Lucky Paper Radio

Andy and Anthony talk about the headline mechanics of Magic’s latest premier set, Streets of New Capenna , a set featuring five, three-color factions, the families, each with their own named mechanic. They discuss each abstractly, breaking down the possible design space, how they fit into existing contexts, and what kinds of individual card designs they’re hoping to see. 27 weeks to CubeCon ! Time...

Andy and Anthony revisit the topic of the rock, paper, scissors metagame on the axis of tempo and respond to listener feedback from last week’s episode . In addition, they share some highlights and bad-beats from a long weekend playing a range of Cubes. Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Gasedup’s Micro Grixis Cube . Timestamps: 1:56 — Brags and Bad Beats: A Cube Weekend Re...

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 thou...

Andy and Anthony are off this week, but fear not! Friends of the show Parker LaMascus and Jason Waddell are filling in and discussing one of their favorite, non-Magic card games: Slay the Spire. You do not need to have played Slay the Spire to appreciate this episode as Parker and Jason tie their experience with the game back to Cube design and Magic more broadly. Check out Jason’s Twitch stream w...

Andy and Anthony discuss the new, popular two player draft format, Hausman draft, where players draft a series of rounds exchanging cards from hidden hands with a shared, face-up, set of cards. They talk about their experience with the format, the kinds of decks it creates and pros and cons for this style of drafting. In closing, they touch briefly on the strengths and weaknesses of some other pop...

Andy and Anthony explore at length a question from the MTG Cube Reddit . As Cube designers, how do we think about cards with strong build-around, signaling potential when they seem like they may not be a good fit for the environment. View linked timestamps and our kitchen tier list on our website . Discussed in this episode: Birthday brunch Irregular Cube u/jselzo’s Reddit post on unintended signa...

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...

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...

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...

Our Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set. The first of our three part set review for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is here! Andy and Anthony are putting their designer hats on and talking about their first impressions of the triumphant return to Kamigawa. Neon Dynasty brings a handful of flexible mechanics along...

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...

Andy and Anthony discuss Anthony’s updated Battle Box which started as an update and turned into a complete refresh. They talk about how Anthony’s goals have changed and clarified and how that translates to logistical and card choices. They breakdown the gameplay experience, comparing it to their goals and the experience of the previous iteration . To start things off, they each draw a hand from t...

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 t...

Andy and Anthony each draft the same seat in Andy’s Bun Magic Cube and compare how they navigate the draft seat by seat. Draft the same seat yourself here on Cube Cobra and compare your own choices! Andy and Anthony’s draft logs are available on the cards mentioned page . Decklists are available on our website . Tune in Tuesday, the day after this episode airs, to The Guardian Project’s stream to...

See the full timestamps on our website or follow along with a visual spoiler of all the cards mentioned in this episode . In an attempt to record a canonical episode about the concept of power level and how it applies to cube, our heroes are chatting about the advantages and disadvantages playing with the most powerful cards and effects. How is power level actually defined? How is it related to th...

In this 2021 retrospective episode, Andy and Anthony look back on the year and discuss the highs and lows for Cube and how their relationship with Magic continues to evolve. They follow the format of Lucky Paper’s 2021 Cube in Review article , giving their own answers to the questions posed to prominent community members therein, and end up going deep on how changes to competitive Magic and the co...

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 a...

Andy and Anthony talk about all things un-. They discuss the history of silver-bordered and other non-tournament Magic cards, how they’re designed, and the categories they fall into so you can choose if and how to play them in your Cube. Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Myagic’s Storytime Cube featuring fairytale themes and a sprinking of un-cards. Discussed in this episo...

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 hande...

Andy and Anthony are joined by Parker LaMascus to share the results of the Innistrad: Crimson View cube community survey. They look at the top cards that the most people are interested in for their cubes, what makes them appealing, and what contexts they fit best in. Follow along with every card mentioned in the card image gallery . Timestamps (includes spoilers!): 4:42 — A new theory for why cube...

Our Innistrad: Crimson Vow survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set. Andy and Anthony talk about Innistrad: Crimson Vow through the lens of their many specific cubes, including the themes, mechanics, and individual cards that fit into particular contexts. They dig into many of the most powerful cards of the set relevant for Andy’s m...

Our Innistrad: Crimson Vow set survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set. Andy and Anthony take a first look at Innistrad: Crimson Vow, breaking down themes, mechanics, and cycles for Cube. They talk about opportunities the headline mechanics including Blood, cleave, and yet another influx of double faced cards could offer for all ma...

Andy and Anthony talk about archetypes in Cube design. They discuss what archetypes are, why they’ve become a fundamental part of limited set design, and the uses and limitations of applying the same process to Cube design. Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Cassie’s cube, The Facedown Slide , heavily featuring morph, cycling and related mechanics. Timestamps: 5:24: Listene...

For a transcript of this week's scripted opening, see our website . Music for this episode was adapted from Matt McInerney’s EP Mined . Thanks, Matt. We’ll be back next week with a regular episode. If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Andy and Anthony talk about a few loosely related Cube topics. They kick things off with a pick from a spooky cube, reflect on some recent drafts and how different playgroups can evaluate environments drastically differently, some individual cards, and the power of novelty. Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from listener Anthony’s very spooky Horror Cube . Timestamps: 3:17 — Sp...