Wow. What a ride the last six months have been for me and with everything going on in the world as we speak, things do not seem to be getting any less crazy. For me, my journey into joining the podcast group started back in November. My personal life was a mess (still is.. but isn't everyone's in the times we are living?) so I decided to go to my LGS and play a few games of commander with friends. I sat down with the with usual suspects; Brian and Sherman (and his JANK decks that are weird enough to mesmerize all that play against him.) Hope who I literally hadn't seen in 10 YEARS(!!!) and that beautiful man Dan who i'd not seen in 4 months!! So we got a few games in, Dan won most of the matches we played, still does. After that night we started playing every Friday consistently.
One morning in early December I received a text message from Dan, after talking to him about deck concepts, the text was simply "I would love to have you on the Podcast to talk about your Jodah build." Fast forward a couple weeks and I'm in the car with Sherman. My hearts racing a little bit, I'm on my way to do my first podcast with the team. So we arrive at our destination. Dan answers the door in in his pajamas with his beaming smile (his beard may have winked at me and Sherman in its full glory) and his man uggs, one thing you'll learn to know about Dan, he loves his man uggs.
He takes Sherman and I down to the basement, my stomach is turning upside down now as i am not sure what to expect and the coffee I just drank was definitely not sitting the best. We sat down around the set, which from now on I am going to reference as the "command zone."Dan and Sherman sit Hope and I down. We just start talking about the show and we all make notes on a few things that we feel need to be talked about as Dan scans two Decks into his phone to upload the lists. I knew the first one was Jodah, my best and strangest deck in its utility. The next deck was Zedruu the Greathearted. The episodes were going to be deck techs. As a guest on the show and my first time really doing this I had no idea what to expect.
I found a lot of comfort knowing, at least I was with friends. So when we put the headsets on it was odd, being two feet from each other and all. This is just one of those things you need to get used to. Then the sound check happens, Dan asks me to say something... I froze and couldn't think of anything to say. The first few words sounded like whispers to me and after what felt like an eternity to even think of something to say. I was really starting to feel sick to my stomach as I didn't want to let everyone around me down. Believe it or not nerves are a little a bit of thing. I am a text book over thinker and the fear of public speaking is a huge challenge for me. Even if you can't see the audience, you know they are listening. So back to feeling awful, we start the episode with Sherman introducing everyone ... and then its my turn "hey guys hows it goes it?"
But Dan and Sherman definitely took point and godbless the episode went smoothly. As you start talking and following it turns into a more organic conversation that you realize people are just listening to. And the best part for me other than being around friends is that they wanted to show off the deck I had definitely put the most time into. Me of all the people that they could have chosen to do the podcast. What a humbling experience! I tell them all the time how grateful I am for them letting me be a part of what they are doing.
Now it being around Christmas time we decided to do not one but two Zedruu deck techs in the same episode.. crazy right? What isn't told though is that doing one podcast is mentally taxing. At least I found. So after Jodah we take 10 mins. I go out have a cigarette and calm my nerves a bit. We sit down and sound check. I'm mentally exhausted at this point but feeling way more confident. I had not seen the Zedruu deck techs that Dan had posted. They were GOOD SANTA VS. BAD SANTA. So I pulled them up on the phone and we started the episode. That was a super amazing episode and to have done two in a day. WOW!!!! With everything that had been going on in personal life what a way to release stress and just have the most fun with magic the gathering without actually picking up a card to play.
Thank you to Dan, Hope, Sherman , and Brian. Here's to many podcasts and thank you for letting me help you guys. If anyone local gets an invite to be a guest like George & I, I would highly recommend it!
Tyrone M
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