The Hacks discuss CamJam2 Old School, LobesterCon 2022, respond to the mailbag, and talk about the SummerSlam split Old School/Vintage event. 00:00 Check ya neck 00:45 Proxy Daze > Hackfather 01:40 The Hacks share pro podcasting tips 02:09 Storytime with KS 04:38 Hackfather’s CamJam 2 results 05:50 KS’s CamJam results 08:59 The Hacks review LobsterCon top 21, using Hacks science 11:05 Color representation 14:30 Power represented 16:06 # of colors in decks 16:44 Spice award of the top 21 18:42 Data review 21:07 The hosts present their awards for the rest of the decks 34:30 ALL HAIL DICKALOR 35:51 Mailbag! 43:00 KS gushes about Hidetsugu Consumes All, and some other new cards 47:48 SummerSlam 2022: hype for an event that already happened 51:06 Hackfather shares his OS deck plans 54:28 T&B shares his OS deck plans 59:50 SummerSlam prizes and goody bag items, come on out next year! 63:50 Next time on DegenCast…an intervention for Hackfather 66:16 Sad Wheeler Total runtime: 1:06:19
The Hacks return to discuss Winter Derby Old School, CamJam Old School, Vintage, Legacy, and #cryptobros. 00:00 Bumpin’ 00:49 Hackfather’s Dreams get crushed 01:35 Guest intro 02:35 Eric Martin tells Texas stories 03:34 Eric Martin and Hackfather try to name cards banned instead of Delver 06:48 Minds break over Ragavan 09:37 Financial implications of MTG Design and format management 10:34 Urza’s Saga discussion 13:31 Eric Martin draws heel heat 14:14 Eric Martin’s Winter Derby deck 14:54 Eric Martin’s MVP: Maze of Ith 16:03 Honorable mention: FORCE EFFING SPIKE 22:05 Eric’s Derby highlights 25:15 KS’ Derby review 26:42 KS deck tech and Derby highlights 30:44 Havenwood plans 36:23 CamJam 2022 plans 50:45 How deep must Hackfather go into the underground to win a CamJam match? 52:40 4 Strip math 55:00 Cryptocurrency sidetrack 58:18 Wrap-up, and obligatory #banbrainstorm 60:52 Cussin’ Total runtime: 1:01:28
The Hacks have returned to review GenCon, Hacksmas 21, talk about Legacy, and much more! 0:00 Intro:|m| 0:30 Intro joke 1:55 The misadventures Hackfather and T&B at GenCon 2021 3:40 Jame and T&B acquire new cardboard 4:50 Playing vintage, featuring Shivan Dragon and Exalted Angel 6:56 Hackfather has a “What could be so urgent?” moment 10:00 How Hackfather and T&B messed up GenCon: it’s not a MTG event, check out the board games, TTRPGs, n such 13:25 Hacksmas: Battle of the Mounds 2 review 20:10 Hackfather vs The Godfather of Pimp: First Blood part Two 23:15 Kingslayer plays Hyper to decent success 30:38 We love Conan, but don’t play the 1st ed D&D campaign 32:01 Newsflash: New Hacks inducted, somehow have other friends 32:56 Hackfather learns the pain in fighting games 33:51 Hacks and Tusks make up a new Jyhad format: Vampstended 35:28 King of the weekend: Dr Bill’s Vintage cube 38:54 Hacks and friends experience dinner failure, again. Bonus: Hackfather does hibachi 41:13 Can the Hacks make Hacksmas bigger? Stay tuned, submit applications to Hackfather 44:44 Where are the Legacy Bans? Cuz losing to your own Berserk is dumb 48:54 Kinglsayer’s Legacy analysis: phyrexian crusader = bad, Solidarity=good, hunting pack solidarity=OP 52:50 Kingslayer and The Imp meme in Arena standard 57:25 Dec 25th is the Imp Day, not that other thing 60:10 MH2 in Legacy discussion 68:07 Hackfather forgets Urza’s Saga text 73:45 Legacy ban discussion 74:04 First “ban brainstorm”, the hosts are slipping 79:38 Hackfather will try to redeem himself in Camjam 2 82:09 Outro: |m||m|
