Lucky Paper Radio (Andy Mangold and Anthony Mattox)
Explore every episode of Lucky Paper Radio
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09 Sep 2024 | Randomness Revisited — Strategy vs. Tactics in Game Design | 01:09:21 | |
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. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode:
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: 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. | |||
| 07 Nov 2022 | Lessons From the Death of an Experimental Cube | 00:56:16 | |
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:
Discussed in this episode:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 22 Mar 2021 | A Flat Power Level | 01:15:40 | |
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:
You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 07 Apr 2025 | The ↑↑↓↓←→←→ABCs of Combo | 01:06:18 | |
View all cards mentioned in this episode 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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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 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
| |||
| 09 Nov 2020 | Designing for the Draft | 01:14:16 | |
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. | |||
| 28 Feb 2022 | My Deck Is a 7 With Mike Coyle & Andy Floury | 01:04:54 | |
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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 28 Sep 2020 | Zendikar Rising Cube Set Review | 01:37:32 | |
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: 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. | |||
| 19 Dec 2022 | Live Cube Update: Making Removal Better in the Bun Magic Cube | 01:01:53 | |
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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 08 Jan 2024 | Emergent Cube Design by Example | 01:00:08 | |
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:
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 Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 11 Jan 2021 | Vision Design vs. Play Design in Cube | 00:52:57 | |
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: 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. | |||
| 04 Nov 2024 | Heuristics for Having a Good Time | 01:07:17 | |
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. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode:
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: 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. | |||
| 31 Jan 2022 | Bottling an Iconic Mirror Match: the Jeskai Control Battle Box | 01:04:55 | |
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:
Timestamps:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 25 Oct 2021 | Evolving Cubes and the Power of Novelty | 00:54:11 | |
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:
Discussed in this episode:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 22 Aug 2022 | The Texture of Removal | 01:14:26 | |
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:
Discussed in this episode:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 31 May 2021 | Hope Tender & Devoted Druid & Ragavan & Laelia | 01:00:39 | |
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:
You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 08 Nov 2021 | The Use and Abuse of Archetype Driven Design | 01:07:01 | |
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:
Discussed in this episode:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 14 Feb 2022 | Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Cube Additions | 01:23:47 | |
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:
Discussed contexts:
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. | |||
| 17 Mar 2025 | Aetherdrift Cube Set Review | 01:40:18 | |
View all cards mentioned in this episode 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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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 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
| |||
| 05 Dec 2022 | The Brothers’ War Cube Community Set Review | 01:29:35 | |
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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 19 Aug 2024 | Spotlight: Recross the Paths | 00:33:32 | |
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: | |||
| 16 Aug 2021 | Cube Logistics: Sleeves, Storage, Shuffling, and More | 01:03:46 | |
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: SLEEVES
STORAGE
MORE RESOURCES
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 22 Apr 2024 | Cube Design Iron Chef: Goblin Charbelcher | 01:07:17 | |
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:
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: 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. | |||
| 16 Nov 2020 | Commander Legends and a Cube That Glitters | 01:09:24 | |
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. | |||
| 18 Jul 2022 | Commander Deck Building Inspiration, Self-Imposed Restrictions, and Guidelines | 01:08:45 | |
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:
Timestamps:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 05 Jul 2021 | The Chromatic Cube with David McDarby | 01:09:26 | |
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:
Timestamps:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 30 Dec 2024 | Always Be Cubing — 2024 in Review | 01:29:05 | |
View all cards mentioned in this episode 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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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
| |||
| 24 May 2021 | Playing to Win: Evaluating New Cubes | 01:05:31 | |
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:
You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 01 Feb 2021 | Personal Cube Level Ups | 01:18:27 | |
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:
Andy’s level ups are:
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: No timestamps in this episode — just the main topic straight through. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 11 Nov 2024 | Foundations First Impressions | 01:19:11 | |
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. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 04 Jan 2021 | On Being a Cube Spike | 01:04:11 | |
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:
You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 18 Oct 2021 | A Normal Conversation About Magic Cards | 00:45:50 | |
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:
Discussed in this episode: Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 09 Aug 2021 | Battlebox: No Setup, No Bad Mana, All Magic | 00:57:34 | |
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:
Timestamps:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 27 Jul 2020 | The Problem with Five-Color Goodstuff | 01:23:26 | |
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:
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. | |||
| 28 Dec 2020 | Listener Submitted Chaos Supreme | 01:00:30 | |
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:
You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 13 Sep 2021 | Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Mechanics and First Impressions | 00:52:24 | |
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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 18 Dec 2023 | The Changing Landscape of Magic — 2023 in Review | 01:17:32 | |
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:
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: 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. | |||
| 06 Sep 2021 | Single Card Discussion | 01:04:44 | |
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:
