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Andy and Anthony are joined by Dan, a.k.a. “D.S.B” to talk about one of his favorite cube adjacent formats — Stone Soup. 8 players (or as many as you’ve got!) each bring their own selection of 45 sleeved cards to the draft. All the contributions are shuffled up and drafted as you would any other Cube. They talk about their experience drafting a Stone Soup and how the format plays. Choosing what cards to bring, especially if players don’t discuss their choices in advance, is an interesting question, and our hosts go deep into the nuance of it.

Inevitably they also meander off the path and talk a little bit about a lot of topics, and a lot about The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Huge thanks to Rush Coil for granting us permission to use his great chiptune version of “Too Many Cooks” as the backing track for our intro week.

Tune in to our Twitch channel this weekend, August 23-24, for some live paper Cube coverage from Cube for a Cause in New York!

Discussed in this episode:

• Stone Soup MTG Draft on YouTube
• Stone Soup Folk Tale
• 100 Monkeys Effect
• Rupert Sheldrake - Morphic Fields
• E. coli Long-Term Evolution Experiment
• Multiple Discovery
• Convergent Evolution
• Narrative Identity
• Broadcast Shuffle
• Cube Draft Formats
• Milkshake Duck

To make a thief, make an owner; to create crime, create laws.

Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it.

― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

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
• 5:42 - Main Topic: Stone Soup
• 21:20 - Andy’s Stone Soup Pool
• 26:22 - Stone Soup Etiquette
• 31:56 - Competitive Stone Soup?
• 35:35 - Anthony’s Pool, Balancing Favorites With Power
• 53:35 - Favorite Aspects of Stone Soup
• 1:03:30 - The Dispossessed

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Andy and Anthony talk about control decks in Andy’s 100 Ornithopters Cube. Control decks flush with disenchants often perform better than Andy expects them to, getting a surprising density of what seems like should be premium cards for all players. They talk about why that might be the case, the kinds of decks they think should be able to combat these decks, and Andy’s plans to change the Cube to make the gameplay better fit the expectations he sets for players.

Discussed in this episode:

• 100 Ornithopters
• Bun Magic 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
• 7:48 - Thopterless Control
• 30:35 - Anecdote Time
• 41:20 - Bow of Nylea
• 45:49 - List Changes

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Back from a Cube adventure to the west coast, Andy and Anthony recap their drafts at the first Inland Northwest CubeFest. The event included four drafts with over 50 players and a chance for our hosts to draft some very different cubes from their local scene. They also started the weekend with a “Stone Soup” draft with each player contributing 45 cards of their choosing that they’ll talk about in more detail in a future episode.

Discussed in this episode:

• Inland Northwest CubeFest
• Alternate Timeline Cube
• The Citadel
• The Ball Pit
• Aquaone Vintage
• Cabbages and Kings

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
• 3:34 - Pre-Event Stone Soup Draft
• 8:31 - Anthony’s Alternate Timeline Draft
• 11:18 - Andy’s Alternate Timeline Draft
• 16:07 - Andy’s The Citadel Draft
• 23:01 - Anthony’s The Citadel Draft
• 27:47 - Andy’s The Ball Pit Draft
• 41:16 - Anthony’s Aquaone Powered Draft
• 48:30 - Anthony’s Cabbages and Kings Draft
• 52:27 - Andy’s Cabbages and Kings Draft
• 57:51 - Anthony’s Cabbages and Kings Matches
• 61:43 - Wrap Up

After spending a long weekend in a cabin in the woods with 8 friends playing 8 Cubes, Andy and Anthony recap their drafts. Each player brought a cube to share which they drafted back to back over course of the weekend.

