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Andy and Anthony talk about saprolings, sort of. Our hosts talk about aesthetics and their own personal tastes, and how that applies to their preferences in Magic. Anthony somehow tries to make the case that saprolings connect to a pattern of affinity for systems thinking, complex iterative processes with emergent properties.

Discussed in this episode:

• Episode 211 — Book Club: The Beauty of Games by Frank Lantz
• Episode 251 — Book Club: Playing Oppression by Mary Flanagan and Mikael Jakobsson
• The Design of Everyday Things
• Why Fish Don’t Exist
• A Pattern Language
• Reading Rainbow (Cube)
• Cod by Mark Kurlansky
• A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
• Law of the Instrument
• The Neoclassical Cube
• 100 Ornithopters
• Sacred Geometry
• What if the 4-Card Limit Was Abolished in Modern? by Frank Karsten
• Saproling’s and Thallid Cards over Time
• Meander Artwork by Robert Hodgin
• Mandelbrot Set
• L-system fractals
• Chaos & Fractals: New Frontiers of Science
• NileRed
• WARNING Little Guys Spotted

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

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

• 0:00 - Intro
• 3:39 - Introduction to episode
• 4:50 - What are Andy’s broad aesthetic sensibilities?
• 12:59 - How do these aesthetic preferences relate to games?
• 18:33 - What are Anthony’s aesthetic sensibilities?
• 27:52 - Anthony’s love/hate relationship with Slimefoot
• 33:12 - Andy’s application of his aesthetic values to Sacred Geometry
• 38:59 - How the aesthetics of Magic have changed over time
• 43:50 - River corner
• 48:17 - Dynamic equilibrium, Magic meta games, and power creep
• 54:14 - “The Fractal Perspective”

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In the second episode of the Lucky Paper Radio Book Club, Andy, Anthony, and Parker discuss Playing Oppression by By Mary Flanagan and Mikael Jakobsson. The book explores the history of colonialism in games - the many roles games have played inculcating explicit propaganda or normalizing colonial value systems in their aesthetics and mechanics. Our club members, including call ins from listeners, talk about what they took from the book and whether it’s changed their perspective on games.

Discussed in this episode:

• Playing Oppression by By Mary Flanagan and Mikael Jakobsson
• Free PDF of the Book
• The First Book Club Episode
• Nose Dive
• A Pattern Language
• The Doughboys
• Untitled Goose Game
• ‘Kriegsspiel! How Napoleon Accidentally Invented Strategy Games’ on YouTube
• Wingspan
• Photosynthesis (board game)
• Spirit Island
• A People’s History of the United States
• Cole Wehrle
• Root
• Molly House (concept)
• Molly House (board game)
• Citizen Game
• Rusty Cash Box of Goblin
• Polytopia
• Ogre Battle Tactics: March of the Black Queen
• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

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

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

• 0:00 - Intro
• 1:26 - Pickle Corner Returns
• 5:15 - First impressions of Playing Oppression
• 11:05 - On the format of the book and whether it’s the best means to convey the message
• 16:28 - Getting on board with the core conceit of Playing Oppression
• 19:41 - Are games descriptive or prescriptive of our culture?
• 25:07 - What is a “Goose Game”
• 30:42 - Are video games to blame for gun violence?'
• 37:02 - The German Colony Game and why rehearsing violence is perhaps more visceral than witnessing it
• 42:23 - How are colonial and violent values baked into games that don’t have explicitly colonial flavor?
• 45:26 - How post-war Germany gave rise to the modern Eurogame
• 52:22 - How do you subvert these colonial themes in game design?
• 57:14 - Our experience playing the ‘anticolonialist’ games mentioned in Playing Oppression
• 1:15:01 - Fascism as colonialism and imperialism turned inward
• 1:16:29 - How does all of this relate to Magic
• 1:20:42 - Polytopia and whether or not a better skin would make a difference

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Andy and Anthony talk about a paradox they occasionally face in Cube design. Sometimes a particular card to strategy over performs and as curators we want to add cards that offer counter play. Often those cards end up being just as potent played alongside the problematic cards as they are against them, only making the problem worse. Our hosts talk about specific times they’ve faced this paradox in their own cubes, and different strategies to break out of the paradox.