The crew is back. Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe talk about a variety of Magic formats, and the show’s contributors change. 00:00 Spooner attempts an announcement 00:32 The hosts get sidetracked by feet in OS deck pics 01:40 Back on topic 05:15 Memory lane: SCG Summer 2019 09:25 The beginning of the end (the dark origin?) 11:45 #notsponsored Buy Baldy’s Blends 12:39 Appearance on LaL and Hackfather learns a new word 16:30 EW 2018 19:10 Spooner fails at #mtgfinance but was a Modern GBT 22:15 The hosts recall dead Tech platforms 22:40 GP Charlotte 2016 and James learns about Pokemon 27:28 GP Hoth (GP Louisville 2017) 30:12 How the Spooner met Hackfather 34:13 Spooner says goodbye 36:08 Interlude (My heart will cry at this crap recorder player) 37:38 Intro to Part 2 38:06 The Kingslayer ascends 39:40 The hosts review Modern Horizons 2 cards 40:28 The damn dirty monkey 47:56 WOTC fixes Tombstalker 49:47 The hosts issue a true Great Designer Search challenge 50:54 Kingslayer gets a boner about Infect 55:17 Hackfather re-enters Legacy, gets metagamed 56:04 Kingslayer strives to make Worldgorger Dragon work 61:43 Modern…why? Modern sucks 66:26 Kingslayer talks about a (proper?) format (Summer Derby) 71:23 Kingslayer proxies…Goblin Balloon Brigade?! 77:34 The spicy “budget” deck from the Derby 79:55 Hackfather debates the definition of spicy decks 80:50 The hosts discuss lizards in Vintage 87:59 Hackfather buys shinies…wait what? 90:11 EDH & Aussie: the acceptable 1 strip mine formats 93:53 The hosts complain about power level evaluation 94:42 Solution: Hack$ EDH 101:00 The hosts discuss…philosophy 108:36 Closing remarks 110:30 Outro Show Notes – DFB’s website – Summer Derby 2021 Results and Deck Photos – Aussie 7 Point Highlander
After an extended break, the boys are back in town! Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe are talking about the recent Banned and Restricted List update from February 15th, dissecting all of the huge changes across formats. Also in this cast: lots of elk noises, complaining about the Cantrip Cartel, Jame poor-shaming again, and a tutorial on playing chess with pigeons. 00:00 It’s a beautiful morning! 01:00 The first of many elk noises 02:34 Jame takes an entire minute to read the full Banned and Restricted List update (15 cards!) 04:15 Jame demonstrates that he can, in fact, read 05:50 Actual explanation of the Cascade rules change 09:20 The boys have no attention span 10:20 The boys are…hopeful?! Quick, they’ve been abducted! 12:05 THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE (Highlander goodness) 14:05 Lurrus 16:00 Jame and Rich discuss Legacy instead of complaining about it! 16:55 Arcum’s Astrolabe Chat (BLOOD MOON RIDES AGAIN) 19:03 Oko, Thief of Crowns (Jame knows the exact amount of time it was legal) 23:00 Dreadhorde Archanist Chat (yes, we talk about the Cantrip Cartel again) 31:24 “Playing Chess with a Pigeon” 33:10 Please bring dice and tokens, kids 35:34 Outro Total runtime: 37:16
Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe are joined by a very special guest, a founding member of New England Old School scene and prolific Old School tournament organizer, Dave Firth Bard. We talk about his history with the game, the growth and cultivation of the New England Old School scene, and most importantly in 2020, webcam Magic, as well as the recent LobsterCom webcam OS tournament he hosted. Can we finish the episode before James drinks himself into a stupor? No, but we can make it sound that way through the magic of editing! 