Lucky Paper Radio: Recent Episodes

Andy Mangold and Anthony Mattox

Lucky Paper Radio is a podcast about Magic: the Gathering hosted by lifelong friends Andy Mangold and Anthony Mattox. Focused primarily on sandbox formats like Cube, which are free of banlists, rotation, and net decking, the show is about the best parts of Magic and how to get the most out of the game.

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Andy and Anthony talk about each of their top 5 favorite cards from the history of the game. They talk about where they first encountered them whether it was an exciting level up moment in a draft or as a key card that inspired a deck.

Discussed in this episode:

  • CubeCon
  • Lucky Paper Cube Fellowship
  • The Eternal Glory Podcast
  • Anthony’s First Ever 3-0 Deck Featuring Archfiend of Ifnir
  • Eric Klug’s Peasant Cube
  • Recross the Paths
  • Lords of Limited

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 2:24 - Episode Start
  • 6:02 - Anthony Favorite Cards #1 Whitemane Lion
  • 12:43 - #2 Noosegraf Mob
  • 17:29 - #3 Genesis Wave
  • 21:45 - #4 Archfiend of Ifnir
  • 26:32 - #5 Sphinx's Tutelage
  • 34:40 - Andy Favorite Cards History
  • 36:55 - #1 Masticore
  • 42:10 - #2 Managorger Hydra
  • 48:49 - #3 Skeleton Ship
  • 53:55 - #4 Portent
  • 59:26 - #5 Ornithopter

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Andy and Anthony talk about the last year in Magic and, in broad strokes, where they think the game stands from a design and product perspective. They start with Mark Rosewater’s own annual retrospective and talk about wether or not they agree on his take on the past year’s sets.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Mark Rosewater’s 2025 State of Design Article
  • Pack One Slick Ones - Episode #18 - Having a Healthy Relationship with Magic, Especially Outside of Cube
  • General Apathy on YouTube
  • Ornithological Studies Secret Lair

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 05:48 - State of Design 2025
  • 28:05 - The end of "hat" sets?
  • 46:48 - Meditations on Fandom Culture
  • 50:01 - State of Design Lighting Round

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Andy and Anthony, along with Zach, Gabor, and Scott, recap their drafts from the most recent Capitol Cube Championship. The five of them, at sixty other players, spent a whole Saturday in DC Cube drafting. They talk about the cubes and decks they each drafted and highlights from the event.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Capitol Cube Championship
  • Bodleian Cube
  • Atomic Cube
  • Bun Magic Cube
  • Compost Cube
  • Depleted Lands
  • Penrose Cube
  • Tresserhorn Gardens
  • Alatta
  • Time Spiral Altered
  • 100 Ornithopters

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 00:54 - Capitol Cube Champs
  • 03:30 - Compost Cube
  • 07:34 - Depleted Lands
  • 25:20 - Penrose Cube
  • 37:58 - Tresserhorn Gardens
  • 55:58 - Alatta
  • 01:02:26 - Time Spiral Altered
  • 01:10:56 - 100 Ornithopters
  • 01:23:31 - Anthony's Top Eight Draft

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Andy and Anthony talk about the the new draft format Wizard’s intends for playing their latest release: Marvel’s Spider-Man. Designing the set approachable for small play groups, they propose a four player draft where each player takes two cards at a time from sealed booster packs. Our hosts talk about the design of the format, and the constraints in packaging and communication that informed it. They talk about the ways they prefer to draft with small groups and the options available to them as Cube organizers that they can take advantage of to have fun with any number of players.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Gavin’s Video Explaining Pick 2
  • Good Luck High Five’s Episode on Pick 2 Draft
  • Housman Draft
  • Grid Draft
  • Double Decker Draft
  • Wimbledon Draft
  • Alpha Reimagined Cube

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 2:34 - Main Topic: Pick 2 Draft
  • 8:04 - Potential Downsides of Pick 2 Draft
  • 20:49 - Other Implications of Double Picks
  • 27:29 - Fan Made Small Pod Draft Formats
  • 30:19 - Drafting with Smaller Pack Sizes
  • 33:44 - Housman Draft
  • 40:32 - Grid Draft
  • 43:46 - Ryan Spain’s 2-Deck Draft
  • 45:52 - Wimbledon Draft
  • 51:35 - Final Thoughts on Pick 2 Draft
  • 57:09 - 2 Card Combos in Drafts for Small Groups

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Andy and Anthony co-draft Anthony’s Turbo Cube, talking through each of their picks as they navigate putting a deck together in this novel environment. In the Turbo Cube, all spells and activated abilities cost 2 mana less. While they draft, they discuss how the rules change effects each pick and their overall strategy.

Because of the unique environment, our hosts collaborativly draft with eight real players rather than separately drafting the same simulated seat as they have in previous draft along episodes.

Follow along with their draft on the cards mentioned page to see the full set of cards in each pack.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Turbo Cube
  • Next “Book Club” Read: The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman
  • Recross the Paths, Episode with Andy Discussing the Cube Fellowship
  • Cube Fellowship

Previous open drafting episodes:

  • The Bun Magic Cube
  • Regular Cube
  • Neoclassical Cube

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 5:27 - Book Club - The Design of Everyday Things
  • 6:59 - Cube Fellowship
  • 9:11 - Turbo Cube Draft Along
  • 14:29 - Draft Pack 1
  • 26:38 - Draft Pack 2
  • 37:06 - Draft Pack 3
  • 45:11 - Draft Pack 4
  • 54:10 - Deck Build
  • 58:02 - Deck Review and Grade

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Anthony is one again out sick, and trying to fill his sizable shoes are both judge Bones and Kade from Recross the Paths for a discussion with a potpurri of topics. They recap Cube for a Cause, talk about how to divorce player experience from the outcome of their matches, and, of course, The Devil Went Down to Georgia.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Cube for a Cause Coverage on YouTube
  • Cube For A Cause (C4AC)

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 8:55 - Main Topic Start
  • 18:58 - The Devil Went Down to Georgia
  • 31:20 - Vibe Curation
  • 40:33 - H O*
  • 42:40 - Okay Maybe Winning Does Matter
  • 53:06 - Bones’ Judge Corner

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Andy and Parker look back at all the cards rotating out of Standard this summer. They look at the specific cards they were interested in for their cubes and talk about what they were right and wrong about.

Search your own past survey submissions here.

Discussed in this episode:

  • 2025 Standard Rotation Article by Parker LaMascus
  • Theseus
  • Pulp Nouveau
  • Sacred Geometry
  • Bun Magic
  • Neoclassical
  • Regular
  • Cube for a Cause UMA Cube Draft

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 2:24 - Main Topic: Post Rotation Cube Survey Retrospective
  • 10:47 - Surprising Trends
  • 17:14 - Parker’s Lessons
  • 36:32 - Andy’s Picks
  • 50:07 - Correct Predictions
  • 57:29 - Wrap Up

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Andy and Anthony talk about how and why designers can present their cubes in ways that resonate with players. They talk about the presentational aspects available to communicate through, the values of making a connection, and how valuable it can be to set expectations with players.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Double Black Diamonds Cube (formerly “Mono Decent”)
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Turbo Cube
  • Regular Cube
  • Don’t Call It That by Eli Aldman
  • The Fire Swamp
  • The Giver Cube
  • The Red Terror
  • The Mono Red Cube
  • The Jund Cube
  • Bun Magic Cube
  • Penrose Cube
  • Penrose Aperiodic Tiling
  • Dichotomy Cube
  • Sacred Geometry
  • MTGO Vintage Cube
  • The Pauper Cube
  • The Campaign
  • May’s Fae Cube
  • Cascade Cube
  • The Ballpit
  • Esper Bouncy Castle

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 3:30 - What is Resonance in Cubes
  • 12:57 - What’s In A Name?
  • 34:14 - A Few Different Resonant Hooks
  • 44:12 - Intercube Dialogue
  • 51:59 - Shoebox, a Magic convention focused on creative expression and friendly competition.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Dan, a.k.a. “D.S.B” to talk about one of his favorite cube adjacent formats — Stone Soup. 8 players (or as many as you’ve got!) each bring their own selection of 45 sleeved cards to the draft. All the contributions are shuffled up and drafted as you would any other Cube. They talk about their experience drafting a Stone Soup and how the format plays. Choosing what cards to bring, especially if players don’t discuss their choices in advance, is an interesting question, and our hosts go deep into the nuance of it.

Inevitably they also meander off the path and talk a little bit about a lot of topics, and a lot about The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Huge thanks to Rush Coil for granting us permission to use his great chiptune version of “Too Many Cooks” as the backing track for our intro week.

Tune in to our Twitch channel this weekend, August 23-24, for some live paper Cube coverage from Cube for a Cause in New York!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Stone Soup MTG Draft on YouTube
  • Stone Soup Folk Tale
  • 100 Monkeys Effect
  • Rupert Sheldrake - Morphic Fields
  • E. coli Long-Term Evolution Experiment
  • Multiple Discovery
  • Convergent Evolution
  • Narrative Identity
  • Broadcast Shuffle
  • Cube Draft Formats
  • Milkshake Duck

To make a thief, make an owner; to create crime, create laws.

Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it.

― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 5:42 - Main Topic: Stone Soup
  • 21:20 - Andy’s Stone Soup Pool
  • 26:22 - Stone Soup Etiquette
  • 31:56 - Competitive Stone Soup?
  • 35:35 - Anthony’s Pool, Balancing Favorites With Power
  • 53:35 - Favorite Aspects of Stone Soup
  • 1:03:30 - The Dispossessed

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Andy and Anthony talk about control decks in Andy’s 100 Ornithopters Cube. Control decks flush with disenchants often perform better than Andy expects them to, getting a surprising density of what seems like should be premium cards for all players. They talk about why that might be the case, the kinds of decks they think should be able to combat these decks, and Andy’s plans to change the Cube to make the gameplay better fit the expectations he sets for players.

Discussed in this episode:

  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Bun Magic Cube

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 7:48 - Thopterless Control
  • 30:35 - Anecdote Time
  • 41:20 - Bow of Nylea
  • 45:49 - List Changes

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Back from a Cube adventure to the west coast, Andy and Anthony recap their drafts at the first Inland Northwest CubeFest. The event included four drafts with over 50 players and a chance for our hosts to draft some very different cubes from their local scene. They also started the weekend with a “Stone Soup” draft with each player contributing 45 cards of their choosing that they’ll talk about in more detail in a future episode.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Inland Northwest CubeFest
  • Alternate Timeline Cube
  • The Citadel
  • The Ball Pit
  • Aquaone Vintage
  • Cabbages and Kings

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 3:34 - Pre-Event Stone Soup Draft
  • 8:31 - Anthony’s Alternate Timeline Draft
  • 11:18 - Andy’s Alternate Timeline Draft
  • 16:07 - Andy’s The Citadel Draft
  • 23:01 - Anthony’s The Citadel Draft
  • 27:47 - Andy’s The Ball Pit Draft
  • 41:16 - Anthony’s Aquaone Powered Draft
  • 48:30 - Anthony’s Cabbages and Kings Draft
  • 52:27 - Andy’s Cabbages and Kings Draft
  • 57:51 - Anthony’s Cabbages and Kings Matches
  • 61:43 - Wrap Up

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  • View all cards mentioned in this episode After spending a long weekend in a cabin in the woods with 8 friends playing 8 Cubes, Andy and Anthony recap their drafts. Each player brought a cube to share which they drafted back to back over course of the weekend.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Regular Cube
  • Sacred Geometry Cube
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Documental
  • The Drownyard
  • Vertex Cube Events
  • The Oldest School
  • Joe’s Anarchy Cube
  • Bodleian Cube
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Rhystic Studies 100 Ornithopters video
  • Doubleton Synergy
  • The Bolt Cube

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 4:43 - Andy’s Draft of The Drownyard
  • 7:19 - Anthony’s Draft of The Drownyard
  • 10:19 - Andy’s Draft of The Oldest School
  • 14:33 - Anthony’s Draft of The Oldest School
  • 17:01 - Andy’s Draft of Anarchy Cube
  • 20:41 - Anthony’s Draft of Anarchy Cube
  • 23:21 - Andy’s Draft of The Regular Cube
  • 25:20 - Anthony’s Draft of The Regular Cube
  • 29:00 - Andy’s Draft of 100 Ornithopters
  • 32:57 - Anthony’s Draft of 100 Ornithopters
  • 40:41 - Andy’s Draft of Doubleton Synergy
  • 44:52 - Anthony’s Draft of Doubleton Synergy
  • 46:20 - Andy’s Draft of Bolt Cube
  • 50:37 - Anthony’s Draft of Bolt Cube
  • 53:12 - Andy’s Draft of Bodleian Cube
  • 58:24 - Anthony’s Draft of Bodleian Cube

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  • View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk with Joe Anderson, proprietor of Cali Cube Champs, host of Joe’s Week in Magic, and a model local cube scene organizer about their theory of Cube Design and some of their favorite game moments.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Support Lucky Paper on Patreon
  • Lucky Paper Cube Fellowship Application
  • Nutritious Cube
  • Sacred Geometry Cube
  • The 540
  • The Third Power
  • Solely Singleton
  • Bun Magic Cube
  • Atomic Cube
  • Companion Cube
  • Aquaone’s Powered Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 4:51 - Episode and Guest Introduction
  • 36:43 - Playing Magic for Big Story Moments

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Continuing on their archetype breakdown series, Andy and Anthony talk about midrange decks. They talk about the theory behind the tempo based meta-game and where midrange decks fit. They talk about ways to think of midrange in different cube environments, or if it even makes sense to. They also discuss strategy and how it can be used as a framework for thinking about the way a particular deck can win games.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Monster Factory
  • The Jund Cube
  • Theseus Cube

Also in the series:

  • The ↑↑↓↓←→←→ABCs of Combo
  • The ABCs of Control
  • The ABCs of Aggro

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 2:43 - What is a midrange deck?
  • 11:50 - Does every cube have a midrange deck?
  • 26:12 - The Relationship Between Midrange Decks and Synergy Decks
  • 36:30 - How the Color Pie Sees Midrange
  • 48:29 - How To Think About Midrange as a Cube Designer

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After five full years of Lucky Paper Radio, Andy and Anthony reflect on how their local playgroup, the podcast, and the broader cube community have evolved. They talk about their recent experience of keeping a weekly Cube night going without a local game store and how you can make it work. They also talk about the supportive, casual vibe of their local community and how a young player having a great time cubing is something of a litmus test for a strong community.

Our hosts also introduce a new Patreon to support the show, the goal of which is to keep the show sustainable, covering the cost of an editor and other expenses. After years of hard work on Andy’s part, the show’s production needs to evolve to stay tenable. If they exceed that goal they have bigger ambitions of ways to support the Cube community.

Andy and Anthony are excited to use this as an opportunity to record a bonus podcast for supporters: Magic Doesn’t Exist. All the Cube discussion will stay in the main feed available to everyone. The bonus feed will be an opportunity for our two hosts to talk about whatever else catches their interest. Anything at all, except Magic: hobbies, interests, books their reading, koji, mechanical watches, more koji probably until Anthony falls into a different rabbit hole, how they feel about Pokemon…

If you want to support the show and hear more from our hosts, consider joining!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Our Patreon Page
  • Lucky Paper Expenses Page
  • Fadensonnen
  • Peabody Heights Brewery

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 1:31 - Our Fifth Anniversary and Starting Our Patreon
  • 8:26 - Our Reservations on Monetizing Our Labor of Love
  • 15:37 - Patreon Stretch Goals
  • 22:34 - Our Bonus Podcast: Magic Doesn’t Exist
  • 25:32 - Our Commitment to Transparency
  • 30:17 - The Lucky Paper Discord
  • 32:16 - Building a Cube Playgroup without a Local Game Store
  • 40:13 - The Logistics of Playing in Non-Magic Sanctioned Spaces
  • 48:51 - The Ten-Year-Old Child Test for Your Playgroup

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Andy and Anthony each draft the same seat of Andy’s Neoclassical Cube and then talk about it. They discuss strategy, what they were thinking as they went through each pick, and how they ultimately feel about the decks they drafted. Follow along with each, and see all of the cards from each pack they drafted on the cards mentioned page.

If you want to draft this same seat as well, either before or after listening to the episode, follow these steps:

  • Download the predetermined booster packs
  • On Draftmancer:

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 2:44 - Draft-along overview
  • 5:32 - An Overview of the Neoclassical Cube
  • 14:05 - Draft Breakdown — Pack 1
  • 44:20 - Draft Breakdown — Pack 2
  • 58:12 - Draft Breakdown — Pack 3
  • 1:09:35 - Final Deck Thoughts and Lessons Learned

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Andy and Anthony are once again joined by Jenn who shares her expertise in designing set cubes. They talk about Jenn’s experience designing many many set and plane themed cubes and more broadly about the different ways to approach designing them.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Cube Con 2025 Tickets
  • Ravnica Idealized
  • Bloodburrow
  • Khans Expanded Cube
  • Episode 229: Fixing is Cringe with Jenn the Judge
  • Sacred Geometry

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 4:49 - Cube Con 2025 Overview
  • 12:31 - On Pack Collation in Set Cubes
  • 13:15 - What is a set Cube?
  • 23:56 - Multi-Set/Planar Theme Cubes
  • 25:34 - On Breaking Singleton in Theme Cubes
  • 29:55 - A Complete Introduction to Ravnica Idealized
  • 32:20 - Balancing Mechanical Gameplay and Vibes in Ravnica Idealized
  • 38:00 - Dealing With Power Creep in Multi-Set Cubes
  • 42:30 - Set Cubes as a Means of Exploring Flawed Limited Sets
  • 50:21 - Five Color Soup in Ravnica Idealized
  • 54:39 - Andy’s Sacred Geometry Artifact Deck Fail
  • 57:53 - Advice for First Time Set Cube Designers

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Andy and Anthony send off Andy’s Degenerate Micro Cube. After many years, Andy has decided to take apart the Cube, reclaiming its cards, sleeves, and mental space. The Cube attempted to capture something about the most high powered vintage games with a twist on the typical draft format and a tiny deck size. They talk about why Andy’s decided to take it apart, it’s highs, and lows, and lessons learned from playing with it over the years.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Final Fantasy and Commander Set Surveys
  • The Degenerate Micro Cube
  • An Introduction to the Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Neoclassical Cube
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • LPR covering Andy’s experience with Ensnaring Bridge in the Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Eggs for Four

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 0:00 - An Announcement Regarding Future Set Reviews
  • 7:00 - A Eulogy for the Degenerate Micro Cube
  • 10:50 - What was the Degenerate Micro Cube
  • 17:29 - How Combo Is or Is Not in Dialogue with Fair Archetypes
  • 20:30 - The History of The Degenerate Micro Cube
  • 24:22 - On the Deck Size Requirement in the Degenerate Micro Cube
  • 28:39 - What Andy Still Likes about the Degenerate Micro Cube
  • 38:11 - The Cost of Rules Modifications
  • 42:18 - The cards Andy is going to miss playing with most from the Degenerate Micro Cube

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This episode was recorded a few weeks ago, so forgive the untimely references to the Rhystic Studies video on 100 Ornithopters. At our weekly cube night, Andy and Parker swapped drafts of eachother’s simple cubes: Andy playing Parker’s cube Atavus and Parker playing Andy’s cube Sacred Geometry. On this episode we dive into the goals for each of these cubes, both of which focus on simple cards and strive to be an approachable cube to new drafters, and hear a draft report from both Andy and Parker. Finally, Anthony, as the elder statesman of ‘clean’ cubes, weighs in on who has better realized their goals.

Discussed in this episode:

  • TCG Player Boycott
  • Atavus
  • Sacred Geometry
  • Regular Cube
  • Eldrazi Domain Cube
  • Ryan Saxe’s Buildaround Cube
  • Every Cube Night has 12 Losers by Parker LaMascus

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 5:25 - Introduction to ‘simple’ cubes and an overview of The Regular Cube
  • 10:20 - An overview of Atavus, Parker’s simple cube
  • 18:40 - An overview of Sacred Geometry, Andy’s simple cube
  • 27:55 - Parker’s draft report of Sacred Geometry
  • 42:30 - Andy’s draft report of Atavus
  • 1:07:32 - On color hate in Atavus

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Andy and Anthony walk through (some of) the history of modal mechanics: cards that offer players choices between multiple effects. Starting with alpha they look at the different manifestations of modality, how they compare and contrast, and how they impact gameplay and fit into their Cube design philosophy.

Discussed in this episode:

  • An 11 hour game of commander ends in a draw and irrecoverable footage
  • RhymeZone
  • Neologism
  • Episode: 243: In which Parker shares his criticism of Cycling

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 2:44 - Introduction to main topic
  • 5:40 - What is a modal card?
  • 8:15 - The history of modal effects
  • 9:36 - Charms, Commands, and Confluences
  • 22:41 - Bloomburrow’s Pawprint Mechanic
  • 24:42 - Cycling
  • 33:31 - Kicker
  • 38:05 - Split Cards
  • 43:47 - Morph
  • 47:38 - Entwine
  • 49:36 - Overload
  • 53:35 - Channel

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Jane (a.k.a. maramas) and Arlo (a.k.a. gaytransmulldrifter) to talk about taste and aesthetics in Cube design. Building off recent discussions on the show, they question if there is such a thing as “taste” in cube design and what it means.

Find more of Arlo and Jane, along with a motley cast of Cube designers, on their new podcast Pack1, Slick 1s.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Trump’s ‘One, big, beautiful bill’ would ban care for transgender people on Medicaid and Obamacare
  • A4TE Condemns House Budget Cuts as Cruel Attack on Trans Lives and Lifesaving Healthcare
  • Pack 1, Slick 1s
  • Andy’s Tangle Wire Reddit Post
  • Pack One Slick Ones - Episode #8 - Bitter Foods and Drafters’ Moods
  • Invitation to a Banquet by Fuchsia Dunlop
  • Trap Street
  • Reading Rainbow Cube
  • Jeff Koons
  • Yves Klein
  • Glenstone Museum
  • Untitled Blue Sponge Relief by Yves Klein
  • Mark Rothko
  • Pack One Slick Ones - Episode #4 - Is Cube Punk Rock?
  • Inland Northwest Cube Fest
  • Upcoming Cube Events on Lucky Paper
  • gaytransmulldrifter on YouTube
  • Robert Rauschenberg, Erased de Kooning Drawing, 1953
  • Punxsutawney Phil

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 6:27 - Tangle Wire Corner
  • 19:53 - What does it mean to develop one’s taste in Magic?
  • 35:57 - Is there such a thing as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ taste?
  • 56:08 - Is a Cube a painting?

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Andy and Anthony talk about saprolings, sort of. Our hosts talk about aesthetics and their own personal tastes, and how that applies to their preferences in Magic. Anthony somehow tries to make the case that saprolings connect to a pattern of affinity for systems thinking, complex iterative processes with emergent properties.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Episode 211 — Book Club: The Beauty of Games by Frank Lantz
  • Episode 251 — Book Club: Playing Oppression by Mary Flanagan and Mikael Jakobsson
  • The Design of Everyday Things
  • Why Fish Don’t Exist
  • A Pattern Language
  • Reading Rainbow (Cube)
  • Cod by Mark Kurlansky
  • A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
  • Law of the Instrument
  • The Neoclassical Cube
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Sacred Geometry
  • What if the 4-Card Limit Was Abolished in Modern? by Frank Karsten
  • Saproling’s and Thallid Cards over Time
  • Meander Artwork by Robert Hodgin
  • Mandelbrot Set
  • L-system fractals
  • Chaos & Fractals: New Frontiers of Science
  • NileRed
  • WARNING Little Guys Spotted

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 3:39 - Introduction to episode
  • 4:50 - What are Andy’s broad aesthetic sensibilities?
  • 12:59 - How do these aesthetic preferences relate to games?
  • 18:33 - What are Anthony’s aesthetic sensibilities?
  • 27:52 - Anthony’s love/hate relationship with Slimefoot
  • 33:12 - Andy’s application of his aesthetic values to Sacred Geometry
  • 38:59 - How the aesthetics of Magic have changed over time
  • 43:50 - River corner
  • 48:17 - Dynamic equilibrium, Magic meta games, and power creep
  • 54:14 - “The Fractal Perspective”

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In the second episode of the Lucky Paper Radio Book Club, Andy, Anthony, and Parker discuss Playing Oppression by By Mary Flanagan and Mikael Jakobsson. The book explores the history of colonialism in games - the many roles games have played inculcating explicit propaganda or normalizing colonial value systems in their aesthetics and mechanics. Our club members, including call ins from listeners, talk about what they took from the book and whether it’s changed their perspective on games.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Playing Oppression by By Mary Flanagan and Mikael Jakobsson
  • Free PDF of the Book
  • The First Book Club Episode
  • Nose Dive
  • A Pattern Language
  • The Doughboys
  • Untitled Goose Game
  • ‘Kriegsspiel! How Napoleon Accidentally Invented Strategy Games’ on YouTube
  • Wingspan
  • Photosynthesis (board game)
  • Spirit Island
  • A People’s History of the United States
  • Cole Wehrle
  • Root
  • Molly House (concept)
  • Molly House (board game)
  • Citizen Game
  • Rusty Cash Box of Goblin
  • Polytopia
  • Ogre Battle Tactics: March of the Black Queen
  • The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 1:26 - Pickle Corner Returns
  • 5:15 - First impressions of Playing Oppression
  • 11:05 - On the format of the book and whether it’s the best means to convey the message
  • 16:28 - Getting on board with the core conceit of Playing Oppression
  • 19:41 - Are games descriptive or prescriptive of our culture?
  • 25:07 - What is a “Goose Game”
  • 30:42 - Are video games to blame for gun violence?'
  • 37:02 - The German Colony Game and why rehearsing violence is perhaps more visceral than witnessing it
  • 42:23 - How are colonial and violent values baked into games that don’t have explicitly colonial flavor?
  • 45:26 - How post-war Germany gave rise to the modern Eurogame
  • 52:22 - How do you subvert these colonial themes in game design?
  • 57:14 - Our experience playing the ‘anticolonialist’ games mentioned in Playing Oppression
  • 1:15:01 - Fascism as colonialism and imperialism turned inward
  • 1:16:29 - How does all of this relate to Magic
  • 1:20:42 - Polytopia and whether or not a better skin would make a difference

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Andy and Anthony talk about a paradox they occasionally face in Cube design. Sometimes a particular card to strategy over performs and as curators we want to add cards that offer counter play. Often those cards end up being just as potent played alongside the problematic cards as they are against them, only making the problem worse. Our hosts talk about specific times they’ve faced this paradox in their own cubes, and different strategies to break out of the paradox.

But first, they go on a long digression on Anthony’s latest fermentation project, growing koji.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Flavorama, by Arielle Johnson
  • The Noma Guide to Fermentation
  • The Art of Fermentation
  • Anthony’s First Koji Test
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Regular Cube
  • Evergreen Ability Tier List Episode of Lucky Paper Radio
  • Mono Black Cube
  • The Turbo Cube
  • Turbo Cube Changes with Julien Episode of Lucky Paper Radio
  • Lucky Paper Events Page

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 0:57 - Pickle Corner
  • 8:48 - The Nature of the Cube Design Paradox
  • 12:52 - Disenchants in 100 Ornithopters
  • 17:03 - Ensnaring Bridge in the Degenerate Micro Cube
  • 24:52 - Red in the Regular Cube
  • 27:23 - The Defunct Mono Black Cube
  • 29:59 - Combo Decks in the Turbo Cube
  • 37:17 - Constructed Magic Precedent for the Cube Design Paradox
  • 43:21 - Andy’s barely baked theory of power distribution’s impact on decks most likely to be drafted
  • 53:57 - Tools to Navigate the Cube Design Paradox

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about the results of the cube community survey for Tarkir: Dragonstorm. They discuss the sets new mechanics and how they function to support a the set’s themes and limited environment and how that relates to goals of many Cube designers. They also talk about the top cards catching interest on the survey and honorable mentions featuring new mechanics or exploring new space.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Community Survey Results
  • Spice 8 Rack’s video on the history of Tarkir
  • The McElroy Brothers will be in Trolls 2
  • Not just white men’s privilege, but just one time

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 5:35 - What is it like to be back on Tarkir?
  • 10:01 - Set survey overview
  • 11:25 - Harmonize
  • 24:20 - Omens
  • 39:19 - ‘Twobrid’ mana
  • 45:43 - Honorable Mention: Frontline Rush
  • 49:27 - Dishonorable Mention: Skirmish Rhino
  • 53:20 - Honorable Mention: Kishla Skimmer
  • 56:56 - Honorable Mention: the Monocolored Utility Lands
  • 1:00:37 - 9. Rotcurse Rakshasa and Renew
  • 1:05:38 - 8. Sunpearl Kirin
  • 1:09:32 - 7. Surrak, Elusive Hunter
  • 1:15:43 - 6. Desperate Measures
  • 1:19:52 - 5. Tersa Lightshatter
  • 1:23:30 - 4. Sinkhole Surveyor and Endure
  • 1:28:36 - 3. Voice of Victory and Mobilize
  • 1:31:18 - 2. Cori-Steel Cutter and Flurry
  • 1:39:01 - 1. Descendant of Storms

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As they continue to attend more and more local, grassroots Cube events, Andy and Anthony find themselves asking: do people like these ‘tournament report’ episodes? They try to talk through their drafts at Boston Cube Party Two more quickly, but it still takes almost an hour to get through them. The episode concludes with a brief look at the decklists from Andy’s new cube, Sacred Geometry, which was only drafted three times prior to the event. The cube is still very much in its infancy, and Andy and Anthony’s discussion serves as a model for how to digest a very small sample size of gameplay results and turn those results into some high-level goals

Special thanks to Judge Bones for conceiving, writing, and recording the voiceover for this week’s intro!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Tarkir: Dragonstorm Cube Survey
  • Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander Cube Survey
  • Sacred Geometry
  • Doubleton Synergy
  • 555-Jank
  • Esper Cube
  • Spicy Ramen Cube
  • Hoopin’
  • The Cascade Cube
  • The Devoid Cube
  • Andy on Cubereviews talking about the Neoclassical Cube
  • Anthony on Cubereviews talking about the Irregular Cube
  • Alex on Recross the Paths

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 2:55 - Should we do a tournament report for every tournament we attend?
  • 5:30 - Boston Cube Party 2 Overview
  • 8:55 - Andy’s Tournament Report
  • 10:52 - Andy’s Draft of Doubleton Synergy
  • 18:53 - Andy’s Draft of 555-Jank
  • 24:20 - Andy’s Draft of The Esper Cube
  • 29:35 - Andy’s Draft of the Spicy Ramen Cube
  • 35:33 - Anthony’s Draft of Hoopin’
  • 41:25 - Anthony’s Draft of the Cascade Cube
  • 49:09 - Anthony’s Draft of the Devoid Cube
  • 53:08 - Closing thoughts on Boston Cube Party 2
  • 55:05 - Sacred Geometry Initial Impressions

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In the final installment of ”The Barash Files” (at least for now!), Zach — game designer at Wizards of the Coast — talks with Andy and Anthony about playtesting. The three talk about how they approach getting feedback on their specific different environments and how they use that information.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Episode 15: Playtesting & Theorycrafting
  • Episode 231: The Barash Files 001 — The Principles of Game Design
  • The Cascade Cube
  • Neoclassical Cube
  • Old Border Foil Cube
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Regular Cube
  • The Mono Black Cube
  • The Null Hypothesis
  • Kill Your Darlings
  • The Turbo Cube
  • UMA+ Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 3:44 - What is ‘playtesting’? How do you ‘playtest’ a cube?
  • 9:55 - What kinds of feedback can players be trusted to give?
  • 16:22 - How does Andy ask for feedback on the Neoclassical Cube and 100 Ornithopters?
  • 28:24 - How does Anthony ask for feedback on Regular Cube, the Mono Black Cube, and the Turbo Cube?
  • 40:14 - How does Zach ask for feedback on The Cascade Cube, and what is the story with Crashing Footfalls?
  • 52:17 - The ballad of Aura Shards in 100 Ornithopters
  • 1:06:54 - A note on ego when you receive feedback

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Andy and Anthony talk all things “combo”. After talking about both aggro and control on the show, they finally get around to this sometimes divisive part of the Magic landscape. They try to come up with a working definition of combo strategies, talk about their own history with it as players and cube designers.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Tarkir: Dragonstorm Cube Survey
  • Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander Cube Survey
  • “The Daigo Parry”
  • Episode 6: ABCs of Aggro
  • Episode 165: ABCs of Control
  • Impostor Syndrome
  • The Turbo Cube
  • When Trivia Beats Strategy by Parker LaMascus
  • Bun Magic Cube
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • The Neoclassical Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 1:52 - Introduction to Combo
  • 8:59 - How are Andy and Anthony defining a ‘combo’
  • 16:47 - A selection of combos from the Turbo Cube
  • 25:06 - Why does Anthony include combos in the Turbo Cube?
  • 26:59 - Andy’s journey to loving combo
  • 48:13 - How playing against combo changes your decision making
  • 52:19 - The inescapable danger of playing combos alongside fair decks

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Judge Bones. As mid-sized Cube events have flourished, Bones has spearheaded the task of judging and carried valuable lessons over from event to event. Hot on the heels of The Salt Box in Baltimore, the three talk about Bones’ history with Cube and what it takes to host and judge a Cube event.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Eiganjo Drift
  • The Amonkar Desert Cube
  • Bones on Recross the Paths
  • Loxodon Mierarch’s Desert Cube
  • Hedron Network
  • The Broadcast Shuffle
  • Stripe Payment Links
  • Lucky Paper Events Page

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 4:48 - What is a Magic judge?
  • 8:05 - Judge Bones’s history with Magic and Judging
  • 13:21 - Judge Bones’s history with Cube
  • 21:45 - What is it like judging a small, grassroots Cube event?
  • 26:23 - How are grassroots Cube events run?
  • 31:43 - How to run your own grassroots Cube event
  • 38:43 - Security concerns, or lack thereof, of having strangers draft your cube
  • 46:34 - Bones’s tips to other judges for working Cube events
  • 51:35 - Rapid fire logistics of Cube event organization
  • 1:00:34 - Andy, Anthony, and Bones’s purely subjective suggestions for running your Cube event

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Andy, Anthony, and Patrick report on their experience at Baltimore’s first mid-sized Cube event: The Salt Box. Following the pattern of other regional events, the tournament featured multiple drafts of Cubes from the local area, organized by ranked choice selection. The three of them talk through the decks they drafted, highlights of their matches, and their experience beyond of the event, catching up with and hosting the regional cube-heads, at last in their home town.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Doughboys
  • Ekiben
  • The Salt Box
  • Cube for a Cause
  • Neoclassical Cube
  • The Oldest School
  • Theseus
  • Reading Rainbow
  • Gabe’s Weenies Cube
  • The Turbo Cube
  • Kong Pocha
  • Virtually French Cube
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Kamigawa Remastered
  • Regular Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 4:07 - The One Where Patrick Abandons 12 Years of Veganism
  • 11:47 - The Salt Box Overview
  • 18:08 - Andy and Patrick’s Saturday Morning Draft of the Neoclassical Cube
  • 29:51 - Anthony’s Saturday Morning Draft of The Oldest School
  • 34:39 - Andy and Anthony’s Saturday Afternoon Draft of Theseus
  • 45:27 - Patrick’s Sunday Morning Draft of Theseus
  • 50:38 - Patrick’s Saturday Afternoon Draft of Reading Rainbow
  • 54:36 - Saturday Evening Extracurricular Activities
  • 57:34 - Andy’s Sunday Morning Draft of the Virtually French
  • 1:06:11 - Anthony’s Sunday Morning Draft of 100
  • 1:15:01 - Andy’s Sunday Afternoon Draft of Kamigawa Remastered
  • 1:25:31 - Patrick’s Sunday Afternoon Non-Draft of Virtually French
  • 1:26:35 - Anthony’s Top 8 Draft of The Regular Cube

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about Aetherdrift and peripheral sets. They review the results of the Cube community survey where Cube designers submit the cards they’re giving a shot in their cubes and how highly they rate them. They also give their own overall impressions of the set in this single-episode review. Finally, they close with Parker’s rundown of his experience at Cube For a Cause in New York.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Aetherdrift and Aetherdrift Commander Prospective Articles
  • Lucky Paper Radio Evergreen Keyword Ability Tier List
  • Eiganjo Drift
  • Sides Cartoon
  • The Mad Max Cube in Parker’s Playgroup
  • Cube for a Cause AW2025
  • Loam Cube
  • Nick’s Mono Red Cube
  • Jenn’s Idealized Ravnica Cube
  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • Godzilla Minus One Minus Color

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 4:52 - Episode Overview
  • 7:47 - Mechanic: Start Your Engines and Speed
  • 12:24 - Mechanic: Exhaust
  • 15:07 - How do we approach vehicles in our cubes?
  • 20:08 - On the coexistence of vehicles and mounts
  • 22:21 - Why cycling is a cowardly ability (according to Parker)
  • 33:46 - Overview of Lucky Paper Cube Survey
  • 35:46 - 5. Diversion Unit
  • 40:16 - 4. Scrounging Skyray
  • 42:18 - 3. Greasewrench Goblin
  • 44:07 - 2. Marauding Mako
  • 46:26 - 1. Grim Bauble
  • 57:40 - Honorable Mention: Brightglass Gearhulk
  • 1:00:39 - Honorable Mention: Cryptcaller Chariot
  • 1:03:04 - Honorable Mention: Sundial, Dawn Tyrant
  • 1:06:20 - Honorable Mention: Agonasaur Rex
  • 1:11:19 - Honorable Mention: Shefet Archfiend
  • 1:14:54 - Honorable Mention: The Aetherspark
  • 1:21:18 - Parker’s Cube for a Cause Tournament Report

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Andy, Anthony, and Zach talk about improving as a Magic player, building a community and how they try to balance the two. They talk about the challenges of fostering positive social standards and how that can conflict with trying to improve at a competitive game.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Null Hypothesis

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 2:22 - Balancing Developing Skill as a Player with Building a Community
  • 9:17 - The Nuanced, Complex Social Dynamics of Playing Magic
  • 12:57 - The Factors that Contribute to a Playgroup’s Vibe
  • 27:20 - The Tension Between Improvement and Community
  • 32:54 - The Value of Shared Expectations in a Community
  • 40:45 - On “Take Backs” and Learning from Your Mistakes
  • 1:03:07 - Zach asks Andy and Anthony if they’re satisfied with their level of competitiveness
  • 1:06:42 - Sequencing speed round

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Julien from their local playgroup, fresh off the pro-tour, to offer his expert advice on an important topic: updating the Turbo Cube. In Anthony’s novelty cube, the rules are modified so all spells and activated abilities cost

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Turbo Cube
  • Cube Events on Lucky Paper

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 2:55 - Turbo Cube Overview
  • 6:01 - Hate Bears and Julien’s Theory on the Turbo Cube
  • 12:49 - The Diversity of Local Metas
  • 16:26 - Reconsidering the Pack Size in the Turbo Cube
  • 22:30 - The State of the Black Discard Deck
  • 34:10 - Should Anthony break singleton for more cards in the Turbo Cube?
  • 46:00 - Breaking Serve: Julien’s Suggested Adds to the Turbo Cube for Turn 0 Interaction
  • 56:17 - Anthony’s Reservations About Two Recently Printed Payoff Cards
  • 1:00:17 - Julien’s other Suggested Adds to the Turbo Cube
  • 1:15:47 - Do fetch lands makes sense in the Turbo Cube?

less. They talk about how the environment has been playing, how successful recent changes have been, and new cards to consider adding.

