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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Bonus 6: Modern Blue Moon w/ ThePenSword
Episode | February 25th, 2020 | 1 hr 23 mins
In this bonus episode, Stan interviews a fixture of the MTGO leagues and Modern Blue Moon aficionado, Jacob Cumiskey aka ThePenSword. They talk about the ins and outs of Blue Red control decks, ranging from Thing in the Ice to Through the Breach, and gush over some of their favorite counterspells.
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Episode 61: Heliod Combo: Modern Spike Feeding
Episode | February 21st, 2020 | 1 hr 51 mins
We take a dive into Heliod Company Combo in Modern. How it works, what we learned, and how annoying it is to play on Magic Online!
The Break Down: NRG Indianapolis
The Dive Down: Infinite Life and Infinite Misclicks
The Wind Down: Manners, Schmanners -
Episode 60: More Meta, More Meta, More Meta
Episode | February 14th, 2020 | 1 hr 43 mins
We're headed back to where it all started - Modern! This week's episode is an exploration of the past month+ of Modern events on Magic Online. What's rising, what's fading, and what do we think about it?
The Break Down: RPT Phoenix and Shane's GP Phoenix experience
The Dive Down: More Meta, More Meta, More Meta -
Bonus 5: The Shadowy Science w/ Michael Rapp
Episode | February 11th, 2020 | 1 hr 18 mins
In this bonus episode, Dave interviews certified Death's Shadow Scientist Michael Rapp about playing... well Death's Shadow. They actually do a bit of a deep dive on decks of all different shadow sizes including the most popular build of the moment — 4 Color Traverse.
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Episode 59: Sleeve/Believe/Heave: Theros Beyond Death Edition
Episode | February 7th, 2020 | 1 hr 41 mins
We kick off this week’s show with a Break Down of the first two Pioneer Players Tours, from sister cities Brussels and Nagoya. Then we Dive Down with the latest Sleeve/Believe/Heave featuring 3 spicy Pioneer decks inspired by new cards from Theros.
The Wind Down: Players Tours Brussels & Nagoya
The Dive Down: Sleeve/Believe/Heave ft. Theros Beyond Death -
Episode 58: Diving Deeper: #2020Goals
Episode | January 31st, 2020 | 1 hr 48 mins
First up this week, we take a spin through what's been popping up in Pioneer and Modern since the release of Theros: Beyond Death. In our Dive Down section, each of us talks about our goals for improving our game or relationship with MtG in 2020 (#2020Goals #squadgoals #whathappensnextmightsurpriseyou). Finally, we wind down with some of Stan's tales of fantastic planeswalkers and where to find them — in London and Amsterdam, at least.
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Episode 57: Oh Lord He Comin': Chonky Red ft. Todd Anderson
Episode | January 24th, 2020 | 1 hr 55 mins
This week The Dive Down crew welcomes special guest Todd Anderson to join us on our first Pioneer-focused Deck Dive — Chonky Red! Listen to find out why it's not an aggro deck, how tightly you should hold your Rabblemasters, and how to really bring the glory.
The Break Down: Todd and All Things Todd
The Dive Down: Chonk and All Things Chonk
The Wind Down: Listener Questions -
Episode 56: Bans & Theros: Beyond Hyped, Vol. 2
Episode | January 17th, 2020 | 1 hr 42 mins
We take another look at Theros Beyond Death, and share some of our picks to click in Pioneer and Modern!
The Break Down: Irrelevant top 8s and, oh yeah, HUGE MODERN BANS
The Dive Down: Theros Beyond Death Picks to Click - Again!
The Wind Down: The Dive Down Nation's favorite cards from Theros Beyond Death -
Episode 55: Theros: Beyond Hyped, Vol. 1
Episode | January 10th, 2020 | 1 hr 36 mins
The crew takes a first look at Theros Beyond Death, and share some of their favorite, standout cards.
The Break Down: MTGO Modern Championship
The Dive Down: Theros Beyond Death Picks -
Bonus 4: Casual Spike Meets Aspiring Spike
Episode | December 31st, 2019 | 1 hr 1 min
In this installment of our monthly bonus episodes, Shane talks to the popular streamer Evart Moughon, better known as Aspiring Spike, about Pioneer, Modern, streaming, and playing with and against control decks.
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Episode 54: The Many Moods of Monastery Mentor
Episode | December 27th, 2019 | 1 hr 44 mins
The lads see if Monastery Mentor has what it takes to succeed in Pioneer by testing 3 different decks!
The Break Down: Looking over the post-Oko Pioneer Preliminaries (plus some Modern Prelims)
The Dive Down: Making mistakes with Monastery Mentor
The Wind Down: Holiday listener questions -
Episode 53: Diving Deeper: 5 Pioneer Takeaways
Episode | December 20th, 2019 | 1 hr 39 mins
This week we Dive Deeper into the Pioneer format, and bring you 5 ways to level up your play!
The Break Down: The latest Pioneer bans, and WOTC's new B&R schedule
The Dive Down: Level up your Pioneer thinking with 5 takeaways
The Wind Down: We answer some listener questions -
Episode 52: 2019: A Real Year
Episode | December 13th, 2019 | 1 hr 47 mins
The guys get together in a studio to indulge themselves with discussion of our favorite Dive Down (and Magic) moments of 2019.
The Break Down: We talk about what we have been playing and enjoying in Modern and Pioneer
The Dive Down: The best (and worst) of 2019 -
Episode 51: ROY G NIV: 5C Niv-Mizzet ft. Faithless Brewing
Episode | December 6th, 2019 | 1 hr 45 mins
The Dive Down teams up with Faithless Brewing to bring you a deck dive into Five Color Niv-Mizzet!
The Break Down: The week of Pioneer PTQs and the subsequent bans
The Dive Down: The Five Color Niv-Mizzet deck dive! -
Bonus 3: Return of the Reply Guys
Episode | December 2nd, 2019 | 56 mins 22 secs
In our third bonus episode, we take questions from our awesome fans and listeners about Magic the Gathering and our personal lives.
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Episode 50: How to Casual Spike a New Deck
Episode | November 27th, 2019 | 1 hr 39 mins
The crew tackle a level-up topic: how to overcome the challenge of picking up a new deck!
The Break Down: GP Columbus
The Dive Down: That Fresh Deck Smell
The Dive Down, cont.: Those Fresh Deck Plans