Design
Why I'm Selling My Legacy Cube
I began a Legacy cube nearly ten years ago, and this month I'm selling it off. A design confession (or three), a love letter to Philly, and a resolution.
Retro Reviews
Shadows Over Innistrad: A Retro Design Review
Ten years after its original release, we investigate (get it?) Shadows Over Innistrad from a cube design perspective. It might just be the best graveyard set in Magic's history, and that's not even our favorite part.
Community Voices
2025 — Cube in Review
With 2025 on the books, we asked the Lucky Paper Cube Fellows for their reflections on another tremendous year of our favorite format.
Design
Weak Cards Are Good For Your Cube
Cube designers often cut their weakest cards for stronger "upgrades." Not only is this process self-defeating, but it also fails to utilize the unique design advantages of the right weak cards. Weak cards rule, and we'll show you why!
Design
Four TCGs in Magic's Trench Coat
Magic's design has changed so radically over 30+ years that it might as well be four different games. We break down those eras of design, and what they imply for the deckbuilders and Cube designers who create Magic's metagames.
Design
The Risks Of Hybrid Mana
Hybrid mana is a frequent design tool for Wizards and for the Cube designers who follow in their footsteps. But hybrid cards exhibit some predictably risky tendencies in Cube. Read on to find out why, and what to do about it.
Design
The Game Design Pitfalls of Crossovers
We're living in an age where Magic embraces crossovers. The effects that crossovers have on the quality of the game design itself have largely flown under the radar -- until now.
Design
Removal Vs. Synergies in Cube
It might seem like removal spells are incompatible with synergy decks, but the reality is more complex. We discuss an versatile, evergreen tool to fine-tune a cube's synergies.
The Gathering
Universes Beyond and the Meaning of Life
The typical debate about Universes Beyond's effects on Magic is framed as a matter of market value. But once we start weighing the success of these co-branded products, we've already lost a rigged game.
Retro Reviews
Kamigawa and The New York Yankees
Kamigawa is a lightly fictionalized version of real-world Japan. What does that mean for the set? What does it mean for its players? A meditation on trading cards, cultural exchange, and baseball.
Design
Amonkhet: Fact and Fiction
With Amonkhet, Magic stepped into Ancient Egypt, a culture with three thousand years of history and religion to draw on for inspiration but also a minefield of stereotypes and tropes. Our chief Egyptology correspondent weighs in: did Wizards thread the needle?
Retro Reviews
Gatecrash: A Retro Design Review
We reassess the game design of Gatecrash. Though it may be nearly identical to its predecessor, the differences are striking – and instructive for Cube designers!
Theory
Cube Synergy: A Users' Guide
The risk-reward tradeoff of synergy contributes to a cube's replayability, strategic depth, and elegance – but it can be tricky to balance. This guide discusses tools to tune any synergy toward your design goals.
Retro Reviews
Odyssey: A Retro Design Review
To prove that I'm not just a sucker for the Mirrodin border, we're going even further back in time with our design-focused set reviews, to a troubled classic: graveyard-focused Odyssey.
Retro Reviews
Return to Ravnica: A Retro Design Review
Five incredibly good mechanics, seven-mana rares that rock, and two-color Draft architecture: Return to Ravnica is a special set. In this design-focused review, we'll break down lessons for modern-day Cube designers.
Design
The Typal Paradox: A Historical Design Survey
Creature type synergies like Elves or Goblins are incredibly popular in Commander and Constructed, but notoriously tricky in Limited and Cube. We survey four historical formats to see what makes typal decks tick.
Retro Reviews
Alara Reborn: A Retro Design Review
We're finishing a block of Cube-focused design review with Alara Reborn, an ambitious set whose every card was gold-framed. We'll discuss which themes are successful, and which Modern powerhouse is only sometimes worth the trouble in Limited.
Retro Reviews
Conflux: A Retro Design Review
It might be a series! Once again, we're reviewing older Magic sets to level up our current-day Cube design. This time: Conflux, a set with good intentions that overcommits to nearly everything Shards of Alara got right.
Design
Synergy is Dead. Long Live Aesthetics.
Cube design has historically focused on mechanical novelty because Magic's aesthetics were chosen for us. That time is past. It's time to start designing our cubes' art and flavor with as much care as their mechanics.
Retro Reviews
Shards of Alara: A Retro Design Review
A look back at one of Magic's first multicolor sets. Which features of Shards of Alara are most useful for present-day Cubes, and which cards might be overlooked? Find out in this design-focused retrospective!
The Gathering
Playing Fair in Cube
Tournament Magic rules are meant to enforce standards of fair play, but they fall short of what your Cube community needs to thrive. How can we players conduct honorable wizard duels? And what's The Princess Bride got to do with it?
Design
Every Cube Night has 12 Losers
Because Cubes are designed and owned by super-invested players, we sometimes forget a simple truth: half our players on any given night will lose more than they win. If it's fun to lose at Cube, winning will take care of itself.
Design
How Heirloom Blade Made Me A Better Cube Designer
Join us as Usman shares some evergreen Cube design lessons from eight years of love for one special Equipment.
Tools
How to Quickly Shuffle Your MTG Cube
Ever wondered how to shuffle a cube? It can be intimidating, but we have a proven method to shuffle hundreds of cards effectively, even for one person shuffling alone.
Tools
The Shuffler Really is Broken: Finding the Best Method for Shuffling Cubes
The conventional Cube wisdom may be to shuffle a cube as a group, exchanging piles randomly around the table, but in this case the shuffler is in fact broken! Here's why and how to shuffle your cube the way you deserve.