But first, they go on a long digression on Anthony’s latest fermentation project, growing koji.

Discussed in this episode:

• Flavorama, by Arielle Johnson
• The Noma Guide to Fermentation
• The Art of Fermentation
• Anthony’s First Koji Test
• 100 Ornithopters
• Degenerate Micro Cube
• Regular Cube
• Evergreen Ability Tier List Episode of Lucky Paper Radio
• Mono Black Cube
• The Turbo Cube
• Turbo Cube Changes with Julien Episode of Lucky Paper Radio
• Lucky Paper Events Page

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

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

• 0:00 - Intro
• 0:57 - Pickle Corner
• 8:48 - The Nature of the Cube Design Paradox
• 12:52 - Disenchants in 100 Ornithopters
• 17:03 - Ensnaring Bridge in the Degenerate Micro Cube
• 24:52 - Red in the Regular Cube
• 27:23 - The Defunct Mono Black Cube
• 29:59 - Combo Decks in the Turbo Cube
• 37:17 - Constructed Magic Precedent for the Cube Design Paradox
• 43:21 - Andy’s barely baked theory of power distribution’s impact on decks most likely to be drafted
• 53:57 - Tools to Navigate the Cube Design Paradox

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about the results of the cube community survey for Tarkir: Dragonstorm. They discuss the sets new mechanics and how they function to support a the set’s themes and limited environment and how that relates to goals of many Cube designers. They also talk about the top cards catching interest on the survey and honorable mentions featuring new mechanics or exploring new space.

Discussed in this episode:

• Community Survey Results
• Spice 8 Rack’s video on the history of Tarkir
• The McElroy Brothers will be in Trolls 2
• Not just white men’s privilege, but just one time

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

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

• 0:00 - Intro
• 5:35 - What is it like to be back on Tarkir?
• 10:01 - Set survey overview
• 11:25 - Harmonize
• 24:20 - Omens
• 39:19 - ‘Twobrid’ mana
• 45:43 - Honorable Mention: Frontline Rush
• 49:27 - Dishonorable Mention: Skirmish Rhino
• 53:20 - Honorable Mention: Kishla Skimmer
• 56:56 - Honorable Mention: the Monocolored Utility Lands
• 1:00:37 - 9. Rotcurse Rakshasa and Renew
• 1:05:38 - 8. Sunpearl Kirin
• 1:09:32 - 7. Surrak, Elusive Hunter
• 1:15:43 - 6. Desperate Measures
• 1:19:52 - 5. Tersa Lightshatter
• 1:23:30 - 4. Sinkhole Surveyor and Endure
• 1:28:36 - 3. Voice of Victory and Mobilize
• 1:31:18 - 2. Cori-Steel Cutter and Flurry
• 1:39:01 - 1. Descendant of Storms

View all cards mentioned in this episode

As they continue to attend more and more local, grassroots Cube events, Andy and Anthony find themselves asking: do people like these ‘tournament report’ episodes? They try to talk through their drafts at Boston Cube Party Two more quickly, but it still takes almost an hour to get through them. The episode concludes with a brief look at the decklists from Andy’s new cube, Sacred Geometry, which was only drafted three times prior to the event. The cube is still very much in its infancy, and Andy and Anthony’s discussion serves as a model for how to digest a very small sample size of gameplay results and turn those results into some high-level goals

Special thanks to Judge Bones for conceiving, writing, and recording the voiceover for this week’s intro!

