Lucky Paper Radio

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony recap Magic events they participated in this week. First, Anthony talks through his experience at  Vertex Philadelphia , a ~100 person Cube tournament. Anthony had another solid run in his drafts, and the event was the first time his new  Broadcast Shuffling method  was tried at scale to reasonable success. Andy shares his experience helpin...

View all cards mentioned in this episode On the third installment of  The Barash Files , Zach shares stories from his drafts of some of Andy and Anthony’s cubes over the last few years. He shares insights into how he approaches them as a player, and how effectively they deliver on their stated goals. Discussed in this episode: Drafting the Bun Magic Cube with Zach Barash Zach’s Roto Deck Anthony’s...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk with  Carmen Klomparens , lead designer of the Foundations Starter Collection, about the set and how it’s a great option for new Cube players looking for a starting point. They talk about what’s in the set, how and how it was designed, and then each offer ideas and specific cards they’d add and cut to use it as a cube. Discussed in thi...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about changes to the design of Magic cards over the years: including some overt changes like “snap on equipment” and more subtle differences in how attack triggers are worded they feel would have been done differently in the past. They talk about how each changes the texture and focus of games and how they think about them as Cube desi...

View all cards mentioned in this episode In the second installment of “The Barash Files”, Andy, Anthony, and Zach talk about Cube terminology. They talk about how the language we use effects that kinds of conversations we have which in turn effect the kinds of communities we build. New terminology can enable talking more efficiently about concepts that get condensed into a term, but also make it h...

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 perso...

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 prototypi...

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...

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...

View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the  Foundations Cube Community survey . They talk through the top cards that have Cube designers most excited and theorize about what’s catching people’s interest and some of the patterns in the results. They talk about the associated  Jump Start set  with one major stand out: Scythecat Cub which is apparentl...

Andy and Anthony talk all things board wipes in Cube. They talk about the varieties and boundaries of cards that reset the board state and how they effect gameplay and add strategic depth to games with or against them. They talk about the roles of board wipes in their main Cubes. View cards mentioned in this episode > Discussed in this episode: Foundations  and  Jump Start  Cube Surveys Lucky P...

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 Pap...

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 Cub...

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...

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...

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 epi...

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....

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...

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 Cub...

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...

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...

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: Whi...

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 ep...

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 - Capito...

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 Comm...