First Pick:

Xmas treat - Masterpieces revealed (2 in AER not revealed)

Paradox Engine

5 mana

Legendary Artifact

Whenever you cast a spell untap all non-land permanents you control.

Planar Bridge

6 mana

Legendary Artifact

8, tap: search your library for a permanent card, put it onto the battlefield. Shuffle your library.

Gather the Townsfolk:

Rudy of Alpha Investments is back! Hosetown; @mtg_alphainvest

Alpha Investments YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTp-iVOtTrKau0skmfZlo5Q

https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/5kgarx/crushing_the_dream_of_working_at_wizards_of_the/  - “The opposite of love is not hate, but apathy.”

Followup: https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/5ki2fs/why_wizards_is_okay/

Going Infinite

Sam Black’s Banned Wishlist
- Sensei’s Divining Top in Legacy
- Mox Opal, Golgari Grave-Troll
- Unban Jace the Mind Sculptor, and Bloodbraid Elf. Birthing Pod, if Jace & Bloodbraid return
- Emrakul in Standard
- Joked about Modern reprint of Cabal Therapy

Rosewater & Snow Duals: https://twitter.com/maro254/status/812042770957275137

The Finisher

A Twitter discussion popped up this week that I really enjoyed, so as the last Finisher of 2016 I have to ask: “Without revealing your actual age, what something you remember that if you told a younger person they wouldn't understand?”

First Pick:

Oath of Ajani

Tezzeret the Schemer

Quicksmith Spy

Gather the Townsfolk:

2 Ways to Fix Standard

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/2-ways-to-fix-standard/

Drapht Around the World: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=13689&writer=Raphael+Levy&articledate=12-20-2016

Rudy from Alpha Investments

Splash Damage

Overwatch’s Tracer is revealed to be gay: http://kotaku.com/our-thoughts-on-overwatchs-tracer-being-gay-1790338620

Going Infinite

http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/154661870028/when-we-eventually-return-to-dominaria-will-the#notes

The Finisher

This is our last episode before Christmas. So with visions of Thopter Pie Networks dancing in our heads, what are you hoping to find under your tree next Sunday?

First Pick:

Spoiler - Consulate Crackdown

Gather the Townsfolk:

Does Standard Suck? https://twitter.com/samstod/status/808572393346076676

Splash Damage

WotC just "outsourced" their D&D Organized Play Volunteers to another company.  https://twitter.com/itsJulian23/status/808690797998731264

Going Infinite

Listener Q&A!  

The Finisher

The final StarCityGames.com Players Championship in its current form will be coming this weekend in the Star City itself, Roanoke, Virginia. 16 of the world’s greatest Magic players (that live in the New England and Atlantic area) will come together and battle across a myriad of formats to crown the Players’ Champion. But it will be leaving us at the end of 2016, so if you were to come up with a new process to crown the champion of the Open Series, what would you select?

MY APOLOGIES FOR THE AUDIO. TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WILL BE FIXED BY NEXT EP! <3

First Pick:

GREAT STATS - thank you!

Works in 3s - Picture of playmat and the Game Day foils

2nd - Story Spoilers

3rd - Packaging

BIG packaging leaks

https://twitter.com/misterorange/status/806957660428005377

https://twitter.com/wizards_magic/status/807003341444161536

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/aether-revolt-packaging-promos-and-planeswalker-decks-2016-12-05

• AER official previews: Ajani, Ajani PW deck ver, Tezz PW deck ver

Unofficial: http://mythicspoiler.com/newspoilers.html

• 4x Story Spoilers (Battle at the Bridge, Dark Intimations, Pia’s Revolution, Disallow)
• Heart of Kiran
• Inkmoth Nexus (WMCQ promo) http://www.atlascollectables.com/inkmoth-nexus-wmcq-promo-revealed/

Gather the Townsfolk:

Shuhei casting 8 mana worth of spells on 7 lands… https://twitter.com/meddlingmage/status/805880508114726912