Discussed in this episode:

• Tarkir: Dragonstorm Cube Survey
• Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander Cube Survey
• Sacred Geometry
• Doubleton Synergy
• 555-Jank
• Esper Cube
• Spicy Ramen Cube
• Hoopin’
• The Cascade Cube
• The Devoid Cube
• Andy on Cubereviews talking about the Neoclassical Cube
• Anthony on Cubereviews talking about the Irregular Cube
• Alex on Recross the Paths

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

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

• 0:00 - Intro
• 2:55 - Should we do a tournament report for every tournament we attend?
• 5:30 - Boston Cube Party 2 Overview
• 8:55 - Andy’s Tournament Report
• 10:52 - Andy’s Draft of Doubleton Synergy
• 18:53 - Andy’s Draft of 555-Jank
• 24:20 - Andy’s Draft of The Esper Cube
• 29:35 - Andy’s Draft of the Spicy Ramen Cube
• 35:33 - Anthony’s Draft of Hoopin’
• 41:25 - Anthony’s Draft of the Cascade Cube
• 49:09 - Anthony’s Draft of the Devoid Cube
• 53:08 - Closing thoughts on Boston Cube Party 2
• 55:05 - Sacred Geometry Initial Impressions

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In the final installment of ”The Barash Files” (at least for now!), Zach — game designer at Wizards of the Coast — talks with Andy and Anthony about playtesting. The three talk about how they approach getting feedback on their specific different environments and how they use that information.

Discussed in this episode:

• Episode 15: Playtesting & Theorycrafting
• Episode 231: The Barash Files 001 — The Principles of Game Design
• The Cascade Cube
• Neoclassical Cube
• Old Border Foil Cube
• 100 Ornithopters
• Regular Cube
• The Mono Black Cube
• The Null Hypothesis
• Kill Your Darlings
• The Turbo Cube
• UMA+ Cube

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

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

• 0:00 - Intro
• 3:44 - What is ‘playtesting’? How do you ‘playtest’ a cube?
• 9:55 - What kinds of feedback can players be trusted to give?
• 16:22 - How does Andy ask for feedback on the Neoclassical Cube and 100 Ornithopters?
• 28:24 - How does Anthony ask for feedback on Regular Cube, the Mono Black Cube, and the Turbo Cube?
• 40:14 - How does Zach ask for feedback on The Cascade Cube, and what is the story with Crashing Footfalls?
• 52:17 - The ballad of Aura Shards in 100 Ornithopters
• 1:06:54 - A note on ego when you receive feedback

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Andy and Anthony talk all things “combo”. After talking about both aggro and control on the show, they finally get around to this sometimes divisive part of the Magic landscape. They try to come up with a working definition of combo strategies, talk about their own history with it as players and cube designers.

Discussed in this episode:

• Tarkir: Dragonstorm Cube Survey
• Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander Cube Survey
• “The Daigo Parry”
• Episode 6: ABCs of Aggro
• Episode 165: ABCs of Control
• Impostor Syndrome
• The Turbo Cube
• When Trivia Beats Strategy by Parker LaMascus
• Bun Magic Cube
• Degenerate Micro Cube
• 100 Ornithopters
• The Neoclassical Cube

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

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

• 0:00 - Intro
• 1:52 - Introduction to Combo
• 8:59 - How are Andy and Anthony defining a ‘combo’
• 16:47 - A selection of combos from the Turbo Cube
• 25:06 - Why does Anthony include combos in the Turbo Cube?
• 26:59 - Andy’s journey to loving combo
• 48:13 - How playing against combo changes your decision making
• 52:19 - The inescapable danger of playing combos alongside fair decks

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Andy and Anthony are joined by Judge Bones. As mid-sized Cube events have flourished, Bones has spearheaded the task of judging and carried valuable lessons over from event to event. Hot on the heels of The Salt Box in Baltimore, the three talk about Bones’ history with Cube and what it takes to host and judge a Cube event.

Discussed in this episode:

• Eiganjo Drift
• The Amonkar Desert Cube
• Bones on Recross the Paths
• Loxodon Mierarch’s Desert Cube
• Hedron Network
• The Broadcast Shuffle
• Stripe Payment Links
• Lucky Paper Events Page

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

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

• 0:00 - Intro
• 4:48 - What is a Magic judge?
• 8:05 - Judge Bones’s history with Magic and Judging
• 13:21 - Judge Bones’s history with Cube
• 21:45 - What is it like judging a small, grassroots Cube event?
• 26:23 - How are grassroots Cube events run?
• 31:43 - How to run your own grassroots Cube event
• 38:43 - Security concerns, or lack thereof, of having strangers draft your cube
• 46:34 - Bones’s tips to other judges for working Cube events
• 51:35 - Rapid fire logistics of Cube event organization
• 1:00:34 - Andy, Anthony, and Bones’s purely subjective suggestions for running your Cube event

