Lucky Paper Radio

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: Glengarry Glen Ross Episode 218: State of the Game 2024 The Adventure Zone Hello from the Magic Tavern My Brother, My Brother, and Me Til Death do us Blart 100 Ornithopters Episode 206: The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield Potsdam Gravity Potato Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at [email protected] or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 8:48 - Recap of last year’s recap 10:51 - How our relationship with Magic changed in 2024 13:34 - The perishability of joy, novelty, and discovery: why Andy and Anthony no longer listen to most McElroy brothers podcasts 23:34 - On decreased participation in set surveys 25:07 - Shared High: Small, Grassroots Cube Events 32:18 - Andy’s High: The Design of and Reception to 100 Ornithopters 37:35 - Anthony’s High: The Variety of Depth of What is Accepted as a Cube 42:28 - Anthony’s High: The State of Our Local Cube Playgroup 44:17 - Andy’s High: Having Richard Garfield on Lucky Paper Radio 48:36 - Anthony’s High: He’s Good at Magic Now 53:18 - Anthony’s High: Connecting with Magic Friends about Things Other than Magic 55:45 - Andy’s High: The Reception to Our First Playmat 57:04 - Andy’s Low: The Playmat International Shipping Fiasco 1:09:43 - Andy’s Low: His Sensitivity to Discussion on the Podcast

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: The Power Broker Kingdom Death Drawing Live: Zach’s Column for Hipsters of the Coast Spaced Penguin Playthrough on YouTube The Cascade Cube The Turbo Cube Reading Rainbow Cube Andrew Elebogen Tween about Extrapolating from Too Small Sample Sizes The Beginning of Infinity The Modern Darlings Cube The Museum of Modern Cube Linguistic Relativity Playing Oppression Andy, Anthony, Parker, and Zach on BlueSky Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at [email protected] or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 10:02 - Game Design with Training Wheels 12:43 - Anthony’s History with Game Design 19:21 - The Basic Principles of Game Design: The Iteration Loop 33:56 - Balance is Overrated 47:32 - How does one go about uncovering truths about their cube? 59:11 - What does a cube designer mean when they say they want ‘balance’?

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about the essential digital tools and workflows for Cube designers. Starting with finding and gathering cards on Scryfall, to sculpting and sharing lists on Cube Cobra and tools for analyzing and comparing lists, they talk about how to leverage resources to make designing and playing Cube easier. Our hosts also share about some of the tools they’ve built to address their own needs that come up regularly in Cube design. Discussed in this episode: Scryfall Cube Cobra Lucky Paper Rotisserie Draft Sheet Anthony’s articles about Scryfall’s search syntax and regular expressions Building a Cube from Your Collection Article and Podcast Moxfield Lucky Paper Cube Map Sacred Geometry 100 Ornithopters Anthony’s CubeCobra API toolkit Anthony’s Google Sheets Integration MTGTop8 Degenerate Micro Cube EDHRec Lucky Paper List Formatter Lucky Paper List Differ Commander Spellbook Neoclassical Cube Andy’s Small Combo Cube “Eggs for Four” sealeddeck.tech deckstats.net Surveil Lands Playing Oppression The Dandy Cube Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at [email protected] or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 7:51 - Introduction to topic 9:09 - Scryfall 14:00 - Cube Cobra 28:14 - Spreadsheets 29:35 - MTGTop8 32:36 - Lucky Paper Cube Design Tools 38:15 - Commander Spellbook 41:34 - Honorable mention: sealeddeck.tech 44:10 - Collection management 46:38 - Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony are Joined by Jenn the Judge to talk about “5 Color Good Stuff” decks in cube. They talk about what aspects of a Cube enable 5 color decks, and the impacts these decks have on the feel and fun of an environment. They talk about some of the strategies they employ in their own cubes, including Jenn’s Ravnica Cube, to control what kinds of multi-color decks are likely to be drafted. Discussed in this episode: The Oldest School Cube Jenn’s Ravnica Cube Jenn’s Linktree Hex and Company Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at [email protected] or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 4:06 - The fixing in your cube is too good 5:02 - Ravnica limited formats and how they might inform fixing in Cube 8:10 - What is wrong with five color good stuff? 15:56 - On disliking Triomes in Cube 22:51 - The effects on less experienced players in fixing dense cubes 26:12 - How do players that spend high picks on lands still end up with super high card quality in their deck? 28:23 - The various factors that contribute to the viability of five-color good stuff decks? 35:21 - How does Jenn limit soupy decks in their Ravnica Cube 48:09 - Does the five-color good stuff deck self balance in draft? 53:33 - Are there different kinds of five-color good stuff decks? What are their various merits and downsides? 58:17 - Closing thoughts on five-color good stuff and mana fixing in cubes