Lucky Paper Radio

Andy and Anthony talk about Andy’s latest cube creation, The Neoclassical Cube! The cube is intended to capture the spirit of old-school Magic, …

Andy and Anthony talk about common pitfalls new Cube designers fall into. There’s no right way to build a Cube, but new designers very often fall …

Full show notes on our website.

Andy and Anthony are joined by Aran, from their local playgroup, to talk about the design of Set Cubes. The talk …

Andy and Anthony absolutely obliterate the notion that you need eight people to draft a cube. While a full pod might be your ideal, with tons of …

Andy and Anthony talk about growing a local Cube playgroup. They reflect on what’s been working for them to get a consistent, weekly Cube night running as well as challenges that need to be overcome. The talk …

Andy and Anthony look back at 2022 on the highs and lows for Cube design and the Cube Community. They talk about the sets and cards they think will have the biggest, lasting impact on Cube design. Cube is a unique …

On the heels of last week’s episode, wherein Andy realized that his 3 drop slot is perhaps inappropriately high-value in the face of removal, and in response to some grumbling from his local playgroup about reactive …

Andy and Anthony talk the types and distributions of threats in their Cubes. Like they’ve done with removal and fixing in the past with interaction and fixing, they make a somewhat subjective categorization of how …

Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of The Brothers’ War community set survey. They talk about the top cards being tested by the most people …

Many cube designers, Andy and Anthony included, have way more time an energy to put into their Cubes than the rest of their playgroup. Given that designers do spend so much more time thinking about and tinkering with …

Our survey for The Brothers’ War is up now! Share what cards you’re interested in for your Cube!

Andy and Anthony talk about the new cards from The Brothers’ War they’re interested in giving a chance in their own …

Our survey for The Brothers’ War is up now! Share what cards you’re interested in for your Cube!

Andy and Anthony review the mechanics and themes from The Brothers’ War. They talk through the headline mechanics and …

After one last draft, Andy and Anthony look back on the now disassembled Mono Black Cube. They talk about highlights and lessons learned from the …

After a fantastic, if exhausting, inaugural CubeCon, Andy and Anthony are joined by Patrick, Daniel, and Theo to talk about highlights from the weekend. They talk about their favorite Cubes they drafted, top gameplay …

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Andy and Anthony respond to an episode of The Eternal Glory Podcast on the recent pauper bans. Drawing comparisons between managing a constructed format with bans and Cube …

We’re on our way to Cube Con! We can’t wait to meet listeners and friends from all over.

If you’re attending CubeCon, introduce yourself! We’ll be posting a photo of ourselves on our Twitter account so you know who to …

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Andy and Anthony talk about a fundamental component of playing Magic, exploring and finding new cards. They talk about their goals and process for finding new cards and talk …

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If you don’t yet have tickets to CubeCon, you can now sign up for the wait list

Andy and Anthony talk about how they approach drafting Anthony’s novel Turbo Cube where all …

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In advance of Anthony’s Regular Cube being featured at CubeCon, Andy and Anthony talk about how they …

The full timestamps were too long for the RSS feed, so check them out on our website.

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Andy, Anthony, and …

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about the results from the Dominaria United community set review. Almost 350 …

Our Cube Prospective Surveys for Dominaria United and accompanying commander sets are closing soon!

Andy and Anthony discuss the new cards from Dominaria United they’re interested in for their own Cube environments. …

Our Cube Prospective Surveys for Dominaria United and accompanying commander sets are now open!

Andy and Anthony talk about the new mechanics, themes, and their first impressions of Dominaria United and what they’re …

Andy and Anthony are joined by competitive grinder, latent Cube content creator, and actually good Magic player Dom Harvey to talk about his relationship with the game. Together, they discuss Dom’s storied competitive …

Having discussed the impact of different densities of removal ad nauseam, Andy and Anthony turn their attention to the different types of removal spells and how they play differently. They examine the costs of playing …

Andy and Anthony are back at it again, returning to the font of endless Magic discussion: Baneslayers and Mulldrifters. After years of not …

6:35 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1

14:45 — Overview of the State of Design article

19:06 — Complexity in Magic in 2022

26:40 — Adjustments to …

Andy and Anthony compare their main cubes, Andy’s unpowered Vintage Cube that emulates the gameplay of Legacy and Anthony’s comparatively low powered

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Read Andy's article informing this episode! Andy and Anthony talk about how many lands to run in a Cube. …

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Andy and Anthony discuss Commander and their personal approaches to deck building. They talk about some of their favorite decks, what they look for in the format, and what …

The show notes for this episode are too long to fit in the RSS feed, so check out our website for linked timestamps, cards mentioned, and the full …

View the Commander Map!

