Skullcraic
121 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago -Skullcraic is a weekly Magic: The Gathering digest podcast where three competitive Dublin grinders bring you a breakdown of all the latest Magic news and speculation.
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Episodes
120 - Infinite Turns
March 17, 2020 20:19 - 1 hour - 70.5 MBThis week on Skullcraic is our last! We've got a bit of Magic news, mainly cancellations of events due to the ongoing global crisis! Wizards have also announced an exorbitant Secret Lair comprised of enemy fetchlands! In lighter news, we go wildly off-topic for the remainder of the show and tell you just what we really think of everything from WotC, to Pro Players, to Inked Gaming! Also featuring a bumper edition of Extra Turns, but don't forget to stay tuned after the credits for our last ev...
119 - Invert Expectations
March 11, 2020 20:25 - 1 hour - 74.9 MBThis week on Skullcraic we've got a ton of bans to discuss as well as a report from a local WPNQ! We've also got a special announcement at the end of the episode, so stay tuned for that!
118 - Announcing... Something
March 03, 2020 23:09 - 1 hour - 55.2 MBThis week we've got an announcement of a banlist announcement, the Command Zone gets difficulty levels, and Historic Anthology II has been announced! And we've got a short Standard tournament report from a Win-A-Box tournament this past weekend.
117 - Dream//Start//Jump//Hack
February 25, 2020 22:21 - 1 hour - 48.4 MBThis week we're discussing the announcement of a new booster product, the announcement of Players' Tour Series 2 formats, and the evolution of Magic tournaments at DreamHack Anaheim! We've also got a report from a local WPNQ preliminary from David.
116 - Goatnap
February 18, 2020 22:51 - 1 hour - 46.6 MBThis week we're down one host but that won't stop us as we analyse the decks and the plays of the World Championship and the goatiest GOAT that ever was! We also take a look at the newest batch of Challenger decks announced by WotC during the Worlds stream.
115 - Data Breach
February 11, 2020 23:31 - 1 hour - 42.2 MBIn this episode of Skullcraic we dig into Pioneer with yet more results and data from Players' Tour Americas in Phoenix! Speaking of data, Frank Karsten isn't allowed to analyse all that sweet, sweet Grand Prix matchup data anymore. We've also got a tournament report from the latest round of WPNQ prelims in Dublin from a victorious Ciaran.
114 - Pioneering in Brussels
February 04, 2020 23:34 - 1 hour - 48.9 MBThis week we're back from the very first Pioneer GP/PT, and boy are our arms tired! (from holding cards) We've got a discussion of how the weekend went for each of us as well as our opinions on the format at large based on the multiple top 8s that happened in Brussels and Nagoya. Stay tuned after the outro for a special guest appearance by Player'sTour cash prize winner Dave 'DaveSea' Murphy and friend of the show Eamonn!
113 - Alan, Players' Tour Competitor
January 29, 2020 01:19 - 1 hour - 42.7 MBThis week... Alan's going to the Player's Tour! Huge congratulations to Al, and we get to reap the benefits as he breaks down the sealed pool that brought him to victory in a limited WPNQ. We've also got a discussion of Pioneer and what we're eyeing up for the very first Pioneer Grand Prix in Brussels this weekend! We also have a very very brief mention of some interesting hints about how Wizards views the story fiasco from Theros: Beyond Death.
112 - Lotus Breach
January 22, 2020 21:15 - 1 hour - 44.2 MBThis week we're chewing over a Reddit AMA on the topic of Organized Play, and we've got our first impressions of the Theros: Beyond Death limited format. We dive into our current thoughts on Pioneer and what we're considering playing for GP Brussels.
111 - Simply Planeswalk Away
January 15, 2020 21:13 - 1 hour - 67.7 MBThis week we've got the full set preview of Theros: Beyond Death, and we've got a whole host of bans in Modern! Alan played some WPNQ qualifiers and simply planeswalked into top 8! Oli is a local judge in Ireland who has fallen on some tough times. If you know Oli, you know he lives to help and support people playing Magic. He's a great ambassador for the game and it's nice to have an opportunity to repay that good will. If you'd like to help, you can check out his GoFundMe page.
110 - Open Source Baby Yoda
January 07, 2020 17:43 - 1 hour - 74.2 MBThis week we're up one Ciaran but down one Alan, but we soldier onwards in our odyssey through the wild world of Theros: Beyond Death previews with hot takes on an overhyped card, a True-Name Nemesis functional errata, and some titanic powerhouses!
