Top 8 Magic – magic.facetofacegames.com

Brian David Marshall is joined by special guest Roman Fusco at Magic Con Minneapolis, where they talk about the Pro Tour, team drafting, and Roman's work on the March of the Machine cinematic trailer.

Continuing their triumphant return to Top 8 Magic, Mike and BDM discuss all the battles from March of the Machine!

BDM and Michael J make their triumphant return to Top 8 Magic to talk March of the Machine! With a slew of new mechanics what cards will pop out as the stars of the set?

With less than a week until the Grand Finals Brian David-Marshall and Magic: The Gathering Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz discuss the state of Standard post-Uro ban and pre-grand reveal of the 32 Standard decks the players will bring to the virtual tables.

Topics include:

Has the over/under on the number of Omnath's changed?

Why aren't people playing Arboreal Grazer in their Omnath lists?

Red Bull Qualifier decklist discussion.

What does the Walking Dead Secret Lair mean?

Has WotC lost our trust?

Has the Free to Play Arena business model hurt Magic?

Why are the NY Giants and the NFC East soooooo bad right now?

Your hosts:

Brian David-Marshall - @Top8Games

Zvi Mowshowitz - @TheZvi

Brian "BDM" David-Marshall is joined by Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz as they discuss the similarities and differences between the 16 Standard decks being played this weekend at the 26th World Championship.

With the Prerelease coming up this weekend, Brian and Zvi talk their way through the newest Magic set with an eye toward what decks get some new toys and what building blocks will allow for some new decks. This episode covers gold, artifacts and lands. .

With the Prerelease coming up this weekend, Brian and Zvi talk their way through the newest Magic set with an eye toward what decks get some new toys and what building blocks will allow for some new decks. This episode covers black, red and green cards.

With the Prerelease coming up this weekend, Brian and Zvi talk their way through the newest Magic set with an eye toward what decks get some new toys and what building blocks will allow for some new decks. This episode covers white and blue cards.

Brian "BDM" David-Marshall and Mike "MichaelJ" Flores get together for another episode of the longest-running Magic podcast. BDM's office is in the process of moving to a new building so they duo went back to the mall to sip iced tea and talk about some of the new cards that have been coming out for Theros: Beyond Death,

Topics covered in the discussion include:

-Valuable life advice MichaelJ picked up from his dad.

-The incredible editing and Magical prowess of Roman Fusco

-Some Theros cards

-The worst ways to lose

-A potential pie bet between Mike and Zvi

For Part 2, Michael J Flores showed up with cake from Carlos's bakery in Hoboken to celebrate his PTQ win -- more than 23 years after his first PTQ win -- as is the tradition in NY. Topics included the PreTQ, PTQ, and what makes a good Magic format. Followed by some spoilerific discussion of the season finale of WATCHMEN as well as the first three parts of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.

Simic Flash by Michael J Flores

2 Aether Gust
2 Brazen Borrower
2 Mystical Dispute
1 Negate
3 Quench
3 Sinister Sabotage
4 Frilled Mystic
2 Hydroid Krasis
4 Growth Spiral
4 Nightpack Ambusher
4 Nissa, Who Shakes the World
3 Paradise Druid
4 Breeding Pool
2 Castle Vantress
2 Fabled Passage
7 Forest
7 Island
4 Temple of Mystery

Sideboard
1 Ugin, the Ineffable
2 Aether Gust
2 Mystical Dispute
2 Hydroid Krasis
4 Cavalier of Thorns
2 Lovestruck Beast
2 Shifting Ceratops

The whole gang is together for this one -- sort of. First Brian David-Marshall and Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz chatted about ***spoilers*** Michael J's PTQ win this past weekend, the state of Standard, and what Zvi is hoping to find under his Utopia Tree this holiday season from the slowly-being-revealed Theros Beyond Death set.

