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
Proudly sponsored by Heavy Play, a new card gaming accessories brand that'll improve your gameplay and game day. Use code THEDIVEDOWN2024 for 10% off your first order at https://www.heavyplay.com/
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Episodes and Blog Entries
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Episode 118: Back To School: Spoiling Strixhaven, Vol. 1
Episode | April 2nd, 2021 | 1 hr 54 mins
This week, Professor Stan is on sabbatical, so Shane and Dave are headed back to school to give their takes on the first batch of Strixhaven spoilers. Is this the episode where Shane is the optimist? We also take some time to go over our Mystical Archive tier lists for Historic. Will Crux of Fate have what it takes to be the only S-Tier card? Before all that, we briefly go over the Historic meta at the Kaldheim Championship, and look at two novel decks that some big names brought.
The Episode: Stan's Not Here, Man
The Break Down: The History is History
The Dive Down: Wizard College's Deepest Secrets -
Episode 117: How to Beat Modern Heliod Combo
Episode | March 26th, 2021 | 1 hr 47 mins
It's no secret that the Sun-Crowned has been ruling the roost in Modern, so on this week's episode we ask the very important question: how do we beat Heliod Company?! Or is it Heliod Combo? We're also kicking off the episode with a detailed breakdown of the SCG Tour Online's Historic weekend. #Spreadsheets
The Disclaimer: Dave's Not Here
The Break Down: Satellite of Jund
The Dive Down: Tricksy Timing and Other Combo Breakers -
Episode 116: Time Spiral Buyers' Guide & Shadows Over Historic
Episode | March 19th, 2021 | 1 hr 52 mins
In something of a split episode, we first explore the reprints of Time Spiral Remastered, identify some potential cards that are "on sale," the impact of the old border reprints, and what we're eyeballing as purchases. Following that, Dave outlines the various Death's Shadow decks that players have been testing in Historic following the release of Anthology 4, Shane probably under-rates Historic cycling decks, and Stan continues to cast Elves.
The Break Down: Pay More For Cards You Already Have!
The Dive Down: Death's Shadow + Adanto Vanguard = <3
The Dive Down, cont: Other Anthology Thoughts -
Episode 115: Modern Bant Ephemerate: The Flicker Mob ft. Aspiringspike
Episode | March 12th, 2021 | 1 hr 54 mins
This week we tackle another Patron request from Bob - Bant Ephemerate! And who better to have on than one of the masters of the deck, Aspiringspike himself, Evart Moughon. We go over the ins and outs of the deck, with Shane wondering just how to cast counterspells, Dave running out of time on Magic Online, and Stan just blinking stuff. Before that, we look at the latest Historic Anthology and give our takes on what cards might have an impact.
The Break Down: A Shadow Over Historic
The Dive Down: Draw 2 Whenever You Can
The Dive Down, cont: Winning With Three 2/2s -
Episode 114: Modern Merfolk: A Brief History of Spreading Seas
Episode | March 5th, 2021 | 1 hr 56 mins
This week it's a Modern-focused, Patron-thanking episode that's all about one of the format's classics, Merfolk. That's right. You've been waiting for 2 years for us to dive down into the depths of these seas. But first, we'll take a look through the Mana Traders Series from this month. It's Modern. It's good. Again. Dave hates seafood. Stan combos off. Shane is — surprisingly — a friend to all fish, everywhere.
The Break Down: Manatraders Modern
The Dive Down: Turn 1 Aether Vial
The Dive Down, cont: Turn 4 Spreading Seas -
Episode 113: Post-Ban Plans: Small Samples, Big Conclusions
Episode | February 26th, 2021 | 1 hr 59 mins
So what next? This week The Three Friends talk about each of our favorite formats in the wake of what some have claimed is the biggest set of bans in MTG history. Is it? We don't know. BUT. We do know that there's new (and old) stuff going on in Modern, Historic, and Pioneer. We will be giving you a Break Down of ALL THREE formats, talk about our experiences playing the formats, and, of course, tell you what we'd play. Shane and Stan pivot table it up while Dave just reads some line graphs out loud. It's can't miss audio content!
The Break Down: First Modern
The Break Down II: Then Historic
The Break Down III: Then Pioneer
The Break Down IV: Yep, All Three -
Episode 112: Roll That Beautiful Ban Footage ft. Aspiringspike
Episode | February 17th, 2021 | 2 hrs 28 secs
Well, those were some bans. And we're here to talk about them, with our regular guest host Evart Moughon, aka Aspiringspike. We first discuss the big bans in Modern, Pioneer, and Historic, then head into the Dive Down to talk about what these changes mean for the formats themselves.
The Break Down: They Really Really Did It
The Dive Down: The Face of the New Formats
The Dive Down, cont: Why Does This Keep Happening? -
Episode 111: Sleeve/Believe/Heave: LOL Tibalt ed.
