Lucky Paper Radio

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...

Andy and Anthony talk with Jason Waddell about Cube, game design, and the complications of Magic as a hobby. Jason share’s his experience with the ups and downs of his relationship with the game. Follow along with the card image gallery . View complete show notes and timestamps on our website . Discussed in this episode: Riptide Lab Who’s the beatdown UB Trippin (not actually by PVDDR, please excu...

Andy and Anthony talk about the imminent shutdown of CubeTutor . Don’t forget to export your data! 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 o...

Andy and Anthony are Joined by Parker to dive into Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and all the cards and mechanics they’re interested in for cubes of all kinds. For detailed, linked timestamps view the episode on our website . You can also follow along with the brand new card image gallery , which includes images of every card mentioned in the episode, in chronological order. Discussed in this episode: L...

Our Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Cube 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 the ‘feelbad’ moments in Magic and the cards that are more likely to create them. This seemingly narrow topic turns out to be one of the most critical and easy to take for granted aspects of Cube design: how do we make it fun? The...

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:  6:20 — Day and Night 16:09 — Disturb 20:55 — Flashbac...

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 posi...

Andy and Anthony talk about the role of one mana spells in Cube. The first play of the game can be fundamental to starting off the game with a plan. The atomic unit of the game’s resource shapes the decisions players have and the way plays can be sequenced. Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from nettlesomeReflexion’s Public Library Cube , emulating their first experience with M...

This is a special, ‘live’ episode of Lucky Paper Radio. The audio quality is not to our normal standards — if you’ve never heard the show before we do not recommend starting with this one! Andy and Anthony decompress with the draft crew in the middle of a long weekend of many, many cube drafts, sharing the greatest and saltiest moments in a rare, unfiltered episode of Lucky Paper Radio. Our cube w...

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 f...

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...

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...

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: Grid Drafting the Turbo Cube on YouTube I Think You Should Leave Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Mechanics Episode Adventur...

Andy and Anthony discuss their first impressions of Magic’s newest set, D&D: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms . Setting aside individual card evaluation, they dive into the mechanics and flavor from a design and gameplay perspective. With dice rolling, dungeon adventuring, and D&D flavor the set brings a whole new twist to the game for D&D lovers and Magic players who enjoy seeing th...

Our Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Cube survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set. Make sure to check out a special video made by Jason Waddell to accompany this week’s intro. Using Cube Cobra ’s new feature to sort a cube by popularity of cards, Andy and Anthony explore Andy’s Bun Magic Cube . They discuss some of the factors th...

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 tal...

In an effort to expand on past discussion about what makes a particular cube “hard” or “easy” to play, Andy and Anthony are dedicating an entire episode to unpacking what exactly makes Magic a difficult game. After being pressed by Andy to define seemingly simple terms, Anthony expounds upon his concepts of a “competency floor”, “mastery ceiling”, and overall “exertion”, and how each of these fact...

Do some light stretches and grab some popcorn, because this is Lucky Paper Radio ’s most in depth set review ever. Andy, Anthony, and Jett dive into Modern Horizons 2, a set with an unprecedented number of cards for cubes of all kinds. They explore support for classic mechanics, designs that can enable new themes, and the many powerful cards pushing the limits. Conversation is guided by the result...

Andy and Anthony talk about the practical side of cube. For many of us, Cube is about bringing people together through our favorite game, but finding or creating a consistent playgroup can be a challenge. Our hosts share what they they’ve learned seeing their own group develop, treating a draft like a party, with food and clear communication, and playing with what can turn into a very pricy board...

Timestamps 5:25 Introduction to Parker’s Cube 19:44 High fixing density, it’s effects and player expectations 23:08 What does it mean for a cube to be ‘hard to draft’? 28:50 Playtesting observations and notes 40:57 Synthesizing our draft experiences 52:26 Highs and lows drafting Mordor’s Cube 1:04:02 Pack 1, pick 1 from Parker’s Cube Our Modern Horizons 2 Cube survey is open! Please take a few min...

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 c...

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...

Andy and Anthony discuss Anthony’s newest cube project, Irregular Cube . Like his primary cube it’s a lower power environment with a variety of overlapping archetypes, but it also has a novel structure: a main set and a second list of ‘rare’ cards, largely composed of higher powered cards with a healthy helping of build-arounds. They talk about the many opportunities rarity offers, challenges it i...

Our Strixhaven: School of Mages and Commander 2021 prospectives are out! Thank you to everyone who participated. Andy and Anthony are joined by Lucky Paper contributor Jett for a deep dive on what they believe to be the noteworthy cards from Strixhaven and Commander 2021 . In their discussion, they reference their Strixhaven mechanics episode and their episode on Card Evaluation and the Playtestin...

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 environm...