109 - The Satyr Way
December 31, 2019 18:00 - 1 hour - 69.7 MBThis week, we're discussing a bunch of Theros: Beyond Death previews, and after the outro we give our Top 3 Best and Worst cards from 2019!
108 - Dread Return
December 19, 2019 00:48 - 1 hour - 66.9 MBDavid's back in Ireland and we're all back in the same room and ready to talk about some Magic! We kick things off with some gifts for the lads (and the listeners!) all the way from Japan. We discuss the recent changes to competitive play on both MTGO and Arena, and what that means for those looking to compete seriously. We're also running a little competition in which you can win a selection of Japanese cards from packs cracked live on the show!
107 - GGS
December 03, 2019 08:17 - 1 hour - 60.6 MBThis week Al's out, and Dave Murphy AKA DaveSea89 is in! Dave joins us to discuss Standard, in which Dave recently won a PTQ, Pioneer, in which we accurately predicted the bans, and Secret Lair! Plus a whole lot of smack talk.
106 - Making Game Actions
November 26, 2019 17:13 - 1 hour - 38.3 MBThis week we're going over the major archetypes that are emerging in Standard in the wake of the round of bannings. Pioneer is in a relatively stable place with no bans, but could Field of the Dead and Mono Black decks be a problem in the format? There are no bans this week but we expect that to change after this coming week of daily PTQs. Finally we dive into the controversy surrounding the Magic storyline in recent weeks, with the apparent erasure of queer characters and WotC's response.
105 - Rokotation
November 19, 2019 18:19 - 1 hour - 65.8 MBIn this bumper episode, we dive deep on the implications of the Standard bans, and the Play Design philosophies behind them, and their interaction with the London Mulligan. We discuss the recently-announced updates to Magic Arena and specifically Historic in the form of new cards. And finally Alan has a tournament report form Ireland's de facto most prestigious tournament, the Festival of Champions! We are now a part of the Inked Gaming affiliate program! Inked Gaming is the best place to go...
104 - Controlling Pioneer
November 11, 2019 19:35 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBThis week, Al has rejoined us and we're talking about Mythic Championship VI, the Pioneer bans and subsequent meta evolutions, potential further Pioneer bans and of course a report from GP Lyon courtesy of Alan himself.
103 - Pioneer Priorites
November 04, 2019 04:00 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBThis week we're down one Alan Harrison as he journeys to France in order to participate in GP Lyon. Undaunted, David and Ciaran dive even deeper into the Pioneer decklists with in-depth analysis of the top 8 from the Pioneer PTQ held this weekend. The decklists had not been released at that time so we did our best to put it together from Twitter posts. We also briefly discuss the announcement and structure of fractional invites for the PT.
102 - Pioneer For Your Ears
October 29, 2019 12:48 - 1 hour - 69.6 MBThis week we've got a bumper episode with discussion about further potential bans in Standard, a report from the MCQ weekend on Arena, and going over the top 8 lists from the very first Pioneer challenge this past weekend, as well as notable lists from the top 32.
101 - The Prince, The Pauper and The Pioneer
October 22, 2019 14:45 - 1 hour - 54.4 MBThis is an incredibly exciting week for Magic as the Skullcraic boys discuss the results from Mythic Championship V, the latest banned and restricted announcement, and shockingly, the introduction of an all-new format: Pioneer!
100 - Interview with MPL Member Lucas Esper Berthoud
October 15, 2019 17:34 - 1 hour - 59.5 MBOn this, our 100th episode, we have a very special guest: Lucas Esper Berthoud; MPL member and Pro Tour Aether Revolt winner. We interview Lucas on everything from his PT testing process and the current state of competitive Magic to Blizzard's censorship of its players' political opinions. We also dive into the Standard metagame and get Lucas' thoughts ahead of this weekend's Mythic Championship and potential bans in Standard. We round out with a Tournament Report from Ciaran after a big MTGO...
99 - Circuitously Routed
October 08, 2019 18:59 - 1 hour - 52.1 MBThis week, we dive further into the absolute nonsense that is the week one(!) of this Standard format, with some promising decks from the SCG event, and David finally got to play a prerelease after more than a year!
98 - Fire Dance
October 01, 2019 19:35 - 1 hour - 47.4 MBThis week we're coming in extremely hot with analysis of the brand new standard format and the very first published lists from the Fandom tournaments last week. We also give our limited experiences of Eldraine limited (hah!), including a tournament report from Al from his very successful prerelease.
