Lucky Paper Radio

Andy and Anthony talk about their Cubes included in CubeCon 2024: Andy’s 100 Ornithopters and Anthony’s Regular and Turbo Cubes. They talk about what they learned about each from players’ feedback and the decklists after the event. They also talk about potential changes they’re considering based on that feedback. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode: Lucky Paper Events Page LSVs Draft of “6 Ornithopters” Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 3:34 - Regular Cube Feedback 16:14 - Turbo Cube Feedback 30:53 - 100 Ornithopters Feedback Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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: Jbro’s GoFundMe Large Painted Locust Foundations and Jump Start Cube Surveys Lucky Paper Resources Anthony’s Article on Game Design List formatter Cube Map List of Upcoming Cube Events The Regular Cube Sacred Geometry Magic Data Science Thread on Vanilla Creatures Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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: Anthony’s Big Bottle Opener Episode 48: Playing to Win: Evaluating New Cubes Episode 215: Using Little Pieces of Paper as a Supermassive Random Number Generator Anthony’s Fire Swamp and C/Ube Decks Game Objects Cube The Fire Swamp Keldan’s Simple Cube Streisand Effect Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 6:09 - Are we good at Magic? 8:56 - How do we approach drafting a completely unfamiliar list 19:29 - Should you look at the available mana fixing in a cube? 26:08 - The categories of cards to pay attention to in the draft 30:25 - How often should you end up playing your pack 1, pick 1 in Cube draft? 31:59 - The importance of recontexualizaion 40:26 - The Value of Having a Plan 48:04 - How much do you trust the Cube designer? 57:24 - Heuristics for having a good time Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Andy and Anthony, are joined by perennial favorite, Patrick, to recap their experience at CubeCon 2024. They talk about how they approached the event, the Cubes they drafted, and the highs and lows of every deck they drafted throughout the event. Growing to almost 600 players in it’s third year, CubeCon continued to deliver on being an opportunity to play a huge range of novel environments, and catch up with old or meet up with new friends in the Cube community. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode: CubeCon The Fire Swamp The Way too Hybrid Cube The Good Old Days The Mono Red Cube Shrek Retold Wally the Dog & Patrick’s Shrek Costume Short Stack Eatery The Shadow Cube The Simple Cube C/Ube The Bodleian Cube 100 Ornithopters Klug’s Altered Ornithopter The Salt Box (Baltimore Cube Event) Lucky Paper Cube Events Calendar Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 5:00 - The Fire Swamp 17:43 - The Way too Hybrid Cube 21:21 - The Good Old Days 29:24 - The Mono Red Cube 34:40 - Spicy Ramen Cube 43:03 - Death’s Shadow Cube 46:06 - Alpha Reimagined 57:12 - The Simple Cube 1:02:12 - C/Ube 1:10:24 - The Bodleian Cube 1:15:30 - 100 Ornithopters Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Andy, Anthony, and Parker, belatedly discuss the results from the last two standard sets’ Cube community surveys, Bloomburrow and Duskmourn: House of Horror. They talk about the top cards that have the attention of the most Cube designers as well as their general observations about what from each set the community is responding to. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode: Documental The Steel Curtain Bloomburron Community Review Results Duskmourn: House of Horror Community Review Results Episode 217: Cards We Were Wrong About: 2024 Standard Rotation Episode 213: French Vanilla Face-Off Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 6:54 - Episode format overview 7:55 - Bloomburrow Overview 10:12 - On the decreasing number of survey respondents more broadly 14:21 - Bloomburrow top cards — Number 5. Hired Claw 19:51 - 4. Shoreline Looter 23:09 - 3. Kitsa, Otterball Elite 29:28 - 2. Fell 34:49 - 1. Emberheart Challenger  44:13 - Bloomburrow Commander Shout Out: Jacked Rabbit 46:06 - Duskmourn Overview 48:54 - Duskmourn top cards — Number 5. Overlord of the Mistmoors 55:11 - 4. Insidious Fungus 56:54 - 3. Wildfire Wickerfolk 1:01:23 - 2. Chainsaw 1:03:54 - The flavor of Duskmourn overall 1:07:44 - 1. Fear of Missing Out 1:10:47 - Cube Mechanical Miss: Survivor 1:13:25 - Cube Mechanical Miss: Rooms 1:16:16 - On Manifest Dread and Abhorrent Oculus 1:21:28 - Honorable Mention: Split Up 1:24:46 - Honorable Mention: Come Back Wrong 1:28:44 - Duskmourn Wrap-Up Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Andy and Anthony talk with Ryan Saxe about his latest Magic passion project. Inspired by one of his favorite video game genres, AutoBattlers, Ryan has been working to create a Magic variant that incorporates the feeling of quick mini-games and constant upgrades and expansion of your arsenal. In his format, players face of in a series of mini-games with only a few cards available to each player. After each quick game, players get to modify and expand their available pool of cards to use by trading with a random new selection of cards from the Cube list. Players are eliminated as they accrue a certain number of losses leaving one the champion. The three talk about the design process, challenges and successes Ryan’s had through iterating on the rules system, and their experience drafting the AutoBattler cube. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode: George W. Hart’s Geometric Sculptures Pai Gow AutoBattler Cube Rules and Card List Ryan’s Autobattler Discord Ogre Battle Tactics: Match of the Black Queen Team Fight Tactics Loading, Ready, Run AutoBattler Stream Slay the Spire Timestamps 0:00 - AI Corner 13:01 - Introduction to Ryan’s new format 14:20 - What is an auto battler? 17:59 - How did Ryan go about applying the patterns of an auto battler to Magic? 28:42 - How does Ryan’s auto battler format work? 46:16 - Designing the rules system vs. designing the cube list 53:22 - A deep dive on the design details of the auto battler 1:33:45 - How Anthony would teach the auto battler format 1:35:40 - Is it productive to describe this as an auto battler? Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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: Commander RC banned and restricted announcement WotC’s announcement on taking over the Commander format WeeklyMTG with Gavin Verhey and Aaron Forsythe Dana Roach’s response on Twitter Degenerate Micro Cube Bosh’N’Roll’s video on the bans Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 1:10 - Basic rundown of the events of the past two weeks in Magic 5:00 - The banning of Dockside Extortionist, Nadu, Winged Wisdom, Mana Crypt, and Jeweled Lotus in Commander 12:02 - “Rule Zero” and why it does not work 15:58 - The respective strengths and flaws of Commander and Cube 23:48 - On the deplorable backlash from a vocal subset of Magic players 39:16 - A clarification of our stance on proxies 44:02 - Magic and consumption as self expression 58:30 - What about Sol Ring? 1:02:21 - Wizard’s of the Coast’s concept about managing the Commander format with a series of tiers 1:09:39 - Summary and conclusions Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty

Andy and Anthony talk about a big batch of updates to Anthony’s Turbo Cube. In this Cube, all spells and activated abilities cost {2} less. They talk about their general philosophy of updating Cubes, what types of strategies Anthony is hoping to bolster with these updates, and talk through the changes card by card. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode: The Turbo Cube Frank Karsten’s Mana Math Good Morning Magic: Unfinished Land Cycles in Commander Decks BoshNRoll: Miraculous Revival! Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:51 - Draft report: Boromir Sucks 3:25 - Episode overview 6:20 - What is the Turbo Cube? 10:48 - Broad goals and philosophies underpinning these changes 13:01 - A bold new direction for lands 24:55 - Black improvements and a focus on discard synergies 37:04 - Why cut Reckoner Bankbuster? 39:10 - Changes to green 44:14 - Minor tweaks to red 48:34 - The smallest changes: blue and white 1:03:01 - Changes to colorless cards 1:10:30 - Andy’s suggestion corner Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Andy and Anthony reflect on the Mark Rosewater’s reflection on the past year in Magic. Every year, Magic’s lead designer shares lessons learned and strengths from each booster set. This year’s felt lacking a bit of thematic focus, but maybe the lack of focus is emblematic of this last year in Magic. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode: Mark Rosewater’s State of the Game 2024 Episode 163: State of the Game 2023 Episode 109: State of the Game 2022 Episode 206: The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield Episode 211: Book Club: The Beauty of Games by Frank Lantz Drive to Work Podcast Drive to Work: Designing for an Eternal World Blogatog Lucky Paper Events Page Polar Bear Encounter Frostbite by Nicola Twilley Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 3:32 - Is this even for us? How invested are we in Magic these days? 10:30 - Is this year’s ‘State of Design’ article more shallow than previous years? 12:57 - 2024’s Theme: Lack of Focus 17:43 - Lesson: Magic was too on the nose with its tropes 26:53 - Lesson: Some individual mechanics were too complex 32:09 - Lesson: More mechanics were polarizing than previous years  49:41 - Does R&D drive Magic these days? 51:43 - Our favorite thing from Magic this year: grassroots Cube events Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Andy and Parker look back on all the sets currently cycling out of standard and talk about their overall impressions and how individual cards from each have aged in their various Cubes. Anthony’s there too, kinda just vibing cause he’s been updating his Cubes at an agitated non-newtonian fluid pace. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode: Parker’s Retrospective Article Survey Archive Search Parker’s “The Ship of Theseus” Cube Video of non-newtonian fluid wtwlf’s Tweet about quitting set reviews Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 2:46 - Topic Overview 11:41 - Innistrad: Midnight Hunt 21:28 - Why we’re not talking about Commander sets 22:53 - Innistrad: Crimson Vow 27:31 - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty 43:06 - Streets of New Capenna 48:17 - Triomes revisited 52:37 - Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate 59:54 - Big picture lessons learned from standard rotation Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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: Stardew Valley bdouble0 on YouTube Florian Gadsby on YouTube Board Game Design Day: White, Brown, and Pink: The Flavors of Tabletop Game Randomness Andy’s coaching video with Brian Coval The Cascade Cube Ben Brode on the Search Engine Podcast Edward Snowden on the Joe Rogan Experience Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 6:29 - Input Randomness vs. Output Randomness 10:05 - Strategy vs. Tactics 21:34 - Is there a fundamental difference in randomness between Bloodbraid Elf and Fact or Fiction? 39:52 - Chess vs. Poker in the Strategy vs. Tactics Dichotomy 46:04 - Why numerous random events converge on predictability and how that describes Xerox Theory 52:05 - Neverwinter Hydra vs. Carnage Tyrant 59:58 - Randomness laundering skill disparities Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Andy and Anthony talk about randomness in Magic, and specifically just how much randomness there is in a Cube draft. They talk about where randomness comes from and how different mechanics use the library or other sets of cards as a random source to make them work. They also go into their own preferences and how they thing about randomness in their Cube designs. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode: Bloomburrow and Bloomburrow Commander Surveys “Names of Large Numbers” on Wikipedia Episode 210: Raggadragga’s Lucky Paper Debut Crystalline Giant keyword tracking website The Oldest School Cube Jay’s Feature Match Moment Anthony on the Uber Cube podcast Blocked Party Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction and why you should cut your opponent’s deck 5:03 - Why randomness is maybe the most fundamental aspect of Magic: the Gathering 7:08 - Andy says some really big numbers to convince you Magic is really random 19:22 - Using your library as a random number generator 26:57 - Categorizing different types of ‘random’ cards 49:09 - Andy and Anthony’s approach to randomness as Cube designers, in summary 55:41 - Andy and Anthony’s favorite ‘random’ moments from games they’ve played Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Andy and Anthony talk about some of the past and pending Cube events they are attending. This year has seen a proliferation of new small Cube events. Anthony reviews his experience at the Capitol Cube Champs and they talk about what they’re excited about in the upcoming Cube 4 Charity hosted by Upkeep New York. View all cards mentioned in this episode Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 2:42 - Capitol Cube Champs Tournament Report 22:04 - Mailbag 25:01 - Anthony’s Irregular Cube Preparation for Cube 4 Charity 39:17 - Andy’s 100 Ornithopters Preparation for Cube 4 Charity Discussed in this episode: Bloomburrow and Bloomburrow Commander Surveys Dozer’s Artifact Cube Rusty Box of Goblins Eiganjo Drift UberBear’s “Selfie of Two Anthonys” The Twube Tupelo Honey The Irregular Cube Riptide Lab Lucky Paper Cube Events Page Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

No regular episode of Lucky Paper Radio this week, sadly, but in an effort to not leave y’all empty handed and to help highlight a great new Cube podcast, we’re bringing you and episode of Kade Goforth’s Recross the Paths. Discussed in this episode: Bloomburrow and Bloomburrow Commander Surveys Recross the Paths on Spotify Recross the Paths RSS Feed Squares that Cube: Fitting Cubes to Your Community with Maramas UberCube

Andy and Anthony each rank every evergreen creature ability and then, tier by tier, discuss what they love each adds (or doesn’t) to the game. View all cards discussed in this episode. Discussed in this episode: Bloomburrow and Bloomburrow Commander Surveys Evergreen Keyword Abilities Tier List Maker dinrovahorror’s Draft of the Neoclassical Cube The Oldest School Flash Gordon Theme Song Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 0:30 - Tier list and evergreen keyword ability overview 3:45 - F Tier 8:56 - D Tier 27:29 - C Tier 33:15 - B Tier 40:11 - A Tier 45:20 - S Tier 52:40 - The biggest differences between Anthony’s and Andy’s Tier Lists 53:57 - Why are aggressive mechanics so good and the defensive mechanics so bad? Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky PaperPO Box 4855Baltimore, 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.

