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.

Andy and Anthony talk with Ryan Saxe about his latest Magic passion project. Inspired by one of his favorite video game genres, AutoBattlers, Ryan has been working to create a Magic variant that incorporates the feeling of quick mini-games and constant upgrades and expansion of your arsenal. In his format, players face of in a series of mini-games with only a few cards available to each player. After each quick game, players get to modify and expand their available pool of cards to use by trading with a random new selection of cards from the Cube list. Players are eliminated as they accrue a certain number of losses leaving one the champion.

The three talk about the design process, challenges and successes Ryan’s had through iterating on the rules system, and their experience drafting the AutoBattler cube.

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Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps

0:00 - AI Corner

13:01 - Introduction to Ryan’s new format

14:20 - What is an auto battler?

17:59 - How did Ryan go about applying the patterns of an auto battler to Magic?

28:42 - How does Ryan’s auto battler format work?

46:16 - Designing the rules system vs. designing the cube list

53:22 - A deep dive on the design details of the auto battler

1:33:45 - How Anthony would teach the auto battler format

1:35:40 - Is it productive to describe this as an auto battler?

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 take a step aside from their typical focus on Cube and reflect on the recent shake ups in Commander. They talk about the major bans that have rattled the format and their feelings about Wizards of the Coast formally taking control of the fan-made format which has become the dominant form of the game.

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Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

1:10 - Basic rundown of the events of the past two weeks in Magic

5:00 - The banning of Dockside Extortionist, Nadu, Winged Wisdom, Mana Crypt, and Jeweled Lotus in Commander

12:02 - “Rule Zero” and why it does not work

15:58 - The respective strengths and flaws of Commander and Cube

23:48 - On the deplorable backlash from a vocal subset of Magic players

39:16 - A clarification of our stance on proxies

44:02 - Magic and consumption as self expression

58:30 - What about Sol Ring?

1:02:21 - Wizard’s of the Coast’s concept about managing the Commander format with a series of tiers

1:09:39 - Summary and conclusions

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 a big batch of updates to Anthony’s Turbo Cube. In this Cube, all spells and activated abilities cost {2} less. They talk about their general philosophy of updating Cubes, what types of strategies Anthony is hoping to bolster with these updates, and talk through the changes card by card.

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Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:51 - Draft report: Boromir Sucks

3:25 - Episode overview

6:20 - What is the Turbo Cube?

10:48 - Broad goals and philosophies underpinning these changes

13:01 - A bold new direction for lands

24:55 - Black improvements and a focus on discard synergies

37:04 - Why cut Reckoner Bankbuster?

39:10 - Changes to green

44:14 - Minor tweaks to red

48:34 - The smallest changes: blue and white

1:03:01 - Changes to colorless cards

1:10:30 - Andy’s suggestion corner

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 reflect on the Mark Rosewater’s reflection on the past year in Magic. Every year, Magic’s lead designer shares lessons learned and strengths from each booster set. This year’s felt lacking a bit of thematic focus, but maybe the lack of focus is emblematic of this last year in Magic.

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Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

3:32 - Is this even for us? How invested are we in Magic these days?

10:30 - Is this year’s ‘State of Design’ article more shallow than previous years?

12:57 - 2024’s Theme: Lack of Focus

17:43 - Lesson: Magic was too on the nose with its tropes

26:53 - Lesson: Some individual mechanics were too complex

32:09 - Lesson: More mechanics were polarizing than previous years 

49:41 - Does R&D drive Magic these days?

51:43 - Our favorite thing from Magic this year: grassroots Cube events

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 Parker look back on all the sets currently cycling out of standard and talk about their overall impressions and how individual cards from each have aged in their various Cubes. Anthony’s there too, kinda just vibing cause he’s been updating his Cubes at an agitated non-newtonian fluid pace.

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Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

2:46 - Topic Overview

11:41 - Innistrad: Midnight Hunt

21:28 - Why we’re not talking about Commander sets

22:53 - Innistrad: Crimson Vow

27:31 - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty

43:06 - Streets of New Capenna

48:17 - Triomes revisited

52:37 - Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate

59:54 - Big picture lessons learned from standard rotation

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 revisit randomness in Magic with more resources and input form listeners. They talk about decision making at large and small scales in games: strategy vs tactics, and how randomness impacts what kind of planning are rewarded.

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Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

6:29 - Input Randomness vs. Output Randomness

10:05 - Strategy vs. Tactics

21:34 - Is there a fundamental difference in randomness between Bloodbraid Elf and Fact or Fiction?

39:52 - Chess vs. Poker in the Strategy vs. Tactics Dichotomy

46:04 - Why numerous random events converge on predictability and how that describes Xerox Theory

52:05 - Neverwinter Hydra vs. Carnage Tyrant

59:58 - Randomness laundering skill disparities

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 randomness in Magic, and specifically just how much randomness there is in a Cube draft. They talk about where randomness comes from and how different mechanics use the library or other sets of cards as a random source to make them work. They also go into their own preferences and how they thing about randomness in their Cube designs.

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Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction and why you should cut your opponent’s deck

5:03 - Why randomness is maybe the most fundamental aspect of Magic: the Gathering

7:08 - Andy says some really big numbers to convince you Magic is really random

19:22 - Using your library as a random number generator

26:57 - Categorizing different types of ‘random’ cards

49:09 - Andy and Anthony’s approach to randomness as Cube designers, in summary

55:41 - Andy and Anthony’s favorite ‘random’ moments from games they’ve played

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 some of the past and pending Cube events they are attending. This year has seen a proliferation of new small Cube events. Anthony reviews his experience at the Capitol Cube Champs and they talk about what they’re excited about in the upcoming Cube 4 Charity hosted by Upkeep New York.

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Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

2:42 - Capitol Cube Champs Tournament Report

22:04 - Mailbag

25:01 - Anthony’s Irregular Cube Preparation for Cube 4 Charity

39:17 - Andy’s 100 Ornithopters Preparation for Cube 4 Charity

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.