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:00 Dave’s history with Magic 00:07:55 Discussing and loving ante, and “40k” 00:12:48 Webcam tournaments 00:17:55 The origins of NEOS, and the growth of the national OS scene 00:24:25 Southeastern OS scene, James’ history of verbally abusing Rich 00:27:10 The origins of Dave as tournament organizer 00:30:00 No one likes Worchester, MA 00:36:45 Dave recaps the webcam OS of 2020 (it is a lot) 00:45:40 LobsterCom 2020 00:46:00 The friday night boil 00:47:45 “7/11” 00:53:10 Beasts Old School 1.5 00:56:32 LobsterCom 2020 and Atlantic OS 01:02:20 The story of Atlantic OS and its philosophy 01:10:15 Worst sushi joint ever, and DFB and Rich finally meet 01:12:30 Workshop in Atlantic 01:18:50 Hymn and The Rack are good Magic cards 01:22:05 Drunk James talks about blue again 01:23:40 The Lightning Ball – EC Rules OS 11/21/2020, 4pm EST 01:24:45 James doesn’t know how time zones work 01:28:40 Closing thoughts 01:33:00 Outro Total runtime: 01:33:31
The crew is back with a new episode after a long hiatus, and this is a long one! Join Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe on another cavalcade of buffoonery, as they discuss “current” events in MTG, and embody what the kids these days call “paper boomers.” 0:00:00 Intro 0:01:35 The Death of the DCI (Yes, this episode has parts that are that old. Shut up.) 0:03:10 Brief B&R Updates & the Companion Mechanic (Look, just trust me. v1 of ep 12 sucked) 0:10:50 Let’s talk about Legacy (and why we’re both kinda of sick of it) 0:21:10 SKILL INTENSE 0:30:50 Now that we’ve whined a bunch, lets talk about Vintage! BAZAAR OF BAGHDAD SPECIAL 0:31:40 Bazaar Aggro discussion 0:35:30 Thundercats! HOOOOOOOOO-GAAK! 0:40:10 “The Riddler” 0:43:42 A Bizarre Bazaar Discussion 0:53:45 Double-Bulk Rare Masters (But the full-art cards are sick-looking) 1:05:32 “Rich Discovers the Full-Art Double Masters Cards” 1:10:26 What are you going to miss most about in-person EW? 1:14:51 What OS Means to us (and we swoon about Mark Brothers again because he’s hot) 1:17:18 LobsterCom 2020 Preview (we’re going to have 2 upcoming episodes on this so we keep it brief) 1:26:49 Outro Total runtime: 1:27:19
The Hacks (Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe), joined by Ryan “Rusty” Hobbs, verbally shitpost, discuss some webcam Magic, and goof off for an hour and a half. Big ups to James for finishing this episode, despite losing the master and starting over 3 times. 00:00:00 Our Best Intro Music Ever 00:00:43 Rusty Plugs His Twitter Account Like a Narcissist 00:04:08 Ikoria Discussion begins 00:06:35 Plaguefest 2020 Recap – Aussie Highlander (7 pt) 00:14:50 Plaguefest 2020 Recap – Hyperextended (Rusty Can’t Read Either) 00:36:30 Legacy 606 Intro and FNM Recap 00:50:32 Corona Cup, Hosted by Alamo City Old School, a Recap 01:07:10 The “Closing Half of This Episode” (Skype Magic) 01:19:15 Did You Really Think We Could Go a Whole Episode Without Saying “Ban Brainstorm?” Total runtime: 1:25:09
The Hacks (Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe) discuss Legacy, Banned and Restricted changes, Grudge Matches, and more. 01:25 – B&R Announcement (March 9th) – Underworld Breach 09:25 – Recap: Legacy Quarterly @ Atomic Empire (Durham, NC) 10:30 – Sidetrack #1: Pinball 11:30 – The Spaghetti Tragedy (I Forgot Inners) 14:40 – The ACTUAL Start of Rich’s Tournament Report 21:20 – James Doesn’t Like Water Sports (Tournament Report) 23:24 – WHEEEEEEE! 30:40 – Bad Day at the Office… Or Was It?! (Tezz #1 in Swiss, Hacks in Top 8) 31:30 – Tezzerator Fanboy Montage 34:35 – Death and Taxes Experts Are Nuts 35:45 – James Sells His Soul (Oko in Lands) 38:10 – Rich is Stepping Back from Magic for a While (But still casting) 43:35 – Thassa’s Oracle and Cards That Cost BBB (and Consultation) 49:00 – Hygiene and You – A PSA from Hacks MTG (COVID-19) 53:25 – Callouts/Grudge Match Details Total runtime: 54:20