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Andy and Anthony talk about their favorite cards from the last year. They each go through their top favorite unique cards or cycles discussing their impact on their own cubes, cubes they’ve been playing, or their future potential for the format.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Aetherdrift and Aetherdrift Commander Cube surveys
  • The Salt Box

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 3:58 - Andy’s Honorable Mentions: Fell, Refute, Joust Through, and No More Lies
  • 5:15 - Anthony’s Number 10: Blacksmith’s Talent
  • 6:53 - Andy’s Number 10: Shadow of the Second Sun
  • 10:20 - Anthony’s Number 9: Glaring Fleshraker
  • 12:32 - Andy’s Number 9: Talon Gates of Madara
  • 15:52 - Anthony’s Number 8: Elementalist Adept
  • 17:59 - Andy’s Number 8: Forsaken Miner
  • 21:35 - Anthony’s Number 7: Disruptor Flute
  • 23:15 - Andy’s Number 7: Warleader’s Call
  • 25:22 - Anthony’s Number 6: Goblin Surprise
  • 26:52 - Andy’s Number 6: Brainsurge
  • 30:16 - Anthony’s Number 5 and Andy’s Number 3: Searslicer Goblin
  • 32:44 - Andy’s Number 5: Slick Sequence
  • 35:36 - Anthony’s Number 4: Mandibular Kite
  • 37:16 - Andy’s Number 4: Proft’s Eidetic Memory
  • 39:27 - Anthony’s Number 3: Glyph Elemental
  • 42:12 - Anthony’s Number 2: Mischievous Mystic
  • 44:34 - Andy’s Number 2: Psychic Frog
  • 49:52 - Anthony’s Number 1: The Landscapes
  • 53:01 - Andy’s Number 1: The Surveil Lands

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Inspired by two standards of beauty from different cultures — the Japanese Wabi-Sabi and the Italian Sprezzatura — Andy and Anthony are talking about a seemingly mundane card choice in 100 Ornithopters and how that reflects on the aesthetic values that are informally codified in cube design.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Aetherdrift and Aetherdrift Commander Cube surveys
  • Boonta Vista 383: “Stanking Ass Or Otherwise”
  • Wabi-Sabi
  • Sprezzatura
  • Wabi-Sabi for Artists and Designers by Leonard Koren
  • Wabi-Sabi: Further Thoughts by Leonard Koren
  • Neoclassical Cube
  • Dear Gonti, Love Sophie
  • The Fire Swamp
  • Pack One, Slick Ones
  • Free “Playing Oppression” PDF
  • Arlo’s Thoughts on Cube as an Art Project

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 1:34 - “Vintage Cube Sucks” Follow Up
  • 7:34 - Cultural ideas of beauty that influence Cube design
  • 13:29 - What is wabi-sabi?
  • 28:30 - What is sprezzatura?
  • 32:01 - Disenchant/Naturalize effects in 100 Ornithopters
  • 44:27 - How do we cultivate style in our cube design choices?
  • 48:05 - Examples of stylish Cube design choices
  • 53:06 - Anthony talks about fractals
  • 54:40 - Arlo’s point about cube inclusions never meant to be put in decks
  • 57:52 - Vanquisher’s Banner vs. The Great Henge in 100 Ornithopters and cube style comes full circle

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Andy and Anthony talk about why they think Vintage Cube sucks. Riddled with unintelligibly complicated cards, self-solving puzzles, and value generating haymakers that take no investment or strategy to maximize, it’s not our hosts’ favorite kind of Cube.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Aetherdrift and Aetherdrift Commander Cube surveys
  • Really Bad Chess
  • Rusty Box o’ Goblins
  • Quadrant Theory
  • MTGO Vintage Cube on Cube Cobra
  • No Holds Barred Cube on MTGO
  • Parker’s Article on Trivia Checks
  • Stavvy’s World
  • Midnight Diner
  • May’s Fae Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 3:09 - Vintage Cube Sucks
  • 5:19 - Disclaimers and Caveats
  • 14:45 - What do we mean when we say ‘Vintage Cube’?
  • 18:02 - Issue one: rampant card complexity, especially the Initiative
  • 30:25 - Issue two: cards with no downsides encourage unfocused decks
  • 36:13 - Issue three: modern power outliers are mostly unknown supplemental set cards, not iconic pillars of the game
  • 42:30 - Miscellaneous ‘Vintage Cube’ cards that offend Andy and Anthony
  • 45:06 - What to do with the knowledge that Vintage Cube sucks?

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Andy and Anthony recap Magic events they participated in this week. First, Anthony talks through his experience at Vertex Philadelphia, a ~100 person Cube tournament. Anthony had another solid run in his drafts, and the event was the first time his new Broadcast Shuffling method was tried at scale to reasonable success. Andy shares his experience helping organize and play in a charity stream for the Tabletop Workers United strike hardship fund. He ended up played in the event as an alternate and shares his complex experience drafting on stream.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Anthony’s Shuffling Article
  • Anthony, Roja, and Arlo’s episodes of Recross the Paths
  • Lucky Paper Events Page
  • The Cascade Cube
  • Anthony’s 3-0 Decks from the Weekend on BlueSky
  • The Jund Cube
  • May’s Fae Cube
  • May’s Fae Cube episode of Uber Cube
  • Cubereviews Podcast
  • Eiganjo Drift
  • The Dungeoneer’s Cube
  • Support the Tabletop Workers United Strike Hardship Fund on GoFundMe
  • Watch the 100 Ornithopters Unite Stream on YouTube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 5:32 - Vertex: Philadelphia Tournament Report — Event Overview
  • 10:38 - Anthony’s trajectory and improvement as a player
  • 13:11 - Anthony’s draft of the Cascade Cube
  • 18:22 - Anthony’s draft of the Jund Cube
  • 23:35 - Anthony’s draft of May's Fae Cube
  • 29:14 - Anthony’s draft of Eiganjo Drift
  • 34:10 - Anthony’s draft of The Dungeoneer’s Cube
  • 37:37 - Andy’s experience helping with the 100 Ornithopters Unite draft event

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On the third installment of The Barash Files, Zach shares stories from his drafts of some of Andy and Anthony’s cubes over the last few years. He shares insights into how he approaches them as a player, and how effectively they deliver on their stated goals.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Drafting the Bun Magic Cube with Zach Barash
  • Zach’s Roto Deck
  • Anthony’s Roto Deck
  • Zach’s First Article for Hipsters of the Coast “Level Up Moments”
  • The Turbo Cube
  • Reading Rainbow
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Episode 229: Fixing is Cringe with Jenn the Judge
  • The Modern Darlings Cube
  • Old Border Foil Cube
  • Dan Schneider’s Old Border Battlebox

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 1:05 - Introduction to Topic
  • 3:50 - Anthony’s Level Up Moment from Zach’s advice on Anthony’s gameplay in a single match 18 months ago
  • 16:06 - Level up moments as a Cube designer
  • 18:13 - Zach’s Reflections on Playing The Regular Cube
  • 24:45 - Reflections on Playing The Bun Magic Cube
  • 32:42 - Zach’s Reflections on Playing The Turbo Cube
  • 44:00 - Zach’s Reflections on Playing 100 Ornithopters
  • 1:09:00 - Zach’s Reflections on The Neoclassical Cube

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

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Andy and Anthony talk with Carmen Klomparens, lead designer of the Foundations Starter Collection, about the set and how it’s a great option for new Cube players looking for a starting point. They talk about what’s in the set, how and how it was designed, and then each offer ideas and specific cards they’d add and cut to use it as a cube.

Discussed in this episode:

Nile on Twitch The full list of cards in the Foundations Starter Collection Foundations Starter Collection on the mothership The Uncanny Valley The Regular Cube Sacred Geometry Carmen Klomparens on BlueskyMusical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro 4:33 - Did Magic R&D consider that the Foundations Starter Collection might make a great skeleton for a Cube? 6:29 - Limited and Cube as a proxy for kitchen table Magic 8:44 - What are the high level goals of Foundations 11:24 - Using mechanics to encourage your players to discover what is cool about Magic 14:49 - What is included in the Foundations Starter Collection 19:37 - What would Carmen, Andy, and Anthony would add to the Foundations Starter Collection if they were to turn it into a Cube 20:21 - Addition: a set of mono-color Planeswalkers 22:28 - Addition: Archangel of Thune 23:23 - Addition: Emeria Angel 24:18 - Addition: another cycle of fixing lands 27:29 - Addition: Remand 28:52 - Addition: Ravnica bounce lands 29:40 - Addition: more support for the ‘gates’ theme 33:24 - Addition: Viscera Seer 36:57 - Addition: Kess, Dissident Mage 39:28 - Addition: Faithless Looting 40:46 - Addition: Irencrag Pyromancer 42:11 - Addition: Future Sight 43:19 - Addition: A good black green threat 46:06 - Addition: Krosan Tusker 47:30 - Addition: Treetop Village 49:56 - What would Carmen, Andy, and Anthony would cut from the Foundations Starter Collection if they were to turn it into a Cube 50:21 - Cut: the color hate cards 51:24 - Cut: Hidetsugu’s Second Rite 52:07 - Cut: Wishclaw Talisman 52:50 - Cut: Feldon’s Cane 55:33 - Cut: Command Tower 58:19 - Cut: Fog Bank 59:33 - Cut: Rogue’s Passage 1:01:22 - Cut: Stroke of Midnight and Harmless Offering 1:03:45 - Cut: Sol Ring 1:05:57 - The lessons Cube designers can take from Carmen’s experience with Magic R&D 1:10:09 - Llanowar Elves vs. Elvish Mystic 1:14:52 - A thank you for Burst Lightning

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Andy and Anthony talk about changes to the design of Magic cards over the years: including some overt changes like “snap on equipment” and more subtle differences in how attack triggers are worded they feel would have been done differently in the past. They talk about how each changes the texture and focus of games and how they think about them as Cube designers, whether they add more options or are a reason to pick cards from particular eras of the game.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Cooking Issues
  • The Oldest School Cube
  • Richard Garfield’s Post on Reddit
  • Lucky Paper Radio 213: French Vanilla Face-Off
  • Upcoming Cube Events
  • Cube for a Cause AW25
  • Playing Oppression PDF
  • The Best Method for Shuffling Cubes
  • Detailed Analysis and Comparison of Cube Shuffling Methods

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 0:31 - Tofu Corner
  • 3:18 - Introduction to changing patterns in Magic R&D
  • 5:15 - Changing pattern: more enter the battlefield abilities on creatures
  • 21:04 - Changing pattern: the proliferation of trinket artifacts like clues, blood tokens, map tokens, etc.
  • 30:28 - Changing pattern: eliminating edge-case targets
  • 38:58 - Changing pattern: ’snap-on’ equipment that attaches on entering
  • 46:09 - Changing pattern: ‘whenever ~ attacks’ triggers vs. ‘whenever you attack’ triggers
  • 59:08 - Closing thoughts and calls to action

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In the second installment of “The Barash Files”, Andy, Anthony, and Zach talk about Cube terminology. They talk about how the language we use effects that kinds of conversations we have which in turn effect the kinds of communities we build. New terminology can enable talking more efficiently about concepts that get condensed into a term, but also make it harder to communicate the nuance and variety in those concepts, potentially making communities harder to enter.

Zach shares his thoughts on different parts of cube design, including ideation before anyone touches a card, material choices, what happens during the draft, and in game rules. His hope is to offer new terminology to push the boundaries of what cube designers consider when building a cube.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Parker’s History of Cube Article
  • The Dunning Kruger Curve
  • The Cascade Cube
  • Eiganjo Drift
  • Ryan Saxe’s Autobattler Cube
  • The Devoid Cube
  • Curio Cube
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • The Bauble Cube
  • Reading Rainbow
  • Companion Cube
  • Tupelo Honey
  • UMA Plus Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 2:04 - Zach’s Preamble
  • 6:14 - What is a “Cube”?
  • 20:09 - Where did the normative ideas of power-maxing and constructed ban list naming conventions come from?
  • 29:50 - The need for new terminology for different kinds of cube design
  • 38:36 - On strange, non-descriptive deck names and accessibility vs gatekeeping
  • 45:15 - Zach’s Five Areas of Cube Design
  • 58:11 - The costs of making design choices in unexpected areas of Cube design
  • 1:10:07 - On calling small Cubes “Twoberts”
  • 1:14:52 - On referring to Cubes as “Baltimore Singleton”

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Andy and Anthony close out 2024 reflecting on their year in Magic. This year Magic’s new direction as a product driven primarily by marketing goals fueled with cheap gimmicks and cross branding feels solidified. Our hosts talk, kind of briefly, on how their relationships to the game have changed because of that. More importantly, they talk about their personal highs and lows with the game this year.

Regardless of the direction Magic as a product is moving, the Cube community has surged in so many ways. Small, grassroots events have become a norm. The local Baltimore Cube community is hitting a stride. The interstate Cube culture is emerging and flourishing. They also talk about some of their struggles in taking on more ambitions projects and how the podcast has effected their relationship to the online community.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Glengarry Glen Ross
  • Episode 218: State of the Game 2024
  • The Adventure Zone
  • Hello from the Magic Tavern
  • My Brother, My Brother, and Me
  • Til Death do us Blart
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Episode 206: The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield
  • Potsdam Gravity Potato

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 8:48 - Recap of last year’s recap
  • 10:51 - How our relationship with Magic changed in 2024
  • 13:34 - The perishability of joy, novelty, and discovery: why Andy and Anthony no longer listen to most McElroy brothers podcasts
  • 23:34 - On decreased participation in set surveys
  • 25:07 - Shared High: Small, Grassroots Cube Events
  • 32:18 - Andy’s High: The Design of and Reception to 100 Ornithopters
  • 37:35 - Anthony’s High: The Variety of Depth of What is Accepted as a Cube
  • 42:28 - Anthony’s High: The State of Our Local Cube Playgroup
  • 44:17 - Andy’s High: Having Richard Garfield on Lucky Paper Radio
  • 48:36 - Anthony’s High: He’s Good at Magic Now
  • 53:18 - Anthony’s High: Connecting with Magic Friends about Things Other than Magic
  • 55:45 - Andy’s High: The Reception to Our First Playmat
  • 57:04 - Andy’s Low: The Playmat International Shipping Fiasco
  • 1:09:43 - Andy’s Low: His Sensitivity to Discussion on the Podcast

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Zach Barash joins Andy and Anthony for the first episode in a series where he shares his game design expertise. In this first episode, the three talk about the first principles of game design, including the iteration loop most game designers follow (and similar processes in other fields!). Starting with ideation, then forming a hypothesis, finally prototyping and playtesting, designers feed the results they learn back into the beginning of the process.

They talk about how cube designers can learn from the process, adopting the role and mindset of a game designer.

Zach works at Wizards of the Coast on the Arena team, designing many of the events available — his opinions on the show are his own. We’re excited to have him join us for four more episodes in the near future.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Power Broker
  • Kingdom Death
  • Drawing Live: Zach’s Column for Hipsters of the Coast
  • Spaced Penguin Playthrough on YouTube
  • The Cascade Cube
  • The Turbo Cube
  • Reading Rainbow Cube
  • Andrew Elebogen Tween about Extrapolating from Too Small Sample Sizes
  • The Beginning of Infinity
  • The Modern Darlings Cube
  • The Museum of Modern Cube
  • Linguistic Relativity
  • Playing Oppression
  • Andy, Anthony, Parker, and Zach on BlueSky

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 10:02 - Game Design with Training Wheels
  • 12:43 - Anthony’s History with Game Design
  • 19:21 - The Basic Principles of Game Design: The Iteration Loop
  • 33:56 - Balance is Overrated
  • 47:32 - How does one go about uncovering truths about their cube?
  • 59:11 - What does a cube designer mean when they say they want ‘balance’?

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Andy and Anthony talk about the essential digital tools and workflows for Cube designers. Starting with finding and gathering cards on Scryfall, to sculpting and sharing lists on Cube Cobra and tools for analyzing and comparing lists, they talk about how to leverage resources to make designing and playing Cube easier. Our hosts also share about some of the tools they’ve built to address their own needs that come up regularly in Cube design.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Scryfall
  • Cube Cobra
  • Lucky Paper Rotisserie Draft Sheet
  • Anthony’s articles about Scryfall’s search syntax and regular expressions
  • Building a Cube from Your Collection Article and Podcast
  • Moxfield
  • Lucky Paper Cube Map
  • Sacred Geometry
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Anthony’s CubeCobra API toolkit
  • Anthony’s Google Sheets Integration
  • MTGTop8
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • EDHRec
  • Lucky Paper List Formatter
  • Lucky Paper List Differ
  • Commander Spellbook
  • Neoclassical Cube
  • Andy’s Small Combo Cube “Eggs for Four”
  • sealeddeck.tech
  • deckstats.net
  • Surveil Lands
  • Playing Oppression
  • The Dandy Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 7:51 - Introduction to topic
  • 9:09 - Scryfall
  • 14:00 - Cube Cobra
  • 28:14 - Spreadsheets
  • 29:35 - MTGTop8
  • 32:36 - Lucky Paper Cube Design Tools
  • 38:15 - Commander Spellbook
  • 41:34 - Honorable mention: sealeddeck.tech
  • 44:10 - Collection management
  • 46:38 - Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1

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Andy and Anthony are Joined by Jenn the Judge to talk about “5 Color Good Stuff” decks in cube. They talk about what aspects of a Cube enable 5 color decks, and the impacts these decks have on the feel and fun of an environment. They talk about some of the strategies they employ in their own cubes, including Jenn’s Ravnica Cube, to control what kinds of multi-color decks are likely to be drafted.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Oldest School Cube
  • Jenn’s Ravnica Cube
  • Jenn’s Linktree
  • Hex and Company

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 4:06 - The fixing in your cube is too good
  • 5:02 - Ravnica limited formats and how they might inform fixing in Cube
  • 8:10 - What is wrong with five color good stuff?
  • 15:56 - On disliking Triomes in Cube
  • 22:51 - The effects on less experienced players in fixing dense cubes
  • 26:12 - How do players that spend high picks on lands still end up with super high card quality in their deck?
  • 28:23 - The various factors that contribute to the viability of five-color good stuff decks?
  • 35:21 - How does Jenn limit soupy decks in their Ravnica Cube
  • 48:09 - Does the five-color good stuff deck self balance in draft?
  • 53:33 - Are there different kinds of five-color good stuff decks? What are their various merits and downsides?
  • 58:17 - Closing thoughts on five-color good stuff and mana fixing in cubes

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the Foundations Cube Community survey. They talk through the top cards that have Cube designers most excited and theorize about what’s catching people’s interest and some of the patterns in the results. They talk about the associated Jump Start set with one major stand out: Scythecat Cub which is apparently both highly anticipated and polarizing. Finally, they can’t help but talk about the trends, stand outs, and misses in the new set’s artwork.

We’ve chosen Playing Oppression for our next Book Club episode. We’ll be reading the book and discussing it in an episode after the holidays. Pick up a copy if you want to read along with us!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Foundations Cube Prospective
  • Foundations Jumpstart Cube Prospective
  • Andy, Anthony, and Parker on BlueSky
  • Ollie’s post on BlueSky about Alesha
  • Reprints with new illustrations on Scryfall
  • Lucky Paper List Formatter
  • Lucky Paper List Differ
  • Upcoming Cube Events on Lucky Paper
  • Vertex Philadelphia Discord Server
  • Playing Oppression, our next Book Club book, on MIT Press

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 2:52 - Parker’s Successful Dissertation Defense
  • 7:51 - Foundations Cube Prospective Overview
  • 13:01 - 8. Goblin Surprise
  • 17:11 - 7. Kiora, the Rising Tide
  • 24:28 - 6. Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
  • 32:36 - 5. Sun-Blessed Healer
  • 41:16 - 4. Kellan, Planar Trailblazer
  • 51:39 - 3. Mischievous Mystic
  • 54:54 - 2. Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
  • 1:02:35 - 1. Searslicer Goblin
  • 1:07:17 - On the recent trend of ‘simple’ cubes
  • 1:11:02 - Foundations Jumpstart — Scythecat Cub
  • 1:15:47 - On the Anime Art Legends in Jumpstart Foundations

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Andy and Anthony talk all things board wipes in Cube. They talk about the varieties and boundaries of cards that reset the board state and how they effect gameplay and add strategic depth to games with or against them. They talk about the roles of board wipes in their main Cubes.

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Discussed in this episode:

  • Foundations and Jump Start Cube Surveys
  • Lucky Paper Upcoming Cube Events Page
  • Andy, Anthony, and Parker on BlueSky

Timestamps

1:22 - Topic introduction

2:22 - What is a board wipe?

20:25 - How much should a board wipe cost and how much does it matter?

45:27 - Different densities of board wipes and how they affect their respective cube environments

51:15 - The draft and play patterns that board wipes create

59:19 - Summary

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about their Cubes included in CubeCon 2024: Andy’s 100 Ornithopters and Anthony’s Regular and Turbo Cubes. They talk about what they learned about each from players’ feedback and the decklists after the event. They also talk about potential changes they’re considering based on that feedback.

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Discussed in this episode:

  • Lucky Paper Events Page
  • LSVs Draft of “6 Ornithopters”

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

3:34 - Regular Cube Feedback

16:14 - Turbo Cube Feedback

30:53 - 100 Ornithopters Feedback

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about Foundations, Magic’s latest set, akin to old Core Sets. The set fills multiple roles including being an approachable set for beginners, a nostalgic set to invested players, and a way to support standard with basic effects that stay in the format longer. Our hosts talk about their overall impressions of the set and individual cards they’re interested in for their own Cube projects, including Andy’s new Cube: Sacred Geometry.

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Discussed in this episode:

  • Jbro’s GoFundMe
  • Large Painted Locust
  • Foundations and Jump Start Cube Surveys
  • Lucky Paper Resources
  • Anthony’s Article on Game Design
  • List formatter
  • Cube Map

  • List of Upcoming Cube Events

  • The Regular Cube

  • Sacred Geometry
  • Magic Data Science Thread on Vanilla Creatures

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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In the wake of CubeCon 2024, Andy and Anthony talk about how they approach drafting new Cube environments. They talk about their general draft strategies and heuristics they start with to get a sense of what’s going to be important in the environment just by looking at the packs being passed.

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Discussed in this episode:

  • Anthony’s Big Bottle Opener
  • Episode 48: Playing to Win: Evaluating New Cubes
  • Episode 215: Using Little Pieces of Paper as a Supermassive Random Number Generator
  • Anthony’s Fire Swamp and C/Ube Decks
  • Game Objects Cube
  • The Fire Swamp
  • Keldan’s Simple Cube
  • Streisand Effect

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

6:09 - Are we good at Magic?

8:56 - How do we approach drafting a completely unfamiliar list

19:29 - Should you look at the available mana fixing in a cube?

26:08 - The categories of cards to pay attention to in the draft

30:25 - How often should you end up playing your pack 1, pick 1 in Cube draft?

31:59 - The importance of recontexualizaion

40:26 - The Value of Having a Plan

48:04 - How much do you trust the Cube designer?

57:24 - Heuristics for having a good time

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony, are joined by perennial favorite, Patrick, to recap their experience at CubeCon 2024. They talk about how they approached the event, the Cubes they drafted, and the highs and lows of every deck they drafted throughout the event. Growing to almost 600 players in it’s third year, CubeCon continued to deliver on being an opportunity to play a huge range of novel environments, and catch up with old or meet up with new friends in the Cube community.

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Discussed in this episode:

  • CubeCon
  • The Fire Swamp
  • The Way too Hybrid Cube
  • The Good Old Days
  • The Mono Red Cube
  • Shrek Retold
  • Wally the Dog & Patrick’s Shrek Costume
  • Short Stack Eatery
  • The Shadow Cube
  • The Simple Cube
  • C/Ube
  • The Bodleian Cube
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Klug’s Altered Ornithopter
  • The Salt Box (Baltimore Cube Event)
  • Lucky Paper Cube Events Calendar

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

5:00 - The Fire Swamp

17:43 - The Way too Hybrid Cube

21:21 - The Good Old Days

29:24 - The Mono Red Cube

34:40 - Spicy Ramen Cube

43:03 - Death’s Shadow Cube

46:06 - Alpha Reimagined

57:12 - The Simple Cube

1:02:12 - C/Ube

1:10:24 - The Bodleian Cube

1:15:30 - 100 Ornithopters

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker, belatedly discuss the results from the last two standard sets’ Cube community surveys, Bloomburrow and Duskmourn: House of Horror. They talk about the top cards that have the attention of the most Cube designers as well as their general observations about what from each set the community is responding to.

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Discussed in this episode:

  • Documental
  • The Steel Curtain
  • Bloomburron Community Review Results
  • Duskmourn: House of Horror Community Review Results
  • Episode 217: Cards We Were Wrong About: 2024 Standard Rotation
  • Episode 213: French Vanilla Face-Off

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

6:54 - Episode format overview

7:55 - Bloomburrow Overview

10:12 - On the decreasing number of survey respondents more broadly

14:21 - Bloomburrow top cards — Number 5. Hired Claw

19:51 - 4. Shoreline Looter

23:09 - 3. Kitsa, Otterball Elite

29:28 - 2. Fell

34:49 - 1. Emberheart Challenger

44:13 - Bloomburrow Commander Shout Out: Jacked Rabbit

46:06 - Duskmourn Overview

48:54 - Duskmourn top cards — Number 5. Overlord of the Mistmoors

55:11 - 4. Insidious Fungus

56:54 - 3. Wildfire Wickerfolk

1:01:23 - 2. Chainsaw

1:03:54 - The flavor of Duskmourn overall

1:07:44 - 1. Fear of Missing Out

1:10:47 - Cube Mechanical Miss: Survivor

1:13:25 - Cube Mechanical Miss: Rooms

1:16:16 - On Manifest Dread and Abhorrent Oculus

1:21:28 - Honorable Mention: Split Up

1:24:46 - Honorable Mention: Come Back Wrong

1:28:44 - Duskmourn Wrap-Up

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk with Ryan Saxe about his latest Magic passion project. Inspired by one of his favorite video game genres, AutoBattlers, Ryan has been working to create a Magic variant that incorporates the feeling of quick mini-games and constant upgrades and expansion of your arsenal. In his format, players face of in a series of mini-games with only a few cards available to each player. After each quick game, players get to modify and expand their available pool of cards to use by trading with a random new selection of cards from the Cube list. Players are eliminated as they accrue a certain number of losses leaving one the champion.

The three talk about the design process, challenges and successes Ryan’s had through iterating on the rules system, and their experience drafting the AutoBattler cube.

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Discussed in this episode:

  • George W. Hart’s Geometric Sculptures
  • Pai Gow
  • AutoBattler Cube Rules and Card List
  • Ryan’s Autobattler Discord
  • Ogre Battle Tactics: Match of the Black Queen
  • Team Fight Tactics
  • Loading, Ready, Run AutoBattler Stream
  • Slay the Spire

Timestamps

0:00 - AI Corner

13:01 - Introduction to Ryan’s new format

14:20 - What is an auto battler?

17:59 - How did Ryan go about applying the patterns of an auto battler to Magic?

28:42 - How does Ryan’s auto battler format work?

46:16 - Designing the rules system vs. designing the cube list

53:22 - A deep dive on the design details of the auto battler

1:33:45 - How Anthony would teach the auto battler format

1:35:40 - Is it productive to describe this as an auto battler?

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony take a step aside from their typical focus on Cube and reflect on the recent shake ups in Commander. They talk about the major bans that have rattled the format and their feelings about Wizards of the Coast formally taking control of the fan-made format which has become the dominant form of the game.

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Discussed in this episode:

  • Commander RC banned and restricted announcement
  • WotC’s announcement on taking over the Commander format
  • WeeklyMTG with Gavin Verhey and Aaron Forsythe
  • Dana Roach’s response on Twitter
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Bosh’N’Roll’s video on the bans

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

1:10 - Basic rundown of the events of the past two weeks in Magic

5:00 - The banning of Dockside Extortionist, Nadu, Winged Wisdom, Mana Crypt, and Jeweled Lotus in Commander

12:02 - “Rule Zero” and why it does not work

15:58 - The respective strengths and flaws of Commander and Cube

23:48 - On the deplorable backlash from a vocal subset of Magic players

39:16 - A clarification of our stance on proxies

44:02 - Magic and consumption as self expression

58:30 - What about Sol Ring?

1:02:21 - Wizard’s of the Coast’s concept about managing the Commander format with a series of tiers

1:09:39 - Summary and conclusions

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty

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Andy and Anthony talk about a big batch of updates to Anthony’s Turbo Cube. In this Cube, all spells and activated abilities cost {2} less. They talk about their general philosophy of updating Cubes, what types of strategies Anthony is hoping to bolster with these updates, and talk through the changes card by card.

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Discussed in this episode:

  • The Turbo Cube
  • Frank Karsten’s Mana Math
  • Good Morning Magic: Unfinished Land Cycles in Commander Decks
  • BoshNRoll: Miraculous Revival!

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:51 - Draft report: Boromir Sucks

3:25 - Episode overview

6:20 - What is the Turbo Cube?

10:48 - Broad goals and philosophies underpinning these changes

13:01 - A bold new direction for lands

24:55 - Black improvements and a focus on discard synergies

37:04 - Why cut Reckoner Bankbuster?

39:10 - Changes to green

44:14 - Minor tweaks to red

48:34 - The smallest changes: blue and white

1:03:01 - Changes to colorless cards

1:10:30 - Andy’s suggestion corner

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony reflect on the Mark Rosewater’s reflection on the past year in Magic. Every year, Magic’s lead designer shares lessons learned and strengths from each booster set. This year’s felt lacking a bit of thematic focus, but maybe the lack of focus is emblematic of this last year in Magic.

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Discussed in this episode:

  • Mark Rosewater’s State of the Game 2024
  • Episode 163: State of the Game 2023
  • Episode 109: State of the Game 2022
  • Episode 206: The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield
  • Episode 211: Book Club: The Beauty of Games by Frank Lantz
  • Drive to Work Podcast
  • Drive to Work: Designing for an Eternal World
  • Blogatog
  • Lucky Paper Events Page
  • Polar Bear Encounter
  • Frostbite by Nicola Twilley

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

3:32 - Is this even for us? How invested are we in Magic these days?

10:30 - Is this year’s ‘State of Design’ article more shallow than previous years?

12:57 - 2024’s Theme: Lack of Focus

17:43 - Lesson: Magic was too on the nose with its tropes

26:53 - Lesson: Some individual mechanics were too complex

32:09 - Lesson: More mechanics were polarizing than previous years

49:41 - Does R&D drive Magic these days?

51:43 - Our favorite thing from Magic this year: grassroots Cube events

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Parker look back on all the sets currently cycling out of standard and talk about their overall impressions and how individual cards from each have aged in their various Cubes. Anthony’s there too, kinda just vibing cause he’s been updating his Cubes at an agitated non-newtonian fluid pace.

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Discussed in this episode:

  • Parker’s Retrospective Article
  • Survey Archive Search
  • Parker’s “The Ship of Theseus” Cube
  • Video of non-newtonian fluid
  • wtwlf’s Tweet about quitting set reviews

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

2:46 - Topic Overview

11:41 - Innistrad: Midnight Hunt

21:28 - Why we’re not talking about Commander sets

22:53 - Innistrad: Crimson Vow

27:31 - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty

43:06 - Streets of New Capenna

48:17 - Triomes revisited

52:37 - Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate

59:54 - Big picture lessons learned from standard rotation

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony revisit randomness in Magic with more resources and input form listeners. They talk about decision making at large and small scales in games: strategy vs tactics, and how randomness impacts what kind of planning are rewarded.

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Discussed in this episode:

  • Stardew Valley
  • bdouble0 on YouTube
  • Florian Gadsby on YouTube
  • Board Game Design Day: White, Brown, and Pink: The Flavors of Tabletop Game Randomness
  • Andy’s coaching video with Brian Coval
  • The Cascade Cube
  • Ben Brode on the Search Engine Podcast
  • Edward Snowden on the Joe Rogan Experience

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

6:29 - Input Randomness vs. Output Randomness

10:05 - Strategy vs. Tactics

21:34 - Is there a fundamental difference in randomness between Bloodbraid Elf and Fact or Fiction?

39:52 - Chess vs. Poker in the Strategy vs. Tactics Dichotomy

46:04 - Why numerous random events converge on predictability and how that describes Xerox Theory

52:05 - Neverwinter Hydra vs. Carnage Tyrant

59:58 - Randomness laundering skill disparities

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about randomness in Magic, and specifically just how much randomness there is in a Cube draft. They talk about where randomness comes from and how different mechanics use the library or other sets of cards as a random source to make them work. They also go into their own preferences and how they thing about randomness in their Cube designs.

View all cards mentioned in this episode

Discussed in this episode:

  • Bloomburrow and Bloomburrow Commander Surveys
  • “Names of Large Numbers” on Wikipedia
  • Episode 210: Raggadragga’s Lucky Paper Debut
  • Crystalline Giant keyword tracking website
  • The Oldest School Cube
  • Jay’s Feature Match Moment
  • Anthony on the Uber Cube podcast
  • Blocked Party

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction and why you should cut your opponent’s deck

5:03 - Why randomness is maybe the most fundamental aspect of Magic: the Gathering

7:08 - Andy says some really big numbers to convince you Magic is really random

19:22 - Using your library as a random number generator

26:57 - Categorizing different types of ‘random’ cards

49:09 - Andy and Anthony’s approach to randomness as Cube designers, in summary

55:41 - Andy and Anthony’s favorite ‘random’ moments from games they’ve played

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about some of the past and pending Cube events they are attending. This year has seen a proliferation of new small Cube events. Anthony reviews his experience at the Capitol Cube Champs and they talk about what they’re excited about in the upcoming Cube 4 Charity hosted by Upkeep New York.

View all cards mentioned in this episode

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

2:42 - Capitol Cube Champs Tournament Report

22:04 - Mailbag

25:01 - Anthony’s Irregular Cube Preparation for Cube 4 Charity

39:17 - Andy’s 100 Ornithopters Preparation for Cube 4 Charity

Discussed in this episode:

  • Bloomburrow and Bloomburrow Commander Surveys
  • Dozer’s Artifact Cube
  • Rusty Box of Goblins
  • Eiganjo Drift
  • UberBear’s “Selfie of Two Anthonys”
  • The Twube
  • Tupelo Honey
  • The Irregular Cube
  • Riptide Lab
  • Lucky Paper Cube Events Page

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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No regular episode of Lucky Paper Radio this week, sadly, but in an effort to not leave y’all empty handed and to help highlight a great new Cube podcast, we’re bringing you and episode of Kade Goforth’s Recross the Paths.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Bloomburrow and Bloomburrow Commander Surveys
  • Recross the Paths on Spotify
  • Recross the Paths RSS Feed
  • Squares that Cube: Fitting Cubes to Your Community with Maramas
  • UberCube

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Andy and Anthony each rank every evergreen creature ability and then, tier by tier, discuss what they love each adds (or doesn’t) to the game.

View all cards discussed in this episode.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Bloomburrow and Bloomburrow Commander Surveys
  • Evergreen Keyword Abilities Tier List Maker
  • dinrovahorror’s Draft of the Neoclassical Cube
  • The Oldest School
  • Flash Gordon Theme Song

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

0:30 - Tier list and evergreen keyword ability overview

3:45 - F Tier

8:56 - D Tier

27:29 - C Tier

33:15 - B Tier

40:11 - A Tier

45:20 - S Tier

52:40 - The biggest differences between Anthony’s and Andy’s Tier Lists

53:57 - Why are aggressive mechanics so good and the defensive mechanics so bad?

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony take a first look at Bloomburrow, breaking down the mechanics, flavor, and the cards their interested in giving a try in their on Cube environments.

View all cards mentioned in this episode

Discussed in this episode:

  • Bloomburrow Community Survey
  • Commander Set Survey
  • Bloomburrow Mechanics Overview
  • Episode 193: 100 Ornithopters in a Trenchcoat

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

2:46 - Bloomburrow Flavor and Vibes

6:11 - Mail bag

8:28 - Offspring

11:24 - Gift

15:32 - Forage

16:58 - Valiant

20:24 - Expend

26:03 - Pawprints

29:08 - Creature Type Matters

34:18 - Other Returning and Unnamed Mechanics

38:22 - 100 Ornithopters Cube Inclusions

39:28 - Honorable Mention: Heirloom Epic

40:35 - Honorable Mention: Dawn’s Truce

41:03 - Honorable Mention: Season of Gathering

43:30 - Gossip’s Talent

45:15 - Innkeeper’s Talent

48:05 - Three Tree City

49:22 - Turbo Cube Inclusions

49:49 - Barkform Harvester

50:29 - Agate Assault

51:39 - Coruscation Mage

52:45 - Heaped Harvest

53:40 - Stocking the Pantry

54:38 - Wear Down

55:04 - Briya, Riptide Rogue

57:30 - Bun Magic Cube Inclusions

58:41 - Honorable Mention: The Infamous Cruelclaw

59:37 - Honorable Mention: Hired Claw

1:01:27 - Honorable Mention: Iridescent Vinelasher

1:02:48 - Honorable Mention: Mockingbird

1:04:07 - Darkstar Augur

1:05:57 - Emberheart Challenger

1:06:42 - Kitsa, Otterball Elite

1:08:22 - Stormchaser’s Talent

1:10:48 - Fell

1:12:00 - Regular Cube Additions

1:12:17 - Honorable Mention: Mousetrapper

1:12:51 - Honorable Mention: Heartfire Hero

1:15:09 - Honorable Mention: Sazcap’s Brew

1:15:53 - Honorable Mention: Peerless Recycling

1:17:04 - Honorable Mention: Patchwork Banner

1:17:40 - Bravekin Duo

1:18:38 - Eddymurk Crab

1:19:48 - Tempest Angler

1:20:51 - Bonus: Flowerfoot Swordmaster

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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In the first “book club” episode, Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about The Beauty of Games by Frank Lantz. The book sets out to defend the thesis that games are artistic works (or, more descriptively, “aesthetic works”) worth the same level of appreciation as other art forms and teach sophisticated, systems-thinking. After reading the book, our hosts talk about what they took away from the book and some aspects they were a little more critical of. Thank you to the listeners who joined the book club and send in their own takes!

Cards mentioned in this episode.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Beauty of Games by Frank Lantz
  • Serpentes
  • QWOP
  • Junkbot (Flash Game)
  • Law of the Instrument
  • Episode 206: The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield
  • Sturgeon’s Law
  • The Selfish Gene
  • Games and the Art of Agency
  • Armored Core
  • The Narcissism of Minor Differences
  • Skip Barber Racing School
  • Andy’s 5 Color Starter Decks
  • Game Theory
  • Your Brain is Hardwired to Love Games with Kelly Clancy
  • Universal Paperclips
  • Nose Dive by Harold McGee
  • A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

4:13 - What is a book club, anyway?

5:51 - Summary of The Beauty of Games

9:17 - Do we need to defend the position that games are meaningful?

14:02 - Andy’s Two Main Criticisms of The Beauty of Games

17:07 - Games as an aesthetic experience

21:34 - Gamer Knowledge™️

23:31 - The Reasons for Doubt and Frank’s rebuttal to them

31:36 - Unpacking the conclusion of The Beauty of Games

41:19 - Ought we blame the beneficiaries of inequitable systems?

45:07 - How games crystalize satisfying action, and what satisfying actions does Magic capture?