We got your new deck hot takes hot off the presses. With Mike Flores on the road for business, BDM and Zvi had to maintain the homefront and get down to the business of looking at the decks for this weekend's MC. They started recording minutes before the decks went live and kept going until they had covered at least one of each of the archetypes with an eye out for the Dune Award for the deck with the most spice.

Brian David-Marshall (aka BDM) and Michael J. Flores (aka MichaelJ) [aka co-hosts of the longest-running Magic podcast in the game] get together outside Montasy Comics NYC where MichaelJ can normally be found FNMing his heart out. This Friday brought a different mission. Mike was preparing for what we assume is a lame duck Standard format with a PTQ on his docket for Sunday -- ONE DAY BEFORE A MUCH ANTICIPATED BANNED ANNOUNCEMENT SHOULD SHAKE THE FORMAT BY ITS LAPELS.

*It is important to note that 5th Avenue in the heart of midtown is miles away from the quaint and cozy corner of Waverly and Gay or the peaceful shores of the Hudson River in Hoboken. NYC was in full throat with actual f***ing jackhammers, ambulances, and hobo commentary.*

Mike was taking the night off from his beloved FNM to just test for the PTQ and there were plenty of options on the table -- including Karn? -- to deal with what should be Oko's last hurrah.

In the meanwhile Mike and BDM took the opportunity to be spectacularly wrong by guessing which cards would get crushed by WotC's banhammer before this podcast is even posted on Monday.

How'd we do?

Brian David-Marshall and Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz sat down at the Upper Westside location of Hex and Company (a burgeoning chain of NYC gaming cafes) to talk about Zvi's preparation for the upcoming Mythic Championship in Richmond. He walked through his approach to draft and why he thinks it is actually easy being green in Throne of Eldraine. He also reveals the deck that was almost his weapon of choice. At the time of recording he was pretty set on playing Cavaliers but was still hoping to go back to his ElkBlade brew; a deck that combines elements of the ubiquitous Food decks with the finishing power of Questing Beast and Embercleave. Hear how one of the greatest minds in the history of the game tackles one of the most frustrating metagames in his long memory of the game.

With the shining NYC skyline as a backdrop, BDM and MichaelJ enjoyed one of the few remaining gorgeous days of the year to talk about all the big news of the day.

What were the biggest flavor fails of Mythic Championship V?

What will Standard look like in two weeks at Mythic Championship VI now that Field of the Dead has been banned in Standard?

Which mountains will Mike use for the new Pioneer format?

Exactly how many cards will be banned in Pioneer by the time the Pro Tour rolls around for it next year?

It was a dark and stormy night... No seriously. It was both dark and stormy. What better weather to huddle up in the office and pore over pages and pages of decklists. The Top 8 Magic team was out in full force with Brian "BDM" David-Marshall, Michael "MichaelJ" J. Flores, and Zvi "The Zvi" Mowshowitz breaking down the Mythic Championship V field just days before the event happens. With decks being locked in more than a week before the actual event was to be played, how much innovation got locked out in the tight turnaround time? With 29 of the 68 decks featuring some flavor of Golos/Field of the Dead, and other two dozen+ sporting Oko, will something actually get banned on Monday? If it does, would another week of time given the field enough time to defeat the enemy? Find out what the trio thinks as all the regular members of the longest running Magic podcast are together again for the first time. This one is wall to wall Magic and you won't want to miss it (unless you are here for the TV/movies/basketball talk).

Aaaaaand they’re back not days after their last podcast. Zvi ran a Doom Patrol list — his modified version of the Doom Foretold deck Bryan Gottlieb has popularized for the new Standard — to a 12-1 finish in the big Arena Standard preview event over the weekend. He and BDM discuss the list, what changes might be made moving forward, and how the deck is positioned in the metagame.

While discussing the deck they digressed slightly into the Daryl Morey incident and the NBA reaction to his support of Hong Kong. This discussion happened BEFORE the Blizzard news about rescinding Blitzchung’s Hearthstone Grandmaster prize money and firing the casters of the event.