97 - Witchin' Brews
September 24, 2019 08:10 - 1 hour - 46.9 MBThis week on Skullcraic we have a little bit of Modern talk but the main event involves us going through a whole pile of new Standard brews that we've brought to the table. We hope some of our brews inspire you to make your own!
96 - Once Upon a Chaos Draft
September 17, 2019 09:01 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBThis week we continue with our evaluation of the previewed cards from Throne of Eldraine, and there's an update to how Historic is being handled on MTG Arena! Al gives us a tournament report from his Modern MCQ, as well as the spicy secret tips that will make you a GOD of chaos draft!
95 - We're Going on an Adventure!
September 10, 2019 09:27 - 1 hour - 46.2 MBThis week we've got a whole heap of Throne of Eldraine previews, as well as the announcement of the lineup of sets for the next year! We also get a little tournament prep report from our reporter in the field, Alan!
94 - Historaak
September 03, 2019 17:45 - 1 hour - 46.7 MBThis week we have a whole pile of exciting news as there are multiple shakeups across multiple formats in the Banned and Restricted Announcement. We then go on to discuss the results of those bans (and unbans) in this week's SCG tournament. Plus, we got some new info on how Historic is going to work on Arena after rotation this Autumn.
93 - Gaak Attack!
August 26, 2019 21:45 - 1 hour - 48.1 MBThis week, we talk about the continued dominance of Hogaak in Modern after winning GPVegas, with the full expectation that it will be banned the day after we record! We also get a report from David's Arena MCQ experience and we cover some minor news about MTG apps and the Hall of Fame.
92 - Return of the PT?
August 19, 2019 07:15 - 1 hour - 49.5 MBThis week we're running through the absolutely massive and quite comprehensive changes to Organized Play that have just been announced by Wizards, as well the multitude of reactions to the announcement. We also discuss what we've been playing in Standard recently as David prepares for the Arena MCQ.
91 - Hack the Gaak
August 13, 2019 18:00 - 1 hour - 67 MBA slightly late episode this week as we experienced our first-ever lost recording! But we went and re-recorded the podcast for you fine folks anyway, with Alan and Ciaran giving a full rundown of their European Modern Series Qualifiers last weekend and a discussion of what we've been having success with in Standard over the past week.
90 - Chronoclasmic
August 05, 2019 12:00 - 1 hour - 65.1 MBThis week, we update you all on our evolving takes regarding the Judge Academy situation in the wake of the Reddit AMA, and give an update on where we are in Standard, as well as some decks to investigate. We go over some of the Commander 2019 previews and discuss Alan's seven(!) failed attempts at his driving test.
89 - Hogaak 2: Judgement Day
July 30, 2019 14:39 - 1 hour - 51.6 MBThis week we're a day late and a host short, but Al and David power through illness and fatigue to bring you your weekly dose of Skullcraic, covering the results from the Modern tournaments over the weekend including the Mythic Championship, the announcement of the new Judge Academy organisation, and some Brawl-specific Eldraine cards!
88 - Surprise, Agency, Disappointment
July 22, 2019 12:00 - 1 hour - 78.6 MBThis week, we're talking about the recent round of announcements out of SDCC, including the reveal of the new set Throne of Eldraine, as well as changes to booster packs.
87 - Ban from Below
July 15, 2019 12:00 - 1 hour - 69.5 MBThis week, Ciaran is off on his holidays so Alan and David hold down the fort with discussion of the Banned and Restricted announcement, an update to Arena, uncertainty surrounding the future of MCQs, and AliasV's SuperSpiffy tournament held on Arena!
86 - Breakfast of Group Stage Champions
July 08, 2019 12:05 - 1 hour - 75.1 MBThis week we're discussing the upcoming Banned and Restricted announcement, how we're faring in the new limited and Standard environments, as well as a tournament report from Ciaran and Alan from the Red Bull Untapped online qualifiers.
85 - Historically Bad
July 01, 2019 12:00 - 1 hour - 73.1 MBWe're back this week with further discussion of Core Set 2020, as well as a bevy of announcements for Arena, including season passes, kitties, and a whole new format!
84 - More Set 2020
June 24, 2019 07:00 - 1 hour - 72.8 MBThis week the Skullcraic boys are talking about the ups and downs of Mythic Championship III, as well as a whole bunch of the latest previews from Core Set 2020!
