Lucky Paper Radio

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy, Jane, and Anthony talk about Andy’s Obscura cube, prompted with the word ” feudal .” His attempted to capture the experience of feudalism in gameplay by putting the powerful cards in certain spots that would force players to build decks a certain way. Powerful, high devotion lords, as much as possible represented by sinister human creatures, motivate...

View all cards mentioned in this episode What makes a cube “balanced”? When a card or deck performs very differently in the hands of especially skilled players, are they using their greater knowledge of the game to exploit a balance issue that others can’t see? Or are they just having the predictable success you would expect from a more skilled player? Is the experience of strong players a better...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk with Brett about  his Obscura Cube . Prompted with the phrase “Déjà vu” Brett explored some wild, logistically impossible ideas before settling on a cube filled to the brim with subtle repetitions. The feeling of things having happened before manifests in my ways from multiple copies of Accumulated Knowledge, Memory Lapses that create...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony recap their experience at  Capitol Cube Championship  in Washington D.C. They talk about the five different cube drafts they did between them and their overall experience at the event. Discussed in this episode: Team Fundraiser for Birds of Paradise 100 Ornithopters Champion’s Draft Digital Qualifier Capitol Cube Champs The Score  by C. Thi...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk with Ollie about their Obscura Cube with the prompt “ Dangerous .” Ollie’s interpretation of the prompt led them to build a desert cube where all lands cost life to generate colored mana. Limiting each player to 20 colored pips of mana over the course of a game reshapes the way player’s engage with their life total as a resource and cr...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about how to draft cubes better by framing their thinking in terms of the scarcest resource in any give context. Flipping the perspective, they talk about how to leverage a diversity of themes as a cube designer. Discussed in this episode: Birds of Paradise Fundraiser Level Up Your Cube Drafting With Scarcity  article by Parke...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Gabe joins Andy and Anthony talk about  his Obscura cube , starting with the prompt “collapse”. Gabe chose to build on the theme in both aesthetic and mechanical ways. Pulling heavily from zendikar sets he set a tone of a world after the collapse of civilization. Mechanically he hoped to create gameplay that put players in committed positions that could eas...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony are joined by Cube icon  Ryan Overturf  to talk about drafting and designing weird cubes. They talk about his experience at  CubeCon broadening his experience into novel designs. They go more in depth into Ryan’s cube  Stadium Stampede  where all players start with a copy of Strixhaven Stadium in play. Discussed in this episode: Ryan’s Cube...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk with Dan, best known for creating the  Devoid Cube , about his cube for  Cube for a Cause: Obscura . Starting with the prompt “cavalier” Dan dove into the world of knights and found himself with a cube pulling heavily from the plane of Eldraine. Discussed in this episode: Dan’s  Cavalier  Cube Dan’s Cubes on Cube Cobra Duel Decks: Knig...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about expensive cards in Cube — how high mana value cards fit into their cube designs. They talk about specific expensive cards they love, break down some specific roles they see the cards playing, and how variety makes cubes more fun. Discussed in this episode: Status and Culture  by W. David Marx The Score  by C. Thi Nguyen If you’d...

View all cards mentioned in this episode In the first installment of  Obscura  cube design discussions, Andy and Anthony are joined by Ollie to talk about  Anthony’s cube designed around the prompt “anti-war” . Moving past the literal interpretation of a cube without war, Anthony chose to make his cube all about presenting the profound horrors of war. The cube features cards that aesthetically or...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about recent trends in Cube design. After looking through the revealed Cube lists for the recent  Cube for a Cause: Obscura  our hosts noticed a few design features popping up again and again. They talk about them in the broader, evolving context of the Cube design community discussing if they reflect bigger trends. In particular, refl...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Sometimes a card design just sings — all of the individual elements come together to make an elegant, resonant game piece. In this episode Andy and Anthony talk about this concept through the lens of Andy’s cube  Sacred Geometry  as he considers committing even harder to the bit. Discussed in this episode: Feudal Cube Auction on Ebay Sacred Geometry Hellrai...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony collaboratively draft Andy’s  Take Five  cube, discussing their strategy through a whole draft and how they might approach this unique environment. To follow along, or try the draft yourself before listening, you can download the  seeded pack list  and upload it to  Draftmancer . Also check out the  cards mentioned  page for the pack by pac...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony explore  Cube Cobra ’s new analytic tools for card and deck winrates. The new features allow you to upload decks and their matchup records, or import matchup data if a Cube has been played at an event using  Hedron Network  to track matches. After Andy diligently imported hundreds of decks for  100 Ornithopters , they talk through all the d...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony first talk about their upcoming series of interviews related to  Cube For a Cause: Obscura . The event will feature 17 secret Cubes from 17 well known designers created just for the event. Until the first packs are cracked, the contents of each have been kept completely unknown. Each episode in the series will feature a designer talking abo...

View all cards mentioned in this episode In a strange experiment, Andy and Anthony organize drafts of their cubes  Sacred Geometry  and  Regular Cube  and then pair players against the opposite cube. The two cubes have some major similarities, and clear differences. They wanted to see how drastically skewed win records would be towards one cube, and see what else they can learn. The experiment hig...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about narrow tutors in Cubes. In contrast to the most open ended ways for players to search up a card from their library, narrow tutor effects give cube designers an opportunity to make specific sets of cards more accessible. Our hosts talk about specific “tutor” cards they include in their cubes. They talk about the ways they can crea...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony report on their experience at CubeCon DMV — from the organizers of the original  CubeCon  — a cube event right in their back yard. They talk about their drafts in the event, highlights from games, and lunchtime highs and lows. Discussed in this episode: Cube Events Page The Metabolic Machine Take Five Andy’s  Take Five  Videos Jarvis Yube W...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about cards they think are cool. In the long anticipated follow up to  episode 108 , they just talk about things they think are neat. Anthony shares some cards he’s seen pop up regularly in recent cube drafts that spark some intrigue. Andy shares cards that he thinks over-deliver, in a design and gameplay sense, in his own cubes. Discu...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about board stalls and Cube. They talk about what they don’t like about this particular genera of board state. They theorize about some aspects of a cube’s design would lead to more stalls, and ways they might, as a designer, try to minimize them. This weeks topic was suggested by listener MZ. Thanks, MZ! Discussed in this episode: Luc...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about the logistics of tokens for Cube. They talk about different ways they’ve managed them over the years and for different Cubes. They make recommendations for the best way to approach the problem, and even how their Cube design is influenced by token makers. Discussed in this episode: InfiniTokens MPC Autofill Example Token Page on...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony are joined by Jake and Parker to talk about their shifts in approach to each of their eternal cubes. While Jake, Parker, and Andy have long maintained generally “power motivated” eternal cubes, they’ve each grappled with concerns about aesthetics, complexity, or gameplay in the last few years of Magic releases. They talk about how they’ve c...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Riffing on  last week’s slightly divisive  topic, Andy and Anthony talk about cards in their own cubes that players hate. They comb through their cubes discussing the many reasons players might dislike a card and why they might still be justifiable inclusions. Discussed in this episode: Numberphile Episode 307: Hate Cards in Cube Sacred Geometry Regular Cub...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about hate cards, and how they fit into Cube design in particular. Of course, they start by trying to define the term. They talk through the pros and cons of them and how different types may play a role in Cubes. They go through a number of their own cubes, analyzing them from this perspective. Discussed in this episode: Take 5 Sacred...