The Hacks (Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe) discuss Old School, Vintage, Legacy, and gatherings. 00:00 Intro and Northern Stronghold Vintage FNM 04:40 UW Lantern – It’s not good against Dredge 09:20 An unnecessarily long and rambling story about GP Hoth (GP Louisville 2017, Legacy; Polar Vortex) 11:05 Saturday Old School Recap 16:03 The Grudge Match: The Hackfather vs TURN AND BURN (Aussie Highlander) 18:13 Drunk Cubing and why you shouldn’t do it (RIP Tetravus) 20:30 Cool Vintage Lists – Painter (Justin Gennari/IamActuallyLvL1) 29:20 Cool Vintage Lists – Bazaar Beatdown (Andy Markiton/Montolio) 32:05 Quarterly “Legacy for Cash” Preview discussion – Atomic Empire (Durham, NC) 34:10 Breach Freeze 36:00 Echo of Eons/ Urza (RIP Tezzerator) 39:50 Legacy Jund with Hexdrinker 41:10 Legacy Eldrazi 48:30 Jeremy Aronson’s $40k Legacy Tournament (With SANCTIONED VINTAGE and EC Old School side events) 55:05 Hacksmageddon (Charlotte, NC the weekend of GP CLT – More details to come!) 56:30 James goes on a Rant about CFB Events (again), and more discussions about the state of Legacy in 2020 1:03:55 James Quotes Ghandi 1:05:05 We almost finished the episode without talking about the Blue Stew Total runtime: 1:07:51 Grudge Matches The Hacks invite you all to participate in a little something we’re trying, to foster a little good in our local communities. At every Hacks Northern Stronghold event at least 1 callout is issued for a best of 5 match of an agreed upon format, with $50 on the line to be donated to the charity of the winner’s choice. With the Hacks’ roots being in Old School, charity is very important to us and we invite anyone who feels like engaging in this practice to start calling out your friends in support of your local charities. Doing a Grudge Match? We’d love to hear about it! Email your story and some pics to hacksmtg@gmail.com and we’ll put them on our website, hacksmtg.com!
The Hacks (Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe) recap Hacksmas 2019, and discuss the current Vintage metagame, among other things. 00:00 Pulp Fiction + Intro 02:20 Thor’s family makes great BBQ Sauce 02:40 Hacksmas 2k19 Recap – Vintage “FNM” 05:00 Interruption: Rich Explains “Monkey Poo” 06:30 Saturday AM – “Irish Brunch” and HyperExtended (The Battle of the Mounds) 14:00 The REAL “Little Green Men” vs the Impostors 15:20 Jame played a terrible Oath deck (SHOCKING) 18:03 Saturday PM – Hacksmas 2k19 Shit Draft Recap 20:30 Jame is a lucksack in Shit Draft 23:50 Sunday – Hacks Trios (Legacy Unleashed, Vintage, 93/94) 25:00 Shops was AWFUL 26:10 Interruption – GG Alin Jund and Timeshifted Disintegrates 27:30 93/94 Dreams Discussion – Copper Tablet 31:00 The Grudge Match and Rich was scum 33:20 Rusty and The Ambassador got engaged (but not to each other) 33:50 Nebraska’s War/4 Seasons Top 8 34:35 European Vintage Championship Top 8 35:30 Narset restriction = More PO! (SHOCKING) – Discussion 37:10 RIP MUD And the MUD Relief Fund Infomercial 39:20 End of the Year Reflections from the Guys* 48:40 Rich forgets that Lands have had Static effects 1:05:45 A Shitcore Ode to Sean O’Brien Total runtime: 1:06:13 * = Yes, there’s Another Brainstorm Rant (TM)