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Andy, Anthony, and Patrick report on their experience at Baltimore’s first mid-sized Cube event: The Salt Box. Following the pattern of other regional events, the tournament featured multiple drafts of Cubes from the local area, organized by ranked choice selection. The three of them talk through the decks they drafted, highlights of their matches, and their experience beyond of the event, catching up with and hosting the regional cube-heads, at last in their home town.

Discussed in this episode:

• The Doughboys
• Ekiben
• The Salt Box
• Cube for a Cause
• Neoclassical Cube
• The Oldest School
• Theseus
• Reading Rainbow
• Gabe’s Weenies Cube
• The Turbo Cube
• Kong Pocha
• Virtually French Cube
• 100 Ornithopters
• Kamigawa Remastered
• Regular Cube

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

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

• 0:00 - Intro
• 4:07 - The One Where Patrick Abandons 12 Years of Veganism
• 11:47 - The Salt Box Overview
• 18:08 - Andy and Patrick’s Saturday Morning Draft of the Neoclassical Cube
• 29:51 - Anthony’s Saturday Morning Draft of The Oldest School
• 34:39 - Andy and Anthony’s Saturday Afternoon Draft of Theseus
• 45:27 - Patrick’s Sunday Morning Draft of Theseus
• 50:38 - Patrick’s Saturday Afternoon Draft of Reading Rainbow
• 54:36 - Saturday Evening Extracurricular Activities
• 57:34 - Andy’s Sunday Morning Draft of the Virtually French
• 1:06:11 - Anthony’s Sunday Morning Draft of 100
• 1:15:01 - Andy’s Sunday Afternoon Draft of Kamigawa Remastered
• 1:25:31 - Patrick’s Sunday Afternoon Non-Draft of Virtually French
• 1:26:35 - Anthony’s Top 8 Draft of The Regular Cube

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Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about Aetherdrift and peripheral sets. They review the results of the Cube community survey where Cube designers submit the cards they’re giving a shot in their cubes and how highly they rate them. They also give their own overall impressions of the set in this single-episode review. Finally, they close with Parker’s rundown of his experience at Cube For a Cause in New York.

Discussed in this episode:

• Aetherdrift and Aetherdrift Commander Prospective Articles
• Lucky Paper Radio Evergreen Keyword Ability Tier List
• Eiganjo Drift
• Sides Cartoon
• The Mad Max Cube in Parker’s Playgroup
• Cube for a Cause AW2025
• Loam Cube
• Nick’s Mono Red Cube
• Jenn’s Idealized Ravnica Cube
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• Godzilla Minus One Minus Color

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

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

• 0:00 - Intro
• 4:52 - Episode Overview
• 7:47 - Mechanic: Start Your Engines and Speed
• 12:24 - Mechanic: Exhaust
• 15:07 - How do we approach vehicles in our cubes?
• 20:08 - On the coexistence of vehicles and mounts
• 22:21 - Why cycling is a cowardly ability (according to Parker)
• 33:46 - Overview of Lucky Paper Cube Survey
• 35:46 - 5. Diversion Unit
• 40:16 - 4. Scrounging Skyray
• 42:18 - 3. Greasewrench Goblin
• 44:07 - 2. Marauding Mako
• 46:26 - 1. Grim Bauble
• 57:40 - Honorable Mention: Brightglass Gearhulk
• 1:00:39 - Honorable Mention: Cryptcaller Chariot
• 1:03:04 - Honorable Mention: Sundial, Dawn Tyrant
• 1:06:20 - Honorable Mention: Agonasaur Rex
• 1:11:19 - Honorable Mention: Shefet Archfiend
• 1:14:54 - Honorable Mention: The Aetherspark
• 1:21:18 - Parker’s Cube for a Cause Tournament Report