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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 prototyping and playtesting, designers feed the results they learn back into the beginning of the process.

They talk about how cube designers can learn from the process, adopting the role and mindset of a game designer.

Zach works at Wizards of the Coast on the Arena team, designing many of the events available — his opinions on the show are his own. We’re excited to have him join us for four more episodes in the near future.

Discussed in this episode:

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

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

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

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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 the tools they’ve built to address their own needs that come up regularly in Cube design.

Discussed in this episode:

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

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

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

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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 multi-color decks are likely to be drafted.

Discussed in this episode:

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

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

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

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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 apparently both highly anticipated and polarizing. Finally, they can’t help but talk about the trends, stand outs, and misses in the new set’s artwork.

We’ve chosen Playing Oppression for our next Book Club episode. We’ll be reading the book and discussing it in an episode after the holidays. Pick up a copy if you want to read along with us!

Discussed in this episode:

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

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

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

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.

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Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps

1:22 - Topic introduction

2:22 - What is a board wipe?

20:25 - How much should a board wipe cost and how much does it matter?

45:27 - Different densities of board wipes and how they affect their respective cube environments

51:15 - The draft and play patterns that board wipes create

59:19 - Summary

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. 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

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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.

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Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

3:34 - Regular Cube Feedback

16:14 - Turbo Cube Feedback

30:53 - 100 Ornithopters Feedback

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

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

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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 Cube projects, including Andy’s new Cube: Sacred Geometry.

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Discussed in this episode:

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. 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

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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.

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Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

6:09 - Are we good at Magic?

8:56 - How do we approach drafting a completely unfamiliar list

19:29 - Should you look at the available mana fixing in a cube?

26:08 - The categories of cards to pay attention to in the draft

30:25 - How often should you end up playing your pack 1, pick 1 in Cube draft?

31:59 - The importance of recontexualizaion

40:26 - The Value of Having a Plan

48:04 - How much do you trust the Cube designer?

57:24 - Heuristics for having a good time

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. 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

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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 catch up with old or meet up with new friends in the Cube community.

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Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

5:00 - The Fire Swamp

17:43 - The Way too Hybrid Cube

21:21 - The Good Old Days

29:24 - The Mono Red Cube

34:40 - Spicy Ramen Cube

43:03 - Death’s Shadow Cube

46:06 - Alpha Reimagined

57:12 - The Simple Cube

1:02:12 - C/Ube

1:10:24 - The Bodleian Cube

1:15:30 - 100 Ornithopters

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. 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

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

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.

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Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

6:54 - Episode format overview

7:55 - Bloomburrow Overview

10:12 - On the decreasing number of survey respondents more broadly

14:21 - Bloomburrow top cards — Number 5. Hired Claw

19:51 - 4. Shoreline Looter

23:09 - 3. Kitsa, Otterball Elite

29:28 - 2. Fell

34:49 - 1. Emberheart Challenger 

44:13 - Bloomburrow Commander Shout Out: Jacked Rabbit

46:06 - Duskmourn Overview

48:54 - Duskmourn top cards — Number 5. Overlord of the Mistmoors

55:11 - 4. Insidious Fungus

56:54 - 3. Wildfire Wickerfolk

1:01:23 - 2. Chainsaw

1:03:54 - The flavor of Duskmourn overall

1:07:44 - 1. Fear of Missing Out

1:10:47 - Cube Mechanical Miss: Survivor

1:13:25 - Cube Mechanical Miss: Rooms

1:16:16 - On Manifest Dread and Abhorrent Oculus

1:21:28 - Honorable Mention: Split Up

1:24:46 - Honorable Mention: Come Back Wrong

1:28:44 - Duskmourn Wrap-Up

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. 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

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.