Andy and Anthony take a first look at Bloomburrow, breaking down the mechanics, flavor, and the cards their interested in giving a try in their on Cube environments. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode: Bloomburrow Community Survey Commander Set Survey Bloomburrow Mechanics Overview Episode 193: 100 Ornithopters in a Trenchcoat Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 2:46 - Bloomburrow Flavor and Vibes 6:11 - Mail bag 8:28 - Offspring 11:24 - Gift 15:32 - Forage 16:58 - Valiant 20:24 - Expend 26:03 - Pawprints 29:08 - Creature Type Matters 34:18 - Other Returning and Unnamed Mechanics 38:22 - 100 Ornithopters Cube Inclusions 39:28 - Honorable Mention: Heirloom Epic 40:35 - Honorable Mention: Dawn’s Truce 41:03 - Honorable Mention: Season of Gathering 43:30 - Gossip’s Talent 45:15 - Innkeeper’s Talent 48:05 - Three Tree City 49:22 - Turbo Cube Inclusions 49:49 - Barkform Harvester 50:29 - Agate Assault 51:39 - Coruscation Mage 52:45 - Heaped Harvest 53:40 - Stocking the Pantry 54:38 - Wear Down 55:04 - Briya, Riptide Rogue 57:30 - Bun Magic Cube Inclusions 58:41 - Honorable Mention: The Infamous Cruelclaw 59:37 - Honorable Mention: Hired Claw 1:01:27 - Honorable Mention: Iridescent Vinelasher 1:02:48 - Honorable Mention: Mockingbird 1:04:07 - Darkstar Augur 1:05:57 - Emberheart Challenger 1:06:42 - Kitsa, Otterball Elite 1:08:22 - Stormchaser’s Talent 1:10:48 - Fell 1:12:00 - Regular Cube Additions 1:12:17 - Honorable Mention: Mousetrapper 1:12:51 - Honorable Mention: Heartfire Hero 1:15:09 - Honorable Mention: Sazcap’s Brew 1:15:53 - Honorable Mention: Peerless Recycling 1:17:04 - Honorable Mention: Patchwork Banner 1:17:40 - Bravekin Duo 1:18:38 - Eddymurk Crab 1:19:48 - Tempest Angler 1:20:51 - Bonus: Flowerfoot Swordmaster Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

In the first “book club” episode, Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about The Beauty of Games by Frank Lantz. The book sets out to defend the thesis that games are artistic works (or, more descriptively, “aesthetic works”) worth the same level of appreciation as other art forms and teach sophisticated, systems-thinking. After reading the book, our hosts talk about what they took away from the book and some aspects they were a little more critical of. Thank you to the listeners who joined the book club and send in their own takes! Cards mentioned in this episode. Discussed in this episode: The Beauty of Games by Frank Lantz Serpentes QWOP Junkbot (Flash Game) Law of the Instrument Episode 206: The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield Sturgeon’s Law The Selfish Gene Games and the Art of Agency Armored Core The Narcissism of Minor Differences Skip Barber Racing School Andy’s 5 Color Starter Decks Game Theory Your Brain is Hardwired to Love Games with Kelly Clancy Universal Paperclips Nose Dive by Harold McGee A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 4:13 - What is a book club, anyway? 5:51 - Summary of The Beauty of Games 9:17 - Do we need to defend the position that games are meaningful? 14:02 - Andy’s Two Main Criticisms of The Beauty of Games 17:07 - Games as an aesthetic experience 21:34 - Gamer Knowledge™️ 23:31 - The Reasons for Doubt and Frank’s rebuttal to them 31:36 - Unpacking the conclusion of The Beauty of Games 41:19 - Ought we blame the beneficiaries of inequitable systems? 45:07 - How games crystalize satisfying action, and what satisfying actions does Magic capture? 58:17 - Why do we as Cube designers put so much knowledge between our players and the satisfying experiences Magic offers? 1:06:50 - Listener Submitted Clips Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Andy and Anthony talk about complexity in Magic. After their discussion on the previous episode on Andy’s Neoclassical Cube comparing arguable simplicity of old school Magic cards, and continued discussion on the MTG Cube Talk Discord, they talk about the nature and different types of complexity. They compare cards which are simpler to read vs to play with and how different types of complexity effect the feel of the game. View all cards mentioned in this episode on our website. Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 3:06 - GayTransMulldrifter’s Belated MH3 Hot Take 12:27 - Strategic Complexity and its costs 33:26 - Kitsa, Otterball Elite Korner 39:45 - Lenticular design 50:52 - The tension between accessible and skill testing environments Discussed in this episode: The Neoclassical Cube Steel City Cube Join the MTG Cube Talk Discord Andy’s Mono-Colored Starter Decks MachineSchooling’s 2007 Nostalgia Cube Taskmaster: Series 12, Episode 8 Maro on strategic and comprehension complexity Maro on lenticular design and Drive to Work Part 1 and Part 2 Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our P.O. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Andy and Anthony talk about Andy’s Neoclassical Cube. They talk about some of the changes Andy’s been making leading up to it being played by a wider audience at Steel City Cube. They talk about how the design philosophy has evolved and their recent experience playing the Cube. View all cards mentioned in this episode. Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction and Airplane Corner 6:04 - Overview of the Neoclassical Cube and why old school Magic might appeal to players due to its simplicity 10:44 - The Beauty of Games Book Club Check In 12:15 - Lucky Paper Mail Bag: bird p1p1 and custom cards in cube 20:07 - Deep-dive on the design of the Neoclassical Cube: what defines ‘old school’ Magic? 27:16 - Dialing in the right quantity and quality of powerful enablers 32:41 - Storm in the Neoclassical Cube 38:37 - Resource denial, creatureless decks, and other aesthetic departures from modern Magic 47:46 - The Kiki Jiki Question 52:41 - The state of Reanimator 55:07 - The death of the cycling deck 57:37 - The state of the Burn deck Discussed in this episode: The Neoclassical Cube Steel City Cube The Turbo Cube The Beauty of Games Slate-Colored Dark-Eyed Junko Kakapo and David Attenborough Intertwingled Episode 134: The Neoclassical Cube: The Spirit of Old-School Magic, With a Twist Episode 150: Going Against Your Intuition: A Different Approach to Tuning the Neoclassical Cube 2007 Nostalgia Cube Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the Modern Horizons 3 Cube Community Set Review. As usual, we asked the Cube community to share what cards from the set they’re interested in trying in their Cubes, for whatever reasons that are relevant to their own curation goals, and how confident they are the cards will be hits. We compiled the results and our hosts talk through the top cards, as well as some trends and interesting patterns in the communities expectations for the set. View all cards mentioned in this episode → Discussed in this episode: Modern Horizons 3 Community Set Review Commander Set Community Review Usman’s MH3 Cube Commentary Episode 205: Full Vintage Rotisserie Draft The Devoid Cube Andy’s Mono-Colored Starter Decks Ten Thousand Posts Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 4:03 - Overview of Set Review Structure 5:23 - Broad Modern Horizons 3 survey facts and figures 9:21 - Headline mechanics that didn’t crack the top cards tested 17:29 - Individual Card Discussion 17:53 - 11. Emperor of Bones 24:38 - 10. Brainsurge 27:34 - 9. Reckless Pyrosurfer 30:20 - 8. Wight of the Reliquary 33:21 - 7. Warren Soultrader 37:59 - 6. Phlage, Titan of Nature’s Fury 42:48 - 5. Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd 46:05 - 4. Six 49:23 - 3. Nethergoyf 55:32 - 2. Psychic Frog 1:00:24 - 1. Marionette Apprentice 1:03:48 - Honorable Mention: The Landscape Cycle 1:06:26 - Honorable Mention: Accursed Marauder 1:08:01 - The powerful cards people are mostly not testing Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra: Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube Anthony’s “Regular” Cube If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.