Lucky Paper Radio

Andy, Anthony, and Parker tackle C. Thi Nguyen’s The Score in their fourth episode of “Book Club.” Nguyen’s book compares how metrics apply to and effect games and social structures. He argues that while metrics are a defining construct that allow games to exist and be fun, when applied to social situations and optimized they are often destructive. Our hosts discuss this theses and other arguments presented in the book.

Discussed in this episode:

• The Score by C. Thi Nguyen
• Merlin Bird I.D App
• Episode 206: The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield
• Games and the Art of Agency by C. Thi Nguyen
• A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein
• How to do Nothing by Jenny Odell
• End Times Fascism by by Naomi Klein, Astra Taylor
• The Nerd Reich by Gil Durán

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
• 5;30 - Birds and Value Capture
• 15:35 - Stakes and Metrics
• 19:24 - Andy Doesn’t Like Books
• 23:40 - The Art of Decision Making
• 32:27 - How to Stop Playing Someone Elses Game
• 38:12 - Lecturing
• 46:05 - Neologisms
• 53:54 - Cube Design and Events
• 1:02:28 - Big Tech

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Andy and Anthony talk with Gabor about their Obscura Cube designed from the prompt “Legacy,” a very loaded term in the Cube space. Skipping past the obvious interpretation, Gabor chose to look to legacy board games for inspiration — games that permanently change across a series of play sessions. Starting with a nostalgic list of iconic cards, Gabor altered the Cube over the course of the weekend, swapping in cards from an second list with input from players. Drafters made choices about host the cube changed and also altered cards from their decks. At the end of the weekend, the cube was left more powerful and marked by each player.

Discussed in this episode:

• Gabor’s Cube: “Legacy”
• C4AC Obscura
• Legacy Board Games
• Oath, Board Game by Cole Wehrle
• “King Me”: A Defense of King-Making in Board Game Design, talk by Cole Wehrle
• Sisterhood of the Traveling Cube
• Roguelike Celebration

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
• 1:29 - Legacy
• 12:03 - The List
• 17:16 - Goals
• 22:10 - Predictions
• 26:32 - Postgame and Top 8
• 28:43 - Mystery
• 33:33 - Sharpies and Stickers
• 42:48 - Trust

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Andy recaps his experience at the second annual Inland Northwest Cube Fest to Anthony. He talks through each of his four drafts at the event, recounting how he handled novel Cube environments and gameplay highlights. He talks about the overall experience of the event including the printed cube companion guides, hosting a draft of 100 Ornithopters, and other extra-curricular activities.

Discussed in this episode:

• Inland Northwest Cube Fest
• Sliverhome
• Bridges Over Troubled Waters
• The Second Hand
• Middle Child
• DSB Tokens
• The Shepard 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
• 2:29 - Inland Northwest Cube Fest II
• 7:15 - Bridges Over Troubled Water
• 20:20 - Secondhand
• 29:46 - 100 Ornithopters
• 32:47 - Middle Child
• 41:47 - The Shepard Cube
• 52:47 - Magic is Hard
• 53:25 - Extras

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Andy, Jane, and Anthony talk about Andy’s Obscura cube, prompted with the word ”feudal.” His attempted to capture the experience of feudalism in gameplay by putting the powerful cards in certain spots that would force players to build decks a certain way. Powerful, high devotion lords, as much as possible represented by sinister human creatures, motivate players into mono colored decks. Players have no option but to fill out their decks with individually weak, under-rate creatures. As a foil, players eschew the high devotion lords and unite the individually weak cards multi-color deck rewarded by domain payoffs.

The talk about Andy’s design process. Then looking at the decks drafted at the event, they reflect on how successful these specific design goals were.

Discussed in this episode:

• Andy’s Feudal Obscura Cube
• Cabbages and Kings
• INW Cube Fest
• The Ball Pit

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
• 4:12 - Feudal
• 9:06 - Monocolored Decks
• 12:28 - Flavor
• 16:56 - Multicolor Decks
• 24:30 - Scarecrows
• 30:25 - Predictions
• 37:17 - Metagame Breakdown
• 46:49 - Changes
• 51:53 - Manabases
• 58:09 - Balance
• 1:00:30 - Does any of this Matter

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What makes a cube “balanced”? When a card or deck performs very differently in the hands of especially skilled players, are they using their greater knowledge of the game to exploit a balance issue that others can’t see? Or are they just having the predictable success you would expect from a more skilled player? Is the experience of strong players a better indicator of a cube’s balance because they use cards optimally? Or are they exploiting the cards in a way that, if balanced for, would negatively impact the play experience of the average player?

We sure as hell don’t know, but you can listen to us try to figure it out for an hour if you want.

