Lucky Paper Radio

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Cube Person of the Year 2024, Ollie, to talk about whether it’s irresponsible to present a cube for drafting without any playtesting. What is the difference between ‘playing’ and ‘playtesting’? Can you design a cube iteratively without playtesting? Just how bad can a cube really be?
Discussed in this episode:
Upkeep NY/C4AC
Bodlean Cube
Creatureless Cube
Episode 302 — Theory Drafting the Best Decks in Regular Cube
The Ball Pit
Episode 206 — The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield
100 Ornithopters
Marina Abramovic - The Artist is Present (2010)
Boston Cube Party
If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.
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 [email protected] or our p.o. box:
Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211
Musical production by DJ James Nasty.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
3:41 - Secret Project: Obscura
9:13 - Playtesting
16:46 - The Case Against Playtesting
21:03 - Non-Playtest Data
23:09 - The Process
29:45 - Playing Vs Playtesting
35:17 - Cube First Impressions
43:33 - Expectations
47:28 - Designing for an Experience
52:10 - Marina Abramovic and Artistic Intent
58:26 - Logistics

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Andy and Anthony are joined by the de facto Cube judge — Bones! The three recap The Salt Box, a small Cube event in Baltimore. At this event, Andy debuted Take Five and Judge Bones Arcane Lessons. They share what they learned from players drafting their cubes for the very first time and their own experience as cube designers drafting cubes for the first time in a public event.
Discussed in this episode:
Salt Box
Take 5
Take 5 Youtube Videos
Arcane Lessons
Bones on Cube Cobra
Changeling Cube
Sacred Geometry
Regular Cubehttps://cubecobra.com/cube/about/regular?view=primer
Kulashov Cube
The Wetlands
The Red Terror
Magic History with Bones and Deinonychus
If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.
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 [email protected] or our p.o. box:
Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211
Musical production by DJ James Nasty.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
0:00 - Special Guest Judge Bones
5:11 - Arcane Lessons
11:31 - Debuting Arcane Lessons
15:38 - Lesson/Learn
17:19 - Arcane
19:35 - Iteration
21:12 - Lessons Learned
29:09 - Take Five Debut
42:45 - Designing Cubes for Events
47:35 - Take Five Feedback
51:48 - Anthony’s Salt Box Highlights
60:08 - Fun Judge Calls with Judge Bones

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Andy and Anthony are joined by returning guest Zach Barash. They talk about about different lenses Cube designers can use to approach designing a new cube. They finish on a pack 1, pick 1 from Andy’s new cube Take Five.
Previous episodes with Zach:
001 The Principles of Game Design
002 On Terminology, Communication, and Community
003 Reflections on Cube Drafts Past
004 Building Skill vs. Building Community and Learning from Your Mistakes
005 Playtesting and Cube Feedback
Discussed in this episode:
Upkeep NY
Episode 197: Cube Design Iron Chef: Goblin Charbelcher
Episode 182: Emergent Cube Design by Example
Cubes referenced:
Bun Magic Cube
Cascade Cube
Turbo Cube
Reading Rainbow
Sacred Geometry
The Ball Pit
Companion Cube
Perilous Seas
Dichotomy Cube
UMA+ Cube
Take Five
If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.
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 [email protected] or our p.o. box:
Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211
Musical production by DJ James Nasty.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
1:27 - Guest: Zach Barash
4:59 - Lenses for Approaching Cube Design
14:12 - Making a “Good Cube”
15:05 - Duplication
19:28 - Balance
24:13 - Homage
25:18 - Powermaxing Diversion
33:39 - Novelty
37:14 - Balancing Goals vs Taste
42:01 - Icebergs
46:11 - Restrictions
51:33 - Head vs Heart
53:43 - Summary
58:01 - Crack-a-Pack of Take Five

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Andy and Anthony and joined by Adam, a local player who suggested a novel way to cube. All players involved built what they thought would be the best deck that could ever be drafted from Anthony’s Regular Cube. They talked about the decks they built, their processes for building, and what it revealed about an environment which is typically intended to be drafted.
Discussed in this episode:
Regular Cube
Super Magic Fun Time
Degenerate Microcube
If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.
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 [email protected] or our p.o. box:
Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211
Musical production by DJ James Nasty.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
1:27 - Main Topic: Theory Draft with Adam
7:48 - RW Heroic
18:04 - Metagaming
23:50 - Anthony’s Zombie Deck
26:58 - Comparing Draft, Constructed, and Rotisserie
29:25 - Premium Removal
31:03 - Mana
34:31 - More Theorydrafting
40:17 - Meta Shifts
42:51 - Andy’s Ninjas Deck
46:04 - Splashes
51:05 - Anthony’s WG Landfall Deck
53:51 - Adam’s Mono B Zombies
54:32 - Sideboards
1:03:23 - Reevaluations
1:05:41 - The Control Deck
1:08:31 - Final Thoughts

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Following their previous episode about playing with Young Pyromancer Andy and Anthony talk about how to win with proactive green decks. They look back at some of Anthony’s successful decks and try to get some insight into what makes them tick, exploring card types and distribution and gameplay heuristics.
Discussed in this episode:
Deck Photos
Episode 299: How to Win with Young Pyromancer
Episode 260: The ABC’s of Midrange
Red Terror
If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.
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 [email protected] or our p.o. box:
Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211
Musical production by DJ James Nasty.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
4:33 - Main Topic: How to Play Green
6:39 - Andy’s Midrange Woes
12:05 - Mana Curve & Mulligans
14:28 - Being the Beatdown
20:58 - Combat & Blocking
29:37 - Card Evaluation
34:44 - Synergy
39:23 - More Mana Curve
40:42 - Cantrips
43:54 - Grindy Cards & Flexibility
46:07 - Manlands
48:44 - Summary
52:53 - Mailbag