On the day of BDM getting to play with Throne of Eldraine cards for the very first time he sat down with Pro Tour champion and Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz to get his first takes on the new Limited format.

After the draft, BDM and Michael J. Flores connect to talk about the draft (***spoilers*** it did not go well) and discuss the cards Mike is thinking about buying from Face to Face Games for this new Standard format. After that the two discuss the new fall TV season and what they have been watching so far.

Once upon a time there was a Hall of Famer and Pro Tour champion named Zvi who was going to be attending the Mythic ball in Richmond. Before he could attend that ball the wicked tournament organizer said had to complete all his chores; poring over the new cards as they were released to public, thinking about building new decks, and talking about the new cards for multiple hours on the longest running Magic podcast on the game’s history. 

Magic Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz joins Pro Tour Historian emeritus for another episode — and then another one after that — of Top 8 Magic. 

Find out which cards have the noted deckbuilder excited about the upcoming Standard format, which one he fully expects to get banned in Modern, and what the gamblers line would be for Hall of Famer-elect Reid Duke to register a copy of Garruk, Cursed Huntsman in his 75 cards for Richmond. 

This podcast contains no actual modern Mardu Burn list but it does eventually get around to why not. There is extensive Magic talk though as your hosts Brian David-Marshall and Michael J. Flores both had a topic of interest. 

BDM wanted to dwell on some of the new cards spoiled from Throne of Eldraine — specifically the possibility of the Adventure mechanic allowing for a Rube Goldberg-like buyback mechanic on the spell side. 

MichaelJ was talking on the eve of a large local MCQ — no PTQ — wait? still an MCQ? — and he was in full pyro mode talking about his beloved burn deck and all the various permutations from Rakdos to Boros to Naya and even the apocryphal Mardu Burn. 

After well more than an hour of Magic talk they turn their attention to what shows they have been watching — which for two very busy guys is a disturbingly large amount of television content.

The longest running Magic: The Gathering podcast returns to talk about this year's newly renamed Magic Hall of Fame, swings at some savage rumors, and finishes up on where Modern will be after a trio of key bannings and un-bannings. Pro Tour Historian, Emeritus Brian David-Marshall is joined by onetime Resident Genius Michael J Flores AND A BRAND NEW MICROPHONE for our, um, four hundred and eighty-seventh episode!

Michael J Flores and Brian David-Marshall are reunited and MichaelJ doesn’t feel so good. The classic line-up for Magic’s longest-running podcast is back together after a brief interruption. MichaelJ was away on vacation and after sleeping on a boat for close to two weeks he has been diagnosed with landsickness — which apparently is not what happens when you miss Lan D Ho but something much more serious. 

The guys decided to celebrate by playing a little FNM. Mike played his MonoGreen Standard deck that BDM refers to as “last year’s model” while Brian opts for a little Core set draft. First couple of minutes are pretty noisy as “Table for 8” is a lot louder than one for two. After the noisy intro the guys take it to the streets after their rounds to recount the evening and then talk about the future of WPNQs, PTQs and all things related to the recent OP announcements. 

BDM and Zvi  with their immediate reactions to the new esports announcement. 

BDM & Mike Flores react to the aftermath of Hogaak Summer at the most recent Mythic Championship in Barcelona.

*spoiler alert* If you haven’t watched Spider-Man: Far From Home you should STOP LISTENING WHEN BDM TELLS YOU TO. *spoiler alert* 

Brian David-Marshall and Mike Flores are reunited for another episode of the longest running Magic podcast in the game. Before they did though, Brian met up with Top8Magic superfan, and professional comic book illustrator, Butch Mapa at Joe’s Coffee Shop on the iconic corner of Waverly and Gay in the West Village of NYC. 

Later that day Mike and BDM reconnected to discuss their respective Prerelease weekends, why BDM thinks Prereleases should go away, and whether or not banning Bridge from Below will solve some of the problems that have emerged in the wake of Modern Horizons. (Spoilers; Mike thinks there may be a more problematic card that needs to be banned from that set and posits a new breakfast cereal/combo deck). 