58:17 - Why do we as Cube designers put so much knowledge between our players and the satisfying experiences Magic offers?

1:06:50 - Listener Submitted Clips

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about complexity in Magic. After their discussion on the previous episode on Andy’s Neoclassical Cube comparing arguable simplicity of old school Magic cards, and continued discussion on the MTG Cube Talk Discord, they talk about the nature and different types of complexity. They compare cards which are simpler to read vs to play with and how different types of complexity effect the feel of the game.

View all cards mentioned in this episode on our website.

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

3:06 - GayTransMulldrifter’s Belated MH3 Hot Take

12:27 - Strategic Complexity and its costs

33:26 - Kitsa, Otterball Elite Korner

39:45 - Lenticular design

50:52 - The tension between accessible and skill testing environments

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Neoclassical Cube
  • Steel City Cube
  • Join the MTG Cube Talk Discord
  • Andy’s Mono-Colored Starter Decks
  • MachineSchooling’s 2007 Nostalgia Cube
  • Taskmaster: Series 12, Episode 8
  • Maro on strategic and comprehension complexity
  • Maro on lenticular design and Drive to Work Part 1 and Part 2

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our P.O. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

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Andy and Anthony talk about Andy’s Neoclassical Cube. They talk about some of the changes Andy’s been making leading up to it being played by a wider audience at Steel City Cube. They talk about how the design philosophy has evolved and their recent experience playing the Cube.

View all cards mentioned in this episode.

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction and Airplane Corner

6:04 - Overview of the Neoclassical Cube and why old school Magic might appeal to players due to its simplicity

10:44 - The Beauty of Games Book Club Check In

12:15 - Lucky Paper Mail Bag: bird p1p1 and custom cards in cube

20:07 - Deep-dive on the design of the Neoclassical Cube: what defines ‘old school’ Magic?

27:16 - Dialing in the right quantity and quality of powerful enablers

32:41 - Storm in the Neoclassical Cube

38:37 - Resource denial, creatureless decks, and other aesthetic departures from modern Magic

47:46 - The Kiki Jiki Question

52:41 - The state of Reanimator

55:07 - The death of the cycling deck

57:37 - The state of the Burn deck

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Neoclassical Cube
  • Steel City Cube
  • The Turbo Cube
  • The Beauty of Games
  • Slate-Colored Dark-Eyed Junko
  • Kakapo and David Attenborough
  • Intertwingled
  • Episode 134: The Neoclassical Cube: The Spirit of Old-School Magic, With a Twist
  • Episode 150: Going Against Your Intuition: A Different Approach to Tuning the Neoclassical Cube
  • 2007 Nostalgia Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the Modern Horizons 3 Cube Community Set Review. As usual, we asked the Cube community to share what cards from the set they’re interested in trying in their Cubes, for whatever reasons that are relevant to their own curation goals, and how confident they are the cards will be hits. We compiled the results and our hosts talk through the top cards, as well as some trends and interesting patterns in the communities expectations for the set.

View all cards mentioned in this episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • Modern Horizons 3 Community Set Review
  • Commander Set Community Review
  • Usman’s MH3 Cube Commentary
  • Episode 205: Full Vintage Rotisserie Draft
  • The Devoid Cube
  • Andy’s Mono-Colored Starter Decks
  • Ten Thousand Posts

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

4:03 - Overview of Set Review Structure

5:23 - Broad Modern Horizons 3 survey facts and figures

9:21 - Headline mechanics that didn’t crack the top cards tested

17:29 - Individual Card Discussion

17:53 - 11. Emperor of Bones

24:38 - 10. Brainsurge

27:34 - 9. Reckless Pyrosurfer

30:20 - 8. Wight of the Reliquary

33:21 - 7. Warren Soultrader

37:59 - 6. Phlage, Titan of Nature’s Fury

42:48 - 5. Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd

46:05 - 4. Six

49:23 - 3. Nethergoyf

55:32 - 2. Psychic Frog

1:00:24 - 1. Marionette Apprentice

1:03:48 - Honorable Mention: The Landscape Cycle

1:06:26 - Honorable Mention: Accursed Marauder

1:08:01 - The powerful cards people are mostly not testing

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Fresh off of Boston Cube Party, Andy, Anthony, and Patrick recap their weekend of Cubing. They talk through highlights of the event and the Cubes they drafted over a great weekend of Magic.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Boston Cube Party
  • Episode 206, with Richard Garfield
  • Andy’s Twitter thread recapping the weekend
  • The Devoid Cube
  • Creatureless Cube
  • Da Cube Zone
  • Ixalan - M20 Standard Cube
  • The Sci Fi Cube
  • The Buildaround Cube
  • The Altered Cube
  • Isabella Gardner Collection
  • Lucky Paper Events Page

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

5:39 - Boston Cube Party Tournament Report

9:33 - Neoclassical Cube Train Draft

14:55 - 100 Ornithopters Cube Draft

18:00 - Saturday Morning Draft

27:44 - Saturday Afternoon Draft

37:55 - Sunday Morning Draft

49:15 - Sunday Afternoon Draft

1:05:49 - Top 8 Draft

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Richard Garfield, legendary game designer and the creator of Magic: the Gathering. Richard talks about how he got interested in modifying and tweaking games, his concept that players can be loosely understood as either ‘honers’ or ‘innovators’, and why some games with great mechanics have no soul as a result of overdevelopment. Andy and Anthony also take advantage of this opportunity to ask Richard about his relationship to Cube, getting insight into how he designs his own and what he values about the format. They cover all the most salient Cube topics, including handling feedback from players, how to approach power level outliers, and how to manage complexity.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

1:49 - Welcoming Richard Garfield to the show

3:31 - How Richard got started modifying games

11:12 - How do you know when a game has gotten too complex?

17:37 - Honers vs. Innovators

22:48 - Richard’s relationship to Cube

28:46 - On “Overdeveloped” Games

31:22 - The virtues of a wider power level band

43:09 - How to process feedback from players

46:58 - Is getting into nature an important part of Richard’s creative process

49:15 - The role of visual and narrative elements in games

55:00 - Designing a meta vs designing a game

58:10 - Richard’s current favorite games

1:02:56 - Richard’s game design book recommendations

Discussed in this episode:

  • MH3 Community Review Survey and the Commander Set Survey
  • Episode 202: Reading Series — The Creator of ‘Magic the Gathering’ Knows Exactly Where it All Went Wrong
  • Stratego
  • Dungeons and Dragons
  • Algomancy
  • The Encyclopedia of Chess Variations
  • Balatro
  • Founders of Reyvik
  • Finkel vs. Garfield
  • Deckmasters Garfield vs. Finkel Product
  • Slay the Spire
  • Spectromancer
  • Munchkin
  • Innovation, by Carl Chudyk
  • Quadradius
  • Gamut of Games, by Sid Sackson
  • New Rules for Classic Games, by R. Wayne Schmittberger

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

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Anthony is taking a break this week and it takes no less than two other people to fill his shoes, so Andy is joined by two other friends from their Baltimore playgroup to discuss two recent roto drafts of the full vintage card pool. They share their strategies surrounding this complicated draft format and talk about whether or not it led to actually fun games, while also touching on how this exercise informs their own Cube designs and why some cards from Magic’s history are just miserable to play with and against. Is full vintage roto the future? Or just an overwhelming way to ineveitably get Strip Mine locked?

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • MH3 Community Review Survey and the
  • Rotisserie Draft Template
  • First Full Vintage Roto Card Pool
  • Second Full Vintage Roto Card Pool
  • Splendor
  • Cascadia
  • The Beauty of Games

0:00 - Introduction

3:12 - Overview of Rotisserie Draft

4:54 - Our experience with Full Vintage Rotisserie Drafting

31:35 - Does this draft format actually lead to fun games?

37:35 - Observations on which cards got drafted and which didn’t

43:51 - Andy’s rant against the Initiative

51:10 - The way full vintage rotos impact cube design considerations

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony take a first look at Modern Horizons 3. The latest installment of this Time Spiral-esque series continues the tradition of a huge range of cards and an abundance of callbacks and remixes of classics. Our hosts talk about their overall impressions of the set and go into individual cards their interested in generally and for specific Cubes.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • MH3 Community Review Survey and the Commander Set Survey
  • The Beauty of Games, by Frank Lantz
  • Carmen Klomparens’ Tweet about the Wedge/Shard Fetchlands
  • GLHF Modern Horizons 3 Rules Episode with Judge Rob

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction and Admin

8:07 - Card by Card Discussion: Regular Cube

8:23 - Mandibular Kite

9:40 - Expel the Unworthy

12:24 - Indebted Spirit

13:41 - Brainsurge

15:16 - Lethal Throwdown

18:14 - Retrofitted Transmogrant

19:37 - Mogg Mob

20:48 - Molten Gatekeeper

21:14 - Fanatic of Rhonas

22:13 - Kudo, King Among Bears

24:44 - Wight of the Reliquary

27:30 - Pinnacle Monk

29:56 - Deceptive Landscape

31:41 - Card by Card Discussion: Turbo Cube

32:00 - Vexing Bauble

33:38 - Disruptor Flute

35:07 - Fanged Flames

35:51 - Glimpse the Impossible

37:04 - Molten Gatekeeper

37:57 - Warren Soultrader

39:42 - Urza’s Cave

41:21 - Glaring Fleshraker

43:24 - A diversion about lands in the Turbo Cube

47:23 - Monumental Henge, Arena of Glory, and Shifting Woodland

51:25 - Glyph Elemental

52:29 - Guide of Souls

57:57 - Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd

1:00:35 - Consign to Memory

1:01:49 - Shadow of the Second Sun

1:04:01 - Nethergoyf

1:05:50 - Detective’s Phoenix

1:07:47 - Reckless Pyrosurfer

1:08:33 - Skoa, Embermage

1:09:47 - Birthing Ritual

1:11:41 - Six

1:13:49 - Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury

1:17:23 - Fell the Profane

1:18:08 - Waterlogged Teachings

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

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Andy and Anthony talk about the history of architecture and the design of the physical spaces we inhabit. They draw parallels to design more broadly, the design of games as mental spaces, and specifically Cube design.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Beauty of Games
  • Buckminster Fuller
  • Tech Won’t Save Us, Episode 221: Tech’s Plan to ‘Ethnically Cleanse’ San Francisco
  • Cod, by Mark Kurlansky
  • GeoGuessr
  • Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
  • Nine Men’s Morris
  • No One Knows How to Make a Computer Mouse TED Talk — Andy’s note: as it turns out, this talk absolutely sucks, lol. It’s almost like a parody of a bad TED talk.
  • Toaster Made from Scratch, by Thomas Thwaites
  • The Brown Center
  • Antoni Goudy
  • Catenaries
  • Typescript

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

5:22 - Generalists vs. Specialists and Contextual Knowledge

11:55 - Andy and Anthony’s Relationship to Architecture

16:48 - The Abstract Similarities between Architecture and Game Design

23:46 - An abridged history of Architecture and how it connects to game design — Vernacular Architecture

33:05 - Architecture in the European Renaissance and the changing relationship between the designer and the building

39:23 - The Industrial Revolution and Modernism

41:51 - Andy and Anthony’s Relationship with Modern Architecture

55:51 - Summary

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

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Andy and Anthony read and comment on the entirety of a recent article on the early history of Magic and it’s creator’s struggles with the game. The article, including quotes from an interview with Richard Garfield, explores his complex relationship to his creation. It explores his perspective on games, and why he values them. Since it’s first publication, Richard has struggled to re-create the experiences he found most valuable from the pre-publication version. Our hosts unpack the article, give their own perspective, and inevitably tie it back to their own Cube experience.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • The PDH Pod, Episode 100
  • The Creator Of ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Knows Exactly Where It All Went Wrong, by Nick Zarzycki on Defector
  • Six Man Zonk
  • Yahtzee
  • Radical Markets, by Eric A. Posner and Eric Glen Weyl
  • Law of the Instrument
  • Mindstorms, by Seymour Papert
  • Keyforge
  • Netrunner
  • Orange (colour)
  • Patrice O’Neal
  • Hearthstone
  • Shandalar, 1997 Computer Game
  • Uber Cube Podcast
  • Squares that Cube

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

1:54 - Overview of episode format

4:57 - Read Through Begins

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about novelty Cubes. Many Cubes are built around a novelty concept or design restriction. Novelty designs can be fun and light, but gimmicks can also pigeonhole cubes, making them feel unworthy of serious attention. Our hosts discuss their experience with novelty design, from its benefits to its challenging implications.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube
  • Andy’s 100 Ornithopters Cube
  • Andy’s Degenerate Micro Cube
  • The Bolt Cube
  • The Descent Into Avernus
  • Anthony’s Defunct Monoblack Cube
  • Gimmicks
  • Novelties
  • Dan Dan — Rhystic Studies Video
  • Anthony’s Battle Box

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

3:45 - What is novelty in Cube design?

8:38 - How does novelty impact draft vs gameplay? What about self-imposed restrictions?

17:13 - The Monoblack Cube, The Turbo Cube, and first impressions of your themes “at common”

29:08 - A Ward Sliver Detour

35:54 - What can Dan Dan’s virality teach us about novel ways to play Magic?

49:44 - Pack 1, Pick 1 from the 100 Ornithopters Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony celebrate their 200th episode!! They look back at where they were and how they approached Magic when they started the podcast vs now. Andy reverse engineer’s his Cube list from the time and talks about how his tastes in Magic have changed. Anthony goes a little off the rails as they talk about how to still get the most enjoyment out of the game at a less involved level.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Infinite Jest
  • On Food and Cooking
  • Nose Dive, by Harold McGee
  • xkcd: everything is applied math
  • Andy’s Bun Magic cube List circa the beginning of the podcast
  • Linguistic Relativity
  • Benjamin Lee Whorf

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

7:44 - The Top 200 Most Powerful Cards for Vintage Cube

13:05 - Episode Overview

15:15 - Four Years of the Bun Magic Cube

38:16 - Four Years of Anthony’s Relationship to Magic

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about “tutors” in Cube and how cards that give you access to any card in your library impact the game. Historically, both of our hosts have tended to avoid them in most of their Cube designs, but the serve a unique function that could make them worth considering.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Intro
  • 100 Ornithopters
  • Neoclassical Cube
  • Irregular Cube
  • All Tutors on Scryfall
  • The Cube Map

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

2:12 - Andy’s Salty Bad Beats

8:20 - What is a tutor?

11:10 - What tutors have Anthony and Andy been playing since the beginning and why?

16:21 - Why have Anthony and Andy mostly avoided unconditional tutors in their Cube designs?

18:48 - Tutors in the Neoclassical Cube

37:24 - Tutors in 100 Ornithopters

43:47 - Our hosts current advice on designing with tutors

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of our Cube community set survey for Outlaws of Thunder Junction. As with every set, we asked Cube designers which cards they’re excited about from Magic’s latest world of hats, and how confident they are in them remaining in their Cubes long-term.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Outlaws of Thunder Junction Cube Prospective
  • Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander Cube Prospective
  • Usman’s Deep Dive on OTJ
  • Magic: the Colonized — Parker’s Article on the OTJ World Builing Decisions
  • MST3K

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

6:16 - Episode Overview

21:51 - 10. Phantom Interference

24:45 - 9. Aven Interrupter

28:26 - 8. Nurturing Pixie

32:06 - 7. Requisition Raid

34:43 - 6. Three Steps Ahead

38:44 - 5. Harvester of Misery

46:24 - 4. Legion Extruder

52:35 - 3. Bristly Bill, Spinesower

57:53 - 2. Slickshot Showoff

1:03:57 - 1. Forsaken Miner

1:07:07 - Honorable Mention Tinybones

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony revisit designing a Cube starting with a single card as inspiration. Starting with Goblin Charbelcher, they each explore themes and mechanics that could make the card relevant in a Cube, and build off those to create rough Cube skeletons.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Episode 182: Emergent Cube Design by Example
  • Our Teaser on YouTube
  • UberCube Event
  • Lucky Paper Cube Events Page

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

3:11 - Overview of episode

4:37 - Meta show business, including the first edition of the Lucky Paper Mailbag

11:57 - All about our focal card: Goblin Charbelcher

16:11 - Anthony’s Charbelcher Journey

31:14 - Andy’s Charbelcher Journey

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Sam from Rhystic Studies to talk about his first Cube design project. Sam, who produces thoughtful, carefully written videos on Magic, has been interested in Cube design for years and has finally made the leap to create his own list. They talk about what motivates Sam’s design goals, how he’s approached the project, and what he’s looking forward to in his first experiences playing it.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

3:06 - Betrayal Corner and the Magic to Game Design Pipeline

7:53 - Introduction to “Kitchen Table All Stars”, Sam’s new Cube

11:46 - Why now and why Cube is Sam’s “end game” for Magic

22:22 - Cube Design in the Liminal Space Between the First Complete List and the First Actual Draft

30:23 - What Are Sam’s Goals for the First Draft

44:34 - What are the other hallmark cards of Kitchen Table All Stars?

51:38 - Identifying and Handling Power Outliers

56:13 - Pack 1, Pick 1 from Sam’s Cube

Discussed in this episode:

  • Intro backing music “Lonesome Journey” by KeysOfMoonMusic
  • Betrayal (Board Game)
  • Pandemic (Board Game)
  • Sam’s Cube, “Kitchen Table All Stars”
  • Episode 191: Vibes-Forward Cube Design with Ryan Overturf
  • Steve Stillman on Twitter
  • Episode 182: Emergent Cube Design by Example
  • 100 Ornithopters in a Trenchcoat
  • Caleb Gannon’s Drafts of His Own Powered Synergy Cube on MTGO
  • Sam’s Interview on Humans of Magic
  • Hillary’s “Baby’s First Cube”
  • DanDan
  • Dear Gonti, Love Sophie by Rhystic Studies
  • Understanding Sagas | How Magic Art Depicts In-World Histories by Rhystic Studies
  • Red Deck Wins by Rhystic Studies
  • Games Within Games | The Story of “Forgetful Fish” by Rhystic Studies

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Cube Prospective Surveys for Outlaws of Thunder Junction is now open! Let us know what you are testing in your cube from the latest set.

Andy and Anthony talk about their first impressions of Outlaws of Thunder Junction and the cards their interested in for their own Cube lists. Anthony is not too impressed by the aesthetics of the set, but they manage to power through, talk about the mechanics and how they might be relevant to different Cube designers, and even a few individual cards that stand out.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Kristen Schaal is a Horse!
  • Washington Cube Champs
  • Cali Cube Champs
  • Get tickets

  • Join the Discord

  • Uber Cube Event

  • Boston Cube Party
  • Cube Dungeon Con
  • MagicCon Panel About Representation of Native Peoples, Thanks Brodie!
  • The Holodeck
  • Episode 129 on the State of the Game and Design for an “Eternal World”
  • Good Morning Magic “The Problem with Kicker and How We Fixed It”
  • Andy’s Monocolored Starter Decks
  • An Ode to Scalable Threats, by Andy
  • Emma Partlow’s tweet about the OTJ set symbols

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

3:26 - Upcoming Cube Event Rundown

9:17 - Andy and Anthony’s Broad Impressions of Outlaws of Thunder Junction

25:27 - Mechanics from Outlaws of Thunder Junction

26:10 - Outlaws

28:19 - Committing a Crime

36:01 - Spree

44:29 - Mounts and Saddle

48:08 - Plot

51:12 - Unnamed mechanics and themes

52:14 - Bun Magic Cube Additions

52:55 - Slick Shot Showoff

53:48 - Goldvein Hydra

54:50 - Harvester of Misery

56:22 - Andy’s long list of half-considered ‘maybes’ for the Bun Magic Cube

57:04 - Regular Cube Additions

57:41 - Trained Arynx

58:32 - Demonic Ruckus

59:15 - Bristly Bill, Spine Sower

1:00:17 - 100 Ornithopters Additions

1:02:24 - Lost Jitte

1:04:43 - Trash the Town

1:09:10 - Pitiless Carnage

1:10:14 - Pest Control

1:11:03 - Requisition Raid

1:13:07 - Turbo Cube Additions

1:13:28 - Magebane Lizard

1:14:17 - Geralf, the Fleshwright

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Guests Tara, Jenn, and Haiyue join Andy and Anthony for a discussion on making play spaces that are more accountable and inclusive to help grow more diverse playgroups. Tara brings her perspective as a professional diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant; Jenn, their experience organizing and judging events; and Haiyue what she’s learned managing the VML, and, from all of them, much much more.

As Cube designers, our hosts and many of our listeners need to grow their communities as much as their Cube lists if they hope to play consistently. Our guests bring their broader perspective on why it’s so important to do that in an inclusive way and how to go about it.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Episode 130: Cube Community Building
  • 5 Steps to Break Down Gender Barriers in MTG by guest Haiyue
  • How To Organize Inclusive And Accessible Events by guest Tara with help from other contributors
  • The View From Here by Katie G. Bates
  • Playing with Power — Inclusivity in Magic
  • Safe and Brave Spaces Don’t Work (and What You Can Do Instead) by Elise Ahenkorah
  • The VML
  • CubeCon
  • Redlining in the United States
  • Magic the Gathering Infraction Procedure Guide
  • Set Boundaries Find Peace Book by Nedra Tawwab
  • No Land Beyond
  • Tara’s Website

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about Andy’s newest Cube experiment: a cube who’s only creatures are Ornithopters. Andy couldn’t help but entertain the idea of an all-ornithopter Cube in a humorous tweet, and a recent draft of it in the Cube Con discord inspired him to flesh out the idea even further.

Our first playmat is currently available for pre-order! Illustrated by Andy and featuring gold, foiled details it expresses our love of the most punk rock Magic format.

  • Pre-order a playmat here

The show now has a dedicated PO box. Want to send us a letter? A drawing? I don’t know, maybe an Ornithopter you doodled on you want Andy to put in his Cube? Send it along to:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • McMurdo Station Antartica
  • Our Previous Episode Discussing Art
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation
  • MtG Cube Talk Discord Server
  • Carly Mazur’s About Page
  • Can it be all Ornithopters?
  • CubeCon Discord Server
  • ChillMTG on YouTube

Cubes Mentioned:

  • 100 Ornithopters

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

1:39 - Opening up the Plug Bag

6:24 - Art Episode Follow Up

20:02 - 100 Ornithopters Cube Introduction

25:50 - Anthony’s First Impressions of 100 Ornithopters

32:25 - The powerful strategies this cube supports

41:33 - Known issues with the 100 Ornithopters Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our first, limited edition playmat is now available for pre-order. The playmat is designed and illustrated by Andy and custom printed to order. Orders will only be available for a limited time. Pre-order a mat here.

Andy and Anthony talk about “ART!” loosely as it relates to Magic: The Gathering. They talk about the role of creative work in the game, the nuances of art and illustration, how the approach to illustration has changed over the history of the game, and even the present and future of large language model generated images.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • ART THOUGHTZ: How to Make an Art.
  • “The Game”
  • Garden Path Sentences
  • Google’s new artificial intelligence can’t understand these sentences. Can you?
  • Rhystic Studies: “my next video is about that painting you hate”
  • Klimt
  • Mannerist Painting
  • Algomancy
  • Midjourney
  • Tweening
  • The Arts and Crafts Movement
  • Carly Mazur’s Portfolio
  • Marina Abramovich
  • Cube Map Print
  • The Room Movie Poster
  • Impressionism
  • Episode 42: Cube, Art School, & Critical Discourse
  • Tromploi
  • Claude Monet
  • Édouard Manet
  • Jackson Pollock
  • Piet Mondrian
  • Adobe Photoshop Generative Fill
  • Minecraft
  • Robert Hodgin: Meander
  • WotC statement saying they won’t use AI
  • Sturgeon’s Law
  • Apophysis
  • Make my hot dog hotter
  • Edward Muybridge: The Horse in Motion
  • The Slo Mo Guys on Youtube
  • Trashfuture: Big Tesco Back Tattoo ft. Tom O’Mahony
  • Well There’s Your Problem: The Death of Hyperloop

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction and Garden Path Sentence Corner

5:24 - Overview of episode

7:57 - Why is there art in Magic?

10:22 - Are the illustrations in Magic even “Art”?

28:56 - What do we think about Carly Mazur’s Faithless Looting?

34:44 - The Invention of the Camera and the Beginning of Modern Art

46:34 - On AI Generated Art

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Ryan Overturf, sharing his Cube design wisdom. Starting with Ryan’s articles on power outliers and letting fun drive Cube design, they talk about their approach to Cube design and how they let play experience, vibes, and taste inform their processes.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Ryan on Star City Games
  • Power Level Outliers And How To Handle Them In Magic Cubes
  • Magic Cube Design: Make The Fun Thing The Good Thing
  • Andrew Elenbogen’s Tweet on Magic Data
  • Pony by Orville Peck
  • Cascade Cube
  • The Turbo Cube
  • The r/spikes spoiler thread for Treasure Cruise
  • @RyanOverdrive on Twitter

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

3:51 - What is a power level outlier?

18:40 - Exciting cards to draft and the right vs. the wrong power outliers

28:54 - How power level outliers might make the game more egalitarian

33:05 - Making mopey threats appealing with the power of nostalgia

35:46 - Power level outlier’s contributions to a player’s ability to make a comeback

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the Murders at Karlov Manor Cube Community Survey and discuss the top cards, tested by the most Cube designers. They dig into some trends, patterns, and surprises in the cards people are giving a chance in their environments.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Usman’s Card-by-card MKM Review
  • MKM Community Survey Results
  • Characters of the Board Game Clue
  • John Mulaney
  • All about Clue on Stuff You Should Know
  • Episode 186: Murders at Karlov Manor First Impressions
  • Episode 187: Personal Cube Additions
  • Look up Past Lucky Paper Survey Submissions

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction and Clue Talk

7:10 - Overview of Set Review Format

9:26 - Carnage Interpreter from Ravnica: Clue Edition

14:15 - Unshakable Tail from Murders at Karlov Manor Commander

17:26 - Murders at Karlov Manor in Broad Stokes

19:18 - 9. Cryptic Coat

25:15 - 8. Aftermath Analyst

27:42 - 7. Deduce

30:21 - 6. Escape Tunnel

33:24 - 5. Snarling Gorehound

35:10 - 4. Surveil Lands

39:08 - 3. Sharp-Eyed Rookie

44:05 - 2. Novice Inspector

46:41 - 1. Demand Answers

Cubes mentioned:

  • Pulp Nouveau

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about layers of interaction in Cube design. Some cards interact with particular effects. Other cards are, in turn, resistant to those responses. Inevitably other cards get around those resistances. Our hosts talk about how they approach these orders of interaction.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • GeoGuessr
  • Wingspan
  • Splendor
  • Episode 31 on Density of “Bread and Butter” Effects
  • Episode 101 on Density of Disruption
  • Episode 111 on The Texture of Removal
  • Episode 127 on Density of Threats
  • Who’s the Beatdown
  • The Dollop

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

1:57 - What does it mean to ‘interact’ in Magic

6:38 - What sorts of mechanics limit ‘interactivity’?

8:37 - Andy’s concept of orders or tiers of interaction

38:27 - What densities and types of second-order interaction to Andy and Anthony include in their primary cubes?

Cubes Mentioned:

  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • The Neoclassical Cube
  • Bun Magic Cube
  • Regular Cube
  • Uber Bear’s Artifact Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Well, it’s my (Andy’s) final week of writing the show notes as punishment for losing a bet against Anthony. But that’s ok, because writing these particular notes is a privilege, as we are joined by special guest Emma Partlow on this episode! We’be been trying to get Emma on the show for a long time and I’m really glad we were finally able to make it happen. We use her Peasant Cube as a jumping off point to discuss playing Magic with rarity and budget restrictions, what traits describe the platonic ideal of an uncommon, how to navigate the endless sea of card variants spewing out of Wizards of the Coast these days, and the value of accessibility of all kinds.

My take on Thraben Inspector from last week, which you all have been ruthlessly dragging me for, did not come up. I presume she didn’t hear it and none of you better tell her!!! If you tell her I’m going to be so mad at you.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • @emmadpartlow on Twitter
  • The Herald’s Horn
  • Playing with Power Episode on Inclusivity
  • Emma’s Peasant Cube
  • Eric Klug’s Peasant Cube
  • Emma’s Budget Version of Her Peasant Cube
  • The 2023 Year in Review
  • Dandan
  • MTG cares more about collectability than accessibility - and it’s making the TCG worse by Emma Partlow
  • The Neoclassical Cube
  • The Black Mage (Final Fanasty)
  • Ogre Battle Tactics
  • Tactics Ogre: Reborn on the Switch
  • A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton
  • Emma’s Linktree

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

5:17 - How did Emma get introduced to Magic

8:17 - When did Emma discover the joy of Cube?

11:53 - Emma’s roots in rarity and budget restrictions

17:41 - Downshifts and rarity restricted Cube design

26:33 - What is the most uncommony uncommon card?

30:57 - On Emma’s inclusion of controversially powerful cards in her peasant Cube

37:52 - Emma’s local Cube playgroup

45:34 - Does Emma think of herself as a casual or competitive player?

47:05 - How does Emma prioritize accessibility vs. bling in her card variant selection for her cube?

52:33 - Potpurri

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Well folks, it happened. I lost the bet on air last week about whether or not Wizards would include a physical, punch-out reminder for “suspected” creatures in the pre-release kit for Murders at Karlov Manor, so here I am writing the notes. I still think it’s weird that they literally include a counter for a mechanic that they explicitly designed to NOT include a physical counter, but I forgot the precedence set by Exert in Amonket, so that’s on me.

This week is part two of our marathon, pre-Andy’s-vacation, recording session. We’re discussing additions from Murders at Karlov Manor and Ravnica: Clue Edition to our four relevant personal Cube projects. Tune in to find out what beloved Cube card Andy believes has jumped the shark, which two cards are clearing the high bar of the Degenerate Micro Cube, what Anthony is going to do with all of the amazing new options for the Turbo Cube, and what happens when you have two cost reduction mechanics with different stipulations in our new segment “Judge Bones”.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Set Surveys:
  • Andy’s Cube Coaching Session with Brian Coval, a.k.a Bosh n’ Roll
  • Lucky Paper Radio Episode 181: Gold Cards and You

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

4:35 - Additions to the Bun Magic Cube

10:50 - Honorable Mention: Tenth District Hero

12:19 - Honorable Mention: Deduce

14:07 - Honorable Mention: Drag the Canal

15:33 - Honorable Mention: Trostani, Three Whispers

17:48 - Honorable Mention: Necropsy

19:21 - Honorable Mention: Warleader’s Call

20:50 - The Surveil Lands

30:01 - Fugitive Codebreaker

33:59 - No More Lies

36:26 - Additions to the Regular Cube

38:10 - Curious Inquiry

40:07 - Push // Pull

42:28 - Cease // Desist

45:04 - The Surveil Lands (Again)

46:38 - No Ravnica: Clue Edition Cards for the Regular Cube?

48:38 - Additions to the Degenerate Micro Cube

49:03 - Pick Your Poison

50:43 - Doorkeeper Thrull

51:51 - Additions to the Turbo Cube

53:03 - Cerebral Confiscation

54:11 - Forensic Gadgeteer

56:29 - Torch the Witness

58:04 - Demand Answers

58:51 - Crime Novelist

1:00:15 - Vengeful Tracker

1:00:37 - Andy’s Potential Turbo Cube Inclusions

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony discuss the mechanics of Murders at Karlov Manor, along with satellite sets, and their first impressions of the set for Cube.⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠Discussed in this episode: Set Surveys: Murders at Karlov Manor Mechanics Mothership Article A new Returning Mechanic, but Tweaked, @luckypapermtg on Twitter Boonta VistaTimestamps0:00 - Introduction3:37 - Ward, Cloak, and Disguise17:41 - Suspect21:29 - Collect Evidence26:16 - Cases33:20 - Returning mechanic: Investigate34:37 - Informal mechanics and emergent themes of MKM40:41 - Ravnica: Clue Edition first impressions44:32 - The prevalence of “can’t be countered” effects in this setCheck us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” CubeIf want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about Anthony’s experimental Battle Box where players start at three life, can cast spells without paying their mana cost, and start the game with two Lightning Bolts on the stack. They talk about rapid prototyping and challenges in game design. The novel design didn’t initially play as hoped, and they brainstorm ideas to make it work.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Hedron Rockworks on YouTube Topaz D20
  • We Are Already Dead, Anthony’s Experimental Battle Box
  • 1 Life Cubes, Lucky Paper Radio Episode 23
  • Pai Gow
  • Slay the Spire

Cubes mentioned:

  • We Are Already Dead- Keldan’s Bolt Cube
  • Jeskai Control Battle Box

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about updates to Anthony’s Turbo Cube and how changing a few cards can impact the way a cube feels. In this environment, all spells and activated abilities cost generic mana less. They cut some of the most potent win conditions including Teferi's Tutelage, and added a handful of cards to bolster black discard focused strategies.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

0:00 - Introduction

4:09 - Small (but actually big) changes to the win conditions in the Turbo Cube

16:50 - Do the colors have identities in the Turbo Cube?

20:18 - The problem with black in the Turbo Cube

28:03 - Tournament report from the first draft of the new discard package

39:40 - Ideas for improving the archetype after the first playtest

54:12 - How will Anthony evaluate success or failure of this archetype moving forward?

58:34 - Tidebinder Corner

Discussed in this episode:

  • MAGfest
  • Lucky Paper Radio on YouTube

Cubes Mentioned:

  • Turbo Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about cubing on a budget. Between cards, sleeves, and other needs, putting a cube together is not without costs, but the format has some unique attributes that can still make it approachable on a budget.

But first, they talk for a long time about Tetris.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • After 34 Years, Someone Finally Beat Tetris
  • Tetris Just Got Beaten Again
  • Fosbury Flop
  • Four Minute Mile
  • Radiolab: Stochasticity
  • Lucky Paper Radio on How to Build a Cube from Your Collection
  • Scryfall
  • BCW Cardboard Longboxes
  • Potomac Distribution

Cubes Mentioned:

  • Amonkar Desert Cube
  • Eiganjo Drift

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

1:41 - Tetris Talk

25:53 - Introduction to Playing Cube on a Budget

35:49 - Tip 1: Play with the cards you have

40:11 - Tip 2: Most cards are not that expensive. Really!

42:02 - Tip 3: Be aware of the secondary market and pick up cards at the right time, if you can.

44:42 - Tip 4: Consider rarity restricted cubes, but be aware rarity and price are only mildly correlated!

48:26 - Tip 5: Use proxies

50:49 - Tip 6: Use BCW cardboard longboxes bought in bulk

54:39 - The biggest barrier to budget cubing: sleeves

1:03:46 - Tip 7: Get your playgroup to chip in cards

1:04:39 - Tip 8: Save and sell/buylist cards to subsidize bigger purchases

1:07:58 - Remember the most important thing: drafting a cube is FREE if you’re not the cube owner

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk through emergent cube design by example. Starting with a listener submitted card — Trade Routes — they explore ways to create a context where the card is a role player. Moving beyond direct synergies, they demonstrate how they’d use on card as a seed crystal to generate ideas for a mechanically coherent Cube.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Scryfall search "fo:/whenever.you.discard/"
  • Our article about using Scryfall
  • Our article about regular expressions
  • BoshNRoll YouTube Channel Sharkstill Decks
  • Tolarian Community College Cube Video
  • Ship of Theseus

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

1:18 - Episode Overview

6:29 - Step 0: Look for redundancy

8:35 - Step 1: Identify Cards with First Order Synergy

24:47 - Step 2: Identify Cards with Second Order Synergy and Emergent Themes

36:01 - Step 3: Look for natural answers to your emergent themes

40:33 - Step 4: Look at the bigger picture: What does aggro look like? What does interaction look like? What does fixing look like?

47:15 - Conclusion

Cubes Mentioned

  • The Turbo Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about gold cards in Cube. They talk about how they effect decks and drafts and their roles in their own cubes.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Uber Cube Podcast
  • Episode 21: Commander Legends and a Cube that Glitters
  • How Many Lands Should You Include in Your Cube
  • Lucky Paper Radio Cubesmas Special
  • Power Thesaurus
  • [Cheugy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheugy#:~:text=Cheugy%20(%2Fˈt%CA%83u%CB%90%C9%A1,or%20%22trying%20too%20hard%22.)
  • David Lynch Quinoa

Cubes Mentioned

  • Bun Magic Cube
  • Regular Cube
  • Neoclassical Cube

Timestamps

0:00 - Show Notes Hangman and Nog Corner

7:07 - Finally getting to the actual topic

8:28 - Pedantry Corner: What is a gold card?

13:48 - How many gold cards should you run in your cube?

24:01 - Gold Card Counts from Our Cubes

35:42 - The Legacy of Gold Cards: Are they cool any more?

44:41 - Andy’s “Three S’s” of Gold Cards: Signposts, Splashables, and Scraps 53:31 - Anthony’s wrap up

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker climb up on Maro’s Lap and share their Christmas Cube wishes for the coming year: what cards do they want to see printed for their Cubes, what cycles do they want to see completed, and how much of a Grinch can Anthony be.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Timestamps

0:00 - A very long and involved series of intros

7:37 - Overview of episode structure

9:03 - Parker’s Cubesmas List

35:08 - Andy’s Cubesmas List

48:55 - Anthony’s Cubesmas Grinch Corner

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Griz
  • Thraben University on YouTube
  • Andy’s Blue Black Titan
  • Christmas Economics
  • Pommery Mustards
  • Mala Market Hand Stirred Soy Sauce

Cubes Mentioned

  • Pulp Nouveau
  • Reading Rainbow

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony take a look back on 2023, and what a year it’s been! Our hosts discuss some of their favorite things happening this year, including the second annual CubeCon, and a growing number of Cube events. They talk about how valuable Magic has been as a vector for creative outlets. In a candid, critical discussion they share how Magic as a game, and a product, has fundamentally changed in the recent years and how in many ways it no longer supports the way they most deeply engaged with it.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Episode 130: Cube Community Building
  • CubeCon
  • California Cube Champs
  • Washington Cube Champs
  • The Ice Cube
  • bmktpt Local Playgroup Website Source Code on GitHub
  • Cultic Bestiary Tokens
  • Hasbro’s Christmas Layoffs on Polygon
  • hbomberguy: Plagiarism, on YouTube
  • Princess Bride Secret Lair
  • Color of Magic
  • Eley Hose Reels
  • Sturgeon’s Law
  • The Collapse of the Atlantic Northwest Cod Fishery
  • Fairy Circles

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

3:35 - Episode breakdown

5:31 - The good stuff — the second Cube Con and a battery of smaller, grassroots Cube events

12:22 - The joy of using Magic as a creative outlet

18:08 - Hasbro layoffs and the incentive structures of the business of Magic

36:08 - The costs of Magic’s growth and expansion

52:14 - Universes Beyond and the fractured identity of Magic

1:13:59 - Andy and Anthony’s Cube cards of the year!!

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony open up the mailbag and answer questions from listeners. Our hosts answer all your burning questions about Cube, soup, and probably egg nog?

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • I got a fever of 103
  • Boonta Vista
  • Murphy’s Law
  • Moore’s Law
  • Sturgeon’s Law
  • Ship of Theseus
  • Heraclitus
  • Midnight Diner
  • bigsofttitty.png

Cubes Mentioned

  • Regular Cube
  • Ryan Saxe’s Buildaround Cube
  • Caleb Gannon’s Synergy Cube
  • The Neoclassical Cube
  • Old Border Foil Cube
  • The Naked Cube

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

4:47 - Why have we not done a mailbag episode before?