Discussed in this episode:

• Regular Cube
• Sacred Geometry Cube
• 100 Ornithopters
• Documental
• The Drownyard
• Vertex Cube Events
• The Oldest School
• Joe’s Anarchy Cube
• Bodleian Cube
• 100 Ornithopters
• Rhystic Studies 100 Ornithopters video
• Doubleton Synergy
• The Bolt 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
• 4:43 - Andy’s Draft of The Drownyard
• 7:19 - Anthony’s Draft of The Drownyard
• 10:19 - Andy’s Draft of The Oldest School
• 14:33 - Anthony’s Draft of The Oldest School
• 17:01 - Andy’s Draft of Anarchy Cube
• 20:41 - Anthony’s Draft of Anarchy Cube
• 23:21 - Andy’s Draft of The Regular Cube
• 25:20 - Anthony’s Draft of The Regular Cube
• 29:00 - Andy’s Draft of 100 Ornithopters
• 32:57 - Anthony’s Draft of 100 Ornithopters
• 40:41 - Andy’s Draft of Doubleton Synergy
• 44:52 - Anthony’s Draft of Doubleton Synergy
• 46:20 - Andy’s Draft of Bolt Cube
• 50:37 - Anthony’s Draft of Bolt Cube
• 53:12 - Andy’s Draft of Bodleian Cube
• 58:24 - Anthony’s Draft of Bodleian Cube

Andy and Anthony talk with Joe Anderson, proprietor of Cali Cube Champs, host of Joe’s Week in Magic, and a model local cube scene organizer about their theory of Cube Design and some of their favorite game moments.

Discussed in this episode:

• Support Lucky Paper on Patreon
• Lucky Paper Cube Fellowship Application
• Nutritious Cube
• Sacred Geometry Cube
• The 540
• The Third Power
• Solely Singleton
• Bun Magic Cube
• Atomic Cube
• Companion Cube
• Aquaone’s Powered 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
• 4:51 - Episode and Guest Introduction
• 36:43 - Playing Magic for Big Story Moments

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Continuing on their archetype breakdown series, Andy and Anthony talk about midrange decks. They talk about the theory behind the tempo based meta-game and where midrange decks fit. They talk about ways to think of midrange in different cube environments, or if it even makes sense to. They also discuss strategy and how it can be used as a framework for thinking about the way a particular deck can win games.

Discussed in this episode:

• Monster Factory
• The Jund Cube
• Theseus Cube

Also in the series:

• The ↑↑↓↓←→←→ABCs of Combo
• The ABCs of Control
• The ABCs of Aggro

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
• 2:43 - What is a midrange deck?
• 11:50 - Does every cube have a midrange deck?
• 26:12 - The Relationship Between Midrange Decks and Synergy Decks
• 36:30 - How the Color Pie Sees Midrange
• 48:29 - How To Think About Midrange as a Cube Designer

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After five full years of Lucky Paper Radio, Andy and Anthony reflect on how their local playgroup, the podcast, and the broader cube community have evolved. They talk about their recent experience of keeping a weekly Cube night going without a local game store and how you can make it work. They also talk about the supportive, casual vibe of their local community and how a young player having a great time cubing is something of a litmus test for a strong community.

Our hosts also introduce a new Patreon to support the show, the goal of which is to keep the show sustainable, covering the cost of an editor and other expenses. After years of hard work on Andy’s part, the show’s production needs to evolve to stay tenable. If they exceed that goal they have bigger ambitions of ways to support the Cube community.

Andy and Anthony are excited to use this as an opportunity to record a bonus podcast for supporters: Magic Doesn’t Exist. All the Cube discussion will stay in the main feed available to everyone. The bonus feed will be an opportunity for our two hosts to talk about whatever else catches their interest. Anything at all, except Magic: hobbies, interests, books their reading, koji, mechanical watches, more koji probably until Anthony falls into a different rabbit hole, how they feel about Pokemon…

If you want to support the show and hear more from our hosts, consider joining!

