The Gam Podcast

What if Pro Tour Albuquerque was Modern? How would Gerry and Bryan go about deciding what deck to play? Where would it lead them? One of Bryan's greatest skills is deck selection and Gerry has been working on honing his. This is probably our best episode yet!

Whether you're playing with it or playing against it, you're going to need to be familiar with Temur Energy. Gerry and Bryan both worked on the deck for US Nationals, so they have a lot to say about Temur and its place in the metagame. Why is the deck built how it is, what are the flex slots, and what should the sideboard look like?

Gerry passes the hosting reigns over to Bryan for this episode since he's got a ton of questions for Gerry's World Championship experience! Find out how he ended up playing U/B Control, what the tournament was like, and how U/B looks going forward.

Everyone loves a Top 10 list, and Gerry and Bryan give each of theirs for Ixalan. As always, their lists differ by more than a couple cards, and each of them have their own spicy picks! Their Top 10 lists frame the discussion of what's going to be good Week 1, what the standouts from Ixalan are, and what sorts of brews are out there. This episode has it all!

Gerry and Bryan have meticulously combed through the Ixalan previews, looking for new deck ideas and how to fill out the already existing archetypes like Pirates and Dinosaurs. Merfolk is by far the most misunderstood tribe, but Gerry knows what a successful Merfolk deck is going to look like. The transform cards are also a mystery, but they're excited by more than a few of them!

Our first episode discussing Ixalan cards! The Dinosaurs look great! They're the most straight-forward tribe, whereas Pirates, Merfolk, and Vampires are a tad confusing. What are we supposed to be doing with them? Also, what do the reprints of Duress, Spell Pierce, Opt, and Lightning Strike mean for Standard? Is Opt the next coming of Preordain?

This week we tackle a little bit of Standard and a lot of Modern! With Grand Prix Washington DC this weekend, it's the last chance to play Battle for Zendikar in this ever-changing Standard format. Who is going to come out on top? Modern has gone through some shakeups lately, and conveniently enough, it's the first time Gerry and Bryan have gotten to talk about Modern. See what Bryan's approach to the format has been, why Gerry is off Grixis Death's Shadow, and what the new Modern metagame looks like. Next week: Ixalon previews!

Gerry has one rule for Standard that he's going to put to good use at Grand Prix Washington DC. If you've got a Standard tournament coming up, the rule could greatly inform your deck selection. This Standard format has been mostly defined by deck selection and reading the metagame correctly. Where's it headed next?

It looked like W/U Monument was poised to take over the format, then Ramunap Red, then Zombies and B/G -- How is Standard moving so quickly? How has the dissemination of information changed things? What's the next step in staying on top of Standard?

It's time for Pro Tour Hour of Devastation! What do Bryan and Gerry think about Standard right before the Pro Tour? What are the best decks? What's going to break out? What beats Mono-Red?

Magic Online is changing how it releases results from tournaments, but what does that mean for us grinders? How do we adapt to this new world with less information? Aside from that, we have the first big results for Hour of Devastation Standard. What looked good and what underperformed? Why was the Magic Online PTQ so much different from SCGCinci?

We've been testing Standard with Hour of Devastation on Magic Online! Get the insight into what we like, what we've seen, and what we want to work on. @bryango's G/R Ramp decklist: 3 Chandra, Flamecaller 2 Hour of Devastation 3 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger 4 Thought-Knot Seer 2 Abrade 2 Dissenter's Deliverance 4 Sheltered Thicket 4 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods 1 Sanctum of Ugin 4 Hashep Oasis 1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow 4 Hour of Promise 4 Beneath the Sands 4 Traverse the Ulvenwald 4 Ramunap Ruins 3 Forest 2 Mountain 1 Scavenger Grounds 3 Sweltering Suns 4 Walking Ballista 1 Evolving Wilds Sideboard 1 World Breaker 4 Tireless Tracker 3 Magma Spray 4 Reality Smasher 1 Struggle//Survive 1 Nissa's Defeat 1 Manglehorn

We have the complete set list for Hour of Devastation! In this episode, we discuss our Top 10 lists from Hour, what new Standard is going to look like, how the old decks fare, and even discuss new archetypes that are showing promise.

RIP Michael Majors! Majors took a job with Wizards of the Coast and their Play Design team, so that means it's time to find a new co-host. I did it, and he's great! You'll just have to listen to find out who. We spent the rest of the cast talking about the Hour of Devastation previews and what has us excited so far.

We took your questions and answered them! Find out a bunch of cool stuff, including what we do wrong, what mistakes people make when playtesting, and how important it is to have a team.

Gerry and Majors break down what happened in the Modern Grand Prix, their picks for the best decks, the best builds of those decks, and some cool technology that popped up. If you enjoy Modern, you can't miss it!

Is it just the best? How do you beat it? What version is the best? In this episode, Gerry and Michael break down Standard's most hated archetype. Even if you're not planning on spinning the Marvel yourself, you need to know how to beat it. They also get into some interesting theory points, such as how many reactive cards you want on the play. It's basically a can't miss episode.

Andrew Brown takes the reins for this special episode all about Pro Tour Amonkhet and the first and sixteenth place finishes for Gerry and Michael. They talk about their preparation, the Standard metagame, and even a little bit about Amonkhet draft.

Gerry and Michael investigate why Mardu seemed to be absolutely annihilating everyone at #SCGATL. Were the bannings short-sighted? Are we in for a one deck format instead of a two deck format? They don't seem to think so, and even have some thoughts on decks that didn't dominate the weekend, but definitely looked like they had the tools to succeed.

Note: This episode was recorded before Felidar Guardian was emergency banned. Most of the information is still good though! With Amonkhet officially out on Magic Online, Gerry and Michael finally get to work on tackling Standard. What are the early winners and losers of their testing, and what has everyone else been playing? If you like the show, we'd appreciate any support you could give at Patreon.com/thegampodcast. Thank you so much!