83 - Chandra Triple Threat
June 17, 2019 04:00 - 1 hour - 80.1 MBThis week we're discussing childhood playground games! After that history lesson, we move onto the three new Chandras that have been previewed from Core 2020, and a discussion of the current standard metagame, including results from the latest Grand Prix and SCG Invitational.
82 - Animulligan
June 13, 2019 11:03 - 1 hour - 60.8 MBThis week we're talking about the announcement of an animated Magic show on Netflix, the official implementation of the London mulligan rule, and lots and lots of Standard!
81 - AMCQW
June 04, 2019 04:47 - 1 hour - 63.3 MBWe're back from a one-week hiatus with discussions of all the new tournament series that have been announced, and some card discussions from Modern Horizons. David also gives a tournament report from the first Arena MCQ weekend!
80 - Command the MPL
May 21, 2019 19:26 - 1 hour - 65 MBThis week we dive into Gerry Thompson leaving the MPL, and Wizards' announcement adding Jess Estephan and Savjz to the MPL (hopefully doing our best to be respectful in this discourse). In Standard news, the format continues to evolve in new and unexpected ways week after week. Let's see if this can keep up coming to the first ever Arena Mythic Qualifier Weekend.
79 - The Soft Lock
May 13, 2019 16:35 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBIn this week's episode of Skullcraic, we dive into the developments following the disqualification of Yuuya Watanabe, and then move on to our thoughts on the first round of the MPL league streams. We touch on WAR limited briefly before jumping over to a big discussion of how Standard is shaping up as well as some of the cards from War of the Spark that have made a splash in Modern.
78 - Tamiyo, Bane of Discard Effects
May 07, 2019 17:02 - 1 hour - 75.3 MBThis week we're going over our experience of War of the Spark draft including our impressions of the draft format and some of the cards that have impressed us in our early games. Then we jump straight into Standard, discussing how it feels when you don't feel like you have a handle on a format, and diving into the lists from the top 8 of the first SCG event of this format.
77 - The London Mull-Again
April 29, 2019 19:18 - 1 hour - 93.9 MBThis week on Skullcraic we're talking about Modern at Mythic Championship London and the wealth of information that came along with it! There was a disqualification of an MPL player during the tournament which we cover too. Wizards have also finally announced at least some of what the "League" part of "Magic Pro League" means, so we go over the scarce details of that announcement. Al shares his thoughts on War of the Spark sealed, and David gives his early impressions of standard with the add...
76 - Gideon's Dead, By the Way
April 22, 2019 16:32 - 1 hour - 72.5 MBThis week we're finishing off our impressions of the now fully-previewed War of the Spark! We go over the story implications as we give our thoughts on the remaining cards in the set and get our brewing juices flowing. Next week, we'll be back with some of our initial brews of the set and our first thoughts on the limited format.
75 - The Duck is Back
April 13, 2019 19:11 - 1 hour - 74.5 MBThis week Ciaran rejoins us for even more War of the Spark previews discussion! We also go over some changes to decklist rules at the upcoming Mythic Championship in London, and the announcement of the finalized Mythic Championship Qualifier Schedule.
74 - Wanderer is Emrakul Confirmed
April 08, 2019 14:05 - 1 hour - 74.9 MBThis Week on Skullcraic we're talking even more WAR previews! There are so many planeswalkers, we don't know what to do with ourselves. Constructed applications of the previewed cards take up the bulk of our discussion but of course, we carve out a few minutes to discuss the theory that The Wanderer is actually a well-known and much-beloved flying spaghetti monster in disguise!
73 - In The End
March 31, 2019 19:06 - 1 hour - 80.2 MBThe Mythic Invitational is on our mind this week as we go over our thoughts on the presentation, coverage, and format. War of the Spark has also begun official previews so we come in with our hot takes on all the announced cards, and of course... that trailer!
72 - Challenging Styles
March 25, 2019 15:49 - 1 hour - 62.5 MBThis week, we go over the decklists from this year's crop of Challenger decks, as well as covering the latest announcements for Magic Arena, which include a bunch of new cosmetic options like card backs, new avatars and card styles! Alan brings a triumphant Legacy tournament report and in Extra Turns regales us with a ridiculous April Fools joke!
71 - Faith to the Faithless
March 18, 2019 19:44 - 1 hour - 71.8 MBThis week, we're talking about the most recent Banned and Restricted announcement and the future of Modern considering Faithless Looting wasn't banned. We check in with Standard and let you know what we've been playing and how successful we've been. In Enter the Arena this week, we tackle the daunting issue of how (and why) to build a sideboard!