Discussed in this episode:

• Our Patreon Page
• Lucky Paper Expenses Page
• Fadensonnen
• Peabody Heights Brewery

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
• 1:31 - Our Fifth Anniversary and Starting Our Patreon
• 8:26 - Our Reservations on Monetizing Our Labor of Love
• 15:37 - Patreon Stretch Goals
• 22:34 - Our Bonus Podcast: Magic Doesn’t Exist
• 25:32 - Our Commitment to Transparency
• 30:17 - The Lucky Paper Discord
• 32:16 - Building a Cube Playgroup without a Local Game Store
• 40:13 - The Logistics of Playing in Non-Magic Sanctioned Spaces
• 48:51 - The Ten-Year-Old Child Test for Your Playgroup

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Andy and Anthony each draft the same seat of Andy’s Neoclassical Cube and then talk about it. They discuss strategy, what they were thinking as they went through each pick, and how they ultimately feel about the decks they drafted. Follow along with each, and see all of the cards from each pack they drafted on the cards mentioned page.

If you want to draft this same seat as well, either before or after listening to the episode, follow these steps:

• Download the predetermined booster packs
• On Draftmancer:

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
• 2:44 - Draft-along overview
• 5:32 - An Overview of the Neoclassical Cube
• 14:05 - Draft Breakdown — Pack 1
• 44:20 - Draft Breakdown — Pack 2
• 58:12 - Draft Breakdown — Pack 3
• 1:09:35 - Final Deck Thoughts and Lessons Learned

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Andy and Anthony are once again joined by Jenn who shares her expertise in designing set cubes. They talk about Jenn’s experience designing many many set and plane themed cubes and more broadly about the different ways to approach designing them.

Discussed in this episode:

• Cube Con 2025 Tickets
• Ravnica Idealized
• Bloodburrow
• Khans Expanded Cube
• Episode 229: Fixing is Cringe with Jenn the Judge
• Sacred Geometry

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
• 4:49 - Cube Con 2025 Overview
• 12:31 - On Pack Collation in Set Cubes
• 13:15 - What is a set Cube?
• 23:56 - Multi-Set/Planar Theme Cubes
• 25:34 - On Breaking Singleton in Theme Cubes
• 29:55 - A Complete Introduction to Ravnica Idealized
• 32:20 - Balancing Mechanical Gameplay and Vibes in Ravnica Idealized
• 38:00 - Dealing With Power Creep in Multi-Set Cubes
• 42:30 - Set Cubes as a Means of Exploring Flawed Limited Sets
• 50:21 - Five Color Soup in Ravnica Idealized
• 54:39 - Andy’s Sacred Geometry Artifact Deck Fail
• 57:53 - Advice for First Time Set Cube Designers

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Andy and Anthony send off Andy’s Degenerate Micro Cube. After many years, Andy has decided to take apart the Cube, reclaiming its cards, sleeves, and mental space. The Cube attempted to capture something about the most high powered vintage games with a twist on the typical draft format and a tiny deck size. They talk about why Andy’s decided to take it apart, it’s highs, and lows, and lessons learned from playing with it over the years.

Discussed in this episode:

• Final Fantasy and Commander Set Surveys
• The Degenerate Micro Cube
• An Introduction to the Degenerate Micro Cube
• Neoclassical Cube
• 100 Ornithopters
• LPR covering Andy’s experience with Ensnaring Bridge in the Degenerate Micro Cube
• Eggs for Four

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
• 0:00 - An Announcement Regarding Future Set Reviews
• 7:00 - A Eulogy for the Degenerate Micro Cube
• 10:50 - What was the Degenerate Micro Cube
• 17:29 - How Combo Is or Is Not in Dialogue with Fair Archetypes
• 20:30 - The History of The Degenerate Micro Cube
• 24:22 - On the Deck Size Requirement in the Degenerate Micro Cube
• 28:39 - What Andy Still Likes about the Degenerate Micro Cube
• 38:11 - The Cost of Rules Modifications
• 42:18 - The cards Andy is going to miss playing with most from the Degenerate Micro Cube