7:47 - How do you design for an interesting draft? What is your ideal booster pack?

18:59 - What are the unique aspects of designing old border Cubes?

26:12 - What factors make you excited or unexcited to draft a new cube?

30:54 - What card should be in every cube?

33:27 - What about all the lands you don’t talk about all the time?

41:43 - What is the best meal you have ever had in your life?

49:12 - What recipe has been your favorite to cook this year?

51:47 - To nog or not to nog?

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about combos. What is a combo? Is it a spectrum? Almost certainly. How are they related to the aggro-midrange-control metagame? How do they affect the draft and gameplay of a given Cube? Does Anthony hate combos? Does Andy hate combos? Only one way to find out.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Lucky Paper Radio — The ABCs of Aggro
  • Lucky Paper Radio — The ABCs of Control
  • Bosh n Roll on YouTube
  • Lucky Paper Radio — Guest Episode with Ryan Saxe
  • Anthony’s Personal Journey through Cube Design Article
  • Andy’s broken Fastbond Roto deck on YouTube:
  • Boonta Vista
  • Well There’s Your Problem
  • Til’ Death do us Blart
  • The Worst Idea of All Time
  • The Neighborhood Listen

Cubes Mentioned:

  • Bun Magic Cube
  • Regular Cube
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Neoclassical Cube
  • The Turbo Cube
  • The Irregular Cube
  • Lyserg’s Legacy Cube
  • Ryan Saxe’s Buildaround Cube
  • Ligma Cube
  • “The Pube” a.k.a Rally The Peasants
  • AiBretty’s Cube

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

0:58 - How good is Whitemane Lion plus Oketra’s Monument?

3:08 - Why is combo not Anthony’s favorite style of gameplay?

8:53 - What is a ‘combo’? What is a ‘combo deck’?

20:08 - The tension between heuristics and individual cards

24:09 - Does Andy hate combo?

31:10 - The impacts of combo on gameplay and sequencing

39:35 - How does the presence of combo affect the draft?

45:34 - Satisfying different desires with different cubes

49:01 - Balancing combo alongside fair decks

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker discuss the results of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Cube community survey. As always, we asked cube designers to share what cards they’re interested in from Magic’s newest premier set. Our hosts discuss the results: the top, and top rated, cards, as well as other patterns and surprises they found in the results.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Community Review
  • Lost Caverns Commander Community Review

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

2:48 - Survey Structure Overview

4:22 - Big Picture Impressions of Lost Caverns of Ixalan

10:05 - 10. Confounding

13:47 - 9. Spyglass Siren

17:37 - 8. Restless Vents

20:20 - 7. Deep Cavern Bat

22:02 - 6. Sentinel of the Nameless City

24:53 - 5. Get Lost

28:20 - 4. Stalactite Stalker

33:41 - 3. Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel

37:52 - 2. Inti, Seneschal of the Sun

42:55 - 1. Bitter Triumph

47:41 - Honorable Mention: Goblin Tomb Raider

48:07 - Honorable Mention: Trumpeting Carnosaur

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Following CubeCon 2023, all pool lists were released to let Cube owners learn about what was successful, or not, in their environments at the event. Andy and Anthony review and discuss the decks drafted from their cubes, how they feel about each environment, and how the outcomes may inform future changes.

If you drafted the Bun Magic Cube, Regular Cube, or Turbo Cube we’d love your feedback including how you built your deck and highs and lows of your games. Get in touch! and be sure to share your deck photos.

Andy’s been hard at work designing our first Lucky Paper playmat. Sign up to our newsletter if you don’t want to miss out on this limited release!

Tune in this Wednesday, November 22 to Lucky Paper on Twitch for Andy’s commentary on a roto draft of his Cube with a group of top French players.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • CubeCon decklist dump
  • CubeCon 2023: A Cube Owner’s Retrospective — by Austin “Bones” Hale
  • Dom’s Draft of the Bun Magic Cube on Coverage at CubeCon

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

4:49 - First impressions and why red is so strong

10:54 - The flaws of card-focused conclusions

15:18 - We were happy with the results for our own cubes from CubeCon?

20:06 - Unpacking Dom Harvey’s maybe dominant strategy in the Bun Magic Cube

24:36 - What kinds of patterns emerged in the CubeCon dekclists?

29:19 - The relationship between fixing and win rate in the Bun Magic Cube

32:26 - The challenge of winning with blue in the Bun Magic Cube

47:32 - The Turbo Cube decks of CubeCon

48:02 - A request for deck lists from the Bun Magic Cube at CubeCon

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony take a first look at The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. They talk about the set in broad strokes, what they think about the mechanics and how they can potentially slot into different Cube environments. Then the look into individual cards they’re interested in for their own, curated environments.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • “It’s Not Too Late” — Trueanon with Dr. Norman Finkelstein
  • “The Gaza Cauldron” — Intercepted
  • “West Palestine” — Bad Faith with Dr. Cornel West
  • Five Broken Cameras
  • @ahmattox on Instagram
  • @anthonymattox on Twitter
  • The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Mechanics
  • LCI and LCC Cube Surveys

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

7:55 - Reviewing Anthony’s LCI Prerelease

10:52 - The Mechanics of Lost Caverns of Ixalan

11:44 - Craft and Other Transforming Double-Faced Cards

19:23 - Descended and Descent

27:39 - Discover

37:21 - Explore and Map Tokens

42:12 - Caves

45:11 - Other Minor Themes

49:02 - Personal Cube Additions: The Regular Cube

49:50 - Subterranean Schooner

51:29 - Bitter Triumph

52:01 - Glorifer of Suffering

52:38 - Bonus: Sovereign Okinec Ahau

57:15 - Personal Cube Additions: Bun Magic Cube

57:54 - Tarrian’s Soulcleaver

58:54 - Restless Prairie

59:58 - Tishana's Tidebinder

1:02:29 - Helping Hand

1:05:22 - Get Lost

1:08:07 - Jadelight Spelunker

1:10:18 - Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon

1:12:45 - Sentinel of the Nameless City

1:14:57 - Inti, Seneschal of the Sun

1:17:49 - Kellan, Daring Traveler // Journey On

1:19:28 - Bitter Triumph

1:20:53 - Personal Cube Additions: The Turbo Cube

1:21:08 - Confounding Riddle

1:21:43 - Kutzil’s Flanker

1:22:52 - Tishana’s Tidebinder

1:23:13 - Inti, Seneschal of the Sun

1:23:55 - Buried Treasure

1:25:09 - Personal Cube Additions: The Degenerate Micro Cube

1:25:46 - Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant

1:27:58 - Hoverstone Pilgrim

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Tim Meyers, a.k.a. donald_k_magic, CubeCon 2023 Champion who shares his wisdom and experience of his path to ultimate Victory! In a field of 400 Cube enthusiasts, Tim’s love of the game carried him to a spot in the top 64, to 3-0 is draft to earn a spot in the top 8 draft, and finally, working with a deck he felt had some rough edges, to win the entire main event.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • MTG Cube Talk Discord
  • ChillMtG
  • CubeCon 2023 Top 8 Coverage
  • Find Donald_K_Magic on Discord to join his St. Louis playgroup
  • LCI Cube Survey

Cubes Mentioned

  • Reading Rainbow
  • Khans Extended Cube
  • Bun Magic Cube
  • 15oz Micro Brew
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • May’s Fae Cube
  • Dragons of Winters Night
  • Data Generated Vintage Cube
  • MTGO Vintage Cube

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

3:15 Tim’s Overall Impressions of Cube Con

5:56 3-0 with BG Gold deck from Reading Rainbow

13:33 2-1 with Four Color deck from the Khan’s Extended Cube

22:14 2-1 with Five Color Jeskai deck from the Bun Magic Cube

29:11 2-1 with RB Artifact Recursion from the 15oz Micro Brew

40:32 3-0, 6-0 with Sultai Faeries in May’s Fae Cube

49:48 BYE 0-2 with BUG Zombies in Dragons of Winter’s Night

55:27 Top 64 — 3-0 with Reanimator in the Data Generated Vintage Cube

1:04:13 Top 8 — 3-0 with Mostly White Aggro in the MTGO Vintage Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Dom Harvey joins Andy and Anthony for a recap of the second annual CubeCon. They discuss their experience at the con, the variety of cube they played, and get Dom’s take on how to be successful when approaching new, and sometimes strange, environments.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • MTG Cube Con
  • Worlds 2012 Cube Draft
  • CubeCon VODs
  • Sam Black’s Podcast Episode about Cube
  • Dominaria’s Judgment
  • Matisse’s “The Dance”
  • Dr. Who Survey
  • Parker’s Article: Pulp Nouveau — A Tribute to Drafting Basic Lands
  • Anthony’s Article: Intellect and Emotion in Game Design: A Personal Cube Journey

Cubes Mentioned

  • Regular Cube
  • Cascade Cube
  • Changeling Cube
  • Bun Magic Cube
  • The Buildaround Cube
  • The Creative Cube
  • Emma’s Peasant Cube
  • Data Generated Vintage Cube
  • Uber Bear’s Artifact Cube
  • The Companion Cube
  • Aquaone Vintage Cube
  • AlphaFrog Vintage Cube

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

3:33 - CubeCon Results Recap

7:19 - What are the skills of a successful Cube player? What allowed Dom specifically to find success at CubeCon?

23:07 - On strong players and their draft preferences

27:50 - Dom’s Thoughts on his Two Drafts of the Bun Magic Cube

38:08 - How did Dom evaluate cubes before playing them?

48:26 - How did Dom ‘break’ the Changeling Cube?

1:01:15 - Dom’s Favorite Cubes from the Weekend

1:17:34 - Closing thoughts

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about accessibility in Cube design: why it’s important, especially to the many of us who are trying to expand our local Cube playgroups, and key things to consider. They talk about the practical, surface level issues of cards that can be difficult to understand, as well as ways to design a Cube to make drafting it for the first time feel easier.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Finn’s F360, a classic style Legacy Cube of iconic cards, full of artist signatures.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Project Booster Fun
  • Curb Cut
  • Neoclassical Cube
  • MTG cares more about collectability than accessibility - and it’s making the TCG worse on Dicebreaker
  • Framing A Magic Accessibility Issue on Card Kingdom
  • Episode 143 with Sam Black

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro

2:24 - Introduction to topic

4:21 - The reasons to make your cube accessible

10:17 - What makes a Cube accessible?

25:14 - How accessibility has affected card choices in Anthony and Andy’s Cubes

30:39 - Accessibility from a more nuanced, cube design perspective

38:28 - Listener Submitted pack 1, pick 1

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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We’re on our way to the second annual CubeCon!

If you’re not able to attend, make sure to tune into the live stream, which Andy, Justin, and the rest of the coverage team have been working really hard on.

If you’re attending CubeCon, we can’t wait to meet you or see you again. Please introduce yourselves and remind us of your online handle, if relevant, as we are old and have awful memory. We are sorry.

Shout out to the Uber Cube Podcast for all of their thorough primer episodes for Cubes leading up to the con.

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Andy and Anthony talk about mana curves in cubes. They talk about how it influences gameplay and the relationship between curve, speed, and the more difficult to pin down “power level”. They also talk about how they as cube designers think about the mana curve.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • You Look Nice Today
  • Lonely Sandwich
  • Magic Data Science CubeCon Analysis Thread
  • Anthony’s Stats of Cube Con Article
  • Spike University Part 1 and Part 2
  • The Tempo Cube
  • Gwen Dekker’s Tiny Leaders Cube
  • Tupelo Honey
  • Vindicate Test
  • Caleb Gannon’s Powered Synergy Cube
  • How Many Lands Should You Include in Your Cube

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

3:19 Why are the Bun Magic and Regular Cube so low curving relative to the other cubes featured at Cube Con?

15:59 The distinction between absolute and relative power level

40:43 Just how different are the mana values in Bun Magic and other Cubes?

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy, Anthony, and Justin continue last weeks discussion through the Cubes that will be featured in the imminent Cube Con of 2023 reviewing the second half of the cubes that will be featured on live and recorded coverage. They talk about their approaches to drafting each unique environment and what to expect.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Spike University Part 1
  • Cube Con Schedule
  • Cube Con Stream (NRG Esports)
  • Creatureless Cube
  • Old Border Foil Cube
  • The Regular Cube
  • Emma’s Peasant Cube

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

1:30 The Creatureless Cube

21:04 The Old Border Foil Cube

42:07 The Regular Cube

1:03:01 Emma’s Peasant Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This is your last chance to pre-order a Cube Map Print for Cube Con! Pre-order now

Andy and Anthony are joined by Justin Parnell to talk about the Cubes that will be featured on coverage in Cube Con 2023. They go through the first half, cube by cube, and talk about what the Cube is, and how they’d approach drafting it, ending with a pack 1 pick one from every Cube.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
  • NRG
  • @cloudgoatranger on Twitter

Cube Con 2023 Cubes featured on Coverage:

  • The Live the Dream Cube
  • The Bun Magic Cube
  • The Modern Darlings Cube
  • Cartographia
  • The Creative Cube
  • Creatureless Cube
  • Old Border Foil Cube
  • Regular Cube
  • Emma Partlow’s Peasant Cube
  • MTGO Vintage Cube

Also discussed:

  • MTGDS’s Cube Con stats thread on Twitter
  • Paths not Picks by Ryan Saxe
  • Uber Bear Podcast with John about Cartographia Cube

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

6:00 - Announcement of Featured Cubes at Cube Con

13:02 - David McDarby’s Live the Dream Cube

37:15 - Andy Mangold’s Bun Magic Cube

54:54 - Andrew Jabs Modern Darlings Cube

1:15:50 - John Terrill and Cultic Cube’s Cartographia Cube

1:32:36 - Mike Kerby’s Creative Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony give a primer on drafting Andy’s Bun Magic Cube. They talk about how the environment compares to similar Cubes that play many of the most iconic, powerful cards in the game. They discuss key cards, strategies, and potential pitfalls players could fall into.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Cube Con 2023 Cube Map Print
  • Regular Cube Draft Primer Episode
  • Turbo Cube Draft Primer Episode
  • The Bun Magic Cube
  • Cultic Cube on MTGO

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

4:46 - Overview of the Bun Magic Cube

12:29 - Comparing and Contrasting the Bun Magic Cube and the Magic Online Vintage Cube

17:21 - Comparing and Contrasting the Bun Magic Cube and Retail Limited

21:28 - The Mana Base of the Bun Magic Cube

39:40 - The Highest Picks in the Bun Magic Cube

46:40 - Some Contentious High Picks in the Bun Magic Cube

54:27 - Potential Traps in the Bun Magic Cube

1:00:49 - Cards that are often underrated in the Bun Magic Cube

1:05:07 - Cards that are often overrated in the Bun Magic Cube

1:09:14 - Pack 1, Pick 1 from the Bun Magic Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the Cube community set review of Wilds of Eldraine. They discuss the top cards from the set. No surprise, adventure cards dominate. They also reflect on some of the potentially changing attitudes of the Cube community reflected in the differences between this, and past set reviews.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

5:27 - Overview of episode

9:06 - Breakdown of the popularity of the set’s mechanics

24:14 - 13. The Goose Mother

28:26 - 12. Faerie Dreamthief

31:46 - 11. Decadent Dragon // Expensive Taste

34:00 - 10. Restless Cottage

39:16 - 9. Embereth Veteran

43:53 - 8. Restless Vinestalk

47:59 - 7. Regal Bunnicorn

54:47 - 6. Virtue of Persistence // Lochthwain’s Scorn

57:23 - 5. Questing Druid // Seek the Beast

1:02:48 - 4. Elusive Otter // Grove’s Bounty

1:07:30 - 3. Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender

1:12:07 - 2. Mosswood Dreadknight // Dread Whispers

1:16:37 - 1. Cheeky House Mouse // Squeak By

Discussed in this episode:

  • Adventure Time!
  • I tried using AI. It scared me.
  • ChatGPT
  • Wilds of Eldraine Cube Prospective
  • Lucky Paper Radio Episode 164: Wilds of Eldraine Mechanics and Personal Cube Inclusions
  • Lucky Paper Radio Episode 143: Big and Small Games with Sam Black
  • Original Eldraine Trailer Video
  • Rumble in the Bronx
  • Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight
  • What Number Should You Choose With Talion, the Kindly Lord?

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk finally follow up on episode 6 and discuss control decks. They talk about what makes a control deck, what it takes to make them functional, and the different ways they look in different Cube environments.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Episode 132: Designing Set Cubes with Aran
  • Episode 6: The ABCs of Aggro
  • Control Decks | MAGIC: THE GATHERING
  • Next Level Deckbuilding
  • PV’s Playhouse – Control
  • WOE Survey
  • 4c control in legacy on MTG top8
  • The Jund Cube
  • The Live the Dream Cube

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro

3:39 - Overview of topic

7:02 - What is a control deck?

11:03 - What are the different types of control decks? “Draw, Go” vs. “Tap Out” Control

22:30 - Control decks that don’t fit the “Draw, Go” / “Tap Out” dichotomy, with a diversionary conversation about tempo

26:48 - The advantages and challenges of drafting control

33:15 - Do control decks have to be blue?

40:02 - How to draft a control deck

45:50 - What do control decks look like in our own cubes?

1:11:24 - Are there types of control decks not covered by our spread of different cubes?

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about their first impressions of Wilds of Eldraine. Fresh off the new set’s prerelease they talk about the mechanics, both returning and brand new, and what they offer Cube designers. Then they dive into the specific cards each of them is giving a try in their Cubes.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • Wilds of Eldraine Cube Prospective Survey
  • Good Luck High Five WOE Rules with Judge Rob
  • Drive to work #1065 and #1066
  • Magic the Gathering Data Science on Twitter
  • Uber Cube Podcast
  • wtwlf’s Top 20 Wilds of Eldraine Cards for Cube

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro

2:49 - Housekeeping

5:10 - Initial Impression of Wilds of Eldraine

8:51 - Mechanics Overview

14:05 - Roles

24:11 - Bargain

27:49 - Celebration

30:07 - Adventures

35:43 - Unnamed themes and “mechanics”

39:42 - Regular Cube Additions

43:31 - Intrepid Trufflesnout

44:00 - Threadbind Clique

45:01 - Quick Study

46:28 - Bitter Chill

48:41 - Cooped Up

50:35 - The Witch’s Vanity

51:09 - The Restless Lands

52:16 - Graceful Takedown

55:07 - Bun Magic Cube Additions

56:45 - Werefox Bodyguard

59:26 - Sleep-Cursed Faerie

1:00:49 - Raging Battle Mouse

1:02:48 - Loamcrafter Faun

1:03:22 - The Huntsman's Redemption

1:05:20 - The many adventure cards on the cusp of inclusion

1:11:20 - Restless Vinestalk

1:13:32 - Virtue of Persistence // Locthwain Scorn

1:17:08 - Mosswood Dreadknight // Dread Whispers

1:20:10 - Turbo Cube Additions

1:20:48 - Collector’s Vault

1:21:30 - Syr Ginger, Meal Ender

1:23:09 - Back for Seconds

1:23:57 - Three Bowls of Porridge

1:26:06 - Closing Thoughts

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about mechanics and cards that interact with drafting. Coming just from the two conspiracy sets this small, unique set of cards change based on when they’re drafted or let players take additional actions during the draft. They focus in particular on Cogwork Librarian that’s a perfect draft twist that finds its way into many cubes.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Settlers of Catan
  • Carcassonne
  • Rotisserie Draft
  • Irregular Cube
  • Draft Matters Cards on Scryfall
  • Adam’s Cogwork Librarian Rules
  • WOE Cube Survey

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

2:48 Irregular Cube Rotisserie Update

7:10 What is a “draft matters” card?

10:56 Deep dive on Cogwork Librarian

27:10 Leovold’s Operative

28:37 Agent of Acquisitions

30:39 Archdemon of Paliano

32:47 Canal Dredger

36:05 Lore Seeker

40:38 Deal Broker

45:40 Cards that Activate Cards Outside your Deck

49:51 Pick Number Matters Cards

53:25 Interactive Draft Cards

56:35 Conclusions on Draft Matters Cards

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about Mark Rosewater, Magic’s lead designer’s, yearly article on the game’s state of design for 2023. They reflect on the past year’s sets and how Mark’s internal design perspective lines up with their own experience.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • Labyrinth
  • Oppenheimer
  • Mark Rosewater’s State of Design 2023
  • Lucky Paper Radio State of the Game 2022
  • Heritage: Legacy with Only Premier Set Cards
  • The Dark Crystal
  • Bojack Horseman
  • Adventure Time

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

4:16 - Movie Corner

7:30 - Andy and Anthony’s Current Method of Engaging with the Game

14:19 - Recapping the themes from last year’s State of Design

26:01 - The year of Nostalgia

34:53 - The value of story and worldbuilding

42:56 - Unfinity and why people can taste artistic integrity (or lack thereof)

53:25 - Universes Beyond

1:01:25 - The One Ring

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony’s plan for this week’s episode fell through, so instead they’re sharing the audio from a stream in which they discussed Aquaone’s legendary Powered Cube with the designer himself.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Aquaone’s Powered Cube
  • Caleb Gannon’s Algomancy on Kickstarter

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony look at the cards recommended by Cube Cobra’s ‘recommender’ which analyzes every Cube on Cube Cobra, and generates a list of cards that are unusual among similar lists. They look at the ‘suggested cuts’ for their main cubes and talk about why, or why not, they think these unique inclusions make sense. They also take a step back and talk about how these tools can be useful, but where they are not, and things we need to consider when interpreting their suggestions.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Boonta Vista
  • Lucky Paper Radio 19: Man vs. Machine
  • Lucky Paper Radio 55: In Defense of Unpopular Cards
  • Neoclassical Cube
  • Rotisserie Draft

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction and review of the Cube Cobra Recommender

7:17 - Discussing suggested cuts to the Bun Magic Cube

10:06 - Dress Down

14:28 - Treetop Village

16:33 - Jewel Thief

18:30 - Mutagenic Growth

20:34 - Repeal

25:30 - Scrabbling Claws

30:00 - Exploration

33:26 - Terminus

40:34 - Spellstutter Sprite

44:28 - Barbarian Ring

48:09 - Discussing suggested cuts to the Regular Cube

51:32 - Noosegraf Mob

53:47 - Wooded Bastion

54:04 - Voice of Resurgence

55:18 - Seige Zombie

55:43 - Quick Draw Dagger

56:30 - Legion Loyalist

57:09 - Noyan Dar, Roilshaper

59:55 - Scrapwork Mutt and Bushwhack

1:00:37 - Bring to Light

1:01:46 - Closing thoughts and reflection on “AI” in general

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about Cube restrictions. As they often say, restrictions breed creativity, but they can also provide an identity and structure to Cubes. Our hosts discuss how and why players choose design constraints, the advantages they bring to the table, and when to loosen up on them.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • Barbie Movie
  • Oppenheimer
  • The Pauper Cube
  • Local Cube group “logos” on “Twitter”
  • The Breya Cube and Forgiveness Cube
  • TPug’s The Jund Cube
  • Tupelo Honey
  • The Stern Scolding Cube
  • The MtG Multiverse Project
  • The IR-regular Cube
  • The MTGO Nega-Cube
  • @UpkeepNewYork on “Twitter”
  • Upkeep New York’s Registration Form

Timestamps

0:00 - Oppenheimer Review

6:23 - What do we mean by restrictions and why don’t we talk about it more?

17:37 - Rarity restrictions

22:45 - The “no Planeswalkers” restriction

26:57 - On Color Restricted Cubes

34:22 - On Mana Value Restricted Cubes

37:56 - On Aesthetically Restricted Cubes

39:30 - When to ease your own restrictions

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about Wishes! Wishes are a special class of cards that let you access cards from outside your game. In competitive play and drafts, this means any card from your sideboard. In casual play anything at all from your collection. Andy talks about why it’s interesting to him and the challenges he’s faced trying to design a Cube focused around the wish cards.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Deinonychus’s The Bodleian Cube. Thanks, Deinonychus!

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • Cube Con
  • All Wishes on Scryfall
  • Andy’s Three Wishes “Cube”
  • Andy’s Lesson Learn “Cube”
  • Foraminifera Fossils
  • Diatoms
  • The Dolomite Cliffs

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

3:15 - Draft Weekend Recap

7:37 - Andy’s Exploration with Outside-the-Game Mechanics

19:53 - Andy’s Goals for and Challenges with his Wish Package Cube

40:53 - Lessons Learned from the Lesson and Learn Cube

47:45 - Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony dig into two kinds of cheese: “cheesing people out” in games of Magic and how to serve it up when hosting game nights. They talk about moments in games where it feels like one player steals a game that they shouldn’t have won. Are these positive or negative experiences and how can we curate Cubes to enable to discourage them?

Next they talk about how they approach hosting and cooking for groups, discussing the things to consider and some of the meals and approaches that work best.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • Super Smash Brothers
  • Twitter thread about cards that can win from behind
  • Splendor
  • Sickle Cell Anemia
  • Dithering
  • Episode 143 with Sam Black

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

3:33 - Anthony’s Personal D-Day

7:10 - Cards that can “cheese” or “steal” a game

33:16 - Tips for Hosting a Meal for Eight

48:07 - Suggested Cube Draft Meal Plans

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the Cube community response to The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. Magic’s first full, draftable crossover set comes with plenty of opportunities, and some surprises, for the Cube community.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Community Set Review Article
  • Commander Review
  • Part one of our LTR Cube Set Review
  • Magic: the Gathering is Easy to Understand
  • ThrabenU Episode on Call of the Ring
  • Ryan Overturf’s LTR Set Review
  • Powerful Nothing LTR Set Review
  • Cube Con

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This is your last week to fill out the Lord of the Rings and associated commander deck surveys! Share your own perspective on the new set.

Andy and Anthony take a first look at Magic’s first, full crossover set: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. They talk about the mechanics and their first impressions of the set. Share some of the cards their interested in trying out in their own Cube environments.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • LTR Mechanics Article on the Mothership
  • Lucky Paper Radio Episode 49 on Ragavan and Laelia
  • The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Cube Survey
  • Tales of Middle-earth Commander Cube Survey
  • Updated Rotisserie Draft Sheet
  • CubeCobra Google Sheets Integration

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

7:20 - The Mechanics of Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth

8:18 - The Ring and The Ring Tempts You

17:32 - Amass Orcs

19:49 - Food

21:35 - Typed Landcycling

23:53 - Sagas

24:52 - Legends Matter

26:53 - Scry Matters

27:24 - Creature Type Matters

29:34 - Is this a “Commander” set?

31:58 - Personal Cube Inclusions: The Neoclassical Cube

35:29 - Personal Cube Inclusions: The Regular Cube

35:40 - Improvised Club

36:25 - Shower of Arrows

36:51 - Stern Scolding

42:14 - Legolas, Master Archer

46:23 - Personal Cube Inclusions: The Bun Magic Cube

47:06 - Anduril, Flame of the West

51:29 - Flame of Anor

54:17 - Stern Scolding

57:19 - Orcish Bowmasters

1:04:23 - Reprieve

1:10:55 - Personal Cube Inclusions: The Turbo Cube

1:11:09 - Wizard Rockets

1:13:38 - Boromir, Warden of the Tower

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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After tracking his wins and losses across all of his Cube drafts for six months, Andy is reviewing the results with Anthony and discussing why he is abandoning this practice. But, if he’s not tracking the results of his Cube matches, how does he know if he is growing as a player? What actually matters, and how do you measure it? Plus, our hosts ask an important question: is playing Magic fun?

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Quantified Self
  • Feltron
  • Datum
  • The Doughboys
  • The Guardian Project Episode on their 2022 stats
  • The Cascade Cube
  • The Forgiveness Cube
  • In Defense of Forcing: How to Draft Cube Successfully with Ryan Saxe
  • Andy’s Coaching Session with Brian Coval
  • Cube Con
  • Cultic Cube

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

3:48 - Introduction to topic

5:18 - Overview of Andy’s stats

19:31 - Why Andy is no longer going to be tracking this information

30:51 - If win rate doesn’t matter, what does?

44:46 - How to actually record what matters?

59:49 - Outro

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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After a long weekend of Cube drafts, Andy doesn’t have time to edit a proper episode of the show, so instead he piles four of his buddies into his cozy little basement studio to talk about a recent rotisserie draft of his Bun Magic Cube. Which deck came out on top? Are newer, more committal and synergistic cards pulling their weight? If Andy finally adds Scrabbling Claws is everyone going to draft it and put it in their decks like they say they will?

Unfortunately there are no timestamps for this episode, nor is there a cards mentioned page, as it is unedited.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Bun Magic Cube Rotisserie Draft
  • The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth and Commander Set Surveys

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are joined once again by the legendary Ryan Saxe to talk about his approach to drafting and how he applies that to Cube. Building off the approach Ryan describes in an episode of Limited Level Ups they discuss about how and when it makes sense to ‘force’ a draft and focus on optimal outcomes over investing in reading the table.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Art of Forcing on Limited Level Ups
  • From Picks to Paths
  • Drafting the Hard Way
  • The Neoclassical Cube
  • The Cube Map
  • Cube Con
  • The Lords of Limited
  • Ryan’s Buildaround Cube
  • rcsaxe on Twitter
  • The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth and Commander Set Surveys

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about custom rules in Cubes. Cube is a unique Magic space where designers truly have full control over the game and can change it however they like. Beyond just choosing the cards they include, designers change the game fundamental with plane-like effects. Our hosts discuss the very substantial risks of custom rules to accessibility and even fun for enfranchised players. They talk about some of the rules they’ve experienced that didn’t work so well, and the successful ones, which tend to create an experience built around the changes that get players to buy into the novel experience.

They end the episode with two pack 1, pick 1’s from two custom-rules Cubes and do their best to asses cards in two subtly, but importantly different environments. First up, Dragonm137’s Channel Cube where players can spend life to generate colorless mana, a la the card Channel. And secondly Crvnch’s Infinity Cube where players have access to free colorless mana without the high cost of life.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Cooking Issues
  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Reading Rainbow
  • The Cascade Cube
  • Judge Chat IRC
  • The Changeling Cube
  • The Channel Cube
  • The Infinity Cube

Timestamps:

0:00 - Dumpling Corner

3:14 - Introduction to Topic

6:24 - The inaccessibility of custom rules

11:35 - The comparative costs of different kinds of rules modifications

21:43 - Why it feels uniquely bad to lose to a custom rule

29:00 - Successful examples of Cubes with custom rules

42:34 - Some Custom Cube p1p1s

44:14 - Channel Cube p1p1

52:34 - Infinity Cube p1p1

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about “Xerox Theory” a strategic Magic concept involving cantrips, land count, a balance of resources. Andy explains the history and origins of the idea, as documented by Mike Flores’s 2005 article. They talk about how the concept applies differently in early and contemporary Magic and how it’s relevant, or not, to different types of decks. They also talk about Gunk Slug for some reason.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • UB Trippin’ by Mike Flores
  • The Streisand Effect
  • Lucky Paper Radio: All About Brainstorm
  • Drive to Work on Card Advantage
  • Hypergeometric Calculator
  • MTG Cube Con Twitter
  • The Reading Rainbow Cube

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

2:27 - Introduction to Topic

6:27 - What is Xerox Theory at its core?

10:08 - What is a cantrip?

13:44 - The baseline of Xerox cantrips and the case for Reach Through Mists

17:25 - The sometimes unstated context to make Xerox Theory work

19:45 - The power of a smaller deck

22:08 - Going beyond “UB Trippin’” — the ramifications of cantrips on the tempo of reactive decks

31:57 - Modern Xerox “Payoffs”

38:29 - Review, conclusions, and abstraction

48:47 - Gunk Slug Corner

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about the current state of Andy’s Neoclassical Cube. They look at how drafts have played out, potential areas for change, and some specific directions Andy’s considering taking the cube.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Andy’s Neoclassical Cube
  • Regular Cube Update Episode with James
  • The Degenerate Micro-Cube
  • MTGCubeCon on Twitter
  • March of the Machine: Aftermath Survey

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 Mind Twist Corner
  • 02:39 Early Impressions of the Neoclassical Cube
  • 15:24 How to deal with the burn deck
  • 29:27 Can we make color hate cool?
  • 38:32 Addressing the Pump Knight Problem

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk broadly about ramp. They talk about what the mechanic or strategy is all about, it’s important role as part of Green’s identity, how it’s different in limited and constructed, and how it fits into their own Cubes.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from soskwatch’s Graveyard Cube.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
  • Mark Rosewater’s Drive to Work

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

01:52 Ramp overall and in retail limited

11:41 Ramp in constructed Magic

14:25 Ramp Decks vs. Decks with Ramp Cards

18:57 Anthony’s Approach to Green in his Cubes

31:12 Andy’s Approach to Ramp in the Bun Magic Cube

37:26 Lets not talk about the Turbo Cube

41:11 Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by James from their local play group for an in depth review session of Anthony’s Regular Cube. They bring James in to add his experience and perspective to the conversation. The three of them discuss how the environment has played recently and things that could be improved. They sort through the cards and discuss potential cuts and things they could change.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Forgiveness Cube
  • Breya Cube
  • The Regular Cube
  • Towson Hot Bagel
  • New World Order
  • James Videos on the Lucky Paper Youtube Channel
  • CubeCon

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

02:38 Forgiveness Cube Draft Port Mortem1

07:18 Overview of Episode Structure

15:32 List of provisional additions to The Regular Cube

17:15 Green and Gruul’s Identity in the Regular Cube

26:54 The Blue Green Problem

46:32 Artifacts matter and a Puppet Conjurer diatribe

49:08 Black Red: Overperformance of Oversupport?

1:00:47 Blue Red Recent Results

1:03:23 White and Heroic Themes

1:23:40 Black cards that the black deck pilot thinks he shouldn’t have access to

1:36:00 Wrap Up

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the March of the Machine community Cube set review. As always we surveyed the community on the cards they’re interested in for their cubes and how likely they expect to keep playing them long term. Our hosts review the results, discussing the top cards in terms of the number of people interested in them, patterns and theories about the community response, and some things that surprised them. They also dive deeper into Battles, Magic’s newest card type that’s been met with some skepticism according to the community survey.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 - Introduction
  • 4:30 - Scoring System Change
  • 5:40 - Survey Overview
  • 6:32 - Battle deep dive
  • 41:56 - Individual Card Discussion
  • 42:11 - 9. Pile On
  • 43:44 - 8. Invasion of Gobakhan
  • 47:55 - 7. Rampaging Raptor
  • 49:40 - 6. Bloodfeather Phoenix
  • 51:35 - 5. Halo Forager
  • 53:20 - 4. Chrome-Host Seed Shark
  • 57:16 - 3. Deeproot Wayfinder
  • 59:47 - 2. Faerie Mastermind
  • 1:03:21 - 1. Khenra Spellspear
  • 1:09:38 - Overall impressions of MOM
  • 1:15:52 - Death-Greeter’s Champion and March of the Machine Commander
  • 1:19:50 - Seed of Hope: the most popular common from MOM

Discussed in this episode:

  • Prospective Article
  • Episode 145: Mechanics and Our own Cube Additions
  • The Resleevables
  • The Presleevables video on battles
  • LuckyPaperMtG on YouTube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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View the game size breakdowns for the Bun Magic Cube and Regular Cube. You can also copy this template and fill it out to calculate your own cube’s game size!

Andy and Anthony follow up on their recent discussion with Sam Black on ‘big’ and ‘small’ games of Magic. Sam coined these term in an article he wrote describing a nuanced understanding of card advantage including how effects create, or benefit from, high and low resource games. Our hosts expand on the topic and respond to feedback from the community on the subject. Andy breaks down his Bun Magic Cube and Anthony’s Regular Cube, categorizing each card based on the number of pieces they add or remove from play, and they compare the numerical analysis to their experience playing these environments.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Big and Small Games with Sam Black
  • Elvish Visionary vs. Elderfang Disciple: the Nature of Card Advantage
  • Limited Level Ups
  • Andy’s coached match with Brian Coval
  • March of the Machine and Commander Decks Cube Surveys
  • XKCD: Ten Thousand

Timestamps:

  • 1:35 — Review of big and small game theory
  • 4:38 — The application of big and small game theory as a player
  • 16:35 — The connection between mana cost and deck size
  • 20:19 — Game size as a cube designer
  • 23:51 — Spreadsheet deep dive on the Bun Magic and Regular Cube’s Size
  • 49:55 — So did we learn anything!?
  • 54:20 — On Nissa, Who Shakes the World and other notable cards
  • 59:05 — Card advantage as the absolute value of game size

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Cube Prospective Surveys for March of the Machine and March of the Machine Commander are now open! Let us know what you are testing in your cube from the latest set.

Andy and Anthony take a first look at March of the Machine: the fist set since Lorwyn to introduce an entirely new card type. They discuss the new mechanics from a design perspective and how they generally apply to any kind of Cube environment. They also pick out individual cards that might end up in their own, varied Cube lists.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Boonta Vista
  • Official March of the Machine Mechanics Article
  • Our episode with Sam Black about Big and Small Games
  • The Overton Window
  • Andy’s Coaching Session with Brian Coval
  • Game Theory
  • Infinitokens
  • Fight Club
  • The Neoclassical Cube
  • Live the Dream Cube
  • The Breya Cube

Timstamps:

  • 2:03 — Discussion of changes to set reviews
  • 4:50 — Battles
  • 18:06 — Transforming Double-Faced Cards
  • 22:03 — Backup
  • 25:20 — Incubate
  • 30:37 — Convoke
  • 32:10 — Unnamed themes and mechanics
  • 36:27 — Additions to the Neoclassical Cube
  • 38:15 — Additions to the Regular Cube
  • 50:31 — Additions to the Bun Magic Cube
  • 1:06:02 — Additions to the Turbo Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Chris and Tim from the Jank Diver Gaming Community to talk about how to play your own, custom-designed cube on Arena. In an exciting, two-part episode, the boys first walk through the process of playing Cube through Arena, then participate in one of Jank Diver Gaming’s weekly drafts and discuss their experience. Will Andy, who has effectively never played Arena before, punt away all his games by not knowing how to use the interface? Will Anthony hate-draft from our guests, leaving a path of burned bridges behind him? Is Theo still too powerful to defeat? Does anyone actually know the full rules text of Questing Beast? Tune in to find out.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Jank Diver Gaming Discord
  • Cube Cobra
  • mtgadraft.tk
  • Matcherino
  • Arena card pool on Scryfall
  • Lucky Paper Rotisserie Draft Template
  • Theo’s Arena Cube
  • The Use and Abuse of Archetype Driven Design
  • Get Some Game LGS in North Charlotte
  • Jank Diver Gaming on Twitter and YouTube

Timestamps:

  • 1:28 — How to Draft Your Own Cube on Arena
  • 19:33 — Reflections on Andy and Anthony’s First Arena Cube Draft
  • 22:52 — How does the Jank Diver Unrestricted Cube feel to an outsider?
  • 25:21 — How was the Jank Diver Unrestricted Cube designed?
  • 39:56 — Rotisserie Drafting the Jank Diver Unrestricted Cube
  • 40:59 — The differences in perceived tempo when playing digitally
  • 47:23 — Details of the Jank Diver Gaming community
  • 49:01 — Chris and Tim’s top 5 Most Wanted Arena Reprints

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Sam Black, contender for person who has played the most paper Magic ever. They discuss the concept of “big” and “small” games of Magic Sam presented in his article Elvish Visionary VS Elderfang Disciple: The Nature Of Card Advantage. They cover the nuanced nature of card advantage, how all forms are not equal, and how different strategies aim to push games toward being big or small to maximize their cards.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • Glen Garry Glen Ross
  • Patrick Chapin vs. Gabriel Nassif Dragonstorm Mirror Match
  • Elvish Visionary vs Elderfang Disciple: the Nature of Card Advantage
  • Brian Coval’s (Bosh N Roll) Two cEDH Tournament Reports One and Two
  • Sam’s Articles on Hipsters of the Coast
  • https://eminence.events/articles/my-favorite-way-to-play-magic-commander-cube
  • Drafting Archetypes Podcast
  • Sam on:
  • Twitter
  • Twitch
  • YouTube
  • CubeCon

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Parker joins Andy and Anthony, in studio, to talk about about his latest cube project: Pulp Nouveau. In this dark, gritty, flavor-forward environment the only freely available basic lands are swamps. In order to play other colors, players need to draft from the limited number of basic and dual lands in the draft. They the creative process of cube design and how disparate interests can suddenly coalesce. In this case, Parker’s interest in the dark aesthetic of Streets of New Capenna, among other things, came together with the mechanical structure of a desert cube with a twist.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

They end the episode with a pack 1, pick 1 the cube in question.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Amonkar Desert Cube
  • John Terrill’s Cool, Literary Cube Names
  • Street Fighter Car Bonus Stage
  • Patrick Chapin Article on Investment
  • Patrick Sullivan Recurring Insight Video About Goblin Guide
  • Cube (Movie)
  • Cube²: Hypercube (Movie)

Timestamps

  • 5:09 — Overview of the Pulp Nouveau Cube
  • 10:02 — What Parker Likes About Having to Draft Your Lands
  • 13:15 — Practical Details of the Pulp Nouveau Cube
  • 24:19 — The Inclusion of the Street Fighter Cards
  • 26:23 — Card Complexity Corner
  • 33:14 — Design Level Up: Threats that Require Investment
  • 1:00:00 — Pack 1, Pick 1 from the Pulp Nouveau Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony and special guest May talk about introducing your cube! The overview you write (or present) to your players is the first thing players often lean about your cube, so providing useful concise context is critical. They talk about the different audiences you may want to consider when writing about your cube, including players who want to get ready to draft and other designers looking to give feedback on the list.