Timestamps:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 24 Mar 2025 | The Salt Box Tournament Report | 01:37:48 | |
View all cards mentioned in this episode 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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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 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
| |||
| 10 Oct 2022 | Turbo Cube Draft Primer | 01:22:10 | |
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 Discussed in this episode: Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. Timestamps:
You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 24 Feb 2025 | Our Favorite Cards from 2024 | 01:00:06 | |
View all cards mentioned in this episode 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: Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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 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
| |||
| 04 Jul 2022 | Deciding Which Cards to Cut from Your Cube | 00:59:33 | |
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
Discussed in this episode: 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: 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. | |||
| 20 Nov 2023 | What Can and Cannot Be Learned From Studying Draft Pools | 00:53:10 | |
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:
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: 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. | |||
| 31 Mar 2025 | Judge Bones Teaches You How To Organize Your Own Grassroots Cube Event | 01:14:57 | |
View all cards mentioned in this episode 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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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 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
| |||
| 09 Oct 2023 | Spike University Part Two with Justin Parnell | 01:34:13 | |
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:
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: 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. | |||
| 21 Nov 2022 | The Brothers’ War Cube Additions | 01:13:10 | |
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:
Timestamps:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 01 Aug 2022 | Cards That Are Cool | 00:56:32 | |
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:
Discussed in this episode:
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. | |||
| 25 Apr 2022 | Cooking & Cube, Breaking Bread & Cracking Packs | 00:56:01 | |
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:
Discussed in this episode:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 23 Nov 2020 | Designing a Commander Cube | 01:04:46 | |
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:
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. | |||
| 17 Jan 2022 | What We Talk About When We Talk About Magic | 00:58:49 | |
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:
Discussed in this episode:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 20 Dec 2021 | Inaugural Draft of the Irregular Cube | 01:06:41 | |
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:
Timestamps:
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. | |||
| 25 Jan 2021 | Bread and Butter Breakdown | 01:00:14 | |
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:
Timestamps:
You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 21 Sep 2020 | Turbo Eggs | 01:01:55 | |
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: 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. | |||
| 29 May 2023 | Xerox Theory and You | 01:03:40 | |
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:
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: 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. | |||
| 17 Jul 2023 | Cheese Two Ways | 00:56:55 | |
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:
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: 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. | |||
| 17 Aug 2020 | Matchup Matrix | 01:34:27 | |
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: 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. | |||
| 07 Oct 2024 | Commander Bans and Consumption as Self Expression | 01:15:10 | |
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. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode:
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: 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 | |||
| 28 Aug 2023 | Draft Matters | 01:00:26 | |
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:
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: 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. | |||
| 24 Jun 2024 | The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield | 01:06:06 | |
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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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 | |||
| 06 Nov 2023 | Riding Siege Rhinos to Victory with Tim Meyers | 01:42:14 | |
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:
Cubes Mentioned
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: 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. | |||
| 03 Aug 2020 | The ABCs of Aggro | 01:24:52 | |
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: You can find the hosts’ Cubes on CubeCobra: 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. | |||
| 05 Jul 2020 | Core Set 2021 Cube Set Review | 01:14:46 | |
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: Follow Anthony on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/anthonybmktpt | |||
| 25 Mar 2024 | 100 Ornithopters in a Trenchcoat | 01:00:23 | |
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. 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:
Cubes Mentioned: 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: 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. | |||
| 23 Dec 2024 | The Barash Files 001 — The Principles of Game Design | 01:12:44 | |
View all cards mentioned in this episode 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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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
| |||
| 20 Jan 2025 | Using the Foundations Starter Collection as the Base for Your Own Cube — with Carmen Klomparens | 01:19:00 | |
View all cards mentioned in this episode 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 | |||
| 06 Dec 2021 | All About Brainstorm | 01:03:59 | |
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:
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. | |||
| 26 Dec 2022 | Seasons of Cube | 01:02:44 | |
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:
Discussed in this episode:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 19 Feb 2024 | Peasant Cube, Accessibility, and Playing within Restrictions with Emma Partlow | 01:00:27 | |
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:
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: 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. | |||
| 19 Apr 2021 | The Show Must Go On | 00:30:14 | |
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: Timestamps:
You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 05 Feb 2024 | Murders at Karlov Manor and Ravnica: Clue Edition First Impressions | 00:52:34 | |
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 Vista
Timestamps
0:00 - Introduction
3:37 - Ward, Cloak, and Disguise
17:41 - Suspect
21:29 - Collect Evidence
26:16 - Cases
33:20 - Returning mechanic: Investigate
34:37 - Informal mechanics and emergent themes of MKM
40:41 - Ravnica: Clue Edition first impressions
44:32 - The prevalence of “can’t be countered” effects in this set
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.