Andy and Anthony are joined by Jett to talk about Lucky Paper’s brand new project: the Commander Map! The map visualizes the wide world of EDH showing every deck on EDHREC organized in 2d space …

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Most Cubes are ever-changing, with a constant stream of cards being added as new sets are released and the …

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View the full survey results →

Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s …

Andy and Anthony collaboratively draft a deck from Anthony’s Regular Cube, discussing how they approach the environment and the roles individual …

After teasing it on their Centennial Retrospective, Andy and Anthony are revisiting the topic of one of their notable past episodes, number 31: Bread and Butter Breakdown. With some small revisions to his categorization …

On their milestone, 100th show, Andy and Anthony reflect on important past episodes and things they’ve learned in the last two years of Lucky Paper …

Have you always wanted a Cube of your own? Do you have a box full of jank and draft chaff taking up space that you can’t bring yourself to get rid …

After watching Caleb draft his Powered Synergy Cube on Magic Online for hours, Andy is dying to support some more sweet, synergistic decks in his Bun …

If you’d like to support the show, we’d love help annotating old episodes!

Andy and Anthony are going deep on fetch lands. They discuss the long tail …

Andy, Anthony, and Parker discuss the results of Lucky Paper’s Streets of New Capenna Cube Community Set review. They talk through the top cards most …

Our Streets of New Capenna survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Caleb Gannon joins Andy and Anthony to talk about his Powered Synergy Cube which is …

Our Streets of New Capenna 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 step back and talk about Cube and Cooking, the many things …

Our Streets of New Capenna 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 discuss each card their interested in giving a try in their own …

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, …

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 …

After alluding to it in passing multiple times, Andy and Anthony are finally going deep on Andy’s contentious assertion that there are no …

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 …

Andy and Anthony discuss the new, popular two player draft format, Hausman draft, where players draft a series of rounds exchanging cards from hidden …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

…

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …

Last call for our Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Cube survey! This is your only chance to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

…

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 …

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, …

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 …

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. …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Cube presents unique drafting a deckbuilding challenges when it comes to manabases. Retail limited is our only benchmark for drafting, but non-basic …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Our Strixhaven: School of Mages and Commander 2021 prospectives are out! Thank you to everyone who participated.

Andy and Anthony are joined by Lucky …

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!

Our Strixhaven and Commander 2021 Cube surveys are open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new sets.

Andy and Anthony talk about the new mechanics in Strixhaven and what …

Our Strixhaven and Commander 2021 Cube surveys are open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new sets.

Due to the loss of a close, personal friend, Andy and Anthony are off …

Our Strixhaven and Commander 2021 Cube surveys are open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new sets.

This week, Andy and Anthony share a little of their personal history …

This week, Andy and Anthony take aim at the dominating rhetoric about Cube which takes for granted it is a format showcasing the most powerful cards …

This week, Andy and Anthony discuss changes to Andy’s Bun Magic Cube, updated to include a dramatic increase in the number of mana fixing lands and …

The Cube Map: Exploring over 20,000 Magic: the Gathering Cube lists

On this very special bonus episode, Andy and Anthony are joined by Jett to tell everyone about a project they have been working on for a long time: the

Anyone who has spent any time in Cube design circles has heard the supposed virtues of an environment with a “flat” power level, where the worst card is no less appealing or less playable than the best. On this week’s …

Andy and Anthony welcome Justin Parnell on this week’s episode of Lucky Paper Radio. Justin was one of the first Magic writers to write about Cube and graciously shares stories from the format’s earlier days. From …

Do you like your podcast episodes to be carefully planned and tightly edited, with the hosts staying laser focused on the topic at hand? If so, then …

On this week’s Lucky Paper Radio, Andy and Anthony are answering a question from listener Nate about how to decide which cards to “ban” from his Peasant Cube. To date, Nate has used the Legacy banned list for his cube, …

View the Rotisserie Draft Discussed in this Episode

Use the Template in Your Own Rotisserie Drafts

On this week’s Lucky Paper Radio, Andy and Anthony are returning to one of their favorite ways to play Cube in the time …

As a follow up to last week’s Kaldheim Set Review episode, Andy and Anthony are going back to first principles and asking, what is card evaluation? …

Our Kaldheim Prospective is out! Thank you to everyone who participated.