If you haven’t watched Spider-Man: Far From Home you should DEFINITELY STOP LISTENING WHEN BDM TELLS YOU TO. That’s pretty much the topic of conversation the rest of the way. 

With BDM out of town, Mike tags in Pro Tour Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz to preview the White cards from Core Set 2020.

BDM and Zvi find themselves on the road again away from Brian’s trusty co-host MichaelJ. They huddled up around a tablet in some business class motel on the other side of the country to discuss a variety of timely topics from the results from Mythic Championship III to the Wild West metagaming of the Red Bull tournament series to some discussion of the previewed gold cards from Magic 2020 to see which ones Zvi feels might breakthrough in Standard despite obvious roles in Limited and Commander formats. There is even a smattering of politics to keep it extra topical. 

Mike and BDM get together again on the eve of Mythic Championship III for another Top 8 Magic. Followed by a special bonus section of Zvi and BDM analyzing the MCIII decklists!

Mike and BDM return to their old haunt at Waverly and Gay, to discuss crowd-funding travel for pro play, the weight of the impact Modern Horizons is already having on Modern (especially two specific cards), and the MPL challenger invitations.

BDM has returned from Canada, and he and Mike Flores get together to discuss Brian's Preprerelease first picks, more Modern Horizons cards that Mike is excited to try in Modern, and what they're watching (that isn't basketball).

BDM and Mike Flores are back together, a little less noisy, and going over all of the White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green cards from Modern Horizons previewed so far, that aren't slivers!

BDM is in San Francisco this week, without Mike. But good thing he is, as this gave him the chance to connect and catch up with Pro Tour Hall of Famer and old friend, Zvi Mowshowitz about Magic the Gathering old and new.

BDM and Mike discuss the Magic events of the past week (as well as some non-Magical ones as well).

Mike and BDM get together in a mysterious mall to talk the best new cards in Standard, while Brian turns Mike on to a strange new way of playing "group game" Magic.

 SPOILERS ALERT!!

Note to Listener: If you have not watched Avengers Endgame or the Battle of Winterfell episode of Game of Thrones... when BDM says “stop listening” at the half hour mark of the podcast you should really, really, REALLY stop listening and skip over the remaining hour or so of the recording. If you are not sure when to stop just immediately fling your headphones away when BDM says... COMMENCE THE ENDGAME!

Mike and BDM get together again a second time this week to discuss comics, more War of the Spark story and preview cards, and once again confirm a key piece of prerelease advice.

Mike and BDM get together at Brookfield to hash out their Game of Thrones death pools, War of the Spark preview cards, and the key piece of prerelease advice you that will win you games.

Brian David-Marshall is back in NYC after competing in the Mythic Invitational, so he and Mike meet to talk:

Mike Flores and Brian David-Marshall return to the their old haunt of Waverly & Gay, ghosts and all, to discuss the best burger in New York, Modern bannings, War of the Spark, and more. 

 Mike Flores and Brian David-Marshall return to the soundwaves from the streets of NYC to continue their review of basketball, Mythic Championship Cleveland, Magic coverage, and everything but the Ravnica Allegiance Blue cards. 

Mike Flores and Brian David-Marshall return to the soundwaves from the streets of NYC to continue their review of Ravnica Allegiance by poring through the Red cards.

Mike Flores and Brian David-Marshall return to the soundwaves from the streets of NYC to continue their review of Ravnica Allegiance by closing out Multicoloured cards, and then examining the Artifacts and Lands. 

Mike Flores and Brian David-Marshall return to the soundwaves from the streets of NYC to continue their review of Ravnica Allegiance with the Multicoloured cards.

Mike Flores and Brian David-Marshall return to the soundwaves from the streets of NYC to celebrate nine years of Top 8 Magic, and review the Green cards of Ravnica Allegiance.