Episode | February 12th, 2021 | 1 hr 48 mins
This week's a funny one. We set out to test some of the most recent winning decks featuring Kaldheim cards, in order to grade them on our (patent-pending) S/B/H rating system. Then, in the span of a few days, the Modern landscape shifted under our feet! So we'll still talk about those winning decks, but also about the communities iteration on Cascade Tibalt, what this means for Modern, and, as always, provide some mildly spicy takes.
The Break Down: What
The Dive Down: The
The Dive Down, cont: Falki -
Episode 110: Kaldheim: Testing New Tech & Avoiding New Tricks
Episode | February 5th, 2021 | 1 hr 50 mins
Kaldheim is out, which means there's a bunch of new great, fair decks for us to explore in our favorite formats! Hold on, I'm being handed a note.... oh wait there's some more ways to win on turn 1, as well... So this week we're testing some of the cards and decks that people are talking about, and reporting back with our findings. Before that we check out the latest Modern events to see what's changing there, and looking for Kaldheim cards that are making an impact.
The Break Down: Modern Challenges
The Dive Down: He's Tricky
The Dive Down, cont: More Impact Than Advertised
The Wind Down: Arena Experiences -
Episode 109: Historic Gruul: Smashing & Flashing to Victory
Episode | January 29th, 2021 | 1 hr 48 mins
This week we Dive Down into Gruul Aggro in Historic. After a strong representation and showing in the recent MPL and Rivals Historic weekend events, Gruul looks to be the tier 1 aggro deck in the format. We guide you through deck construction, piloting the deck, and playing against it! Before that, we walk through a meta breakdown on the past month or so of Modern, and are again forced to discuss a certain escaping Titan.
The Break Down: Deep, Deep Modern Meta
The Dive Down: A Truly Busted 2
The Dive Down, pt. 2: A Truly Busted 6 -
Episode 108: Kaldheim Spoilers: Hot Takes on Cool Cards, Vol. 2 ft. AspiringSpike
Episode | January 22nd, 2021 | 1 hr 53 mins
We head back to Kaldheim for more spoiler takes, this time joined by regular guest host Evart Moughon, aka Aspiring Spike! What cards have what it takes to make an impact in Magic's non-rotating formats? We don't really know, but we have some thoughts... We also discuss the recent MPL and Rivals Historic weekend events, and break down the current meta.
The Break Down: It's the MPL, Y'all
The Dive Down: He's Finally Back
The Dive Down, cont: Cards Evart Likes -
Bonus 11: Breaking into Pyro Prison ft. FluffyWolf2
Episode | January 19th, 2021 | 1 hr 8 mins
In our latest bonus episode, Modern streamer and Pyro Prison stalwart FluffyWolf2 joins us for a conversation about earning a reputation for championing a single deck, the state of Modern, and lessons learned streaming MTGO.
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Episode 107: Kaldheim Spoilers: Hot Takes on Cool Cards, Vol. 1
Episode | January 15th, 2021 | 1 hr 46 mins
The first batch of Kaldheim spoilers have dropped, and we're here to provide our patent-pending hot takes. We answer important questions like: what Izzet card will Stan overrate, what Green 5-drop will Shane think just might work, and what reasonable stance will Dave take on every card we discuss? Prior to that we finish up our mutual journey through Zendikar Rising by finding some Cool Decks for our latest installment of Cool Decks, Inc.
The Break Down: Gazpacho Decks, Inc.
The Dive Down, pt 1: Cards Dave Loves
The Dive Down, pt 2: Cards Shane & Stan Hate -
Episode 106: Modern: Stop. Hammertime.
Episode | January 8th, 2021 | 1 hr 47 mins
This week we asked our patrons to tell us what deck to do our next dive on, and they chose one of the up-and-comers of Modern: Hammer Time. And what do you know, it performed incredibly well at the ManaTraders Modern Tournament and put 4 decks into the latest Challenge top 8. What timing! We first go deep on the ManaTraders tourny, then head into the Dive Down to provide a thorough overview of Hammer Time: how do the pieces work together, how you should think about playing it, and how people will try to hate you out.
The Break Down: Modern Manatraders Meta Madness
The Dive Down: The 0s and 1s
The Dive Down, cont: The 2s and +10/+10s -
Episode 105: 2020: A Real Year.
Episode | January 1st, 2021 | 1 hr 52 mins
2020 is a year that did, in fact, happen. And we are here to talk about the year of Magic: The Gathering and our place in it. And maybe make fun of our bad takes. We review Modern, Pioneer, and Historic through 2020, talk about our favorite (and least favorite cards) from the year, review our best (and worst) picks to click, and more! Thanks for your amazing support through 2020. We appreciate you.
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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!