The Mountain Goats and Magic: The Gathering fan "TheOtherTracy," as he goes by on Reddit and YouTube, just released the first episode of his new podcast, which is a mashup of his two loves—it's called "Mountain Goats X Magic: The Gathering." He describes the first episode this way:
In the first episode of TMGxMGT, Tracy takes on The Mountain Goats' most famous song, No Children, and builds a deck that you'll need permission to play at your table.
I watched the first episode on YouTube, and in the first few minutes he says, ""Maybe this is a niche thing," which made me laugh out loud. Ya think? Of course it's niche, but that's ok! I'd recommend it if you're a fan of either The Mountain Goats or Magic: The Gathering. And if you happen to sit at the intersection of the two, you'll probably be in heaven!
As a fan of one (The Mountain Goats), but woefully ignorant about the other (Magic: The Gathering), I admit that I was pretty lost during the discussion of the game. I loved Tracy's description of the inspiration behind the first deck he cultivated, though. It's based on the Goats' hit "No Children," which tells the story of the "Alpha Couple," a thoroughly dysfunctional couple that unravels completely throughout Tallahassee, the album that contains "No Children." He does a great job describing the album, the song, and the connections between the themes of the songs and the cards he chose for the deck. My attention span drifted off while listening to the second half of the episode when he dives deeply into the game, however—sorry, Tracy!
Still, I appreciate Tracy's passion for this project, and absolutely love the image he chose for his podcast. It's his take on the cover of "All Hail West Texas," which is a simple white background with the name of the band and album in gold letters at the top. At the bottom of the album are the words: "fourteen songs about seven people, two houses, a motorcycle, and a locked treatment facility for adolescent boys." In Tracy's version, we see words in gold letters at the top that read: THE MOUNTAIN GOATS X MAGIC: THE GATHERING, and at the bottom of the image, "a podcast about 100 pieces of cardboard, a stack of LPs, a microphone, and telling stories in unexpected ways". I'll check back to see what he does for the second episode and beyond, but probably only for The Mountain Goats content. Who knows, though, maybe this is what it will take to convert me to a Magic: The Gathering fan?
You can view and buy the cards here.
