GerryT Podcast With Dave Shiels

In this timeless episode, Gerry and Bryan volunteer up some of their many weaknesses and discuss how they apply to Magic and life. Playing games competitively isn't as simple as playing the games. Sometimes it takes some real self-awareness to fix your weaknesses.

Despite spending a lengthy amount of time talking about Temur Energy and Ramunap Red, the real story of Standard is the new decks that are popping up. How do Temur and Red deal with these new threats and where does the metagame go next? Spoiler: Cut your Disenchants this weekend!

In this episode, Gerry breaks down his Pro Tour Ixalan experience, including the changes he made to his Temur Energy list to combat the field. Past that, there were six decks that did well at Pro Tour Ixalan that might still be under the radar.

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!