| |||
| 11 Mar 2024 | Vibes-Forward Cube Design with Ryan Overturf | 01:06:30 | |
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:
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: 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. | |||
| 27 Mar 2023 | Pulp Nouveau and Drafting Your Basics with Parker LaMascus | 01:06:39 | |
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:
Timestamps
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 13 Mar 2023 | Cube and the Soul of Limited With Ryan Saxe | 01:32:00 | |
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:
Timestamps:
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. | |||
| 24 Mar 2021 | Introducing the Cube Map | 00:21:29 | |
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: You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 21 Dec 2020 | Tribal Themes and Parasitism | 01:11:21 | |
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:
You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 12 Feb 2024 | Murders at Karlov Manor and Ravnica: Clue Edition Personal Cube Additions | 01:11:08 | |
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:
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: 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. | |||
| 30 Oct 2023 | Refreshingly Dangerous Confusion with Dom Harvey | 01:26:32 | |
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:
Cubes Mentioned
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: 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. | |||
| 16 May 2022 | Lands That Do Things: All About Fetch Lands | 00:58:13 | |
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:
Discussed in this episode:
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: 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. | |||
| 29 Apr 2024 | Outlaws of Thunder Junction Cube Community Set Review | 01:11:54 | |
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:
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: 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. | |||
| 30 Nov 2020 | Cube Potpourri | 01:03:49 | |
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: 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. | |||
| 02 Aug 2021 | The Cube Player's Guide to Manabases | 01:05:26 | |
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:
Timestamps
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 16 Jan 2023 | Designing Set Cubes | 01:02:24 | |
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:
Past Lucky Paper Radio Episodes
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 26 Jul 2021 | Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Cube Set Review | 01:14:50 | |
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:
Timestamps:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 15 May 2023 | All About Ramp | 00:51:22 | |
Andy and Anthony talk broadly about [ramp](Rampant Growth). 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: 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: 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. | |||
| 19 Sep 2022 | Dominaria United Cube Community Set Review | 01:30:58 | |
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:
Timestamps:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 20 Feb 2023 | Cube Update Potpourri | 01:00:52 | |
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:
Timestamps:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 10 Apr 2023 | How to Play Your Own, Custom Cube on Arena | 00:59:41 | |
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:
Timestamps:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 21 Feb 2022 | Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Cube Community Set Review | 01:37:45 | |
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:
Timestamps (includes spoilers!):
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 03 May 2021 | Smells Like Synergy | 01:04:23 | |
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:
Timestamps:
You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 27 Jan 2025 | The Barash Files 003 — Reflections on Cube Drafts Past | 01:21:12 | |
View all cards mentioned in this episode 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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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
Lucky Paper | |||
| 07 Jun 2021 | Midrange Matchups with Parker LaMascus | 01:15:54 | |
Timestamps
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:
You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 19 Oct 2022 | The Road to Cube Con | 00:06:53 | |
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! | |||
| 01 Jan 2024 | Gold Cards and You | 01:06:59 | |
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:
Cubes Mentioned 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: 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. | |||
| 17 Oct 2022 | How to Use Scryfall: Improving Your Decks, Improving Your Cubes, Improving Your Life | 01:05:29 | |
View all cards mentioned in the episode → 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:
Timestamps:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 01 Apr 2024 | Striving for a More Accountable and Inclusive Playgroup | 01:08:05 | |
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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 22 Jan 2024 | Designing and Playtesting a New Archetype for the Turbo Cube | 01:07:44 | |
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: Cubes Mentioned: Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 28 Mar 2022 | Rock Beats Paper, Paper Beats Scissors, Scissors Beats Rock | 01:05:23 | |
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:
Discussed in this episode:
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: 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. | |||
| 03 Apr 2023 | Big and Small Games with Sam Black | 00:55:24 | |
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:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
| 13 May 2024 | We Can Cut This if You Want | 01:10:35 | |
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:
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: 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. | |||
| 27 Nov 2023 | The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Cube Community Set Review | 00:54:11 | |
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: 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: 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. | |||
| 28 Nov 2022 | How to Test Your Cube | 00:56:44 | |
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:
Timestamps:
Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: 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. | |||
less. The Cube will be featured at the inaugural 
