and cards!), Inc, as we look through 2 Modern and 2 Pioneer Challenges. Then we head into The Dive Down and do a mini-dive on Gruul Goblin Charbelcher, and look at changes to Jeskai, Mill, and Death's Shadow. And look suspiciously at Omnath...
The Break Down: Challenging Challenges
The Dive Down: Recrossing, Reforging, Rebelching
The Dive Down, cont: Other Concerning Things -
Episode 91: Zendikar Rising Rises: Spoilers, Vol. 2 ft. Aspiring Spike
Episode | September 18th, 2020 | 1 hr 50 mins
Stan's on vacation, which means we get to have Evart Moughon (aka Aspiring Spike) on as a returning guest host to talk about the second week of Zendikar Rising spoilers. We revisit some cards from last week to get Evart's takes and give some more picks to click from the latest set. Before that, we look at some Modern and Pioneer Challenges to see what's happening in the meta.
The Break Down: Modern & Pioneer Challenges
The Dive Down: A Few Redos
The Dive Down, cont: The Last of the Spoilers -
Episode 90: Zendikar Rising Rises: Spoilers, Vol. 1
Episode | September 10th, 2020 | 1 hr 51 mins
We take a look at the first batch of spoilers from Zendikar Rising and identify some picks to click from the upcoming set. Before that, we have a conversation about the 2021 Magic roadmap in a non-meta Break Down!
The Break Down: DDN FNM MTGG
The Break Down, cont: Cool Set, Inc.
The Dive Down: Spoilers, Spoilers, Spoilers!