Shuhei’s response:

https://twitter.com/Nakashu_/status/805909560573640704

Softer penalties for HoFers?

https://twitter.com/shaharshenhar/status/806281340358299648

SCG Judge Rewards Dead:

http://www.starcitygames.com/content/judge-rewards-sunset

Going Infinite:

Aaron Forsythe: Imagine we make a set with RG theme of Beast Tribal. The best Beast deck in Standard ends up BG. Is that cool emergent gameplay or an error?

https://twitter.com/mtgaaron/status/805895476847386624

Red Zone

Lee Sharpe - What are your thoughts on #MTGO running TSP/PLC/FUT flashback drafts but taking out Sprout Swarm as a tweak to make it to more fun? #MTGO

https://twitter.com/mtg_lee/status/806177696166219777  (Red Zone?)

Splash Damage

Tim Aten (WotC editor) crushing it on Jeopardy (currently 5 day winner, guaranteed a spot in May’s tournament of champions already, 5 day total $71,300, currently ranked 8th in Jeopardy power rankings according to: http://thejeopardyfan.com/toc-tracker

Thanos errata = “Ban & replace”

http://upperdeckblog.com/2016/12/vs-system-2pcg-thanos-update-and-2017-releases/

The Finisher

Two days ago, MagicTCG was the Subreddit of the Day on the front page of the internet. For those unfamiliar, Reddit highlights a sub to feature every day, and yesterday just so happened to be our turn. Today, for example, some of the subs du jour include /r/DumpsterDiving, /r/FinalFantasy, and my fave: /r/OldPeopleDGAF. But we did have our moment in the sun, so if you could speak to a random Redditor who stumbled across /r/MagicTCG, what words of advice would you give them?

First Pick:

Aether Revolt spoilers: https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/5fkmtb/aether_revolt_pic_from_fb/

New FNM Promos - http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/december-through-february-fnm-promo-update-2016-11-30

Standard Showdown

PT Team Series Rules:

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/pro-tour-team-series-soft-launch-opens-2016-11-16

Full rules:

http://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/Pro%20Tour%20Team%20Series%20Eligibility%20and%20Rules.pdf

• Dress code

Gather the Townsfolk:

GP Chiba Quality: http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpchi16/building-the-japanese-community-with-hareruya-2016-11-26

• 500 Free Students
• $105~ entry
• Free snacks and drinks
• Relaxation / quiet space
• VIP experience for all
• Online deck registration
• Push Notifications
• Coat Check!
• No Sleep in Special cost
• Frontier support

Shuhei Nakamura hits 100k lifetime pro points

http://www.hareruyamtg.com/article/en/category/detail/38

The Eh Team ends(indefinite hiatus?) after 300 episodes

http://www.manaleak.com/mtguk/2016/11/5-reasons-why-rare-redrafts-are-terrible-for-magic-the-gathering/ (No Erin)

Going Infinite:

Food Chain 11-0: http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpchi16/deck-tech-food-chain-with-koki-kageyama-2016-11-26

Legacy talk

Splash Damage

YouTube Lying About Subscribers: http://kotaku.com/top-youtubers-say-theyre-being-screwed-yet-again-by-the-1789535397

The Finisher

Norway’s Magnus Carlsen won the 2016 World Chess Championship over Russia’s Sergey Karajkin on the 50th move of the 16th game on the 19th day of the finals match… in what chess experts (or chessperts as they are often never called) are calling one of, if not the, most exciting final moves in world championship history, a Queen gambit of White Queen to H6. You may laugh, but make fun of it at your own peril, because organizers said 10 million people worldwide followed the match online, with some paying $15 and up for live-streamed video, but most watching computer renderings of the board and pieces for free. It was watched at its peak by 52,000 unique viewers on Twitch’s ChessNetwork during its version of the Lightning Helix moment. So the next question for us is: what can Magic do to capture the excitement and explosiveness of the coolest newest esport that all the kids are talking about… chess?