Buckle your seatbelts and charge up your podcatchers, because this is our most in-depth set review ever and our longest episode to date. Andy and …

This is our last chance to complete our Kaldheim Cube Survey! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Every once in a while, something in your head clicks and the way …

Our Kaldheim Cube Survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

As Andy tinkers with two lower powered and novel cubes, he finds himself presented with a …

Given that we’re in the throes of spoiler season, Andy and Anthony are giving their first impressions on the mechanics of Kaldheim and how they relate to other mechanics in Magic or might be integrated into a cube …

Try as they might, our beloved hosts just can’t stay on track. On this episode, Andy’s attempt to tie up a few loose ends from last week’s episode …

It’s a new year and Lucky Paper Radio is back! They also never went anywhere, but they’re back nonetheless. On this episode, Andy and Anthony intend …

In a year-end extravaganza, Andy and Anthony dedicate an entire episode to doing pack 1, pick 1s from listener submitted cubes. Is this a good idea …

In a decidedly not-so-special holiday episode, Andy and Anthony are talking about tribal synergies in Cube and announce their first formalized …

Our hosts are finally ready to share the Degenerate Micro Cube with the world. This episode is a deep dive on what this cube is all about, why Andy loves it so much, and why it’s just not Anthony’s cup of tea. They do a …

This episode is all about tempo — what is it, when does it matter, and how do you apply it to your Cube design and gameplay decisions. Andy and Anthony talk about what “aggro” really means, why some games feel like …

This is a comparatively aimless episode where our hosts meander through a couple of vaguely related cube topics. They start off by recapping their recent draft of a friend’s greenless, “Breya” cube, which they also do a …

This is your last chance to participate in our Commander Legends Cube Survey! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

On this episode, Andy and Anthony are discussing …

Our Commander Legends Cube Survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

On this episode, Andy and Anthony are joined by their friend and Commander …

The boys turn their attention to what at least Andy thinks is an under-appreciated context in which to evaluate cards — the draft. Instead of discussing how cards are played in game or what an ideal deck looks like, …

On this episode of Lucky Paper Radio Andy and Anthony are looking at the suggestions from Cube Cobra’s recommender for adds and cuts to their respective primary cubes. This is a jumping off point for discussion about …

This episode of Lucky Paper Radio covers a range of topics all surrounding the importance of context in cube design and card evaluation. To start, Andy and Anthony do a very spooky pack 1, pick 1 from listener Stephen’s …

In a deviation from our regularly scheduled programming, this episode is specifically catered to new cube designers or players that are interested in …

On this week’s episode, Andy and Anthony discuss the new, extensive description and draft guide Anthony wrote about his “Regular” Cube and then …

Andy and Anthony are tackling a big subject in this episode: how do you turn experience playing your cube into informed design decisions that improve your environment? What do you do when your players insist that cards …

On this special episode of Lucky Paper Radio, Andy and Anthony are joined by Lucky Paper founding contributor Jett Crowdis to preview the results of …

This is your last chance to submit a response for the Zenikar Rising Cube Survey. Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set so your voice can be part of our upcoming …

Our Zenikar Rising Cube Survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set, or if you’re not …

This episode is a deep dive on evaluating the new modal double-face card mechanic from Zendikar Rising by comparing it to a variety of existing mechanics from Magic’s past. Andy and Anthony kick things off by weighing …

On this very special episode of Lucky Paper Radio, Andy and Anthony give you their first impressions of Zendikar Rising based on the September 1st …

This is an episode about how difficult it is to design a cube. First, Andy and Anthony do a pack 1, pick 1 from Anthony’s “Regular” Cube, which leads …

On this episode, Andy and Anthony bring you the long awaited conclusion of their rotisserie draft of Andy’s cube. They also do a pack 1, pick 1 from, …

On this episode, Andy and Anthony discuss how Andy evaluates cards for his cube based on how they perform against opposing decks rather than on their interactions with other cards in the same deck. They do a pack 1, …

On this episode, Andy and Anthony talk about the nature of singleton. They do a pack 1, pick 1 from MinorBug’s “Tringleton II” cube, an environment with a 3x card limit as opposed to the more common singleton …

On this episode, Andy and Anthony are talking all things aggro. They do a pack 1, pick 1 from catofcraft’s “Fast Cube”, a low-to-the-ground, efficient environment with no shuffle effects. Anthony dozes off for awhile as …

On this episode, Andy and Anthony discuss a pack 1, pick 1 from listener Elle’s ”Graveyard Cube”, then have a conversation about a recent draft of …

On this episode, Andy and Anthony discuss a pack 1, pick 1 from listener Chris's "Dichotomy Cube", which consists of 180 white cards, 180 black …

On this episode, Andy and Anthony discuss a pack 1, pick 1 from Andy's cube, their experiences with IKO and M21 sealed, a theoretical cube designed specifically for playing sealed, and how kitchen table Magic is the …

On this episode, Andy and Anthony discuss Anthony's array of cubes, and do a deep-dive on his monoblack Cube, talking about its origins, how the environment feels, and some potential changes thanks to new cards from …

On this episode, Andy and Anthony discuss the cards that interest them most from Core Set 2021.

If you have a Cube of your own please consider …

Lucky Paper Radio is a podcast about Magic: the Gathering hosted by lifelong friends Andy Mangold and Anthony Mattox. Focused primarily on sandbox …