Allied Strategies Magic the Gathering Podcast

This is the final episode of Allied Strategies, and we have none other than the original co-host of the show, Neal Oliver, to reminisce about the past 6 years we’ve spent together! As the primary reason the show’s ending is that Benjamin is going to work for WOTC, we’ve also picked out some of our favorite Magic card designs to plant some good ideas in his head as he starts working to create this game that we love so much! Thank you to all of our supporters, Patrons, and listeners – making this show has been a delight and the messages we’ve received from you over the years and the hellos you’ve said at Magic tournaments have meant the world to us.

Benjamin’s competing in the upcoming Zendikar Rising Championship – learn about the decks he’s chosen for both Standard and Historic and hear some bold claims about the power level of his cards!

This week’s episode features the debut of a fun new magic-card naming game, inspired by Alex Horne’s No More Jockeys. There’s also sporadic discussion of magic strategy, but really not very much so skip this episode if that’s what you’re looking for!

This week we’re taking a look at what went down at the MOCS, both in broad terms of how the metagames looked for the constructed formats and how Vintage Cube worked as a limited format, as well as some analysis of specific moments.

This weekend is the MOCS – read about it here: https://magic.gg/news/2019-magic-online-championship-viewers-guide In this episode, we break down how Modern, Pioneer, and Cube are looking going into the weekend.

This week we’re taking a look at several of the decks that occupy the most sizeable portions of the Standard metagame. Though there are some clear pillars of the format, there’s a lot left to explore and a lot of opportunity for a savvy player to be rewarded for good deck selection, building, and tuning, and it’s shaping up to be a format that remains interesting for some time.

This week we’re busting out an old segment, Will of the Council, in which we present two options, vote on them, and then declare the loser stupid. We also discuss the new style of broadcasting for organized play, and some fun games to play during quarantine. Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

This week we’re taking a strategic look at the London Mulligan and discussing how it impacts gameplay, deck selection, deck building, and mulligan decision-making. This was inspired by a blog post by Alex Majlaton, read that here: https://neverdraftingagain.blogspot.com/2020/10/we-probably-dont-understand-london.html Here’s the reference image for the end story:

This week we covered the 2020 Season Grand Finals. Topics include Benjamin’s tournament results and deck thoughts, Intentional Draws in the digital age, and the future of Standard. Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

This week Benjamin is getting ready for a tournament he’s decided to refer to as Worlds! Learn all about the Standard and Historic metagames he’s expecting and the decks he’s picked for each format. Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

This week we’re not going to dwell for too long on the state of standard, just for a few minutes at the start. Our main topic is a selection of cards from the new set that we think will be impactful in the Historic format. Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

This week we’re honoring (and dishonoring) some of the cards exiting Standard with this rotation. Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

We’re back with more Zendikar Rising individual card discussion! Join us again next week to see if we will repeat the pattern for a third time! Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

This week we’ve picked out some exciting cards from Zendikar Rising to discuss, mostly in the context of constructed but with a little bit of limited discussion too! Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”)

Learn the strategic adjustments we suggest based on the power level of the format! Tips and tricks are given for formats everywhere on the spectrum from the highest power level formats, like Masters sets, all the way down to the most basic Core Set. Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”) https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/allied-strategies-254.mp3

This week we’re ranking stuff! Find out our top 5 Planeswalkers, Sweepers, Draft Commons, and more! Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”) https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/allied-strategies-253.mp3

Here’s the B&R announcement: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/august-8-2020-banned-and-restricted-announcement This week we’re discussing these bans and the kind of cards and strategies that may be enabled by them. Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”) https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/allied-strategies-252.mp3

Benjamin has experienced some uncharacteristic success and will be making an appearance in the top 8 over at twitch.tv/magic this weekend as the first seed! This week we inflate his ego further by discussing this, though we make sure to keep it in check with frequent backhanded compliments. Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”) https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/allied-strategies-251.mp3

This week we didn’t really have anything to talk about – the PT finals are coming up this weekend and both Ben and Sam have been prepping but neither felt like talking much about it, so instead we talked about all kinds of things. We hope to be back to magic soon, but we’re all a little burned out on it right now! Here’s the image mentioned near the start of the show: And here’s a link to the Quora post mentioned after the music at the end: https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-find-the-positive-integer-solutions-to-frac-x-y+z-+-frac-y-z+x-+-frac-z-x+y-4 Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”) https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/allied-strategies-250.mp3

As is tradition, there are some Organized Play changes that draw discussion from us as part of this week’s show. Here’s a link if you want to follow along: https://magic.gg/news/announcing-the-2020-2021-magic-esports-season After that, we transition to our main topic – Benjamin’s getting ready to play the PT finals with a deck that he neither enjoys nor is any good at. This is not a situation that most players need to put themselves through, but it does at least partially resonate with many of us. Download this episode here! (right click and “save as…”) https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/alliedstrategiespodcast.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/allied-strategies-249.mp3