They end the show with a pack 1, pick 1 from May’s very own Fae Cube, a flavorful, fairytale inspired list.

View all cards ⁠mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:

  • UberCube Podcast
  • Myagic’s Fae Cube
  • Lucky Paper Episode on Archetype Driven Design
  • The Dimir Cube
  • The Cascade Cube
  • Andy’s Mono Colored Beginner Decks
  • Draw the rest of the f***ing owl
  • The First Four Questions a Cube Designer Should Ask
  • Myagic on Twitter, YouTube, and Twitch

Timestamps

  • 3:19 — Why it's important to write a good Cube description
  • 6:04 — Describing the gameplay in practical terms
  • 6:49 — Myagic's 6-point TLDR;
  • 11:12 — The Pre-Draft Speech
  • 14:52 — The Player Audience
  • 22:43 — The Designer Audience
  • 29:03 — Writing for different levels of investment
  • 40:09 — Using images in your Cube description
  • 46:39 — TLDL; for writing a good overview
  • 53:20 — The case for Andy calling his cube "eternal"
  • 57:39 — Fae Cube Pack 1, Pick 1

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Ryan Saxe for a deep conversation on Cube design. They talk about the design of “low power” Cubes, lessons we can take from limited sets and apply to Cubes, and the important impacts of power level disparities on gameplay.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Iron Giant
  • Limited Resources
  • R House in Baltimore
  • Who’s on First?
  • The Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Ryan’s Buildaround Cube
  • Internet’s Pauper Cube
  • Using the Other Half of Your Cube
  • Zach Barash on Twitter
  • Anthony’s Irregular Cube
  • Playing the Irregular Cube on Stream
  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube
  • Andy’s Day Zero Prediction About Companions
  • Ryan’s Constructed Cube
  • Ryan on Twitter
  • The Cube Map
  • Graph Theory
  • Topology
  • Regression Learning
  • UMAP Projection
  • Hypercube

Timestamps:

  • 2:16 — Rotisserie Corner
  • 4:30 — Is Cube somewhere between Limited and Constructed?
  • 8:51 — What does “limited” mean to Ryan and Anthony?
  • 17:41 — Heuristics vs. Cards — The Rules of Engagement of a Format
  • 27:53 — Why a Flat Power Level Isn’t Necessarily a Good Thing
  • 36:21 — Describing the Value of a Speculative Pick
  • 43:47 — What percentage of a Cube is glue?
  • 46:27 — The Irregular Cube and the Nature of Power Outliers
  • 57:49 — Slot Equity
  • 1:01:01 — What does NOT count as a “Limited” Cube?
  • 1:10:14 — Does a truly flat power level ruin the draft?
  • 1:18:50 — Designing for the Draft

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Justin Parnell to talk about their recent rotisserie draft. 10 players drafted Anthony’s Regular Cube in the weeks leading up to Magic Con Philadelphia. Over the course of the weekend players competed in a nail-biting round robin style tournament. The boys talk about their decks, their strategies going into the draft, and how rotisserie drafting compares to typical booster drafting.

Over the weekend our hosts along with Justin, Parker, and Gwen Dekker hed a panel on Cube, it’s history and future. Watch a recording of the panel .

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • Watch the Cube Panel at Magic Con
  • The Crystal Goblet Essay
  • Justin’s Series of Articles on SCG About Rotisserie Drafting Cubes Part one, two, and three
  • View the Whole Rotisserie Draft
  • Rotisserie Draft Explainer and Spreadsheet Templates
  • Episode 117: Regular Cube Draft Primer
  • Shigeki on the Cube Map
  • Justin’s YouTube Channel
  • Follow Justin on Twitter
  • CubeCon

Timestamps:

  • 4:16 — Rotisserie Draft Background
  • 7:19 — What is a Rotisserie Draft?
  • 14:31 — Anthony's Draft Rundown
  • 25:16 — Andy's Draft Rundown
  • 44:57 — Justin's Draft Rundown
  • 1:12:11 — Reflections on the Draft from a Design Perspective
  • 1:19:38 — Justin's Takes Since the 540

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the ONE and ONC community set reviews. They talk about the top cards the community is most excited about, discuss why they think the cards rose to the top, and share their own takes on them. They also talk about some of the broader patterns and comments in the review responses.

Check out the full results for the Phyrexia: All Will Be One and partner Commander Decks.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

If you missed your chance to participate in this survey, sign up for our infrequent newsletter to make sure you don’t miss the next one!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Middle Child Sandwich Restaurant
  • Lucky Paper Past Survey Results Tool
  • Drive to Work on Mental Processing
  • Drive to Work on Logistics
  • Tesla Covered in Mold
  • CubeCon Website

Timestamps:

  • 5:05 — Episode Format Explanation
  • 8:28 — Parker's Dishonorable Melira Mention
  • 14:18 — Sword of Forge and Frontier
  • 16:46 — 13. Bloated Contaminator
  • 26:23 — 12. Conduit of Worlds
  • 28:56 — 11. Drown in Ichor
  • 31:23 — 10. Experimental Augury
  • 33:24 — 9. Vraan, Executioner Thane
  • 35:22 — 8. Nissa, Ascended Animist
  • 41:45 — 7. Atraxa, Grand Unifier
  • 48:09 — 6. The Eternal Wanderer
  • 52:49 — 5. Ossification
  • 59:50 — 4. Mercurial Spelldancer
  • 1:05:11 — 3. Planar Disruption
  • 1:07:13 — 2. Sheoldred's Edict
  • 1:09:23 — 1. Cankerbloom
  • 1:13:24 — Phyrexia: All Will be One Commander Results
  • 1:13:43 — 3. Otharri, Sun's Glory
  • 1:14:52 — 2. Staff of the Storyteller
  • 1:19:41 — 1. Glimmer Lens

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

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Andy and Anthony talk about the state of their Cubes — recent changes they’ve made, how they feel they’ve changed, and how they expect them to change in the future.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Jared’s Cube Byrd Box. Thank’s Jared!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Episode 128: Live Cube Update: Making Removal Better in the Bun Magic Cube
  • Lucky Paper on Twitch
  • Lucky Paper on YouTube
  • The Commander Map
  • The “List Formatter” - Swiss Army Knife for Magic Data
  • Lucky Paper Set Cube Builder

Timestamps:

  • 1:23 — Episode Outline
  • 3:35 — Bun Magic Cube Baneslayer Check-In
  • 4:03 — Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
  • 9:56 — Irencrag Pyromancer
  • 11:38 — Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
  • 12:17 — Torens, Fist of the Angels
  • 14:07 — Serra Paragon
  • 16:27 — Scourge of the Skyclaves
  • 20:23 — Embercleave
  • 24:57 — Bedlam Reveler
  • 26:58 — Third Path Iconoclast
  • 30:15 — Dress Down
  • 33:56 — Regular Cube Updates
  • 50:28 — Degenerate Micro Cube
  • 52:58 — Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

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Andy and Anthony talk about the cards they’re interested in giving a try in each of their own Cube environments. They talk about how they looked at the new set for the different contexts of their Cubes. Anthony cheats and also talks through some cards he’s interested in for a new Cube inspired by themes and mechanics in recent sets that haven’t fit well into his existing environments.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Cubes Discussed:

  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube
  • Andy’s Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube

Timestamps:

  • 1:14 — Episode Outline
  • 3:11 — Anthony's Lone Addition to the Regular Cube — Cankerbloom
  • 6:20 — Andy's Potential Additions to the Regular Cube
  • 21:36 — Turbo Cube Additions
  • 23:13 — Blade of Shared Souls
  • 25:01 — Slobad, Iron Goblin
  • 27:48 — Degenerate Micro Cube
  • 28:58 — Honorable Mention: Minor Misstep
  • 29:59 — Honorable Mention: Soulless Jailer
  • 31:49 — Sheoldred's Edict
  • 36:10 — The Mycosynth Gardens
  • 39:42 — The Filigree Sylex
  • 41:41 — Anthony's Untitled Cube Project Additions
  • 50:55 — Bun Magic Cube
  • 51:23 — Honorable Mention: Capricious Hellraiser
  • 53:38 — Honorable Mention: Anoint with Affliction
  • 55:41 — Honorable Mention: Ossification
  • 58:09 — Nahiri, the Unforgiving
  • 1:02:57 — Mercurial Spelldancer
  • 1:06:44 — Glimmer Lens

Discussed in this episode:

  • Set Prospective Survey
  • Lucky Paper Rotisserie Draft Template
  • ONE Mechanics and First Impressions

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

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Andy and Anthony talk about their first impressions of Phyrexia: All Will Be One, which is full of new takes on classic mechanics from Mirrodin block.

They talk through all the mechanics and themes of the set and their applications in Cubes. The set features a few relatively insular mechanics: Toxic and Corrupted, which make sense in an environment where they’re concentrated to a critical mass. While these are likely to be passed on by many cube designers, a change in Wizard’s design philosophy angled towards thematic singleton environments makes them more viable than they might seem.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • Set Prospective Survey
  • Commander Decks Prospective Survey
  • Phyrexia: All Will Be One Mechanics on Wizards of the Coast
  • Good Luck High Five Mechanics Episode
  • Drive to Work: Designing for an Eternal World
  • California Mini Cube Con Tickets

Timestamps:

  • 4:01 — Set Review Explanation
  • 6:23 — Toxic and Corrupted
  • 20:12 — For Mirrodin!
  • 25:26 — Oil Counters
  • 27:26 — Proliferate
  • 32:21 — Artifacts Matter Theme
  • 33:47 — Mite Tokens
  • 35:17 — Noncreature Matters Theme
  • 35:42 — The Dominus Cycle
  • 37:43 — The Twilight Cycle
  • 40:07 — The Spheres
  • 41:27 — Compleated Planeswalkers
  • 43:09 — The Skullbomb Cycle

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about Andy’s latest cube creation, The Neoclassical Cube! The cube is intended to capture the spirit of old-school Magic, including iconic cards and themes, bolstered by a few new cards that feel in the spirit of old-school design. Andy plans to play it un-sleeved celebrating cards that show their history in their wear.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

They finish the episode with a pack 1, pick 1 from the cube.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Shuffle Up and Play with Patrick and Cedric
  • Boonta Vista
  • The Neoclassical Cube
  • Old Border Foil Cube
  • Patrick Chapin’s “How To Fix Standard: A Detailed And Surprising Format Comparison”
  • Dear Sophie, Love Gonti by Rhystic Studies and the deck that inspired it
  • Degenerate Micro Cube Primer
  • Cube Surveys for Phyrexia: All Will Be One and Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander

Timestamps:

  • 7:59 — Introduction to main topic
  • 9:03 — Background of the Neoclassical Cube
  • 22:34 — Neoclassical Cube Design Principles
  • 26:56 — Neoclassical Cube Themes
  • 49:27 — Immediate Challenges: White and Black Cheap Threats
  • 59:24 — Pack 1, Pick 1 from The Neoclassical Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about common pitfalls new Cube designers fall into. There’s no right way to build a Cube, but new designers very often fall into similar patterns and a few pieces of feedback consistently come up.

  • Play more mana fixing lands
  • Lower the average mana cost of cards
  • Increase the amount of interactive spells
  • Lower the number of multi-color cards
  • Don’t let power outliers outshine the fun
  • Don’t feel obligated to adhere to 10 themes for each two color pair
  • Be aware of the high cost of rules modifications

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Garrett Townsend’s Frozen Solid Cube. View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

  • 2:59 — Regular Cube Draft Recap
  • 13:12 — Common Pitfalls of New Cube Designers
  • 15:38 — Mistake Number 1: Including Too Few Lands
  • 21:52 — Mistake Number 2: Having Too High a Mana Curve
  • 27:05 — Mistake Number 3: Not Including Enough Interaction
  • 30:10 — Mistake Number 4: Including Too Many Gold Cards
  • 33:17 — Summary of Mistakes: Focusing on Cards Instead of Decks
  • 36:04 — Mistake Number 5: Overshadowing Synergies with Power Outliers
  • 40:11 — Mistake Number 6: Rigidly Adhering to Two-Color Archetypes
  • 42:42 — Mistake Number 7: Underestimating the Cost of Rules Modifications

Discussed in this episode:

  • MagicCon Philly
  • Neoclassical Cube
  • Dear Gonti, Love Sophie
  • Neoclassical Cube Want List
  • Guardian Project Podcast
  • Regular Cube Games on YouTube
  • r/mtgcube
  • How Many Lands Should You Include in Your Cube?
  • Lucky Paper Radio Episode on Archetype Driven Design
  • The Trolley Problem

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

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Full show notes on our website.

Andy and Anthony are joined by Aran, from their local playgroup, to talk about the design of Set Cubes. The talk about the spectra of ways to approach building Set Cubes ranging from faithfully recreating a limited environment, to loosely basing a Cube on a set or theme. They also talk about how they can be one of the easiest entry points to Cube, offering a starting point that already leverages the themes and balance of a limited environment that Cube designers can build off of.

They finish the episode with a pack 1, pick 1 from Aran’s Kamigawa Remastered Cube, which he started by sleeving up a curated selection from a box of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and has iterated on as we’ve been drafting it.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Tolarian Community College on Building Set Cubes
  • Cube Design – Set Cubes, by Jason Waddell on Channel Fireball
  • Articles on DraftSim
  • MTG Arena Zone
  • The Magic Multiverse Project
  • Drafting Archetypes with Sam Black

Past Lucky Paper Radio Episodes

  • Episode 31: Bread and Butter Breakdown
  • Episode 111: The Texture of Removal
  • Neon Dynasty Episodes
  • Episode 60: Cube Logistics: Sleeves, Storage, Shuffling, and More
  • Episode 105: Scholar of the Game
  • The Cube Map on Lucky Paper
  • 17Lands
  • As-Fan Calculator
  • How Many Lands Should You Include in Your Cube?
  • Drive to Work Podcast

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony absolutely obliterate the notion that you need eight people to draft a cube. While a full pod might be your ideal, with tons of different draft formats, there’s a great way to play regardless of the size of your playgroup.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Moon’s Fast and Friendly Cube. Thanks, Moon!

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

  • 2:53 — Intro to topic
  • 4:12 — The origins of 8 players drafts
  • 10:52 — Drafting with 6 players
  • 23:02 — Drafting with 4 players
  • 46:50 — Drafting with 2 players
  • 55:36 — What to do when you have an odd number of players
  • 1:03:19 — A nod to some non-cube alternatives
  • 1:06:08 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1

Discussed in this episode:

  • Cube Draft Formats on Lucky Paper
  • Lucky Paper Radio 130 — Cube Community Building
  • Modular Arithmetic
  • Team Draft
  • Ryan Spain’s Double Decker Draft
  • Wimbledon Draft
  • Two Headed Giant
  • Ryan Overturf’s Twoberts
  • Supreme Draft
  • Star Magic
  • Andy’s Mono-Colored Precons

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about growing a local Cube playgroup. They reflect on what’s been working for them to get a consistent, weekly Cube night running as well as challenges that need to be overcome. The talk specifically about the importance of consistency and a good location and managing events to engage new players.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

  • 1:35 — Introduction to the Topic
  • 3:14 — In Short: Be Consistent, Pick a Location, Pick a Time, and Show Up
  • 5:36 — Finding a Location
  • 24:23 — Choosing a Time
  • 27:48 — Finding New Players
  • 35:17 — Extra Events Beyond Scheduled Programming
  • 36:20 — Additional Tips and Advice
  • 47:52 — Cube Design Considerations for Community Building

Discussed in this episode:

  • End of Year Episode
  • No Land Beyond
  • Asking LGS Owners about Cube Night, on Twitter
  • A Good Folding Table
  • Customizable Big Playmats
  • Episode 51, How to Win Friends & Influence People (into Playing Your Cube)
  • Introduction to Battlebox
  • Andy’s Starter Decks
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Turbo Cube
  • Eluesis
  • Cartographia

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony look back at 2022 on the highs and lows for Cube design and the Cube Community. They talk about the sets and cards they think will have the biggest, lasting impact on Cube design. Cube is a unique format that requires specific tooling to support design, the community, and events. They talk about the challenges these unique needs present as the community grows. Beyond Cube, they talk about the broader state of Magic in 2022 and how they see changes in the game influencing their relationship to it in the future.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

  • 4:38 — Introduction to the Retrospective
  • 7:20 — Cube Hit of the Year
  • 17:32 — Cube Miss of the Year
  • 37:05 — Cube Card of the Year
  • 39:41 — Best Set for Cube
  • 43:35 — Cube Level Up
  • 50:25 — Meta Corner: Reflections on Another Year of the Podcast

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Resleevables
  • CubeCon
  • CubeCon Photos
  • Drive to Work: Designing for an Eternal World
  • Doughboys Episode: State of the Podcast
  • Cube Map
  • Commander Map
  • Anthony’s Open Source MTG Scripting Tools

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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On the heels of last week’s episode, wherein Andy realized that his 3 drop slot is perhaps inappropriately high-value in the face of removal, and in response to some grumbling from his local playgroup about reactive strategies not being viable because of there being too many recursive threats, the boys are talking through 18 different three drop creatures Andy is considering adding. All of these creatures are more ”Baneslayer” than ”Mulldrifter” with the goal of making removal a bit better in the environment.

To inform his decisions Andy polled his local playgroup, the MTG Cube Talk Discord, and Twitter about which cards they perceived to be the most powerful, least powerful, most fun, and least fun. Some of the results were surprising and throughout this episode Andy and Anthony go into detail about how to parse them.

Our show notes were too long this week for the timestamps to fit, so make sure to check them out on our website.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Pino’s The CoMa Cube.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Anthony’s Visualization of Magic’s New Card Text Each Year
  • Andy’s New Card Poll on Twitter
  • Ryan Saxe’s Card Polling Tweets
  • Caleb Gannon’s Synergy Cube
  • Lucky Paper’s Jumpstart 2022 Cube Survey

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk the types and distributions of threats in their Cubes. Like they’ve done with removal and fixing in the past with interaction and fixing, they make a somewhat subjective categorization of how resilient threats are against removal and look at how the distribution changes across the mana curve in each of their main cubes.

View the full show notes, including the graphs discussed in this episode →

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

  • 5:50 — Belated BRO Hot Take
  • 7:47 — Overview of threat analysis methodology
  • 12:36 — Evaluation of threats in the Regular Cube
  • 28:45 — Summary of threats across mana value and comparisons to the Bun Magic Cube
  • 42:02 — Are there are too many recursive threats in the Bun Magic Cube?

Discussed in this episode:

  • ChatGPT
  • Episode 111: The Texture of Removal
  • Episode 31: Bread and Butter Breakdown
  • Episode 117: Regular Cube Draft Primer

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of The Brothers’ War community set survey. They talk about the top cards being tested by the most people as well as some cards that surprised them, being rated higher or lower than they expected.

While the set didn’t have many huge stand out cards, one catching the attention of more than half of respondents, a lot of novel cards lurk lower down the list that might inspire new designs if there isn’t already an obvious home for them.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

View the full show notes with timestamps →

Discussed in this episode:

  • Parker’s Arena Pacific Rim Cube
  • Anchoring Bias
  • Drive to Work #988: Designing for an Eternal World
  • Aspiring Spike’s Sarinth Steelseeker Modern Deck
  • Merriam Webster’s Definition of Bushwhack
  • Billy Eichner “Name a Woman”
  • Episode 123: The Brothers’ War Mechanics & First Impressions
  • Episode 124: The Brothers’ War Cube Additions
  • Lucky Paper on Twitch
  • Lucky Paper on YouTube
  • The Brothers’ War Survey Results

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Parker’s “Ship of Theseus” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Many cube designers, Andy and Anthony included, have way more time an energy to put into their Cubes than the rest of their playgroup. Given that designers do spend so much more time thinking about and tinkering with their lists than playing them, how do you set up a feedback loop so you can effectively test your Cube? What are the compromises of testing in different ways? What information should you listen to and what should you ignore? How much trust can you actually put into bot drafts?

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • Andrew Elenbogen’s Tweet
  • Jett’s Article on Analyzing Draft Data
  • Two Player Cube Draft Formats
  • Cube Cobra
  • dr4ft.info
  • mtgadraft.tk
  • Cockatrice
  • XMage
  • untap.in
  • Drafting the Hard Way by Ben Stark
  • CubeArtisan
  • Lucky Paper on Twitter: How do designers test their Cubes?
  • Episode 31: Bread and Butter Breakdown
  • Episode 111: The Texture of Removal
  • Hypergeometric calculator

Timestamps:

  • 3:22 — Introduction to Topic
  • 4:23 — What do we mean by “testing”?
  • 12:31 — Testing methods when drafting with a full pod
  • 17:53 — Testing by drafting with smaller groups
  • 22:23 — Testing by drafting against yourself
  • 26:27 — Testing by drafting online with others
  • 31:14 — Testing by playing online
  • 32:28 — Testing by simulating solo drafts
  • 36:44 — Testing by constructing decks from your cube list or playing sealed
  • 40:14 — Testing by thinking really hard about your cube
  • 48:43 — Common pitfalls of looking at your cube quantitatively

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our survey for The Brothers’ War is up now! Share what cards you’re interested in for your Cube!

Andy and Anthony talk about the new cards from The Brothers’ War they’re interested in giving a chance in their own cubes.They talk about slam dunks for environments from Anthony’s limited-emulating Regular Cube, to Andy’s novel, vintage Degenerate Micro Cube and some cards they’re more speculatively giving a try.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • Uncanny Valley
  • Part One of our Brothers’ War Cube Set Review
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s Battle Box
  • Andy’s Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube

Timestamps:

  • 7:03 — Episode Structure Overview
  • 8:48 — BRO Additions to the Regular Cube
  • 9:02 — Recruitment Officer
  • 15:30 — Thopter Mechanic
  • 17:29 — Scrapwork Mutt
  • 20:31 — Bushwhack
  • 24:36 — Legions to Ashes
  • 27:42 — BRO Honorable Mentions for the Bun Magic Cube
  • 28:18 — Lay Down Arms
  • 29:58 — Misery’s Shadow
  • 32:19 — Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim
  • 35:34 — Goblin Blastrunner
  • 38:16 — BRO Additions to the Regular Cube
  • 38:35 — Arcane Proxy
  • 40:58 — Titania’s Command
  • 45:18 — Third Path Iconoclast
  • 49:25 — Soul Partition
  • 52:43 — BRO Additions to Anthony’s Battlebox
  • 53:37 — Scrapwork Mutt (again)
  • 54:18 — Combat Courier
  • 55:36 — Reconstructed Thopter
  • 56:18 — BRO Additions to the Degenerate Micro Cube
  • 56:46 — Defabricate
  • 58:35 — Ashnod’s Harvester
  • 59:25 — Portal to Phyrexia
  • 1:01:31 — BRO Additions to the Turbo Cube
  • 1:02:02 — Levitating Statue
  • 1:03:02 — Stasis Coffin
  • 1:04:53 — Loran of the Third Path
  • 1:05:43 — Tocasia’s Welcome
  • 1:07:22 — Combat Courier

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

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Our survey for The Brothers’ War is up now! Share what cards you’re interested in for your Cube!

Andy and Anthony review the mechanics and themes from The Brothers’ War. They talk through the headline mechanics and smaller themes in the set all in the context of what might be most valuable to Cube designers of all types. The set is jam packed with new takes and synergistic payoffs for artifacts, but also includes tons of open, flexible cards that could be great new options for many Cubes.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

  • 7:12 — Our First Impressions of The Brothers’ War
  • 9:55 — Prototype
  • 19:25 — Powerstone Tokens
  • 25:31 — Unearth
  • 30:09 — A Belated Introduction to our Review Format
  • 31:26 — Meld
  • 35:28 — Graveyard Matters Theme
  • 37:39 — Soldier Tribal
  • 39:21 — The New Cycle of Commands

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Brothers’ War Cube Survey
  • Commander Decks Survey
  • Pulp Fiction
  • Lucky Paper Codex Shredder
  • Lantern Control
  • Cube Map
  • Scratchpad
  • Official Brothers’ War Mechanics Article
  • Amonkar Desert Cube
  • Devoid Cube
  • Past Survey Response Lookup Tool

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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After one last draft, Andy and Anthony look back on the now disassembled Mono Black Cube. They talk about highlights and lessons learned from the particular design. Unique constraints pushed Anthony to explore new space that will inform future projects. More broadly, they discuss the life-cycle of cubes: why it makes sense to start from scratch and iterate rather than circling around a local maximum to improve one’s Cube design skills.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from listener donald_k_magic’s Changeling Cube.

Timestamps:

  • 2:59 — A Very Special Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 14:25 — Kill Your Darlings
  • 16:49 — The Value of Iteration and a Parable About Ceramics
  • 20:36 — Final Reflections on the Mono Black Cube
  • 38:00 — The Phyrexian Obliterator Question
  • 42:51 — Building a Home for Every Card
  • 50:57 — Some Logistics and Updates

Discussed in this episode:

  • Anthony’s Mono Black Cube
  • Episode 2: A Cube with No Color
  • Brown M&Ms Rider
  • Andy’s Tribal Tribal Cube
  • Sunk Cost Fallacy
  • Kill Your Darlings
  • The Parable of the Pottery Class
  • An Introduction to the Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Cube Map
  • Commander Map
  • Set Prospective Archive Search
  • Early Look at Anthony’s New MTG List Formatter

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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After a fantastic, if exhausting, inaugural CubeCon, Andy and Anthony are joined by Patrick, Daniel, and Theo to talk about highlights from the weekend. They talk about their favorite Cubes they drafted, top gameplay moments, and what they learned over an amazing few days of Cube.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

  • 5:30 — Our Favorite Cubes
  • 28:56 — Cards that Surprised Us
  • 40:58 — Complexity Chat
  • 52:21 — Scumboi’s Personal Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 59:11 — Our favorite moments from Cube Con

Discussed in this episode:

  • Episode 21 on Daniel’s All Gold Cube
  • CubeCon Coverage VODs

Cubes discussed:

  • UberBear Artifact Cube
  • Rainbow Synergy Cube
  • Reading Rainbow
  • The Devoid Cube
  • Four Packs of Magic
  • Amonkar Desert Cube
  • Scott Mirts’ Cube
  • Old Border Foil Cube
  • The Dichotomy Cube
  • 2cmc Cube
  • The Turbo Cube
  • The Dekkaru Cube
  • The UMA Inspired Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony respond to an episode of The Eternal Glory Podcast on the recent pauper bans. Drawing comparisons between managing a constructed format with bans and Cube design, the boys examine the difference between welcome power outliers and toxic, ban-worthy cards, talk about the nature of evolving metagames, small and large, and interrogate the concept of a “good Magic purist”.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Lukas’s The Horror Of Innistrad cube.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Eternal Glory: Episode 81
  • Bosh and Roll on YouTube
  • Good Morning Magic Pauper Bans Video
  • The Cube Map Horror Island
  • The Magic Multiverse Project
  • The Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Jett’s First Tireless Tracker Article

Timestamps:

  • 1:36 — Introduction to Topic
  • 4:49 — Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 13:10 — The Similarities Between Playing Multiple Constructed Formats and Having Multiple Cubes
  • 15:13 — Managing a Format Quantitatively and Metagaming
  • 23:49 — “Good Magic” Purists
  • 29:30 — Coping with the Evolution of a Game, Format, or Metagame
  • 38:36 — Using Counterplay to Evaluate Power Outliers
  • 47:58 — Letting Your Local Meta Shake Out
  • 51:29 — Concluding Thoughts

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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We’re on our way to Cube Con! We can’t wait to meet listeners and friends from all over.

If you’re attending CubeCon, introduce yourself! We’ll be posting a photo of ourselves on our Twitter account so you know who to look for. Anthony is going to have his battlebox on hand and Andy is looking to grind some games of his mono-colored starter decks.

If you’re not attending CubeCon, you can still join in on the fun remotely. The event is streaming all weekend on twitch.tv/cloudgoatranger, and Andy is going to be doing commentary on a draft starting at 6:30pm Eastern, 5:30pm Central on Friday evening. Tune in and hang out!

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Andy and Anthony talk about a fundamental component of playing Magic, exploring and finding new cards. They talk about their goals and process for finding new cards and talk about leveraging Scryfall’s powerful search features to make this critical component a breeze. They even touch on some of the advanced features that can save you from missing potential pieces. Check out Anthony’s articles on using Scryfall’s search syntax and advanced searches with Regular Expressions for the details on the topics they cover.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 and 2 this week comes from Robbie’s Supreme Commander Cube where every pack comes with two picks!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Scryfall
  • Andy’s Mono-Colored Starter Decks
  • Anthony’s Article on Using Scryfall’s Search Syntax
  • Anthony’s Article on Searching for Cards with Regular Expressions
  • Scryfall donate page
  • Number of New Cards Printed Each Year
  • Good Luck High Five

Timestamps:

  • 2:59 — Introduction to Topic
  • 5:48 — Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 13:35 — Why is being able to search for cards important?
  • 16:35 — What exactly is Scryfall?
  • 21:53 — Combining Multiple Terms for Powerful Searching
  • 26:41 — Searching the Textbox
  • 34:34 — Getting the Most Out of the Sort Options
  • 40:03 — Leveling Up with Regular Expressions
  • 1:00:3 — The Boys Steal a Bit from a Better Podcast

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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View all cards mentioned in the episode →

If you don’t yet have tickets to CubeCon, you can now sign up for the wait list

Andy and Anthony talk about how they approach drafting Anthony’s novel Turbo Cube where all spells and activated abilities cost less. The Cube will be featured at the inaugural Cube Con. Our hosts talk about the themes and individual cards that define the format. They talk about the ramification of the rules modification and what to look out for when approaching the format.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Turbo Cube
  • Cube Con
  • Live Paper Gameplay of The Turbo Cube
  • Lucky Paper’s Channel on YouTube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

Timestamps:

  • 4:42 — Overview of the Turbo Cube
  • 9:59 — Detailed Rules Interactions
  • 13:17 — Cards Most Impacted by the Rules Change
  • 16:49 — Draft Format
  • 20:03 — Individual Cards: “Turbo Power”
  • 25:46 — Individual Cards: Contentious S-Tier
  • 33:00 — Individual Cards: Barely Sub “Turbo Power” A-Tier
  • 39:01 — Individual Cards: Anything For Free
  • 49:57 — Drafting the Turbo Cube “Archetypes”
  • 1:01:32 — Interaction in the Turbo Cube
  • 1:06:48 — Under and Over Performers
  • 1:13:07 — Void Mirror Corner

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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View all cards mentioned in the episode →

In advance of Anthony’s Regular Cube being featured at CubeCon, Andy and Anthony talk about how they approach the format. The talk about the themes and strategies they think are the most powerful, cards that overperform, and cards that don’t behave like you might expect.

Timestamps:

  • 2:14 — Topic Introduction
  • 4:51 — Overview of The Regular Cube
  • 7:00 — Tip: Look for Synergy
  • 11:40 — Theme: Zombies
  • 14:20 — Archetype: Red Black Sacrifice
  • 19:37 — Theme: Oketra’s Monument “Combo”
  • 21:58 — Key Card: Feather, the Redeemed
  • 24:11 — Theme: Artifacts
  • 27:41 — Naya Aggro
  • 34:13 — Esper Value
  • 38:21 — Musings on Mana Curve
  • 40:59 — The Mana in the Regular Cube
  • 46:45 — Board Wipes
  • 51:47 — Cards that Overperform in the Regular Cube
  • 1:04:19 — Generic Power Outliers
  • 1:14:02 — Pack 1, Pick 1 from the Regular Cube
  • 1:16:44 — Closing Thoughts

Discussed in this episode:

  • Regular Cube
  • Good Luck High Five
  • CubeCon
  • Wabi Sabi

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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The full timestamps were too long for the RSS feed, so check them out on our website.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Andy, Anthony, and Parker take the 2022 standard set rotation as an opportunity to look back on sets from the not-too-distant past. Sets rotating out of standard include everything from Zendikar Rising to Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. They look back on card they rated (or conspicuously didn’t rate) in Lucky Paper’s prospective surveys, each picking the cards they feel they most under and over rated for their particular environments and cards they think they got just right.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Warhammer 40k Survey
  • Uncanny Valley
  • What If 2
  • 2022 Cube Retrospective Article
  • Hypergeometric Calculator
  • Dominaria’s Judgment
  • Cultic Cube’s City of Brass Preview Video
  • Episode 110: Tarmogoyfs and Elvish Visionaries
  • Episode 111: The Texture of Removal
  • The Resleevables
  • Andy’s Called Shot on Twitter re: Unholy Heat

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Parker’s “The Ship of Theseus” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about the results from the Dominaria United community set review. Almost 350 Cube designers submitted the cards they were interested in from DMU and rated them on how likely they expected to stay in their environment long term. Our hosts talk about the most tested and top-rated cards, examine trends, look at how the set compares to past sets, and offer their own qualitative observations.

Check out the full survey results. Our survey for the next set, Warhammer 40,000 is already up. (Truly preview season never ends!) To make sure you don’t miss the next set’s survey, sign up for our infrequent newsletter.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Dominaria United Set Review Article
  • Katamari Damacy
  • AspiringSpike
  • Jason Waddell’s Cube Design – Remodeling, Part Two
  • Dom Harvey’s Cube Thread on Riptide Lab

Timestamps:

  • 5:18 — Episode Format
  • 8:57 — Founding the Third Path
  • 15:08 — Archangel of Wrath (Hot Take)
  • 15:40 — Leyline Binding
  • 21:02 — Meria, Scholar of Antiquity
  • 23:05 — Karn, Living Legacy (Hot Take)
  • 23:35 — Tail Swipe
  • 24:56 — Llanowar Loamspeaker (Hot Take)
  • 26:00 — Tear Asunder
  • 31:49 — King Darien XLVIII and Ajani, Sleeper Agent (Hot Takes)
  • 32:34 — The Elder Dragon War
  • 35:06 — Baird, Argivian Recruiter
  • 39:29 — Urborf Lhurgoyf (Hot Take)
  • 40:00 — Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
  • 44:08 — The Raven Man (Hot Take)
  • 45:24 — 6. Squee, Dubious Monarch
  • 56:50 — 5. Guardian of New Benalia
  • 1:03:38 — 4. Evolved Sleeper
  • 1:08:47 — 3. Cult Conscript
  • 1:11:56 — Tolarian Terror and Urborg Repossession Interlude
  • 1:14:25 — 2. Aether Channeler
  • 1:21:39 — 1. Cut Down

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Parker’s “The Ship of Theseus” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Cube Prospective Surveys for Dominaria United and accompanying commander sets are closing soon!

Andy and Anthony discuss the new cards from Dominaria United they’re interested in for their own Cube environments. They talk about some powerful new options for Andy’s eternal cube, off-color kicker cards and clean variations on classic cards for Anthony’s unrestricted cube, and a few cards that fit more novel environments.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • Dominaria United, Mechanics and Themes Episode
  • Dominaria United Cube Survey
  • Episode 111: Texture of Removal
  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Andy’s Combat Trick Mini Cube
  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube
  • Aspiring Spike Playing Shore Up in Modern

Timestamps:

  • 6:41 — Bun Magic Cube Overview
  • 7:48 — Honorable Mention: Serra Paragon
  • 12:42 — Honorable Mention: Quirion Beastcaller
  • 17:12 — Honorable Mention: Electrostatic Infantry
  • 20:05 — 5. Radha’s Firebrand
  • 26:00 — 4. Shivan Devastator
  • 29:03 — 3. Evolved Sleeper
  • 32:49 — 2. Guardian of New Benalia
  • 37:34 — 1. Cut Down
  • 39:47 — Regular Cube Overview
  • 42:46 — Off-Color Kicker Cards
  • 43:18 — Phyrexian Missionary
  • 45:49 — Juniper Order Rootweaver
  • 46:53 — Protect the Negotiators
  • 48:07 — Phyrexian Espionage
  • 50:32 — Aggressive Sabotage
  • 51:07 — Balduvian Atrocity
  • 52:15 — Ghitu Amplifier
  • 54:55 — Sprouting Goblin
  • 55:28 — Elvish Hydromancer
  • 56:58 — Yavimaya Iconoclast
  • 58:10 — Resolute Reinforcements
  • 58:47 — Prayer of Binding
  • 59:51 — Tolarian Terror
  • 1:01:29 — Electrostatic Infantry
  • 1:03:44 — Tail Swipe
  • 1:04:48 — Balmor, Battlemage Captain
  • 1:06:26 — Combat Trick Mini Cube Overview
  • 1:06:52 — Shore Up
  • 1:07:40 — Electrostatic Infantry
  • 1:07:45 — Cut Down
  • 1:09:36 — The Turbo Cube and Salvaged Manaworker

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Cube Prospective Surveys for Dominaria United and accompanying commander sets are now open!

Andy and Anthony talk about the new mechanics, themes, and their first impressions of Dominaria United and what they’re most excited about for Cube.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

Timestamps:

  • 1:40 — Episode Structure and Introduction
  • 3:50 — Enlist
  • 9:37 — Read Ahead
  • 13:18 — Domain
  • 19:55 — Kicker
  • 27:19 — Stun Counters
  • 32:22 — Defender Tribal
  • 36:48 — Look at Your Deck
  • 40:55 — The Defiler Cycle

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by competitive grinder, latent Cube content creator, and actually good Magic player Dom Harvey to talk about his relationship with the game. Together, they discuss Dom’s storied competitive career, the early days of Cube, how a Cube can serve as a document of your personal history with Magic, whether or not experience with constructed Magic can inform playing and designing Cubes, and how to think about combo as a strategy.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

This week’s pack 1, pick 1 is from Dom’s Cube — a Legacy style Cube with a few novel twists.