Community Voices
2024 — Cube in Review
2024 saw an explosion in small, grassroots Cube events the world over. For our annual Cube in Review we invited the organizers of these events to reflect on what the past year has meant for Cube.
Design
When Trivia Beats Strategy
Many cubes pursue strategic depth, but sometimes what appears to be depth is really trivial memorization. We diagnose these tricky design problems and offer ways to make your cube more replayable!
The Gathering
Magic: the Colonized
Thunder Junction is not Magic’s finest expansion, but it’s no fault of its designers: the Magic ruleset has never been philosophically neutral. We investigate what it looks like to pick the roses and trim the thorns on this mess of a set.
Community Voices
2023 — Cube in Review
2023 has come and gone, so we have once again reached out to friends from around the Cube community to help us put a bow on the year.
The Gathering
A Dozen Friends, Eleven Cube Drafts, and One Flat Tire
We drove 1,700 miles for CubeCon 2023, and all we have to show for it is this lousy tournament report.
Design
Pulp Nouveau — A Tribute to Drafting Basic Lands
Find out how to design a cube where the basic lands must be drafted! We trace the history of land-restricted cubes and go start-to-finish on a new cube design.
Theory
Intellect and Emotion in Game Design: A Personal Cube Journey
Exploring the fundamental nature of games from the very different perspectives of player and designer, through my own, personal, Cube design journey.
Design
A Guided Tour of the Wizard’s Tower
A reintroduction to one of Magic’s classic sandbox formats: self-contained, zero setup, and fully customizable.
Tools
Frequently Asked Questions About Cube
Is Cube the best way to play Magic? Of course! ... wait, you still have questions? Then check out this cube lightning round.
Design
Building a Cube from a Collection
The options for Cubes are practically infinite, but the best building materials for your favorite cube may already be at hand.
Design
Set Cubes & More
Set Cubes are one of the easiest entry points to Cube – the perfect opportunity to recapture bygone draft formats, reimagine a draft format, or dive deep into a plane or theme.
The Gathering
The History of The Cube Format
The first comprehensive history of the Cube format — an ever-evolving tapestry driven by creative Magic players shaping the game to their own desires.
Community Voices
2022 — Cube in Review
2022 was a big year for Cube and for Magic more broadly. As always, we've reached out to some of our friends from across the Cube world to paint a picture of what 2022 meant for the format.
Theory
How Many Lands Should You Include in Your Cube?
An examination of precedent from limited and constructed is paired with analysis of over 75,000 Cube draft decks to help answer one of the most universal questions in Cube design.
Tireless Tracker
An Introduction to the Commander Map
The Commander Map visualizes over two and a half million and a half Commander decks, showing the incredible depth of the Commander format in an interactive tool.
Tireless Tracker
Mapping the Magic Landscape
Learn the math behind how we made the Cube Map and Commander Map—interactive visualizations that celebrate the diversity of beloved Magic formats.
Design
A Guide to Battle Box
Battle Box is a unique twist on Magic: a quick, self-contained format, without resource variance, great for pick up games between other activities.
Theory
Cube Power Level: A User’s Guide
An in depth exploration of one of a Cube designer’s most important tools — power level.
Community Voices
2021 — Cube in Review
With 2021 winding down, we've once again invited friends from across the Cube landscape to reminisce about this year's offerings for the best Magic format.
Tools
Searching with Scryfall: Magic at your Fingertips
Finding every relevant card for your deck or cube can be a challenge. Scryfall's simple, but powerful search syntax let's you find everything you're looking for from the vast history of Magic in moments.
Tools
Cube in the Time of Covid with Rotisserie Draft
Rotisserie drafting a cube is the perfect option for asynchronous, remote Magic. Our template makes keeping your draft organized a breeze.
Community Voices
2020 — Cube in Review
If you’re reading this, congratulations, you officially made it through 2020. While this was a challenging year for many of us, and for our favorite way to play Magic, that's even more reason to gather our friends from around the community and reminisce about the highlights of 2020 for Cube.
Design
An Introduction to the Degenerate Micro Cube
A primer on a cube with a 15 card minimum deck size that pushes the most powerful strategies in Magic’s history to their limits — a drafted format that plays like constructed Vintage.
Theory
The First Four Questions Cube Designers Should Ask
We propose four basic questions that can help you communicate your Cube design goals to yourself and others.
Tools
Regular Expressions: Powerful Magic Card Searching
Finding all cards that fit a particular effect or mechanical theme can be a challenge. Simple Regular Expressions enable powerful, nuanced searching.
Theory
An Ode to Scalable Threats
If you’re interested in making your cube faster, more powerful, and more skill testing you ought to consider an often overlooked category of cards: scalable threats.
Community Voices
2019 — Cube in Review
With 2019 in the rear-view mirror, we reached out to some of our friends to get their takes on the brightest moments from the past year for our favorite format — Cube.
Tireless Tracker
Analyzing Your Own Cube Drafts
An introduction to tracking and analyzing data from your own Cube drafts. We examine my dataset of 400 Cube decklists and analyze archetype balance, individual card strength, and color distributions. I also prove definitively that Jackal Pup one of the top ten cards in Cube.
Lucky Paper Newsletter
Our infrequent, text-only newsletter is a friendly way to stay up-to-date with what we’re doing at Lucky Paper. See past newsletters