Discussed in this episode:

• Episode 322 With Ryan Overturf
• 100 Ornithopters
• The Fire Swamp
• The Red Terror
• Anthony’s Obscura Cube Anti-War
• Regular Cube
• Monocolored Starter Decks

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
• 3:30 - Balance
• 14:56 - Fun
• 19:45 - Expectations
• 23:14 - 100 Ornithopters Balance
• 28:10 - Metagame Development
• 37:47 - Smash Ultimate
• 49:33 - Starter Decks

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Andy and Anthony talk with Brett about his Obscura Cube. Prompted with the phrase “Déjà vu” Brett explored some wild, logistically impossible ideas before settling on a cube filled to the brim with subtle repetitions. The feeling of things having happened before manifests in my ways from multiple copies of Accumulated Knowledge, Memory Lapses that create repeated moments, and repetitive single card engines.

Discussed in this episode:

• Brett’s Déjà Vu Cube
• C4AC Obscura
• The Fire Swamp
• Low Country Boil
• 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
• 1:14 - Déjà vu
• 11:46 - One Card Decks
• 14:55 - Balancing
• 20:50 - Hatebears
• 26:02 - Defining Déjà vu
• 29:44 - Callbacks
• 34:44 - Postgame
• 38:08 - Familiarity
• 41:21 - Blue-White Blink
• 45:25 - Blind Cubes
• 47:53 - Tension
• 49:32 - Moodboarding
• 51:58 - Future Updates

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Andy and Anthony recap their experience at Capitol Cube Championship in Washington D.C. They talk about the five different cube drafts they did between them and their overall experience at the event.

Discussed in this episode:

• Team Fundraiser for Birds of Paradise
• 100 Ornithopters Champion’s Draft Digital Qualifier
• Capitol Cube Champs
• The Score by C. Thi Nguyen
• The Desert Bird
• Upkeep Zine
• Trinket Cube
• Synesthesia
• 100 Ornithopters
• Invasion to Kamigawa 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 [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
• 4:36 - Capitol Cube Champs
• 4:52 - Andy’s Desert Bird Draft
• 16:49 - Andy’s Desert Bird Games
• 27:45 - Anthony’s Desert Bird Draft
• 33:27 - Anthony’s Desert Bird Games
• 37:36 - Alex Responds
• 39:02 - Trinket Cube Draft
• 49:09 - Synesthesia Draft
• 53:28 - Synesthesia Games
• 61:18 - Invastion to Kamigawa Draft
• 69:51 - Invasion to Kamigawa Games

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Andy and Anthony talk with Ollie about their Obscura Cube with the prompt “Dangerous.” Ollie’s interpretation of the prompt led them to build a desert cube where all lands cost life to generate colored mana. Limiting each player to 20 colored pips of mana over the course of a game reshapes the way player’s engage with their life total as a resource and creates a truly dangerous feeling sensation.

Discussed in this episode:

• Ollie’s Dangerous Cube
• C4AC Obscura
• Hoopin

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
• 2:54 - Dangerous
• 12:45 - Lifegain
• 20:09 - Swamps
• 32:40 - Flavor
• 35:42 - Postgame
• 37:02 - Coverage
• 40:38 - Maintaining Dangerous
• 45:21 - Feedback
• 51:53 - New Cards

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about how to draft cubes better by framing their thinking in terms of the scarcest resource in any give context. Flipping the perspective, they talk about how to leverage a diversity of themes as a cube designer.

Discussed in this episode:

• Birds of Paradise Fundraiser
• Level Up Your Cube Drafting With Scarcity article by Parker
• The Self-Defeating Irony of Cube Conceits article by Parker
• Parker’s Articles on Cascade Cascade
• Turbo Cube
• Tupelo Honey
• 100 Ornithopters
• Sacred Geometry

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
• 5:15 - Turbo Cube
• 16:11 - Tupelo Honey
• 20:18 - Scarcity
• 26:41 - Applying Scarcity to New Cubes
• 34:24 - Scarcity for Designers
• 41:29 - Metagame Degeneration
• 56:57 - CASCADE CASCADE

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Gabe joins Andy and Anthony talk about his Obscura cube, starting with the prompt “collapse”. Gabe chose to build on the theme in both aesthetic and mechanical ways. Pulling heavily from zendikar sets he set a tone of a world after the collapse of civilization. Mechanically he hoped to create gameplay that put players in committed positions that could easily crumble. In the first half, before the event, they talk about the design process and fears and expectations. In the second they reflect on how the cube played out.

Discussed in this episode:

• Collapse Cube by Gabe
• Tupelo Honey Cube
• Obscura Vods
• Etherium Landscape

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
• 3:12 - Collapse
• 7:17 - Risk / Reward
• 14:05 - Balancing Vibes
• 18:21 - Expectations
• 23:09 - Postgame
• 26:31 - Hatching Plans
• 29:10 - Speed
• 31:45 - Landcallers
• 36:33 - Inferno Titan
• 40:21 - Desert Cubes
• 45:31 - Hindsight