The Hacks (Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe) discuss the November 1 2019 Banned and Restricted List announcement. 00:00 Intro and shenanigans 02:45 Beginning of actual discussion 10:55 “You have to make mistakes to learn” 12:00 Our brief mention of EDH for the year 14:25 Banned card discussion – Wrenn and Six (Legacy) 17:00 “TNN was a design mistake” (We said it again. Drink!) 23:45 “Lets not talk about cantrips” (They talk about cantrips) 25:10 The guys discuss planeswalkers (spoiler: we hate them) 28:00 Banned card ciscussion – Narset, Parter of Veils* (Vintage) 32:45 Rich thinks “fair blue” should lose to Workshops 37:25 What makes a lock piece that’s good for the game? 42:00 How do we feel about Legacy post-W6? 47:00 SCGCON -what it means to us, and the future of Legacy 54:00 BnR Predictions for 2020 Total runtime: 58:22
The Hacks (Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe) begin to recap North American Eternal Weekend 2019. 00:00 Intro 02:40 Lords of the Pit Friday Night Contracts 06:35 Everything is bigger in Texas/”Meaty Balls” 08:45 Eternal Central Old School at Eternal Weekend – Recap 13:00 Dega Aggro (recap interrupt) 24:35 Juxtapose/Stasis (recap interrupt) 34:40 THE SPICE 43:50 The Trophy – Dustin Clark 48:20 Will Magrann wins another tournament 49:40 Homelands Cube!!! 56:35 Wrap-up Total runtime: 1:02:04 *Note: Not once did we actually mention it in the show, but the reason James played The Deck was because his wife found out 1st place won a trip to the Fishliver Oil Cup and she really wanted to go to Italy*
The Hacks (Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe) begin to recap North American Eternal Weekend 2019. 00:00 Intro 02:15 Where to start to skip the Elk 04:20 Vintage Champs recap 19:35 Vintage Champs Top 8 discussion 29:50 Card choice trends and obligatory Banned & Restricted List talk 38:00 James almost loses his collection in an Uber 43:00 Glossing over Modern Champs 47:00 No more Legacy on the SCG Tour (BUT LEGACY ISN’T DEAD) 51:45 Legacy Champs recap 1:01:30 Jace is unemployed Total runtime: 1:11:51
The Hacks (Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe) discuss the introduction of the Pioneer format, Eternal Weekend preparation, interesting Vintage decks, and more. 1:00 – Oregon Trail/”Pioneer” 9:45 – “Rich hates Magic” 11:25 – Vintage at the Northern Stronghold, recap 18:10 – Eternal Weekend Vintage predictions 27:00 – Decklist Discussions (Will Magrann’s Shops list from the Waterbury) 31:00 – Decklist Discussions (“Little Robots”) 33:45 – Decklist Discussions (Elementals – Joe Dyer) 35:30 – Decklist Discussions (ZiasBond) 38:00 – Decklist Discussions (Eric’s Crab Shack) 43:45 – Rich revises his Eternal Weekend Top 8 predictions 44:20 – Eternal Weekend Legacy (PB is playing Jund?!) 52:00 – Eternal Weekend Old School (Plans, The Playmat, and James’ wife wants to go to Italy) Total runtime: 1:05:33
The Hacks (Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe) discuss the most recent GP Atlanta (Legacy), as well as surrounding underground events including Tuskvitational IV (HyperExtended) and Atlanta Old School. 00:00 Intro 1:15 Tuskvitational 6:00 GP ATL – Erik Johnsosn 19:30 Day 2 35:50 Dr. Bill – The Ultimate Ringer 37:00 Gigabites Cafe Old School 47:30 Old School Cube Total runtime: 59:24
The Hacks (Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe) discuss the Old School Player’s Ball 2019, recently held in Chicago. Total runtime: 33:36
The Hacks (Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe) discuss the most recent changes to the Vintage Banned and Restricted List. Total runtime: 39:33
The Hacks (Richard Sponholz and James Easteppe) discuss the most recent changes to the Vintage Banned and Restricted List. Total runtime: 39:33