CardShark

Prepare yourselves for a wild ride. That's all the warning you get.

This episode, we're taking it back. All the way back to our college days when we would spend many hours of the night, many times a week, playing big round table multiplayer Magic. To help us take it all the way back that far, we have my old roommate Corey joining us for the first time. You may remember hearing about him on previous shows, and now you get to experience him firsthand and find out why he sticks out in our minds.

What we're discussing here today are specific cards in multiplayer. More to the point, we're discussing those cards that we just love to play in multiplayer. Everything from the staples like Syphon Soul and Forgotten Ancient to the finishers like Insurrection and Verdant Force – why we like them and what makes them great for multiplayer. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

We're also going to talk about some of those cards that we just absolutely hate to see on the table across from us. Of course this covers the obvious things like Stasis and Portcullis, but also the more subtly miserable cards like Fatespinner and Telepathy. We'll go over what exactly it is about all these cards that we despise so much.

Of course, along the way we get sidetracked, erupt into fits of laughter, go off on tangents, and pick on each other mercilessly. Like more than usual, I mean. Apparently good old Chuck (one of my nicknames for Corey, Chuck Steak) is a bad influence on us. Or maybe a good influence. Whichever it is, I hope you guys get as big a kick out of listening as we did recording it.


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This episode was so much fun to record . I really hope that it's just as much fun for everyone to listen to.

What are some of your favorite multiplayer cards? For those listeners who were not around for some of these cards we mentioned, did any of them interest you?

I currently have two episode 82s on my iPod. That makes me feel special.

I don't actually have a lot of old multiplayer cards, but Putrid Warrior isn't too bad when you stick a pinger onto him. Blue pinger things work very nicely.

I thought Corey fell off the world? You found him floating in space?

And I actually prefer to get my cards from my local comic shop. At least, booster packs. Their singles selection is very limited, although they're cheaper. A Glimpse there is 8 dollars, while at the card shop it was 10 dollars.

probally my favorite episode yet. nothing i can really say, i just LOVED it, i am really looking forward to the next few episodes.

Great episode guys. It had me laughing the whole way through.

When you started talking about Kelly Digges' eternal format, I cringed a little. I tried that out with a 4-person group and on my fourth turn (my first real turn) i got smashed by a 24/24 Heedless One. Haha. Elf decks just don't burn out as fast as others I guess. We haven't played the format since. I think your idea of raising the number of turns one takes at the beginning of the reentry into the game is spot on, especially in a smaller group, where there are less people to attack, target, etc.

Great episode guys. Keep churning them out.

Nice intro, guys. I can't believe Corey came back from the dead for this episode! Too bad it took me like 2 days to listen to the episode since it was so long.

I definitely agree with your choices for multiplayer cards.

Chewie said it best when he mentioned that discard pisses people off so our particular playgroup did not play it much. Although I had a multiplayer discard deck that ran 3 copies. In a deck with the Rackling, Viseling, etc.

Hooray for Mike with the Forgotten Ancient nod! Boo for the Spike deck. And Brian, you forgot to mention the Mephidross Vampire in that massive combo.

I think Corey wins the best card suggestion for Insurrection. But like Chewie said, watch out for the Fog/Holy Day, mwahaha!

And in my defense about the Fog/Holy Day stuff, if the point of the game is for you to kill me, I should plan to play with things that stop that from happening. Durr. Same goes for life-gain. I mean, when I played my life-gain deck(s), it took all of you to try and kill me. That says it's a good card. Thankfully, Ageless Entity was eventually printed and I was able to turn that ability to stay alive into being able to kill someone.

Lhurgoyf! Man, my Lhurgoyf used to rock you guys. Mortivore is still the best. Mmm, regenerate...

Thanks for yet another great episode, guys!

EDIT: Chewie mentioned the big multiplayer plans in the works. It looks like I'll be in town the last weekend of June. How's that for Corey?

Did you guys forget to mention the Blood Tyrant in an episode about multiplayer cards?

At any rate, I've found counterbalance to be an interesting one because it seriously handicaps whoever first casts a spell after each of your draws (and has little to no impact whatsoever on the others once they see your top card).