Timestamps:

  • 3:51 — Pack 1, Pick 1 from Dom’s Cube
  • 17:54 — Dom’s Background in Constructed Magic
  • 20:51 — Dom’s Introduction to Cube
  • 27:50 — Cube as a Personal History
  • 39:10 — Dom’s Approach to Designing Cubes
  • 41:00 — Can Competitive Constructed Magic Inform Cube
  • 1:05:28 — Combo in Cube
  • 1:16:18 — Three Time SCG Open Champion Dom Harvey DESTROYS a Casual Cube Designer

Discussed in this episode:

  • CubeCon
  • Dom’s Cube
  • DSB’s Ancient Times Cube
  • Riptide Lab Forums
  • Caleb Gannon’s Powered Synergy Cube
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • BoshNRoll
  • Premodern Format
  • Dominaria’s Judgment
  • Tiny Leaders
  • Ryan Saxe on Twitter
  • Dominaria’s Judgment on Patreon

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

7 weeks to Cube Con!

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Having discussed the impact of different densities of removal ad nauseam, Andy and Anthony turn their attention to the different types of removal spells and how they play differently. They examine the costs of playing too much unconditional removal, wax poetic on their love of "small" removal spells like Portable Hole and Disfigure, and discuss how given two removal spells with equal costs, sometimes the one that hits fewer targets is actually better. They recorded this episode before Cut Down was spoiled from Dominaria United otherwise you bet they'd be talking about it.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Iain’s Vintage Cube.

Timestamps:

  • 2:25 — Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 7:17 — Main topic
  • 10:24 — Unconditional Removal
  • 15:45 — Removal with Downside
  • 21:46 — Removal with Additional Costs
  • 26:27 — Removal that Can Be Undone
  • 30:34 — Soft Removal
  • 33:13 — Conditional Removal: Scale of Threat
  • 39:25 — Conditional Removal: Other Card Attributes
  • 47:22 — Conditional Removal: Board State Dependent
  • 52:16 — Our Overall Approaches to Removal in Our Cubes
  • 55:47 — Timing and Efficiency of Removal
  • 1:02:02 — Quantity vs. Quality: Which Matters More, Number of Targets or Quality of Targets
  • 1:05:53 — Potpurri

Discussed in this episode:

  • Jordan, Jesse, Go
  • Episode 31: Bread and Butter Breakdown
  • Episode 101: A Deep Dive on Disruption Density in Cube
  • Episode 95: The Powered Synergy Cube with Caleb Gannon
  • Caleb’s YouTube stream
  • Andy’s Mono-Colored Starter Decks
  • Munchkin
  • Andy’s Jeskai Control Battle Box
  • Anthony’s Mono Black Cube
  • Andy’s Degenerate Micro Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

8 weeks to Cube Con!

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co or submit your cube. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are back at it again, returning to the font of endless Magic discussion: Baneslayers and Mulldrifters. After years of not consciously thinking about this dichotomy, Andy has discovered that his primary cube has skewed heavily towards “Baneslayers”. The boys get into why this descriptor is so often used derogatorily, some reasons why “Mulldrifter” maybe should be used derogatorily, and how people’s perceptions of the difference between these two iconic cards changes when you choose different examples lower on the curve.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week is a grid draft pick from 123jhd’s Crimson Hunt.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

  • 4:04 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 12:09 — What are Baneslayers and Mulldrifters
  • 14:25 — Why is “Baneslayer” often used in a derogatory way?
  • 16:06 — How Andy’s thinking about this dichotomy has changed over time
  • 36:55 — Near-Baneslayers
  • 41:56 — How good are these namesake cards in Anthony’s ‘Regular Cube’?
  • 44:35 — Andy’s top 5 Baneslayers he’s added to his Cube in the past 12 months

Discussed in this episode:

  • Mala Market Soy Sauce
  • Next Level Deckbuilding
  • Jeskai Control Battle Box
  • Mono Black Aggro vs. UR Murktide
  • @luckypaperMtG Twitter

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

9 weeks to Cube Con!

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co or submit your cube. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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6:35 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1

14:45 — Overview of the State of Design article

19:06 — Complexity in Magic in 2022

26:40 — Adjustments to the color pie, how that reflects high-level changes in Wizards’ approach to design, and how good game design does or does not have an inherent tension with success under capitalism

46:57 — Feedback Andy was surprised by from CLB

48:36 — Our favorite things from the last year in Magic

56:18 — Closing thoughts

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Andy and Anthony talk about the state of Magic in general. Starting with Mark Rosewater’s annual State of Design article, where he shares his perspective on successes, lessons learned, and his general observations on the state of the game. Our hosts respond to his points and go on to discuss their own feelings on where the game stands.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from metaldracolich’s Cube of Stuff I Already Had.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Mark Rosewater’s: State of Design 2022
  • Episode 99: How To Build a Cube From Your Collection
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe
  • Star Wars Cinematic Universe
  • Morbius
  • Top Chef
  • Ratatouille
  • Notes on Commander as “Camp” from Hipsters of the Coast

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co or submit your cube. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony compare their main cubes, Andy’s unpowered Vintage Cube that emulates the gameplay of Legacy and Anthony’s comparatively low powered Regular Cube which is more akin to a masters set draft. They compare the cards shared between the two and how they function in these very different environments.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from michaeldkarp’s Box of Cards.

Timestamps:

  • 3:59 — Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 8:40 — Main topic
  • 9:25 — Green
  • 13:47 — Black
  • 18:30 — Blue
  • 25:34 — White
  • 35:32 — Red
  • 41:55 — Lands, Colorless, and Gold Cards
  • 50:00 — Overall impressions of the overlap between the Bun Magic and Regular Cubes

Discussed in this episode:

  • Comparison of Regular and “Bun Magic” Cubes
  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Episode 75: All About Brainstorm

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

10 weeks to Cube Con!

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Read Andy's article informing this episode! Andy and Anthony talk about how many lands to run in a Cube. While Cube design is subjective and largely a matter of taste, our hosts discuss things we can objectively measure about the proportion of lands included in a Cube, and precedent from other Magic formats. Andy breaks down data from Cube Cobra from his new article on the same subject about how Cubes are generally constructed.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from The Strictly Worse Cube

Timestamps:

  • 7:03 — Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 14:45 — Where does the current average number of lands in Cubes come from?
  • 18:30 — Precedent set by retail limited
  • 24:00 — Precedent set by constructed
  • 34:10 — Precedent set by Frank Karsten
  • 37:48 — How many lands is too many lands?
  • 43:19 — Design considerations on land density.
  • 47:25 — What about five color good stuff?
  • 55:21 — Concluding thoughts

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Nega Cube
  • Change Aversion
  • ASFAN
  • CubeCon Ticket Sales

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

11 weeks to Cube Con!

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Andy and Anthony discuss Commander and their personal approaches to deck building. They talk about some of their favorite decks, what they look for in the format, and what motivates them to brew.

Discussed in this episode:

  • MythBusters
  • Lucky Paper Commander Map
  • Guardian Project Podcast
  • Command Zone’s New Commander Deck Template
  • Catcher in the Rye
  • EDHREC
  • Deck: Zedruu Voltron: Little Auras, Great Beats
  • Deck: Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith Spy Kit
  • Deck: Andy’s Goblins
  • Andy’s Gameplay Video with The Guardian Project
  • Cultic Cube
  • CubeCon Ticket Sales

Timestamps:

  • 3:17 — On Commander “Deckbuilding Templates”
  • 7:23 — Using a Commander as your nucleation point
  • 9:29 — High level approaches and thinking of your deck as a vote for what game you’d like to play
  • 17:57 — Setting restrictions for yourself then optimizing within them to avoid making overpowered decks
  • 24:41 — The merits of including at least one infinite win-the-game combo
  • 28:11 — The advantages of a low mana curve
  • 34:21 — Our current Commander decks
  • 43:13 — Our old commander decks we miss the most
  • 45:55 — Outro
  • 48:49 — CubeCon Info with John from Cultic Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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The show notes for this episode are too long to fit in the RSS feed, so check out our website for linked timestamps, cards mentioned, and the full list of links.

One of the great aspects of Cube is that it is somewhat all-encompassing — anything you like about Magic, whether it’s part a Commander deck, the Legacy metagame, or a specific sideboarding strategy in Pioneer, can inform how a cube is designed. On this episode, Andy and Anthony share all of the Magic podcasts, videos, and articles that they follow and why, talking about what they value in Magic content and how it shapes their experience of the game.

They also go just a tad off topic in Telescope Corner: talking about the newly operational, monumental James Webb Space Telescope releasing it’s first scientific photos the day after this release!

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Redbay’s Uncurated Cube, an experiment in starting a Cube from a random list, inspired by a conversation on our previous episode.

14 weeks to Cube Con!

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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View the Commander Map!

Andy and Anthony are joined by Jett to talk about Lucky Paper’s brand new project: the Commander Map! The map visualizes the wide world of EDH showing every deck on EDHREC organized in 2d space based on the cards they contain. Like the Cube Map, the Commander Map algorithmically organizes every deck, (all 1.2 million of them!) into an interactive visualization showing patterns in the way people build decks.

They discuss how the map was made, what else the dimension reduction is used for by data scientists, their own relationships to the commander format, and just a little bit about why triangles are important in computer graphics.

Timestamps:

  • 3:09 — Introduction to the Commander Map and the math underpinning it
  • 10:18 — The hosts backgrounds with Commander
  • 15:10 — How the Commander Map is Made
  • 20:21 — Commander Map frequently asked questions
  • 22:43 — Submaps
  • 29:04 — Some of the cool things we’ve found on the map
  • 40:53 — Triangle corner

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Commander Map
  • The Cube Map
  • EDHREC
  • Tralfamadorians
  • An Introduction to the Commander Map Article
  • The Math Powering the Map
  • Oloro Commander Map with Chair Tribal Cluster
  • Scryfall on Patreon

If you have a question for the show you can email us at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find Andy, Anthony, and Jett in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Most Cubes are ever-changing, with a constant stream of cards being added as new sets are released and the designer’s sensibilities evolve over time. There is a dark side to the joyous, Christmas-morning feeling of putting new cards in one’s cube, though: making cuts. On this episode, Andy and Anthony talk about how to find cuts from a cube, tackle some common pitfalls newer designers often fall into when removing cards from a Cube list, explore high-level theory around Cube curation, and take a walk down memory lane, defending some of their more contentious cuts from their own environments.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from wowitsarlo’s Fair ‘Nuff Cube. Thanks, Arlo!

Timestamps

  • 2:59 — Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 10:19 — Don’t take cuts too seriously
  • 13:31 — Avoid like-for-like cut mentality
  • 17:16 — Ask yourself — do you actually NEED to make a cut?
  • 20:37 — Don’t only cut the “bad” cards
  • 25:56 — Make cuts based on your overarching goals
  • 34:17 — Cut known quantity cards to maximize information gleaned from play testing
  • 37:17 — Cut power outliers to activate lower powered cards in your cube
  • 39:20 — Walking down cut memory lane

Discussed in this episode:

  • Donate to your local abortion fund
  • Card Kingdom Starter Cube
  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube

If you’d like to support the show, we’re looking for people to help annotate old episodes.

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

15 weeks to Cube Con!

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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View all cards mentioned in the episode →

View the full survey results →

Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, reviewing the results of the Cube Survey and what the new and returning mechanics offer for cube designers.

Special thanks to Kennedy McAlister for this week’s intro music.

Timestamps:

  • 5:53 — New Mechanics
  • 6:09 — Backgrounds
  • 9:57 — The Initiative
  • 15:43 — Myriad
  • 17:00 — Gates
  • 22:59 — Survey Overview
  • 29:00 — Archivist of Oghma
  • 34:15 — Displacer Kitten
  • 38:43 — Young Blue Dragon
  • 41:34 — Delayed Blast Fireball
  • 45:28 — Greatsword of Tyr
  • 53:05 — Noble’s Purse
  • 55:28 — Gut, True Soul Zealot
  • 59:25 — Minsc and Boo, Timeless Heroes
  • 1:09:01 — Closing Thoughts

Discussed in this episode:

  • Dimir Only Cube
  • Episode 22 on Commander Cube
  • Parker’s Eldraine Set Cube
  • Custom Magic Reddit

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

16 weeks to Cube Con!

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony collaboratively draft a deck from Anthony’s Regular Cube, discussing how they approach the environment and the roles individual cards play. From the individual cards, they jump into bigger conversations about the environment and what they think successful draft strategies look like.

Follow along with each pick of the draft to see the full set of cards in each pack. Draft the same seat on Cube Cobra to compare how your own approach.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Anthony’s Regular Cube
  • Episode 80: Open Drafting the Bun Magic Cube
  • Episode 97: Lands that Do Things: All About Fetch Lands

Timestamps:

  • 4:01 — Introduction to the episode format and the Regular Cube
  • 9:57 — Pack 1
  • 34:10 — Pack 2
  • 47:27 — Pack 3
  • 54:53 — Deck Construction
  • 1:03:21 — Evaluation of final deck
  • 1:08:34 — Conclusion

17 weeks to Cube Con!

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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After teasing it on their Centennial Retrospective, Andy and Anthony are revisiting the topic of one of their notable past episodes, number 31: Bread and Butter Breakdown. With some small revisions to his categorization system, Andy tallies up the density of disruptive cards in the current iteration of his Bun Magic Cube and compares them to the numbers from January of last year, with some surprising results. What starts as a nuts-and-bolts discussion of how the density and quality of disruption affects an environment turns into a reflection on how much Andy’s cube has changed in just 17 months and how much our biases about cards influences our assessment of their power level.

View cards mentioned in the episode, organized by how they are categorized in the Bun Magic Cube.

Check out the tables of the numbers discussed on this episode on our website.

Timestamps:

  • 6:28 — Pack 1, pick 1 from the Bun Magic Cube
  • 15:07 — Definitions of categories of disruptive cards: hard removal, conditional removal, soft removal, stack interaction, hand interaction, and grave hate
  • 24:16 — How has the Bun Magic Cube’s disruptive suite changed since January of last year?
  • 32:12 — What disruption has been cut from the Bun Magic Cube?
  • 37:48 — What is the makeup of the targets for removal spells in the cube? What does the toughness and mana value distribution look like?
  • 50:43 — Concluding thoughts

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Members of the Band Of Montreal

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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On their milestone, 100th show, Andy and Anthony reflect on important past episodes and things they’ve learned in the last two years of Lucky Paper Radio.

Timestamps:

  • 4:15 - Overview of a Self-Indulgent Episode
  • 6:49 - "Pack 1, Pick 1" (The Whitemane Lion Tier List)
  • 18:58 - Episode 5: The Problem with 5 Color Good Stuff
  • 24:03 - Episode 17: How and Why to Build a Cube
  • 29:10 - Episode 24: Setting the Tempo
  • 31:41 - Episode 31: Bread and Butter Breakdown
  • 36:17 - Episode 39: A Flat Power Level
  • 38:25 - Episode 41: Cube is Not a Monolith
  • 44:18 - Episode 48: Playing to Win: Evaluating New Cubes and 58: A Cube Player’s Guide to Manabases
  • 46:48 - Episode 71: The Use and Abuse of Archetype Driven Design
  • 49:00 - Episode 90 and 91, aka the Ballad of Rock, Paper, Scissors
  • 51:22 - Stuff Andy has been wrong about
  • 1:04:08 - Why haven’t we started a Patreon?

Discussed in this episode:

  • EnchantWorldle
  • Episode 5: The Problem with 5 Color Good Stuff
  • Episode 17: How and Why to Build a Cube
  • Episode 24: Setting the Tempo
  • Episode 31: Bread and Butter Breakdown
  • Episode 39: A Flat Power Level
  • Episode 41: Cube is Not a Monolith
  • Episode 48: Playing to Win: Evaluating New Cubes and 58: A Cube Player’s Guide to Manabases
  • Episode 71: The Use and Abuse of Archetype Driven Design
  • Episode 90 and 91, aka the Ballad of Rock, Paper, Scissors
  • Episode 95: The Powered Synergy Cube with Caleb Gannon
  • Carmen Handy’s Proliferate Cube
  • David McDarby’s Live the Dream Cube
  • The Cube Map
  • Dominaria’s Judgment

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Have you always wanted a Cube of your own? Do you have a box full of jank and draft chaff taking up space that you can’t bring yourself to get rid of? You’re in luck! On this week’s show, Andy and Anthony discuss how to build a Cube from your existing Magic collection. They talk about the pros of working within novel constraints. Building from a collection likely means working with cards you already have some connection and familiarity with. The unique constraint fuels coming up with unique and creative designs. It also comes with unique challenges, making it hard to find existing experience and resources to build off off. Talking about the Cube and getting feedback becomes more difficult.

They propose a process for designing a Cube this way, separating exploring the collection, and then editing down to a final list and offer some suggestions for goals to aim for while editing.

Follow along with all the cards mentioned in this episode with our visual spoiler.

Timestamps:

  • 5:36 — Introduction to Main Topic
  • 8:38 — The Advantages of Building a Cube from Your Collection
  • 15:12 — What makes building a cube from your collection uniquely difficult?
  • 23:22 — How to Begin: Writing vs. Editing
  • 29:04 — How to Make Cuts: Mana Curve
  • 36:46 — How to Make Cuts: Densities and Distributions of Effects
  • 41:58 — How to Make Cuts: Power Distribution
  • 45:50 — Do you need to establish themes or archetypes for your cube?
  • 49:41 — How many fixing lands to include?

Discussed in this episode:

  • Enchant Worldle
  • Cube Cobra
  • Dominaria’s Judgment
  • Episode 51: How to Win Friends and Influence People (Into Playing Your Cube)
  • Episode 31: Bread and Butter Breakdown
  • Episode 71: The Use and Abuse of Archetype Driven Design
  • Rhystic Studies’ Dear Gonti, Love Sophie

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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After watching Caleb draft his Powered Synergy Cube on Magic Online for hours, Andy is dying to support some more sweet, synergistic decks in his Bun Magic Cube. After some reflection, he’s not sure if that would even work, so he’s bringing his hopes and dreams to Anthony to discuss whether it’s even possible to support Bazaar of Baghdad, Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, or Molten Vortex in a cube that is over one-third interaction.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Donald K. Magic’s “Balanced Budget” Cube. Special thanks to Donald for being the first person to help us annotate old episodes. If you’d like to be as handsome and well liked as Donald, you too can help us add robust metadata to old episodes of the show.

View cards mentioned in the episode

Timestamps:

  • 4:06 — Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 8:57 — Donald’s Follow Up Question: What is an overlooked card under 50 cents?
  • 13:33 — Are synergy and interactivity at odds?
  • 17:44 — Proposed Definitions for “Synergy Decks” and “Interactive Decks”
  • 23:53 — Reviewing the Deck’s Caleb Posted to YouTube, Beginning With His Favorite Deck He’s Ever Drafted
  • 32:00 — Comparing Densities of Interactions in Decks Between Caleb and Andy’s Cubes
  • 34:06 — One Change to Andy’s Bun Magic Cube in the Name of Synergy
  • 39:36 — Finding More Room For Synergy In Your Cube
  • 42:06 — Synergy and Interactivity in Anthony’s Regular Cube
  • 47:50 — Summary Thoughts

Discussed in this episode:

  • Lucky Paper Radio 55 — In Defense of Unpopular Cards
  • Caleb Gannon’s Drafts of his Own Cube on Magic Online
  • Cards in Anthony’s Regular Cube Under 50 Cents
  • Cards in Andy’s Bun Magic Cube Under 50 Cents
  • Bikeshedding

21 weeks to CubeCon! Blackjack!

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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If you’d like to support the show, we’d love help annotating old episodes!

Andy and Anthony are going deep on fetch lands. They discuss the long tail of exciting interactions, the powerful mana fixing, and the real costs to gameplay experience associated with them. What are their benefits as a player? What are their benefits as a Cube designer? What are their biggest downsides?

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from LuckyLooter’s Amonkar Desert Cube where players have to start making hard choices about lands from the first pack they open.

View cards mentioned in the episode

Timestamps:

  • 2:41 — Pack 1, Pick 1 from LuckyLooter's Amonkar Desert Cube
  • 9:56 — What is a fetch land?
  • 14:25 — The benefits of fetch lands from a player perspective
  • 23:12 — The most controversial benefit of fetch lands: deck thinning
  • 32:01 — The benefits of fetch lands from a cube design perspective
  • 34:35 — Do fetch lands enable 4-5 color good stuff decks?
  • 45:13 — The downsides and costs of fetch lands

Discussed in this episode:

  • Episode #75: All About Brainstorm
  • Agiledrunk’s Case for Breaking Singleton for Lands
  • Riptide Lab: The Case for More Fetchlands
  • Frank Karsten on the Value of Deck Thinning
  • The Case Against Fetch Lands

Keep an eye on Cube Con for featured Cube candidates coming soon!

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker discuss the results of Lucky Paper’s Streets of New Capenna Cube Community Set review. They talk through the top cards most appealing to the largest portion of the Cube community, theorize on why cards may appear where they do, analyze interesting outliers, compare the results to past sets, and offer their own opinions of cards in the new set.

View cards mentioned in the episode

Timestamps:

  • 2:42 — Explanation of Show Format
  • 3:52 — Overview of New Capenna Commander
  • 5:21 — 5. Grand Crescendo
  • 7:57 — 4. In Too Deep
  • 10:42 — 3. Caldaia Guardian
  • 13:48 — 2. Currency Converter
  • 19:44 — 1. Lethal Scheme
  • 26:48 — Overview of Streets of New Capenna
  • 40:32 — Honorable Mention: Ledger Shredder
  • 45:32 — Honorable Mention: the Common Dual Lands
  • 47:44 — 11. Jewel Thief
  • 52:31 — 10. Titan of Industry
  • 55:23 — 9. Goldhound
  • 58:54 — 8. Ob Nixils, the Adversary
  • 1:04:16 — 7. Inspiring Overseer
  • 1:08:23 — 6-2. The Triomes
  • 1:15:32 — 1. Tenacious Underdog
  • 1:21:53 — Closing Thoughts

Discussed in this episode:

  • No Country for Old Men
  • Full Results of the Streets of New Capenna Survey
  • Commander Set Survey Results
  • Anchoring Bias
  • Bandwagon Effect
  • Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Prospective
  • Ikoria Prospective

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Parker’s “Ship of Theseus” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Streets of New Capenna survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Caleb Gannon joins Andy and Anthony to talk about his Powered Synergy Cube which is about to be featured on Magic Online! Caleb goes into detail about the environment, which takes what’s loved about the MTGO Vintage Cube and dials up the synergistic aspects while tuning down other themes and cards that win the game on their own. The Cube is full of complex, overlapping themes and multi-card combos, and you can play it yourself starting this Wednesday, May 4th.

View all the cards mentioned in the episode.

Check out the full show notes, including linked timestamps, on our website.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Processing
  • Caleb’s YouTube Channel
  • Caleb’s Website
  • Caleb’s introduction to the format
  • Caleb’s Powered Synergy Cube
  • MTGO Vintage Cube
  • Live the Dream Cube
  • Mengu Cube
  • Gaby and LSV’s Cube
  • Roguelikes
  • Andy’s Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube
  • Andy’s Trick Mini Cube
  • Caleb’s Discord Server
  • Wabi Sabi

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Streets of New Capenna survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Andy and Anthony take a step back and talk about Cube and Cooking, the many things two of their favorite hobbies have in common, and what they love about them. Both are creative endeavors that are interesting things to master in their own right as well as tools to bring people together and serve as an entry point for broader personal growth.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Tortured Existence’s The Box.

View cards mentioned in the episode

Timestamps:

  • 5:07 — Pack 1, pick 1 from "The Box"
  • 14:01 — Games and Food are both High Art Forms
  • 25:07 — Opportunities for creative expression
  • 28:52 — Building on accumulated history and knowledge
  • 40:18 — On Food and Cooking and using what you love as an entry point for learning and continued personal growth
  • 43:46 — A caveat about the distinction between loving a game and loving a product
  • 48:45 — What is on your Mount Sausagemore?
  • 52:28 — Closing thoughts

Discussed in this episode:

  • Harold McGee Explains the Wonders of Salt
  • SCGCHAR - Modern - Semifinals - Bob Huang vs Bradley Carpenter
  • J. Kenji Lopez Alt’s Chili Recipe
  • Animal Crossing
  • The Doughboys
  • Linguistic Relativity
  • Home Cook vs Pro Chef Fried Rice
  • MTGCubeTalk Discord
  • Threes
  • The Maillard Reaction
  • 17Lands
  • Ryan Saxe’s Drafting AIs
  • Rhystic Studies

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Streets of New Capenna survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Andy and Anthony discuss each card their interested in giving a try in their own Cube environments, including Andy’s Bun Magic Cube, a high powered legacy environment, Anthony’s peasant-ish Regular Cube, and a few other more novel environments. Visit our website for detailed, linked show notes and a visual spoiler of every card mentioned in this episode in chronological order.

Discussed in this episode:

  • SNC Survey
  • Lucky Paper Radio SNC Mechanics Episode
  • Bun Magic Cube
  • Regular Cube
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Turbo Cube
  • Combat Trick Mini Cube
  • Anthony’s Multiplayer Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about the headline mechanics of Magic’s latest premier set, Streets of New Capenna, a set featuring five, three-color factions, the families, each with their own named mechanic. They discuss each abstractly, breaking down the possible design space, how they fit into existing contexts, and what kinds of individual card designs they’re hoping to see.

27 weeks to CubeCon!

Timestamps:

  • 5:33 — The mechanics of Streets of New Capenna
  • 7:52 — The Brokers (Bant): Shield Counters
  • 13:23 — The Obscura (Esper): Connive
  • 19:34 — The Maestros (Grixis): Casualty
  • 28:43 — The Riveteers (Jund): Blitz
  • 34:31 — The Cabaretti (Naya): Alliance
  • 43:28 — Overall mechanical impressions, Hideaway, and no double faced cards

Discussed in this episode:

  • Carmen Handy’s Cancellable MTG Takes Tweet
  • Alphonse Mucha
  • Eric Spiekerman
  • Massimo Vignelli
  • Streets of New Capenna Mechanics
  • First look at Streets of New Capenna
  • Drive to Work
  • Andy’s Core Set Battlebox
  • Andy’s Beginner Decks
  • Anthony’s Battlebox
  • Bioshock
  • Andrea Mengucci tweet about his Antiquities Tron Lands
  • The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony revisit the topic of the rock, paper, scissors metagame on the axis of tempo and respond to listener feedback from last week’s episode. In addition, they share some highlights and bad-beats from a long weekend playing a range of Cubes.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Gasedup’s Micro Grixis Cube.

Timestamps:

  • 1:56 — Brags and Bad Beats: A Cube Weekend Recap
  • 8:43 — Cube Con: The long anticipated, premier Cube event
  • 14:28 — Pack 1, Pick one from Gasedup's Micro Grixis Cube
  • 17:32 — Follow up from last week’s listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 21:16 — Follow up from last week’s main topic: the RPS meta game
  • 32:12 — Reacting to LSV’s “The Meaning of Midrange” article from 2009
  • 39:05 — Reacting to the “PV’s Playhouse — Midrange” article from 2013

Discussed in this episode:

  • Daniel’s Gold Cube
  • The 555-Jank Cube
  • Last week’s episode on the Aggro-Midrange-Control RPS Meta
  • CubeCon
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Jeskai Control Battlebox
  • The Turbo Cube
  • Referenced Legacy Decklists
  • RPS polls thread on Twitter
  • LSV’s Initial Technology – The Meaning of Midrange (and Why It’s Terrible)
  • Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa on Midrange
  • Sam Black’s poll on the Wandering Emperor

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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After alluding to it in passing multiple times, Andy and Anthony are finally going deep on Andy’s contentious assertion that there are no intrinsically favored matchups between aggro, midrange, and control as the common heuristic suggests. In this episode, they define the macro-archetypes, talk about where they come from, and cover appropriate and innappropriate applications of these kinds of thought technologies. Then, they discuss how each matchup is won and lost for all the permutations of aggro, midrange, and control.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Arcade’s Commander Cube, the “Brawlbox”.

Timestamps:

  • 6:29 — Introduction to Topic and Pack 1, Pick 1 from Arcade's Hand Matters Cube
  • 16:51 — What are the macro-archetypes and where do they come from?
  • 25:32 — Andy’s argument that there is no inherent advantage between the marco-archetypes in Magic
  • 31:07 — A Simple Origin for the Typical Rock, Paper, Scissors Heuristic
  • 41:11 — A Comprehensive Rundown of How Each Matchup Is Won and Lost Between Aggro, Midrange, and Control

Discussed in this episode:

  • Daniel’s Gold Cube
  • Being John Malkovich
  • Harold McGee
  • Magic sour sweet berries
  • Patrick Chapin’s Next Level Magic and Next Level Deckbuilding
  • Zac Hill’s “Ah Yes, Very Standard”
  • Jennifer Long’s “The Metagamr Clock”
  • Brian Davis vs Bob Maher in the 1999 Pro Tour Finals
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Merlin Mann

Follow us on Twitter @luckypapermtg and check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are off this week, but fear not! Friends of the show Parker LaMascus and Jason Waddell are filling in and discussing one of their favorite, non-Magic card games: Slay the Spire. You do not need to have played Slay the Spire to appreciate this episode as Parker and Jason tie their experience with the game back to Cube design and Magic more broadly.

Check out Jason’s Twitch stream where he has been playing Slay the Spire recently.

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony discuss the new, popular two player draft format, Hausman draft, where players draft a series of rounds exchanging cards from hidden hands with a shared, face-up, set of cards. They talk about their experience with the format, the kinds of decks it creates and pros and cons for this style of drafting. In closing, they touch briefly on the strengths and weaknesses of some other popular draft formats for two players.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Monstrumonium’s Hand Matters Cube. Follow along with the pack 1, pick 1, and the other cards mentioned in this episode with our card-by-card visual spoiler.

Timestamps:

  • 4:59 — Pack 1, Pick 1 from Monstrumonium's Hand Matters Cube
  • 13:33 — Hausman Draft pros and cons
  • 25:17 — The grain of Hausman Draft: does it discourage a particular kind of deck?
  • 38:55 — The benefits of partial hidden information
  • 47:29 — Winston and Winchester Drafts
  • 51:32 — Burn drafting for two players

Discussed in this episode:

  • Fermi Estimation
  • The Misery Cube
  • Grid Draft
  • Winston
  • Winchester
  • Burn Draft (Glimpse, Minneapolis, etc.)

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony explore at length a question from the MTG Cube Reddit. As Cube designers, how do we think about cards with strong build-around, signaling potential when they seem like they may not be a good fit for the environment.

View linked timestamps and our kitchen tier list on our website.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Birthday brunch
  • Irregular Cube
  • u/jselzo’s Reddit post on unintended signals
  • Modern Greasefang Combo
  • No one ever got fired for buying Microsoft
  • Thermapen
  • Cooking Issues
  • David Rees and John Hodgman on Doughboys

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by guests Andy Floury and Mike Coyle of The Guardian Project Podcast to discuss their approach to Commander, which has a lot in common with Lucky Paper Radio’s approach to Cube. By figuring out how to use data to optimize for fun, recognizing that the most powerful cards do not always lead to interesting play patterns, and understanding that setting expectations is one of the most important factors in any game, Andy and Mike have established themselves as kindred spirits in trying to get the most out of Magic.

View timestamps and a visual spoiler of cards mentioned during this episode on our website.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Pubstomping
  • Settlers of Catan
  • Dominion
  • The Next Generation
  • Gowron
  • Game Knights
  • 1 drop cube
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Turbo Cube
  • 17lands
  • Andy’s Commander gameplay videos with The Guardian Project
  • Game 1
  • Game 2
  • Rope a Dope
  • Guardian Project Podcast
  • Twitch stream
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • Episode 134 — 2021 The Big Stats Episode
    • 120 — The Most Affordable Commander Deck Themes
  • Anthony’s Wizards Commander Deck

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Parker LaMascus to review the results from the Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Cube community set review. They talk about the set as a whole and the themes the community is most excited about. They go card by card through the top 16 cards the most respondents are trying in their cubes. Check out the complete results and our written analysis in our set review article.

You can follow along with a visual spoiler of all the cards mentioned in the episode.

Discussed in this episode:

  • You’re already dead meme
  • Silicon Wafer manufacturing
  • Anthony’s framed silicon wafer
  • Gömböc
  • Mansplaining
  • NEO Mechanics and First Impressions
  • Our NEO Cube Additions
  • Full Community Set Review Results
  • MID Community Set Review
  • ZNR Community Set Review
  • Parker’s Cube
  • Degenerate Micro Cube

Timestamps (includes spoilers!):

  • 4:56 — Overview of Community Set Review Survey
  • 11:04 — 16. Kaito Shizuki
  • 18:32 — 15. Spirited Companion
  • 21:47 — 14. Containment Construct
  • 25:33 — 13. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
  • 28:35 — 12. Otawara, Soaring City
  • 36:21 — 11. Touch the Spirit Realm
  • 38:39 — 10. Lizard Blades
  • 40:02 — 9. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
  • 45:53 — 8. Twinshot Sniper
  • 49:45 — 7. Reinforced Ronin
  • 55:34 — 6. The Wandering Emperor
  • 1:02:58 — 5. Rabbit Battery
  • 1:09:32 — 4. Blade of the Oni
  • 1:11:37 — 3. Boseiju, Who Endures
  • 1:14:47 — 2. Eater of Virtue
  • 1:23:01 — 1. Lion Sash

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and Neon Dynasty Commander cube surveys are open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Andy and Anthony review Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty from the perspective of their own, growing stable of Cubes, talking about the cards they’re interested in for specific environments ranging from high-powered eternal cubes, low powered cubes, and even a few contexts with special rules.

Our website has comprehensive, linked timestamps so you can navigate directly to the parts of the episode relevant to you and you can follow along with every card mentioned in the episode with our visual spoiler.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Jackass Forever
  • Steve-O’s Back Tattoo
  • Pokemon Legends: Arceus
  • Breath of the Wild
  • Skyrim
  • Metroid Prime
  • Lucky Paper’s Neon Dynasty Mechanics and First Impressions Episode
  • Our episode on language in Magic
  • 2021 In Retrospect
  • Brian DeMars’ Danger Room

Discussed contexts:

  • Bun Magic Cube
  • Regular Cube
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Turbo Cube
  • Combat Trick Mini Cube
  • Anthony’s Battle Box
  • Jeskai Control Battle Box

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

The first of our three part set review for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is here! Andy and Anthony are putting their designer hats on and talking about their first impressions of the triumphant return to Kamigawa. Neon Dynasty brings a handful of flexible mechanics along with a slew of new artifact and enchantment focused themes. Which mechanics are open-ended enough to see broad play? Which kinds of cubes will benefit most from the new themes and archetypes? What would Andy and Anthony change if they could go back in time and remake Magic from the beginning? Find out within!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Neuromancer
  • Snowcrash
  • The Diamond Age
  • Mandelbrot Set
  • Good Luck High Five on NEO, including Story Recap
  • Official Neon Dynasty Mechanics
  • 2022 Year in Review Episode
  • The Degenerate Micro Cube
  • A bad Combo

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony linger on the topic of Battle Box for a second week in a row, discussing a novel design: Andy’s Jeskai Control Battle Box, modeled after what some have called Magic’s most interesting mirror match. They start things off by drawing and comparing opening hands from the list and then go deep on the benefits of designing an environment for a more narrow range of play and what can be learned from playing it.

Follow along with the visual spoiler of all cards mentioned in the episode.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Ship of Theseus - Cube from Rotisserie Draft
  • Rotisserie Draft
  • Jeskai Control Battle Box
  • The most fun mirrors on Twitter
  • Ben Stark vs Shahar Shenhar
  • Jumpstart
  • Hobo Names

Timestamps:

  • 1:59 — Brags and Bad Beats: Parker’s Roto Draft Edition
  • 8:26 — A brief review of Battle Box
  • 11:36 — Opening hand evaluations
  • 12:47 — Introduction to the Jeskai Control Battle Box
  • 16:24 — Structure and design considerations
  • 21:40 — Temples in the land package
  • 27:15 — Expectations - Do players really just love blue that much?
  • 31:08 — Lessons on removal from Jumpstart
  • 35:38 — Gameplay lessons from the Jeskai Control Battle Box
  • 43:46 — Single card discussion: Jeskai Battle Box Edition

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony discuss Anthony’s updated Battle Box which started as an update and turned into a complete refresh. They talk about how Anthony’s goals have changed and clarified and how that translates to logistical and card choices. They breakdown the gameplay experience, comparing it to their goals and the experience of the previous iteration.

To start things off, they each draw a hand from the box and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. Follow along with the cards mentioned page, a visual spoiler of all the cards mentioned throughout the podcast, in chronological order.

Timestamps:

  • 3:22 — Intro to Battle Box
  • 4:39 — Pack 1, Pick 1 stand-in: rating battle box opening hands
  • 13:07 — Battle Box format refresher
  • 15:50 — Anthony's goals for a new Battle Box
  • 22:45 — Playtesting notes
  • 29:38 — Planned changes
  • 38:44 — Andy and Anthony go to the mat over conditional, instant speed interaction (again)
  • 47:34 — Specific stand-out cards

Discussed in this episode:

  • Zero to Five Forks
  • Anthony’s new Battle Box
  • Anthony’s first list
  • Our first episode about Battle Box
  • Andy’s first “core set” Battle Box
  • Michel Gondry
  • Munchkin
  • If you Give a Moose a Muffin

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about the language we use to talk about Magic. Language is fundamental to social experiences, our favorite game included. Creating new language helps us communicate more effectively and helps us think about and compartmentalize concepts, shaping how we thing about things. But jargon has its drawbacks.

View cards mentioned in the episode

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Mozart’s Cube.

Timestamps:

  • 4:02 — Introduction to language and Magic
  • 4:59 — Pack 1, Pick 1 from Mozart's Cube
  • 9:04 — Why do we use specific shorthand and jargon in the first place?
  • 12:52 — Linguistic relativity: naming things shapes communication and how we think about concepts
  • 15:43 — How specific language can hinder communication
  • 22:16 — Why the most rigorous, theoretical terminology can sometimes be the least useful
  • 24:25 — Why context is critical to all language
  • 25:56 — The dangers of oversimplification
  • 26:55 — Grizzly Bears, Goblin Pikers, and Hill Giants
  • 33:38 — Thinking in terms of card classifications
  • 36:56 — Jargon makes Magic less accessible
  • 38:35 — Magic lingo speed round

Discussed in this episode:

  • Venn diagrams and Euler Diagrams
  • Venn diagrams for high number of sets
  • Radiolab on linguistic relativity
  • Language Thought and Reality
  • List of sandwiches
  • Gravity wells
  • Patrick Chapin’s Next Level Deckbuilding
  • Grizzle Bears alignment chart
  • Andy’s “two mana renaissance” Cube update
  • Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon
  • Enigma Machine

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony each draft the same seat in Andy’s Bun Magic Cube and compare how they navigate the draft seat by seat. Draft the same seat yourself here on Cube Cobra and compare your own choices! Andy and Anthony’s draft logs are available on the cards mentioned page. Decklists are available on our website.

Tune in Tuesday, the day after this episode airs, to The Guardian Project’s stream to see Andy battle his goblin commander deck against The Guardian Project’s hosts and Jason Alt!

