Lucky Paper Radio

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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 changed their design philosophies in light of those changes and how they’ve reframed the way they make decisions about the cards they choose to play.
Discussed in this episode:
Bodleian Cube
Bun Magic Cube
Theseus
Turbo Cube
Atavus
Pulp Nouveau
Midwinter
Cascade Cascade
Four TCGs in Magic’s Trench Coat, article by Parker LaMascus
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 mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:
Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211
Musical production by DJ James Nasty.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
2:57 - Main Topic: Power Motivated Cube
11:21 - The Vibeshift
17:08 - Gameplay Styles
19:33 - Paper Drafting and Taste
24:41 - Why Play High Power Level Magic
30:53 - Stat Inflation
39:33 - Power Motivation in 2026
45:46 - Theorycrafting with Powerful Cards
49:26 - Concluding Games
53:14 - Make Your Cube About Something
55:57 - Advice

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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 Cube
Bun Magic Cube
Irregular Cube
100 Ornithopters
Episode 293: The Last Echo of a Boon
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 mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:
Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211
Musical production by DJ James Nasty.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
5:20 - Hated Cards
10:00 - What Makes a Card a “Groaner”
11:57 - Bun Magic
22:52 - Irregular Cube
25:37 - Mill
28:31 - Silver Border
32:02 - Conspiracies
36:49 - 100 Ornithopters and Reactive Spells
47:30 - Thrumming Stone
52:07 - Sacred Geometry
57:34 - Regular Cube and Clunky Mana
1:02:42 - Neoclassical Cube

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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 Geometry
100 Ornithopters
Bun Magic Cube
Neoclassical Cube
Turbo Cube
Regular Cube
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 mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:
Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211
Musical production by DJ James Nasty.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
0:45 - Main Topic: Hate Cards
9:15 - Examples of Hate Cards
13:05 - Hate Cards We Cube
16:09 - Talking About Constructed
17:14 - Aura Shards
22:09 - Bun Magic Hate Cards
23:53 - Teferi, Time Raveler
28:38 - Changing the Math vs Hate
31:11 - Take Five
34:11 - Hate Combos
36:30 - Neoclassical Cube
38:48 - White in Neoclassical
42:00 - Groundseal
44:37 - Humility
48:47 - Turbo Cube
55:39 - Context Shift Hate
59:57 - Mailbag
1:02:15 - Garfield

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Andy and Anthony scour the cutting room floor for unfinished gems. They offer up some of their half-baked, unfinished cube ideas for you to steal. Andy shares his ideas for an aesthetic sun-bleached cube, a cube where your deck is your life total, and an environment built around wishes. Anthony digs up an all alternate win conditions cube and a battle box where the entire game happens in one stack.
Discussed in this episode:
Anthony’s Alternate Win Condition Cube
Anthony’s Single Stack Battle Box
Creatureless Cube
Degenerate Microcube
Loam Cube
Companion Cube
Arcane Lessons
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 mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:
Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211
Musical production by DJ James Nasty.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
1:19 - Main Topic: Steal Our Ideas
1:57 - Sunbleached Cube
6:59 - Alternate Win Cons Cube
13:06 - No Life Total Cube
24:33 - Where Do Ideas Come From
27:33 - Omniscience Battlebox
37:24 - Three Wishes Cube
49:02 - Custom Ante Cards

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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 mail@luckypaper.co 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