Timestamps:

  • 4:08 — Introduction: How we drafted
  • 7:07 — Pack 1 from Andy’s perspective
  • 12:05 — Pack 1 from Anthony’s perspective
  • 33:20 — Pack 2 from Anthony’s perspective
  • 35:57 — Pack 2 from Andy’s perspective
  • 45:47 — Pack 3 from Andy’s perspective
  • 48:46 — Pack 3 from Anthony’s perspective
  • 52:22 — Deck Review

Discussed in this episode:

  • TV Tropes: Red Shirts
  • The Dark Crystal
  • Narcissism of Small Differences
  • The Open Draft Project on Star City Games
  • Ben Stark’s Drafting the Hard Way
  • The Guardian Project Podcast

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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See the full timestamps on our website or follow along with a visual spoiler of all the cards mentioned in this episode.

In an attempt to record a canonical episode about the concept of power level and how it applies to cube, our heroes are chatting about the advantages and disadvantages playing with the most powerful cards and effects. How is power level actually defined? How is it related to the speed and removal density of a format? What deck from Anthony’s Irregular Cube could possibly beat a deck from Andy’s Degenerate Micro Cube? Answers to all these questions and more within.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Frank Karsten’s No limit Modern
  • The Irregular Cube
  • Source for average length of modern games, I cannot find source for Legacy
  • The HP/Damaged Gonti Deck
  • Card Kingdom Starter Cube (not an endorsement)
  • The Turbo Cube
  • “How would you rather lose?” Poll on the Lucky Paper Twitter Account
  • Linguistic Relativity
  • Epistemology

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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In this 2021 retrospective episode, Andy and Anthony look back on the year and discuss the highs and lows for Cube and how their relationship with Magic continues to evolve. They follow the format of Lucky Paper’s 2021 Cube in Review article, giving their own answers to the questions posed to prominent community members therein, and end up going deep on how changes to competitive Magic and the content and community surrounding it has sharpened their commitment to Cube and other sandbox formats.

Timestamps:

  • 7:33 — Anthony’s Cube Hit of the Year: Diversity and Community Cubes on MTGO
  • 8:58 — Andy’s Cube Hit of the Year: the Creature Lands from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
  • 12:13 — Andy’s Cube Miss of the Year: Double-faced Cards
  • 15:44 — Anthony’s Cube Miss of the Year: Linear and Synergistic Flagship Mechanics
  • 21:39 — Andy’s Cube Cards of the Year: Murktide Regent and Captured by Lagacs
  • 27:27 — Anthony’s Cube Cards of the Year: the MH2 Artifact Dual Lands
  • 33:14 — Andy and Anthony’s Cube Set of the Year: Modern Horizons 2
  • 36:46 — Andy’s Honorable Mention Cube Set of the Year: Strixhaven
  • 41:44 — Anthony’s Little Shout Out to Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
  • 42:25 — Andy’s Cube Level Up: Disentangling Desirable Play Patterns from Raw Power Level when Considering Cards for Cube Inclusion
  • 46:11 — Anthony’s Cube Level Up: Reassessing His Relationship With And What He Values About the Game

Discussed in this episode:

  • Phillips Hue Smart Lights
  • Roomba Vacuum Cleaners
  • 2021 Cube in Review Article
  • The Mandelbrot Set
  • Intertwinglarity
  • Island of D&D Cubes on the Cube Map
  • Limited Resources
  • Drive to Work
  • 17Lands
  • EDHrec
  • James Webb Space Telescope
  • Hubble Space Telescope

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about recent drafts of the Irregular Cube, Anthony’s newest Cube which features ‘rare’ cards, and Andy’s Bun Magic Cube. They review their own drafts, what was working, what was problematic, and how the rare cards influenced the experience. They hypothesize reasons why the draft was not universally enjoyed and how the environment might be changed to improve the experience and better set expectations.

They start things off with a pack 1, pick 1 from the Irregular Cube.

Follow along with all the mentioned cards.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Irregular Cube
  • The Best Ramen in Baltimore
  • The Regular Cube
  • The Bun Magic Cube
  • The Turbo Cube
  • The Mono Black Cube
  • Andy’s Deck from the Bun Magic Cube
  • PVDDR on Mulligans
  • No Land Beyond
  • Duel Decks: Speed vs. Cunning
  • Drafting the Hard Way
  • Anthony’s Chicken Stack for Ramen and More
  • The Essential Pepin

Timestamps:

  • 3:35 — Introduction to the Irregular Cube
  • 5:39 — Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 10:39 — Draft recap: Andy’s deck and setting expectations with the group
  • 21:02 — Is Sprout Swarm fun? Is it too good?
  • 27:19 — Draft recap: Anthony’s deck and the relativity of powerful cards
  • 34:50 — The benefits of variance
  • 39:08 — The pleasantly surprising underperformance of 5 color goodstuff
  • 41:58 — The role of combos and draft diversity in the Irregular Cube
  • 46:55 — How Magic history limits new card design
  • 49:55 — Bun Magic Cube: Brags and Bad Beats
  • 1:01:41 — Recipe corner

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about all things un-. They discuss the history of silver-bordered and other non-tournament Magic cards, how they’re designed, and the categories they fall into so you can choose if and how to play them in your Cube.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Myagic’s Storytime Cube featuring fairytale themes and a sprinking of un-cards.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Drive to Work: Unglued
  • Drive to Work: Making Un-Cards
  • Munchkin
  • The Misery Cube
  • Unstable Foil Tabletop Card Prices
  • LRR plays the Roborosewater Cube

Timestamps:

  • 1:59 — Listener submitted pack , pick 1
  • 7:13 — Why un-cards are interesting
  • 9:47 — The history of un-cards
  • 12:50 — Un-adjacent cards
  • 14:06 — Should you put un-cards in your cube?
  • 17:38 — The different categories of un-cards
  • 18:17 — Cards that care about some aspect of a card that black border can’t
  • 26:39 — Physical challenge cards
  • 28:31 — Cards that care about something outside the game
  • 32:30 — Outside assistance cards
  • 36:03 — Unclassified cards that just don’t work in black border
  • 53:56 — Cards with weird flavor
  • 58:05 — Cards with extreme variance
  • 1:00:27 — Draft matters cards
  • 1:07:18 — Conspiracies
  • 1:09:26 — The most Uncube Unmaginable

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony spend a whole episode talking just about the iconic cantrip Brainstorm. They talk about how and why it works, how it behaves in different contexts and different cubes, how unique it is, and the many relevant interactions with other cards.

Brainstorm can be a controversial topic among Cube players and designers. Some claim it’s over-rated as a carryover from formats it single handedly shapes. Andy argues a high power level rating is justified, and our hosts go deep on the many interesting play patterns that make it appealing for cube designers.

Follow along with mentioned cards.

For interactive, clickable timestamps listen to this episode on our website.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Cube Cobra Patreon
  • The 540: Vintage Cube’s 8 Most Overrated Cards
  • Bun Magic Cube
  • Regular Cube
  • MTGO Vintage Cube
  • Discussed Cubes on the Cube Map
  • Brainstorm on the Cube Map
  • Penny Dreadful
  • Penny Dreadful Metagame
  • Hypergeometric Calculations
  • 1999 Pro Tour
  • Understanding Gush: Strategies and Tactics

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Parker LaMascus to share the results of the Innistrad: Crimson View cube community survey. They look at the top cards that the most people are interested in for their cubes, what makes them appealing, and what contexts they fit best in.

Follow along with every card mentioned in the card image gallery.

Timestamps (includes spoilers!):

  • 4:42 — A new theory for why cube designers are so interested in powerful cards
  • 9:42 — Survey structure and introduction to community review
  • 13:26 — Honorable Mention Voldaren Epicure
  • 19:36 — 24. By Invitation Only
  • 21:24 — 23. Cemetery Protector
  • 24:11 — 22. Cemetery Illuminator
  • 27:17 — 21. Fleeting Spirit
  • 31:58 — 20. Voldaren Bloodcaster
  • 36:03 — 19. Kessig Wolfrider
  • 37:05 — 18. Wandering Mind
  • 40:19 — 17. Occult Epiphany
  • 45:25 — 16. Reclusive Taxidermist
  • 46:28 — 15. Torens, Fist of the Angels
  • 51:34 — 14. Ascendant Packleader
  • 53:52 — 13. Overcharged Amalgam
  • 56:29 — 12. Reckless Impulse
  • 58:14 — 11. Scattered Thoughts
  • 1:00:46 — 10. Sorin the Mirthless
  • 1:03:05 — 9. Ulvenwald Oddity
  • 1:04:24 — 8. Fell Stinger
  • 1:07:49 — 7. Hopeful Initiate
  • 1:10:28 — 6. Dread Fugue
  • 1:12:07 — 5. Cemetery Gatekeeper
  • 1:15:17 — 4. Cemetery Prowler
  • 1:17:49 — 3. Graf Reaver
  • 1:19:36 — 2. Welcoming Vampire
  • 1:24:42 — 1. Thirst for Discovery
  • 1:30:46 — Closing Thoughts

Discussed in this episode:

  • Cube survey results
  • Dragon Ball Z Recut
  • Episode 72: Mechanics and First Impressions
  • Episode 73: Review for Andy and Anthony’s Cubes
  • The Resleevables on Modern Horizons

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Innistrad: Crimson Vow survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Andy and Anthony talk about Innistrad: Crimson Vow through the lens of their many specific cubes, including the themes, mechanics, and individual cards that fit into particular contexts. They dig into many of the most powerful cards of the set relevant for Andy’s main cube, a few interesting twists on lower power cards for Anthony’s, and look at the set from a range of other angles.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Daniel’s Gold Cube “Reading Rainbow”
  • VOW Mechanics and First Impressions Episode
  • Good Luck High Five
  • Bun Magic Cube
  • Regular Cube
  • Irregular Cube
  • Turbo Cube
  • Battle of Wits Cube

Timestamps:

  • 4:23 — Introduction to episode format
  • 5:36 — Context: Bun Magic Cube
  • 7:34 — By Invitation Only
  • 12:17 — Kessig Wolfrider
  • 15:48 — Reckless Impulse
  • 21:17 — Ulvenwald Oddity
  • 23:38 — Graf Reaver
  • 26:31 — Hopeful Initiate
  • 32:06 — Cemetery Prowler
  • 33:11 — Occult Epiphany
  • 36:40 — Cemetery Gatekeeper
  • 38:06 — Dread Fugue
  • 42:53 — Context: Regular Cube
  • 43:49 — By Invitation Only (again)
  • 48:29 — Gryff Rider
  • 50:17 — Twinblade Geist
  • 52:29 — Whispering Wizard (except not)
  • 57:23 — Parish Blade Trainee
  • 58:43 — Context: Irregular Cube
  • 1:00:24 — Irregular Cube “Commons”: Belligerent Guest, Blood Petal Celebrant, and Bloodcrazed Socialite
  • 1:03:05 — Curse of Hospitality
  • 1:06:13 — Eruth Tormented Prophet
  • 1:09:12 — Ancient Lumberknot
  • 1:12:34 — Patchwork Crawler
  • 1:14:29 — Context: Turbo Cube
  • 1:16:07 — Investigator’s Journal
  • 1:16:51 — Pointed Discussion
  • 1:17:36 — Demonic Bargain
  • 1:19:11 — Cemetery Gatekeeper (Again)
  • 1:22:05 — Faithbound Judge in the Alt Win Condition Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Innistrad: Crimson Vow set survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Andy and Anthony take a first look at Innistrad: Crimson Vow, breaking down themes, mechanics, and cycles for Cube. They talk about opportunities the headline mechanics including Blood, cleave, and yet another influx of double faced cards could offer for all manner of cubes. They also explore the less obvious, unnamed mechanics of the set that reinforce existing themes.

Timestamps:

  • 3:16 — Review structure overview
  • 6:56 — Training
  • 14:31 — Cleave
  • 23:11 — Blood Tokens
  • 28:26 — Daybound/Nightbound
  • 28:58 — Disturb
  • 33:34 — Double Faced Cards
  • 34:50 — Exploit
  • 40:30 — Mythic “Cemetery” Cycle
  • 49:09 — Graveyard themes in general
  • 50:15 — Tribal themes
  • 52:39 — Lifegain theme
  • 55:00 — Enchantments matter
  • 56:07 — Overall impressions

Discussed in this episode:

  • BCW cardboard boxes
  • Quadrant Theory
  • [V]indicate
  • The Stroop Effect
  • Episode 64: Innistrad Midnight Hunt Mechanics
  • “No Johns”

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about archetypes in Cube design. They discuss what archetypes are, why they’ve become a fundamental part of limited set design, and the uses and limitations of applying the same process to Cube design.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Cassie’s cube, The Facedown Slide, heavily featuring morph, cycling and related mechanics.

Timestamps:

  • 5:24: Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 13:59: What is an archetype?
  • 15:35: 10, 2-color archetypes in limited design
  • 19:19: Some differences between limited design and Cube design
  • 26:33: What works about archetype driven Cube design
  • 32:36: The texture and style of different deck archetypes
  • 35:47: How to avoid low-agency, on-rails drafting
  • 38:40: The approach to archetypes in the Regular Cube
  • 42:32: Making archetypes meaningful with small numbers of cards
  • 45:01: Emergent archetypes in the Combat Trick Cube
  • 50:13: The relationship between build-arounds and archetypes
  • 52:46: How many cards do you need to define an archetype
  • 1:01:32: Summary and closing thoughts

Discussed in this episode:

  • Tungsten Cubes
  • TC Tugger
  • I Think You Should Leave
  • Andy’s Combat Trick Mini Cube
  • Maramas’ Entomb Pumpkin

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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For a transcript of this week's scripted opening, see our website.

Music for this episode was adapted from Matt McInerney’s EP Mined. Thanks, Matt.

We’ll be back next week with a regular episode.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

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Andy and Anthony talk about a few loosely related Cube topics. They kick things off with a pick from a spooky cube, reflect on some recent drafts and how different playgroups can evaluate environments drastically differently, some individual cards, and the power of novelty.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from listener Anthony’s very spooky Horror Cube.

Timestamps:

  • 3:17 — Spooky listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 9:42 — Getting your fill of individual cards
  • 15:32 — Dissonant feedback from different playgroups
  • 27:49 — The continuing saga of Cling to Dust
  • 31:49 — Follow up on Field of the Dead
  • 41:40 — The power of novelty
  • 50:20 — An impromptu pumpkin carving competition

Discussed in this episode:

  • Too many bones? Not enough Cash?
  • Anthony’s Irregular Cube
  • Heraclitus
  • Ship of Theseus
  • Episode 68 with Jason Waddell
  • Episode 61: Live from Cube Weekend
  • Episode 63: Single Card Discussion
  • The Resleevables MH1 Episode
  • Kaldheim Prospective
  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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We’re compiling an audio memorial to CubeTutor, so please share your reflections on the site and the role its played in our community, or just your thanks to Ben, with us by sending a voice memo to andymangold@gmail.com. If I don’t confirm receipt of your message within 48 hours send me a message on Twitter or Discord (andymangold#5271).

Andy and Anthony talk about a handful of individual cards from each of their Cubes: why they like them, how they’ve shaped the format or changed as the format evolved, and gameplay highlights. Follow along with the cards in the image gallery.

Timestamps:

  • 1:42 — Balance
  • 5:29 — Portable Hole
  • 8:17 — Dryad Greenseeker
  • 10:16 — Serum Visions
  • 11:52 — Mogg War Marshal
  • 13:46 — Censor
  • 15:29 — Rix Maadi Reveler
  • 18:23 — Murktide Regent
  • 20:44 — Go for the Throat
  • 22:02 — Barbed Spike
  • 23:54 — Recurring Nightmare
  • 27:53 — Discovery // Disperal
  • 31:20 — Seal of Fire
  • 31:12 — Untethered Express
  • 37:51 — Shocklands

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Resleevables
  • Anthony’s Irregular Cube
  • Daniel’s Gold Cube
  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk with Jason Waddell about Cube, game design, and the complications of Magic as a hobby. Jason share’s his experience with the ups and downs of his relationship with the game.

Follow along with the card image gallery. View complete show notes and timestamps on our website.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Riptide Lab
  • Who’s the beatdown
  • UB Trippin (not actually by PVDDR, please excuse Andy’s mistake)
  • Jason’s CFB Article Archive
  • Bike Burnout on A Path Less Pedaled
  • Three different recent interviews with Richard Garfield on Drive to Work
  • The Cube Map
  • The Bant Cube
  • Nickelodeon All star brawl
  • Project M
  • Apex Legends
  • Skinner box
  • Slay the Spire
  • Roguelike
  • Dominion
  • 17lands
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Turbo Cube
  • Grid draftWinchester draft, and Winston draft
  • Roguebook

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about the imminent shutdown of CubeTutor. Don’t forget to export your data!

We’re compiling an audio memorial to CubeTutor, so please share your reflections on the site and the role its played in our community, or just your thanks to Ben, with us by sending a voice memo to andymangold@gmail.com. If I don’t confirm receipt of your message within 48 hours send me a message on Twitter or Discord (andymangold#5271).

Discussed in this episode:

  • Anthony’s Rotisserie Draft Spreadsheet
  • CubeTutor’s Shutdown Announcement on their Dev Blog

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are Joined by Parker to dive into Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and all the cards and mechanics they’re interested in for cubes of all kinds.

For detailed, linked timestamps view the episode on our website. You can also follow along with the brand new card image gallery, which includes images of every card mentioned in the episode, in chronological order.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Lucky Paper’s Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Cube Prospective
  • Episode 64: Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Mechanics and First Impressions
  • Andy’s MID Updates
  • Anthony’s MID Updates

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Parker’s Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Last call for our Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Cube survey! This is your only chance to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Andy and Anthony talk about updates to Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube, including cards on their way in an Innistrad: Midnight Hunt update. They share some bad beats and successes from the a draft of Anthony’s Regular Cube.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Eric’s Ideal Cube.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov
  • Inception (2010)
  • Fight Club (1999)
  • Schrödinger’s Cat
  • Rhystic Studies — The Great Wave off Dominaria
  • Lucky Paper Radio Episode 63 — Single Card Discussion

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 — Media criticism corner
  • 6:34 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 15:38 — Cube Update Update — Pruning fast mana from Andy’s cube
  • 36:34 — Brags & Bad Beats — Drafting the Regular Cube with a non-ideal number of people

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Cube survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Andy and Anthony talk about the ‘feelbad’ moments in Magic and the cards that are more likely to create them. This seemingly narrow topic turns out to be one of the most critical and easy to take for granted aspects of Cube design: how do we make it fun? They pick out some of the most likely cards they play that can lead to negative experiences, why those experiences create the emotional responses they do, and where that risk is worthwhile.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Nick’s Noob Cube, a Cube designed to be approachable for new players including uncommons and doubled up commons. Nick created the amazing MTG Multiverse project, cataloging cards from the planes of Magic. Invaluable to designers building set themed cubes.

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 — Official Cube banlist update
  • 4:18 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 10:20 — What is a "feelbad"
  • 12:51 — Cards people think have feelbad potential in Andy's Bun Magic Cube
  • 15:06 — Is Magic a Zero Fun game?
  • 19:09 — Cards Andy himself thinks are feelbads in his Bun Magic Cube
  • 27:43 — Combat tricks, Force Spikes, and feelbads in Anthony’s Regular Cube
  • 40:17 — The agony and the ecstasy of Whitemane Lion and cards it feels bad to win with
  • 46:30 — Effect density
  • 48:43 — Repetitive play patterns
  • 50:02 — Inheriting impressions from other formats and exceptions to the rules
  • 53:17 — Esper Sentinel vs Thalia and perceived choices
  • 55:05 — The inherent feelbad of variance
  • 55:58 — Is there a way to make natural power outliers not feelbads?
  • 59:51 — Summary — TLDL;

Discussed in this episode:

  • The restaurant has a rule about not eating all the fully loaded nachos
  • No rubbing linseed oil into the school cormorant
  • The Multiverse Project, cataloging cards set on Magic’s Planes
  • Fuschia Dunlop’s The Food of Sichuan
  • The Mala Market (originally Land of Plenty)

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony take a first look at Innistrad: Midnight Hunt breaking down the mechanics from a design perspective for Cube and other casual formats. They discuss the many different variations of transform mechanics, the challenges and opportunities they create for Cube designers, and how the new mechanics relate to the old.

Timestamps:

  • 6:20 — Day and Night
  • 16:09 — Disturb
  • 20:55 — Flashback
  • 21:22 — Other transform cards and a note on the variety of DFCs in MID
  • 25:06 — Coven
  • 30:23 — Decayed
  • 37:55 — The Adversary Cycle and I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Multikicker
  • 46:37 — Minor mechanics and themes

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony indulge themselves in talking about a few individual cards they find interesting in the context of Cube, using them as a jumping off point into an array of cube topics. Andy brings Field of the Dead to the table, leading to a discussion about card evaluation, single card archetypes, and fixing. Anthony shares why he thinks Feather, the Redeemed is a power outlier that creates positive gameplay experiences in his cube, contrasting it with Kess, Dissident Mage which for different reasons turned out to be problematic. Lastly they weigh the pros and cons of Cling to Dust and when does interaction feel incidental.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Tim’s Proliferate Cube.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Check out plancpills.org for up to date information about getting a medical abortion through the mail
  • The Lucky Paper Cube Map
  • David Rees Records
  • Parker’s Midrange Cube
  • Anthony’s Irregular Cube

Timestamps:

  • 5:33 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 15:40 — Cube Map update — now with card search features!
  • 21:23 — Single card discussion: Field of the Dead
  • 33:49 — Feather, the Redeemed vs Kess, Dissident Mage
  • 44:50 — Is Cling to Dust too tilting?
  • 56:46 — Outro

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about the role of one mana spells in Cube. The first play of the game can be fundamental to starting off the game with a plan. The atomic unit of the game’s resource shapes the decisions players have and the way plays can be sequenced.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from nettlesomeReflexion’s Public Library Cube, emulating their first experience with Magic at their local public library: old school cards with a vanguard twist.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Constructed Resources

Timestamps:

  • 2:11: Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 12:57: The nature of one mana spalls
  • 17:19: What is the first thing each of the decks in your cube want to do?
  • 23:34: Context switching — when you go from the defensive to the offensive
  • 30:56: The best start for an aggressive deck
  • 36:52: The implications of one mana spells on tempo
  • 43:15: The unadulterated joy of taking game actions
  • 47:49: The flexibility and nuances of one mana hand disruption
  • 50:16: The Ragavan Effect
  • 52:24: One mana activated abilities

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This is a special, ‘live’ episode of Lucky Paper Radio. The audio quality is not to our normal standards — if you’ve never heard the show before we do not recommend starting with this one!

Andy and Anthony decompress with the draft crew in the middle of a long weekend of many, many cube drafts, sharing the greatest and saltiest moments in a rare, unfiltered episode of Lucky Paper Radio.

Our cube weekend featured:

  • Parker’s Midrange Cube
  • Alex’s Peasant Cube
  • Jay’s Vintage Cube
  • Andy’s Bun Magic Cube
  • James’ Breya Cube
  • Anthony’s Black Cube
  • Andy’s Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube
  • Allison’s Peasant+ Cube

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about the logistics of Cube including everything from storage and sleeves, to basic basic lands and tokens. They cover everything you need to know when setting out to build a new cube that isn’t what cards to include. As with most things Cube, there’s no right answer to any of these questions for all players, but our hosts explore all the options, and how to find what works for you.

Detailed timestamps available on our website!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Boonta Vista
  • Moby Dick
  • Hello from the Magic Tavern
  • Call me if You Get Lost
  • The Crown Baltimore

SLEEVES

  • KMC Hypermat Sleeves
  • KMC Perfect Fits
  • KMC Perfect Hards
  • Ultra Pro Eclipse and size comparison
  • Dragonshield Sleeves

STORAGE

  • BCW Plain White Boxes
  • Ultimate Guard Arkhive 400 and neatly fitting Boulder Boxes
  • KMC Barrier Box
  • DEX Protection Supreme Game Chest
  • Aaron Cain’s Custom Deckboxes
  • Cubeamajigs
  • Dragon Shield Cube Shells

MORE RESOURCES

  • “Novel Method for Shuffling a Cube” from Reddit user moak0
  • Cube Cobra
  • Dr4ft
  • Analyzing Cube Drafts
  • Lucky Paper Radio: How and Why to Build a Cube
  • Lucky Paper Radio: Organizing Cube Drafts

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony discuss all things Battlebox, one of their favorite casual ways to play Magic. A Battlebox is a great thing to have for quick games between and around matches. Without the variance of land draws it's both very approachable and gives spikes an opportunity to test their skills in detailed aspects of gameplay.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Milkshake1988’s spell’s only cube, which really commits to the bit.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Brian Demars’ Danger Room
  • Ben Stark’s Battle Box
  • Anthony’s Original List and much tidier current rework
  • Andy’s Graveyard Themed Battle Box
  • Degenerate Turbo Cube Draft
  • Oko Bridge in the DMC

Timestamps:

  • 3:11: Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 11:40: What is Battlebox?
  • 14:42: Battlebox gameplay
  • 18:45: Battlebox design conventions
  • 27:22: Introductions to our respective Battleboxes
  • 30:56: The design of Battleboxes
  • 38:20: Indulgent conversation about our favorite battlebox cards
  • 52:03: Actually, mana screw and mana flood is good
  • 54:36: Outro

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Cube presents unique drafting a deckbuilding challenges when it comes to manabases. Retail limited is our only benchmark for drafting, but non-basic lands are so few and far-between that they don’t have a meaningful impact on most drafts. In cube, however, we don’t have to settle for 9-8 manabases of basics only, but how do you navigate mana successfully in a cube draft?

In this episode, Andy and Anthony put their cube designer hat aside and go deep on lands from the perspective of players. How highly should you take non-basic lands when drafting? How many lands should you put in your deck? What counts as a mana source? How many sources do you need to cast your spells reliably? What kinds of cards should you splash and how do you manage a splash successfully? What about four and five color decks?

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from listener Tristan. Thanks, Tristan!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube
  • 17lands
  • Frank Karsten’s seminal “How many colored sources do you need to consistently cast your spells?”
  • “The Case for more Fetchlands” from Riptide Lab

Timestamps

  • 0:00 — Turbo Cube full draft review
  • 7:58 — Main topic preview
  • 11:17 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 14:59 — The pros and cons of lairs
  • 16:48 — Beginning of main topic: How highly should you draft lands?
  • 23:40 — How many lands should you put in your deck?
  • 33:56 — What counts as a mana source?
  • 37:28 — How many mana sources do you need to cast your spells reliably?
  • 47:20 — Tying it all together: building your manabase at the draft table
  • 54:55 — An addendum on four and five color manabases

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This week’s episode is the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Cube set review. A much less involved affair than our Modern Horizons 2 episode, we’re nonetheless touching on a number of noteworthy cards and how they may impact cubes of all kinds.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Grid Drafting the Turbo Cube on YouTube
  • I Think You Should Leave
  • Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Mechanics Episode
  • Adventures in the Forgotten Realms testing: grid draft on YouTube

Timestamps:

  • 4:59: Creature Lands — Cave of the Frost Dragon, Hall of Storm Giants, Hive of the Eye Tyrant, Den of the Bugbear, and Lair of the Hydra
  • 13:35: Power Word Kill
  • 16:11:Portable Hole
  • 22:36: Dancing Sword and equipment theme, including Plate Armor and Bruenor Battlehammer)
  • 27:52: Loyal Warhound
  • 28:58: Monk of the Open Hand
  • 30:53: Flumph
  • 32:05: Nadaar, Selfless Paladin and Venture cards in general
  • 37:45: Priest of Ancient Lore
  • 39:34: Demilich
  • 43:50: Phantom Steed
  • 45:41: Minn, Wily Illusionist
  • 48:12: Ebondeath, Dracolich
  • 50:34: Gelatinous Cube
  • 53:23: Manticore
  • 54:45: Shambling Ghast
  • 57:08: Wight
  • 59:36: Plundering Barbarian
  • 1:03:14: You See a Pair of Goblins
  • 1:04:49: Prosperous Innkeeper
  • 1:06:53: Ranger Class
  • 1:09:54: Misnc, Beloved Ranger

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony discuss their first impressions of Magic’s newest set, D&D: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. Setting aside individual card evaluation, they dive into the mechanics and flavor from a design and gameplay perspective. With dice rolling, dungeon adventuring, and D&D flavor the set brings a whole new twist to the game for D&D lovers and Magic players who enjoy seeing the game pushed in new directions.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Matt Tabak on Spindowns
  • “Everything happens so much”
  • Text Expander
  • The Overton Window
  • Munchkin
  • “They’re good dogs Brent”
  • Chop Suey Parody Video on Riptide Lab
  • Limited Resources’ Common and Uncommon AFR Set Review

Timestamps:

  • 7:17: Dungeons and Venture into the Dungeon
  • 23:59: Flavor Words
  • 33:48: Rolling D20s
  • 49:15: Classes
  • 51:54: Overall Observations about Recent “New Zone” Mechanics
  • 55:13: Potion of Healing Hot Take

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Cube survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Make sure to check out a special video made by Jason Waddell to accompany this week’s intro.

Using Cube Cobra’s new feature to sort a cube by popularity of cards, Andy and Anthony explore Andy’s Bun Magic Cube. They discuss some of the factors that may influence card’s popularity among cube owners and talk through some notable unpopular cards.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Geena’s Unpowered 270 Cube

Discussed in this episode:

  • Andy’s Cube Sorted by Popularity
  • Dave Arnold, Cooking Issues, Liquid Intelligence
  • Going Deep with David Rees

Timestamps:

  • 3:24 Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 9:33 Introduction to card popularity
  • 11:14 Portent
  • 15:38 Primordial Mist
  • 19:52 Bloodsky Berserker
  • 26:07 Ulcerate
  • 29:06 Tarfire and Seal of Fire
  • 38:15 Edge of Autumn
  • 42:23 Oath of Nissa
  • 45:40 Fire Covenant
  • 49:56 City of Traitors

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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David McDarby of Wizards of the Coast joins Andy and Anthony to talk about The Chromatic Cube, designed by David and currently on Arena. They talk about the cube’s goals and how they contrast with those of other cubes on Magic Online and Arena. David shares his design process behind cubes and the inspiration for The Chromatic Cube.

They start things off with a pack 1, pick 1 from the cube and talk about their experiences with the cube so far.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Chromatic Cube, Decklist on Cube Cobra
  • The Live the Dream Cube
  • The Cultic Cube and MTGO Data Analysis
  • Limited Resources Brief Discussion on Chromatic Cube
  • Follow David on Twitter

Timestamps:

  • 3:20: Pack 1, Pick 1 from The Chromatic Cube
  • 10:57: The Chromatic Cube
  • 31:45: David’s Cube design process

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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In an effort to expand on past discussion about what makes a particular cube “hard” or “easy” to play, Andy and Anthony are dedicating an entire episode to unpacking what exactly makes Magic a difficult game. After being pressed by Andy to define seemingly simple terms, Anthony expounds upon his concepts of a “competency floor”, “mastery ceiling”, and overall “exertion”, and how each of these factors makes the game difficult in a different way.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from listener Cameron’s 1 Drop Cube. Thanks, Cameron!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Calca
  • Git
  • Scryfall
  • Vine
  • Best hangman words
  • Terraforming Mars
  • Carcassonne
  • An Introduction to the Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Drive to Work on Tic Tac Toe
  • The 1863 World Checkers Championships, which ended in 40 consecutive draws, 21 of which were the exact same game
  • Limited Resources Episode 560: Paper Magic at Home with Brian David Marshall
  • Anthony’s appearance on the Riptide Lab Podcast
  • Baltimore Salt Boxes

Timestamps:

  • 6:29 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 15:04 — Main topic: the different kinds of difficulty associated with playing Magic
  • 1:03:18 — The Salt Box™

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Do some light stretches and grab some popcorn, because this is Lucky Paper Radio’s most in depth set review ever. Andy, Anthony, and Jett dive into Modern Horizons 2, a set with an unprecedented number of cards for cubes of all kinds. They explore support for classic mechanics, designs that can enable new themes, and the many powerful cards pushing the limits.

Conversation is guided by the results of our MH2 community survey revealing what in the new set is capturing the cube community’s interest, the most controversial cards, and appealing new options for the many facets of the community.

View the episode on our site for extensive, interactive timestamps!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Our YouTube Channel and Twitch Stream
  • The 540’s set review episode 1 and 2
  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube
  • The Degenerate Micro Cube
  • The Combat Trick Cube
  • Andy’s Mono Colored Starter Decks
  • Sam Black’s Playtesting Article
  • Cultic Cube’s Preview Card Video for Foundation Breaker
  • Richard Kane Ferguson’s Illustration for Dakkon, Shadow Slayer
  • Naming Captured by Lagacs

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Jett’s “Unlimited” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about the practical side of cube. For many of us, Cube is about bringing people together through our favorite game, but finding or creating a consistent playgroup can be a challenge. Our hosts share what they they’ve learned seeing their own group develop, treating a draft like a party, with food and clear communication, and playing with what can turn into a very pricy board game.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from The Oinkinator’s Cube.

Timestamps:

  • 5:24 Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 14:09 Draft recap of Regular Cube
  • 28:43 How to host a cube draft successfully
  • 42:52 What if my cube is expensive?
  • 46:15 Cube draft recap

Discussed in this episode:

  • Superstar (1999) with Molly Shannon
  • Playing to Win Evaluating New Cubes Episode of Lucky Paper
  • Ship of Theseus
  • Collectinsure
  • No Land Beyond

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Timestamps

  • 5:25 Introduction to Parker’s Cube
  • 19:44 High fixing density, it’s effects and player expectations
  • 23:08 What does it mean for a cube to be ‘hard to draft’?
  • 28:50 Playtesting observations and notes
  • 40:57 Synthesizing our draft experiences
  • 52:26 Highs and lows drafting Mordor’s Cube
  • 1:04:02 Pack 1, pick 1 from Parker’s Cube

Our Modern Horizons 2 Cube survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Cube enthusiast and Lucky Paper contributor Parker LaMascus joins Andy and Anthony to talk about his own cube and their experience with his midrange focused environment. They discuss a draft of the cube, reflecting on how Parker’s design goals translate to individual card choices, breaks in the tradition cube structure, and how these choices manifest in gameplay.

Parker elaborates on his goals to remove the rock-paper-scissors nature of the traditional aggro, midrange, and control archetypes to create a skill-testing environment emphasizing player abilities and careful decision making.

They finish the episode with a pack 1, pick 1 from Parker’s Cube where they apply what they learned from the draft and our conversation to drafting.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Lucky Paper Radio Episide 43 Hosted by Parker and Kennedy
  • Lucky Paper on Twitch
  • Modern Horizons Survey
  • Parker’s Cube
  • Lucky Paper Episode Analysis Paralysis
  • Cultic Cube: Analyzing Data from MTGO
  • Grid Drafting the Regular Cube (Video)
  • Old Boy

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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On this episode, Andy and Anthony are discussing a recent draft of Anthony’s “Regular” Cube, in which Anthony made a stupid amount of mana with Hope Tender, making Andy question all of the decisions he made in his life that led to that moment. This dovetails into a conversation about the nuanced differences in what Anthony and Andy value about Magic and how they capture that in their respective cubes. What is the difference between having conditional cards as enablers vs having conditional cards as payoffs? What is the difference between having a power outlier 1 mana value card vs a power outlier 3 mana value card? Is there any kind of proactive deck that can beat two 3/2s for 3 generic mana? On Sword of Hearth and Home, which color is “Hearth” and which color is “Home”?

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from listener Simon’s Cubus Color Correctus. Thanks, Simon!

Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 1:46 The pros and cons of an 8 person team draft
  • 7:29 Hope Tender and Devoted Druid — build around enablers vs build around payoffs
  • 25:52 listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
  • 41:00 Ragavan and the differences between really pushed one drops and really pushed cards at higher mana values
  • 52:37 Pedantry department: Sword of Hearth and Home
  • 56:56 Outro

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony talk about how they approach drafting a cube they’ve never played before. What do they look for in the list to optimize their chances of success, and have a good time doing it. After discussing power outliers and big picture structure of an environment, they agree one of the most important aspects to focus on is the speed of the format, which shapes the tempo-value balance and the effectiveness of different strategies. It’s challenging to evaluate an environment just by looking at the list, and they share some heuristics they use to get a head start.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Ryan’s Peasantish Cube.

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Show Intro
  • 1:57 Introduction of Main Topic
  • 6:43 Anthony’s First Point: Read the Cube Overview
  • 10:04 Andy’s First Point: Look for Supported Broken Strategies
  • 14:55 Anthony’s Second Point: Look for Patterns and Familiar Cards
  • 17:11 Andy’s Second Point and Anthony’s Third Point: Determine the Speed of the Environment
  • 24:59 Andy’s Third Point: Quantity and Quality of Removal and Board Wipes
  • 26:50 Should the Density of Mana Fixing Affect How You Draft an Environment?
  • 39:22 Andy’s Fourth Point: Look at What the Cube Wants You To Do
  • 40:46 Familiarity Bias
  • 42:04 Know Your Opponent and Meta
  • 46:44 Anthony’s Bonus Point: Look at the Low Mana Value Cards
  • 49:15 Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 1:03:53 Outro

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony discuss Anthony’s newest cube project, Irregular Cube. Like his primary cube it’s a lower power environment with a variety of overlapping archetypes, but it also has a novel structure: a main set and a second list of ‘rare’ cards, largely composed of higher powered cards with a healthy helping of build-arounds. They talk about the many opportunities rarity offers, challenges it imposes, and what they’ve learned from initial playtesting.

To kick off the conversation, our pack 1, pick 1 comes from the cube in question.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Irregular Cube + Rare List
  • Regular Cube
  • The Legend Cube by Listener Josh
  • Limited Resources: Time Spiral Remastered
  • LPR on Designing for the Draft Experience
  • Andy’s Combat Trick Mini Cube
  • LPR on Sealed in Cube Environments
  • (A different) Josh’s Powered Un-Cube and the Robo Rosewater Cube
  • Conspiracies

Timestamps:

  • 4:03 Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 8:49 Capturing the Thrill and Novelty of Rarity
  • 16:57 Playtesting First Impressions
  • 47:30 The Impact of Conspiracies
  • 1:06:08 Outro

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Strixhaven: School of Mages and Commander 2021 prospectives are out! Thank you to everyone who participated.

Andy and Anthony are joined by Lucky Paper contributor Jett for a deep dive on what they believe to be the noteworthy cards from Strixhaven and Commander 2021. In their discussion, they reference their Strixhaven mechanics episode and their episode on Card Evaluation and the Playtesting Paradox.

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 8:28 Elite Spellbinder
  • 14:43 Leonin Lightscribe (and white Magecraft in general)
  • 22:35 Clever Lumimancer
  • 28:19 Professor of Symbology
  • 33:20 Thunderous Orator
  • 37:58 Mavinda, Students’ Advocate
  • 40:32 Pillardrop Rescuer
  • 42:15 Detention Vortex
  • 44:33 Secret Rendezvous
  • 45:32 Multiple Choice
  • 51:58 Frost Trickster
  • 55:23 Curate
  • 59:25 Resculpt
  • 59:30 Tempted by the Oriq
  • 1:02:53 Sedgemoor Witch
  • 1:09:12 Baleful Mastery
  • 1:14:42 Unwilling Ingredient
  • 1:17:14 Brackish Trudge
  • 1:18:44 Oriq Loremage
  • 1:19:53 Lash of Malice
  • 1:23:58 Plumb the Forbidden
  • 1:26:28 Eyetwitch
  • 1:27:05 Laelia, the Blade Reforged
  • 1:32:51 Conspiracy Theorist
  • 1:37:08 Grinning Ignus
  • 1:38:05 Efreet Flamepainter
  • 1:40:07 Abundant Harvest (and the roles of cantrips in different kinds of decks)
  • 1:49:26 Pest Infestation
  • 1:52:47 Bayou Groff
  • 1:54:12 Emergent Sequence
  • 1:57:17 Bookwurm
  • 1:58:50 Paradox Zone (and Fractal Token art criticism)
  • 2:07:14 The Command Cycle, with special focus on Prismari, Witherbloom, and Quandrix Command
  • 2:22:04 Rip Apart
  • 2:26:23 Vanishing Verse
  • 2:29:09 Expressive Iteration
  • 2:35:56 Zephyr Boots
  • 2:37:54 The Campuses
  • 2:38:47 Modal Double Face Cards
  • 2:41:59 Andy, Anthony, and Jett’s favorite cards from Strixhaven and Commander 2021
  • 2:43:00 Outro
  • 2:44:31 Outtakes

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Strixhaven set review episode is coming to you next week. We weren’t able to do the episode in a timely fashion due to life circumstances, but we’re going to make sure we bring the quality. Thanks for your patience!

On this week’s episode, Andy and Anthony talk about Cube and synergy. Synergy means many things to many different cube players and designers and is used to talk about both environments and decks. We tease out a few ways to define synergy, and how we use it to frame our goals as cube designers and how it’s part of our strategies as players. We discuss how ‘synergy’ overlaps with structured, low power, cubes with color pair driven archetypes and high power combo strategies. Anthony shares his enthusiasm for a new cube with its own set of ’rares’, and his excitement about small doses of radically draft warping cards.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Ryan’s Peasantish Cube. Thank’s Ryan!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Nosedive, by Harold McGee (again)
  • On Food and Cooking
  • Hot Dogs
  • Anthony’s Beta Cube with Rare Sauce
  • I Think You Should Leave

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 3:08 Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 12:08 What is synergy?
  • 49:01 Anthony’s Beta Cube with Rare Sauce
  • 1:02:32 Outro

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Strixhaven and Commander 2021 Cube surveys are open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new sets.

Andy and Anthony talk about the new mechanics in Strixhaven and what they have us most excited for in cube. They cover the unique draft mechanic of Learn and Lesson and the ways it can be applied to cube, and the exciting expansion of spells matter and protection mechanics.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from captainawesome’s The Awesome Cube chock full of awesome borderless cards. Read all about the history of this awesome cube in the detailed blog.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The 540’s delightful observation on Lessons
  • Strixhaven Mechanics

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 2:26 Pack 1, Pick 1
  • 12:02 Variance and different kinds of complexity and decisions
  • 26:27 Learn and Lessons
  • 38:25 Magecraft
  • 43:04 Ward
  • 48:09 MDFCs
  • 53:53 Outro

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Strixhaven and Commander 2021 Cube surveys are open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new sets.

Due to the loss of a close, personal friend, Andy and Anthony are off this week. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please consult the resources available from The American Association of Suicidology. If you’re able, please consider donating blood through The Red Cross.

This week, guest hosts Parker and Kennedy discuss their most recent Cube draft adventure. When is Boros better than Mono-Red? What does it take to make Vendetta first-pickable? What’s the big deal about Kird Ape? And, most importantly, what is the secret to amazing homemade salsa?

Discussed in this episode:

  • Philly Game Shop
  • Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
  • LPR Episode 42 — Art School and Critical Discourse

Timestamps:

  • 2:03 Intro
  • 4:21 Listener Submitted p1p1
  • 14:24 Nepotism p1p1 from Parker’s “Mordor’s Cube” and contextual card evaluation.
  • 25:12 Outro and Kennedy’s Salsa Recipe

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Parker’s “Mordor’s Cube”

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Strixhaven and Commander 2021 Cube surveys are open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new sets.

This week, Andy and Anthony share a little of their personal history and how important their tools for critical discourse they learned in art school have been to their lives, Magic very much included. They talk about how they first met and the ubiquitous art school critique.

From their pack 1, pick 1 of Jean’s Fast Multiplayer Cube they delve into they change their card evaluations in a multi-player format. I’m not saying it’s a spoiler, but The Akroan War gets a little special attention for it’s flavorful top down design, complex play patterns, and stunning artwork.

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Bloop
  • Playing Red with the World Champion — PVDDR’s Gameplay Video
  • Hidden Gibbons Cube

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 5:11 Listener Submitted p1p1
  • 18:09 Dwell on [[The Akroan War]]
  • 25:28 Cube and Art School
  • 44:20 A Crash Course in Critical Discourse
  • 1:07:25 Summary of Main Topic
  • 1:13:33 Outro

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This week, Andy and Anthony take aim at the dominating rhetoric about Cube which takes for granted it is a format showcasing the most powerful cards in Magic. They tackle the big effects that small patterns in language can have, excluding huge areas of creative cube design. Our hosts reflect on just how effective the Cube Map is at visualizing the existing diversity in the format, and hinting at the vast empty spaces yet to be explored.

Our pack 1, pick 1 comes from the Nega Cube, currently taking the spotlight on MTGO, which features only cards not included in any other MTGO cube.

Timestamps:

  • 2:32 Tech Support: the Problem of Mismatched Mental Models
  • 8:58 P1P1 from the Nega Cube
  • 20:13 Dismantling the Monolith of Cube
  • 51:38 Andy’s Soapbox: Don’t Call Cards “Boring” or “Interesting”
  • 54:58 Andy’s Soapbox Stacked on a Soapbox: “Please Wizards, we’re good over here”
  • 1:01:30 Outro

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This week, Andy and Anthony discuss changes to Andy’s Bun Magic Cube, updated to include a dramatic increase in the number of mana fixing lands and filling out a suite of fast mana. Our hosts discuss how this level of mana fixing changes a draft, and what questions they’re asking themselves to try to recalibrate expectations when drafting the shifted environment. Andy argues increasing the amount of ‘broken’ fast mana decreases variance, creating a more fun draft environment. And Anthony, uncharacteristically, defends a six drop that isn’t Colossal Dreadmaw.

We take a pack 1, pick 1 from listener John’s 360 Card Cube for 2. In the spirit of the cube, we open a grid draft pack and try to maximize the best three cards from a pack of 9.

Timestamps:

  • 4:12 Listener Submitted Pack One, Pick One
  • 15:28 Adding More Lands to a Cube
  • 32:05 Fast Mana in a Fair Environment
  • 55:18 Outro

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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The Cube Map: Exploring over 20,000 Magic: the Gathering Cube lists

On this very special bonus episode, Andy and Anthony are joined by Jett to tell everyone about a project they have been working on for a long time: the Cube Map! Read more about how the map was made in Jett’s in depth article. A huge thanks to Cube Cobra for providing us with the data to make the map possible. If you have the means, please consider donating to their Patreon to show your support for community driven, open-source and open-data Cube tools.

No listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 on this bonus episode, but keep those cube lists coming!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Philosophize This

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Anyone who has spent any time in Cube design circles has heard the supposed virtues of an environment with a “flat” power level, where the worst card is no less appealing or less playable than the best. On this week’s Lucky Paper Radio, Andy and Anthony are unpacking this truism and discussing the impacts of individual card power delta on a given cube more broadly. They two also touch on Magic as a spectator sport, PVDDR’s Youtube channel and subsequent article on Star City Games, Andy’s biggest weakness as a player (or at least one of them), whether or not power level delta and 4-5 color “goodstuff” decks are causally linked, and Anthony’s radical idea for his next cube project.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Nate’s “Peasant Combo” cube. Thanks, Nate!

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Introduction
  • 5:45 Listener Submitted p1p1
  • 16:23 Power Level Disparity within a Cube
  • 48:09 Build-Arounds and out-of-strategy cards
  • 58:58 Summary of Power Level Discussion
  • 1:11:35 Outro and Anthony’s Pita Bread Recipe

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony welcome Justin Parnell on this week’s episode of Lucky Paper Radio. Justin was one of the first Magic writers to write about Cube and graciously shares stories from the format’s earlier days. From curating his own cube to designing environments for open, competitive play, we get a glimpse into how Justin thinks about Magic.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Dan’s “Ancient Times” cube. Thanks, Dan!

Discussed in this episode:

  • SCGcon Players’ Cube
  • SCGcon Powered Cube
  • MinorBug’s Misery Cube
  • Andy’s Degenerate Micro Cube

Timestamps:

  • 0:53 Introduction
  • 9:18 Listener Submitted p1p1
  • 26:10 How Justin First became Interested in Cube
  • 42:23 Cube in the Time of Covid
  • 53:11 Thinking as a Player vs. Thinking as a Designer
  • 1:05:26 Designing Cubes for Different Contexts
  • 1:20:08 The Player’s Cube
  • 1:26:09 Outro

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Do you like your podcast episodes to be carefully planned and tightly edited, with the hosts staying laser focused on the topic at hand? If so, then this episode of Lucky Paper Radio is probably not for you! This week, Andy and Anthony are jumping around between a couple of topics, some only dubiously related to Magic, so let the timestamps be your guide if you think musings on world geography are a waste of your time.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Pablo’s cube “Fundies”. Thanks, Pablo!

Discussed in this episode:

  • GeoGuessr
  • Island Gigantism
  • Andy’s First Recommended GeoGuessr Video
  • Andy’s Second Recommended GeoGuessr Video
  • View the Rotisserie Draft Discussed in this Episode
  • Lucky Paper Radio Episode 35 — Spreadsheet: the Gathering
  • Lucky Paper Radio Kaldheim Set Review

Timestamps:

  • 1:24 Introduction and GeoGuessr Gab
  • 15:42 Listener Submitted Pack 1 Pick 1
  • 25:13 A Bold and Brave Apology from Andy
  • 51:01 A Correction on [[Esika’s Chariot]]
  • 55:42 Updated Rules Text Rundown
  • 57:57 Outro and Pickled Mushroom Recipe

Anthony’s Recipe for Soy-Pickled Mushrooms:

``` 2 cups (40g) Dried Shitake Mushroom Caps

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

1/4 cup Sherry Vinegar

1/4 cup White Sugar

1 or 2 oz Crushed Ginger

1/2 tsp White Pepper (optional)

—

Soak mushrooms in hot water to soften (15 - 30 minutes)

Drain (reserving liquid)

Thinly slice mushrooms (or whatever)

Combine mushrooms, 1 cup soaking liquid, and other ingredients in a pot, simmer for 30 minutes

Discard ginger, pack mushrooms in a jar, and add enough brine to cover

—

Fills a 2 cup mason jar ```

Original recipe from Momofuku by David Chang

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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On this week’s Lucky Paper Radio, Andy and Anthony are answering a question from listener Nate about how to decide which cards to “ban” from his Peasant Cube. To date, Nate has used the Legacy banned list for his cube, but the recent addition of Arcum's Astrolabe has him wondering if he should drop this restriction. Then, they discuss the video “Should Cubes be Singleton?”, recounting their own experiences designing for both singleton and non-singleton environments. The confluence of these topics leads to a lengthy and detailed discussion about the role that restrictions play in cube design.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Forrest716’s Three-Color Cube. Thanks, Forrest!

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Birthday Problem
  • How to Draw an Owl
  • No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube
  • Andy’s Tribal Tribal Cube
  • Mark Rosewater’s “When Cards Go Bad”

Timestamps:

  • Intro 0:00
  • Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1 3:30
  • Mail bag — Answering Nate’s Question 11:18
  • “Should Cubes be Singleton?” 34:26
  • Outro 1:05:43

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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View the Rotisserie Draft Discussed in this Episode

Use the Template in Your Own Rotisserie Drafts

On this week’s Lucky Paper Radio, Andy and Anthony are returning to one of their favorite ways to play Cube in the time of covid: online, asynchronous rotisserie drafting. Our heroes are in the midst of the matches following a recent rotisserie draft of Anthony’s “Regular” Cube and they’re discussing everything Anthony has learned from the experience. In their chat they touch on what rotisserie draft is, Puppet Conjurer, what you can learn from doing one with your own cube, how to talk trash effectively with your playgroup, the game of chicken that decides when the eight copies of Prismatic Vista get taken, and how drafter biases affect normal and face-up drafts differently. Plus, Anthony introduces a new, new vanilla test!

Timestamps:

  • Intro 0:00
  • Pack 1, Pick 1 5:43
  • Reviewing Anthony’s Rotisserie Draft 10:53
  • Draft Signals 43:53
  • Rotisserie Variance 47:57
  • Match Discussion 59:24
  • Outro 1:11:12
  • Andy’s Pickled Onion Recipe 1:12:30

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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As a follow up to last week’s Kaldheim Set Review episode, Andy and Anthony are going back to first principles and asking, what is card evaluation? How do we look at a piece of paper with a bunch of text on it and make predictions about what that piece of paper will do to other pieces of paper, and ultimately our win percentage, in the future? Is card evaluation important for Cube design? Why or why not? Why did they reference Limited Resources so much in this episode? How many Relentless Rats is too many Relentless Rats?

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week is from Mikko’s Mirrodin Extended Cube. That has a nice ring to it. Thanks, Mikko!

Timestamps:

  • Intro/Pasta Parley 0:00
  • Listener Submitted p1p1 7:12
  • Relentless Rats Talk 14:53
  • What is Card Evaluation? 17:43
  • The Playtesting Paradox 36:45
  • Local Maximums (again!?) 55:20
  • Outro Part 1 1:12:30
  • Outro For Real 1:15:48

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Jett’s Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Kaldheim Prospective is out! Thank you to everyone who participated.

Buckle your seatbelts and charge up your podcatchers, because this is our most in-depth set review ever and our longest episode to date. Andy and Anthony are joined by Jett, the author of Lucky Paper’s set prospective series, for a detailed discussion of the results of our Kaldheim Cube survey.

Timestamps:

  • White 20:18
  • Blue 50:12
  • Black 1:15:38
  • Red 1:40:56
  • Green 1:51:08
  • Lands 2:12:20
  • Colorless 2:22:07
  • Gold 2:23:01

Discussed in this episode:

  • Lucky Paper Kaldheim Cube Prospective
  • An Ode to Scalable Threats

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Jett’s Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This is our last chance to complete our Kaldheim Cube Survey! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Every once in a while, something in your head clicks and the way you think about your cube changes forever. On this episode, Andy and Anthony take some time to reflect on each of their personal biggest Cube design level-up moments.

Anthony’s level ups are:

  • Including many more fixing lands
  • The value of hybrid cards as a counterbalance to a deep gold section
  • Tuning the distribution of overlapping and non-overlapping synergies
  • Focusing on play patterns instead of power level

Andy’s level ups are:

  • Supporting your aggro deck
  • Focusing on good decks, not good cards
  • Loosening up aesthetic “balance”
  • How to process pet cards and the opposite of pet cards

Because this topic is a little deeper than our normal subject matter, our hosts decide to skip the listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 segment and get right to the main discussion. Don’t stop sending in those cube lists, though!

Discussed in this episode:

  • An Ode to Scalable Threats

No timestamps in this episode — just the main topic straight through.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Kaldheim Cube Survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

As Andy tinkers with two lower powered and novel cubes, he finds himself presented with a question he hasn’t actually confronted in depth before: what percentage of a cube should be removal? Or countermagic? Or cantrips and card draw? With higher-powered cubes you’re often constrained by the available card pool, and end up playing as much of these effects as you can without sacrificing individual card quality, but at lower power levels, the density is entirely up to you. In preparation for the discussion, Andy tallies up all of these different “bread and butter” effects in his and Anthony’s main cubes, as well as the Degenerate Micro Cube, and our hosts discuss the results and what it says about their respective environments — or whether it really says anything at all.

View the table with all the values discussed in this episode on our website.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week is Max’s Junk Cube, submitted by listener Quinn. Thanks, Quinn!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Anthony’s Turbo Cube
  • Degenerate Micro Cube
  • Lucky Paper Radio Episode 8 — Matchup Matrix
  • Andy and Anthony on Cube Outside the Box — Part 1 and Part 2

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 4:15 Listener submitted p1p1
  • 12:30 Main Topic
  • 58:30 Outro

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Given that we’re in the throes of spoiler season, Andy and Anthony are giving their first impressions on the mechanics of Kaldheim and how they relate to other mechanics in Magic or might be integrated into a cube environment. They also do a pack one, pick one from listener Arjan’s Legacy Cube. Thanks, Arjan!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Speks Magnet Balls
  • Kinder Eggs
  • Licking Nintendo Switch Cartridges
  • Streisand Effect
  • Kaldheim Mechanics

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 6:29 Listener submitted p1p1
  • 15:04 KHM Mechanics
  • 15:37 Foretell
  • 26:50 Boast
  • 31:48 MDFCs
  • 38:57 Snow
  • 45:50 Sagas
  • 50:39 Changeling
  • 53:56 Unofficial Mechanics
  • 1:00:54 Outro

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Try as they might, our beloved hosts just can’t stay on track. On this episode, Andy’s attempt to tie up a few loose ends from last week’s episode ends up leading our heroes down another rabbit hole about the Cube design process and how it relates to the player psychographics. It was not a fruitless journey, though! On this episode, Andy and Anthony propose the application of the “Vision Design” and “Play Design” distinction that exists within Magic R&D to Cube design. Tune in to learn all about Midnight Cube, The Ballmer Peak, and second-hand Drive to Work episodes.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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It’s a new year and Lucky Paper Radio is back! They also never went anywhere, but they’re back nonetheless. On this episode, Andy and Anthony intend to talk about Anthony’s multiplayer cube that he couldn’t help but make after our little string of multiplayer-focused episodes a couple months back, but instead, our hosts get riled up and end up talking about what it means to be a “cube spike”, and whether or not such a thing even exists. Things really kick off about 1/3rd of the way through, so buckle up!

Talking points include:

  • The game theory of multiplayer Magic
  • Magic: the Gathering’s Psychographics
  • What it means to be a spike as a player
  • What it means to design a cube with a spike mentality
  • How the concept of simply cutting bad cards and adding good ones doesn’t really hold up to any scrutiny
  • Local maximums
  • How the power level of a card is always relative
  • Baneslayers and Mulldrifters (yes, AGAIN)

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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In a year-end extravaganza, Andy and Anthony dedicate an entire episode to doing pack 1, pick 1s from listener submitted cubes. Is this a good idea or a bad idea? We don’t know, but you should tell us what you think!

Listener cubes discussed in this episode:

  • Jason’s 600 Card Unpowered Vintage Cube
  • Sir_Magic_Toast’s Pauper Cube
  • Brimlock’s “Fair” 360 Card Vintage Cube
  • Dave, A.K.A. “Guaplord“‘s High-Powered Cube for His Inexperienced Playgroup
  • Joe, A.K.A. “Phene”s Peasant Cube

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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In a decidedly not-so-special holiday episode, Andy and Anthony are talking about tribal synergies in Cube and announce their first formalized rivalry. They do a pack 1, pick 1 from listener Bastian’s GöCube 1.2 and get real sad about how rude people on the internet have tried to convince him that tribal synergies are “bad for Cube”. Anthony sets the table with an open-faced compliment sandwich about tribal effects, and our two hosts go deep discussing what constitutes a synergy deck, what parasitism is, how some decks are primarily internally focused and others are more fundamentally interactive, their respective tolerance for blowouts, different kinds of variance, and their favorite tribes in Magic. It’s not Kobolds.

Discussed on this episode:

  • Among Us
  • Limited Resources 575 – Arena Cube!
  • Werewolf
  • The Resistance
  • Two Rooms and a Boom
  • Secret Hitler

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our hosts are finally ready to share the Degenerate Micro Cube with the world. This episode is a deep dive on what this cube is all about, why Andy loves it so much, and why it’s just not Anthony’s cup of tea. They do a pack 1, pick 1 from the Degenerate Micro Cube, and discuss how it came to be, why storm is always a trap, the value that secret information plays in game design, how speed is inextricably linked with variance, whether a less enfranchised player could figure out Stage Depths combo if left to their own devices, and Anthony shamefully concedes that it is actually fun to Tinker out a Blightsteel Colossus on turn 1.

Discussed on this episode:

  • An Introduction to the Degenerate Micro Cube
  • 15 Card Singularity Cube on Card Knock Life
  • Architect of MTG Cube featuring Andy Mangold on Chateau Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This episode is all about tempo — what is it, when does it matter, and how do you apply it to your Cube design and gameplay decisions. Andy and Anthony talk about what “aggro” really means, why some games feel like they’re completely out of your control from the first land you play, the tempo vs value axis, taplands, low CMC spells, scaleable threats, cheap interaction, and what Llanowar Elves, Azorius Signet, and Sleight of Hand have in common.

Our pack 1, pick 1 this week is from listener Lemem’s 450 Card Unpowered Cube. Thanks, Lemem!

Discussed on this episode:

  • Limited Resources episode 572 — Holiday Potpourri
  • An Ode to Scalable Threats
  • TEMPO by Reid Duke
  • Next Level Deckbuilding by Patrick Chapin

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This is a comparatively aimless episode where our hosts meander through a couple of vaguely related cube topics. They start off by recapping their recent draft of a friend’s greenless, “Breya” cube, which they also do a pack 1, pick 1 from, then move on to cover how draft decisions change in a cube with only four colors, their evaluation of Karn with pants, the dangers of shortcutting cards in your head, whether it’s more painful to walk into a trap or make an obvious punt, the collection of cards Anthony compiled that is definitely not a multiplayer cube, how to structure a booster draft for fewer than eight players, using what is not present to guide the design of an environment, how to avoid the natural predators of the strategies you want to cultivate in your cube, setting a bar for power level in a hypothetical one life cube, and how to balance Healing Salve, Ancestral Recall, Dark Ritual, Lightning Bolt, and Giant Growth.

Discussed on this episode:

  • Solely Singleton S11E5 — Commander Legends and Cube (ft. Gavin Verhey)
  • MinorBug’s “Misery” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This is your last chance to participate in our Commander Legends Cube Survey! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

On this episode, Andy and Anthony are discussing how they would approach building a Commander cube. After giving a little bit of their personal history with EDH and talking about what it has in common with Cube, our dynamic duo goes deep on Commander’s mechanical underpinnings and how they translate to a drafted environment. Commander Legends brought a plethora of practical challenges that R&D chose to solve with as little deviation from Commander as a format as possible — but what would a cube that ignored superficial familiarity and tried to embody the spirit of EDH look like? What actually makes Commander appealing and how do you capture that in a drafted environment? How come Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is the only legendary creature Anthony can think of?

Our pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from listener Alex’s Cube for the Peasantry. Thanks, Alex!

Discussed on this episode:

  • Solely Singleton S11E5 — Commander Legends and Cube (ft. Gavin Verhey)
  • Lucky Paper Radio Episode 13 — Turbo Eggs
  • Lucky Paper Radio Episode 2 — A Cube with No Color

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Commander Legends Cube Survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

On this episode, Andy and Anthony are joined by their friend and Commander connoisseur Daniel to discuss his all-gold cube and review the cards from Commander Legends. Find out how you can draft a filthy aggro deck from a cube with zero one drops, how the Monarch mechanic plays in 1v1 Magic, and whether Jeweled Lotus means that Commander has officially jumped the shark.

Our pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Daniel’s all gold cube. I highly recommend doing a draft or two.

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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The boys turn their attention to what at least Andy thinks is an under-appreciated context in which to evaluate cards — the draft. Instead of discussing how cards are played in game or what an ideal deck looks like, they’re talking about how the presence or absence of cards in packs will affect how your players draft. Is it possible to have a deck or color-pair that is perfectly viable in your cube, but no one ever drafts? Can swapping cards in or out fix this issue, or is it entirely attributable to player preferences? What kinds of cards expand the scope of draft decisions and what kinds of cards narrow it? Does drafting the hard way apply to most cubes? How does a flattened power level affect signals?

Our pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from a different kind of cube: listener Josh maintains a core cube that is drafted with a random selection of cards from his expansion, creating additional variance from draft to draft. Thanks, Josh!

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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On this episode of Lucky Paper Radio Andy and Anthony are looking at the suggestions from Cube Cobra’s recommender for adds and cuts to their respective primary cubes. This is a jumping off point for discussion about which cards they think are under- or overrated, the philosophies at the foundations of their cubes, how single cards can open up entirely new decks in a draft, the merits of various two-mana green ramp spells, how to balance support for an archetype without it becoming too dominant, various things about Magic that Andy doesn’t like, homogeneity within the Cube community, how much to trust algorithmically generated cube suggestions, and how Anthony wants to kiss Changeling Hero right on his freaky lips.

Our pack 1, pick 1 this week is from listener Morphling’s Artificer Cube. Thanks, Morphling!

Discussed in this episode:

  • Celery Man
  • Andy’s Bun Magic Cube Recommendations
  • Anthony’s Regular Cube Recommendations
  • Nose Dive by Harold McGee

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This episode of Lucky Paper Radio covers a range of topics all surrounding the importance of context in cube design and card evaluation. To start, Andy and Anthony do a very spooky pack 1, pick 1 from listener Stephen’s seasonally appropriate Innistrad Cube. They go on to discuss a theoretical Christmasland plane and answer a question from listener Adam about including cards of varying power levels in a cube list. Throughout this conversation, they go in depth about the kinds of cards that scale with the power level of an environment and the kinds that do not, the interplay between synergistic decks and individual, non-synergistic cards with a lot of raw power, Andy’s recent guest appearance on Jbro’s stream, the Zendikar Rising and affiliated updates to Andy’s cube, and how our hosts have some overlapping cards that are included in both of their cubes even though they differ dramatically in power level. How is that possible? Witchcraft!

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Magic Multiverse Project
  • Chateau Cube
  • Jbro on Twitch
  • Andy’s ZNR Cube Update

You can find the hosts’ primary Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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In a deviation from our regularly scheduled programming, this episode is specifically catered to new cube designers or players that are interested in building a cube but don’t know how to get started. Even if you’re a seasoned cube designer, we hope this conversation helps you be more conscious of how you frame the format to others.

An outline of our suggestions:

  • Most importantly, just do it! Don’t overthink your first cube. Magic is fun and draft is self-correcting.
  • Cube is a great format for a wide variety of players, whether you just like drafting and want to be able to do it more often and without cracking packs, or you just love game design and worldbuilding and are happy designing a cube even if you almost never get to draft it in a full pod.
  • We propose a very rough framework for a 360 card cube, for those who thrive on structure, but encourage you to throw it aside as soon as it doesn’t serve your goals.
  • Don’t concern yourself with aesthetic details of your cube, like having the same number of cards in each color or guild, or including full cycles of cards, or having an even number of fixing lands. Even substantial inequalities here have very little impact on a draft.
  • Think about the process of cube design as a mutual exploration with your players rather than a polished, perfected design challenge that you, as the designer, are responsible for understanding in its entirety.
  • Be aware that your experience playing retail limited is influenced by all the complicated and sometimes conflicting priorities that Wizards of the Coast has to juggle when designing a set. Often times, what you’re used to from retail limited is not a good precedent for your own cube. For example, most cubes are better off including more fixing and a lower curve than a retail set, regardless of your desired gameplay.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Cube Cobra, the best site to organize your Cube list
  • Card Kingdom Starter Cube
  • Solely Singleton’s Starter Cube (~\$120 budget)
  • Solely Singleton’s Miser’s Cube (~\$500 budget)

You can find the hosts’ primary Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

No pack 1, pick 1 this week on account of the special format, but if you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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On this week’s episode, Andy and Anthony discuss the new, extensive description and draft guide Anthony wrote about his “Regular” Cube and then consider Mark Rosewater’s definitions for the three types of complexity in Magic and how they might be applied to cube design. They talk about what Cube designers might learn from constructed formats, Anthony’s goal of making his cube resemble retail limited, exactly how many copies of Seven Dwarves you can run in a deck, whether all retail limited is actually just flavors of midrange, all about combat tricks, ASFAN (Anthony’s favorite R&D lingo), the possibilities of complex seeding in packs drafted digitally, why Tic Tac Toe absolutely sucks ass, why Andy loves fetchlands, how sometimes it’s super fun to resolve a very complicated stack or board and how sometimes it’s super not fun, whether etb-tapped lands are cool or not, a gender-neutral term for “manlands”, a new hypothetical, NSFW secret lair that Andy and Anthony would totally buy, how each color identity would design a bar, and how to make people come back for more even when they lose badly while playing your cube.

The listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 is from Varylen’s unpowered Cube. Thanks, Varylen!

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Grand Experiment

You can find the hosts’ primary Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Andy and Anthony are tackling a big subject in this episode: how do you turn experience playing your cube into informed design decisions that improve your environment? What do you do when your players insist that cards you included are either too good or not good enough and need to be cut? How do you handle people that are unwilling to draft or maindeck certain cards that you think are good?

The listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week is actually a pack 1, pick 2, because the boys are discussing Only on Tuesday’s Two-Headed Giant Cube. You can read more about the cube, and creator Jacob’s other writing about Magic, on his blog.

Topics addressed in this episode include:

  • Two-Headed Giant
  • Jett’s article on Analyzing Your Own Cube Drafts
  • Why you should care about the experience from a playtesting session rather than the results
  • Putting yourself in your drafters’ shoes
  • Using hypotheses to build explanatory knowledge about your cube
  • The ideal kinds of feedback to get from your players, and give to other cube designers
  • How to strike a balance between playtesting and theorycrafting, and the respective value of each

You can find the hosts’ primary Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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On this special episode of Lucky Paper Radio, Andy and Anthony are joined by Lucky Paper founding contributor Jett Crowdis to preview the results of our Zendikar Rising cube survey and talk about our evolving impressions of the set. After doing a pack 1, pick 1 from listener Jonathan Gibson’s beautifully altered Sol Cube they go on to discuss the most popular and highest ranked cards by our listeners, how the modal double-face cards, both mythic and otherwise, stack up, how ZNR compares to other sets from the past 12 months, Banisher Priest style cards and their impact on an evironment, and whether Jett should join the cool kids club and also cut Oko.

You can find the hosts’ primary Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube
  • Jett’s Cube

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This is your last chance to submit a response for the Zenikar Rising Cube Survey. Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set so your voice can be part of our upcoming prospective article.

Andy and Anthony are dedicating an entire episode to discussing a brand new cube Anthony designed around a little tweak to Magic’s core rules. They kick things off with a pack 1, pick 1 from this very special cube and then review the results of their playtesting together. Topics of discussion include why Guild Globe is incredibly broken, how you can draw 17 cards on the first turn of the game, one cool trick to playing Black Lotus on a budget, Anthony delighting in Andy’s more miserable games, Andy and Anthony showering together with a very wet Archfiend of Ifnir, how difficult it is to design a cube that dramatically deviates from more well-worn cube design territory, the limits of tempo advantage, and the value of experimental environments.

You can find the hosts’ primary Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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Our Zenikar Rising Cube Survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set, or if you’re not keeping your paper cube up-to-date through isolation, what you would be testing, under better circumstances.

On this episode, Andy and Anthony are talking about power creep as it applies to cube design. They do a pack 1, pick 1 from Swervestar’s The First 10 Years of Magic Cube, of which the owner graciously blessed us with a photograph of a real, physical pack. They discuss how the normal pattern of adding new cards to your cube and cutting the worst ones may lead to an unintentional power increase in an environment over time, how difficult it is to be critical of all the cards in your cube it slowly shifts and changes, how Cube captures all of the best aspects of the early years of limited Magic, how the dedicated Commander products changed Commander as a format, what Magic has in common Mario Kart, whether “fun creep” exists, and Arena “Turbo Draft”.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Lucky Paper Radio Episode 5 — The Problem with Five-Color Goodstuff
  • Ship of Theseus
  • Limited Resources Episode 560 — Paper Magic at Home with Brian David-Marshall

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This episode is a deep dive on evaluating the new modal double-face card mechanic from Zendikar Rising by comparing it to a variety of existing mechanics from Magic’s past. Andy and Anthony kick things off by weighing in on what Feed the Swarm means for the color pie, then do a pack 1, pick 1 from listener Nomad’s Budget Cube. Then, they discuss signets, breaking cycles in your cube, the joy of running big, splashy spells at minimal cost, why Andy is going to test Lonely Sandbar, building decks that literally can’t get flooded or mana screwed, what a card has to do to “earn” its slot in a cube, why Tangled Florahedron is a case study in how much worse 2 cmc mana dorks are than 1 cmc mana dorks, Anthony’s kitchen drawer full of dildos, and bringing a little novelty into your life.

Discussed in this episode:

  • No Land Beyond

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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On this very special episode of Lucky Paper Radio, Andy and Anthony give you their first impressions of Zendikar Rising based on the September 1st announcement stream. They discuss:

  • Double-faced lands
  • The new “Party” mechanic
  • The return of Landfall and Kicker
  • Set boosters, and “The List”
  • Upcoming future sets
  • The Yargle Secret Lair
  • Jace Shoes (???)

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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This is an episode about how difficult it is to design a cube. First, Andy and Anthony do a pack 1, pick 1 from Anthony’s “Regular” Cube, which leads into a conversation about their most recent draft of the environment and the kind of feedback Anthony has received about it. They talk about how designing cubes at lower power levels is more difficult for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that players have a bias towards more powerful spells.

Then, they’re joined by John Terrill of the Cultic Cube YouTube channel and Chateau Cube podcast for a special guest segment. John, along with Cube Cobra founder Gwen Dekker, had the privilege of putting his own cube on MTGO for tens of thousands of players to draft. Wizards of the Coast have provided John and Gwen with some data pertaining to how their cubes were drafted and played, and we go deep on what can, and can’t, be gleaned from these statistics.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Julia Child
  • Cultic Cube — MTGO Cube Analysis pt. 1
  • Cultic Cube — MTGO Cube Analysis pt. 2
  • Analyzing Your Own Cube Drafts
  • Cube Draft Masterclass pt1: Perfecting Pick 1 with F.O.C.U.S.
  • Cube Spotlight Series – John Terrill’s Cultic Cube on the Mothership

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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On this episode, Andy and Anthony bring you the long awaited conclusion of their rotisserie draft of Andy’s cube. They also do a pack 1, pick 1 from, and discuss Anthony’s draft of, Riku’s Jund Cube, which leads into a conversation about black aggro, how profoundly player perceptions shape a draft and our resulting understanding of our environments, just how broken Oko is, a theoretical cube whose only stipulation is that it cannot contain any cards in your main cube, Anthony’s new beginner-focused cube, the difference between trying to draft a good deck and trying to draft a 3-0 deck, potentially problematic planeswalkers that have such high starting loyalty that they basically can’t be attacked profitably, and modifying the rules text of cards for your environment. Anthony airs some justifiable grievances about how his matches went which slowly leads Andy to the realization that a certain card just has to go.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Save the Post Office Day of Action on August 25th

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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On this episode, Andy and Anthony discuss how Andy evaluates cards for his cube based on how they perform against opposing decks rather than on their interactions with other cards in the same deck. They do a pack 1, pick 1 from Allison’s Peasant cube, which they have had the pleasure of playing in paper in the before-times. While doing a deep dive on the matchup matrix Andy made for the mono-white aggro deck he rotisserie drafted, they get into details of specific matchups, why equipment and vehicles are kind of like Baneslayers, the joys of making spreadsheets about your cube, creating your own taxonomies to understand your environment, and the power of thought technology.

View Andy's Matchup Matrix Spreadsheet

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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On this episode, Andy and Anthony talk about the nature of singleton. They do a pack 1, pick 1 from MinorBug’s “Tringleton II” cube, an environment with a 3x card limit as opposed to the more common singleton restriction. They also touch on their favorite satirical how-to YouTube channel, some small tweaks Andy has recently made to his cube, retirement homes in the greater Baltimore area, LBBLBFs, powerful cards that uniquely suffer in singleton environments, red Rabblemasters and their competition, mill as a win condition in cube, differences in card evaluation between a cube’s designer and their playgroup, a theoretical cube with only one unique card in each color, and how Magic is more fun when you’re winning.

Discussed in this episode:

  • Alan Tutorial on YouTube
  • Savory Buckwheat Crepes Recipe

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co. This week, we’re also accepting suggestions for the name of our new segment where we discuss changes made to our cubes. Email us your ideas and if we end up using your submitted name we’ll mail you some surprise Magic cards!

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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On this episode, Andy and Anthony are talking all things aggro. They do a pack 1, pick 1 from catofcraft’s “Fast Cube”, a low-to-the-ground, efficient environment with no shuffle effects. Anthony dozes off for awhile as Andy talks for ten straight minutes about his personal history with aggro, which leads to a discussion about the definition of aggro and an exploration of how it often manifests itself in typical cube lists and how it might be approached differently. How many aggro decks does your Cube need? Why is consistency so important? Why do people like Avalanche Riders so much? What is a dumpling?

Discussed in this episode:

  • Twenty Years, Twenty Lessons — Part 2 (Lesson #13: “Make the fun part also the correct strategy to win”)

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on CubeCobra:

  • Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
  • Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

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On this episode, Andy and Anthony discuss a pack 1, pick 1 from listener Elle’s ”Graveyard Cube”, then have a conversation about a recent draft of and big batch of changes to Anthony’s Regular Cube. After one of the best players in our playgroup 3-0’s with a five-color goodstuff deck, Anthony talks about why he sees the success of this deck as a problem and goes into detail about how he plans to solve it.

Discussed in this episode:

  • SCGLA - Legacy - Round 3 - Gregory Hatch (Mono-Blue Martyr) vs Chris Kapica (MUD)
  • Pro Tour Chicago 1999 Final - Brian Davis vs Bob Maher
  • Analyzing Your Own Cube Drafts

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

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On this episode, Andy and Anthony discuss a pack 1, pick 1 from listener Chris's "Dichotomy Cube", which consists of 180 white cards, 180 black cards, and exactly one copy of Jace, the Mindsculptor. Then, Anthony takes Andy to task for putting up a crap record in a modified team draft of his own cube, causing Andy to expound on the profound shame of regularly drafting his own cube poorly. Andy explains his favorite 4-person draft format, a modified version of Ryan Spain's Double-Decker Draft. Finally, Andy gets Anthony's perspective on a handful of controversial cube cards.

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

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On this episode, Andy and Anthony discuss a pack 1, pick 1 from Andy's cube, their experiences with IKO and M21 sealed, a theoretical cube designed specifically for playing sealed, and how kitchen table Magic is the purest and best form of the game.

If you want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube on air send a link to your cube, your name, and pronouns to mail@luckypaper.co.

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On this episode, Andy and Anthony discuss Anthony's array of cubes, and do a deep-dive on his monoblack Cube, talking about its origins, how the environment feels, and some potential changes thanks to new cards from Core 2021 and Jumpstart.

You can find Anthony's cube lists on Cube Cobra:

  • Monoblack Cube
  • Normal Cube
  • Cycling Cube

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On this episode, Andy and Anthony discuss the cards that interest them most from Core Set 2021.

If you have a Cube of your own please consider participating in our Cube Set surveys:

  • Core Set 2021 Survey
  • Jumpstart Survey

Follow Anthony on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/anthonybmktpt

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Lucky Paper Radio is a podcast about Magic: the Gathering hosted by lifelong friends Andy Mangold and Anthony Mattox. Focused primarily on sandbox formats like Cube, which are free of banlists, rotation, and net decking, the show is about the best parts of Magic and how to get the most out of the game.