We currently have Cube testing surveys open for Marvel's Spider-Man and Marvel's Spider-Man Eternal. Let us know what cards you’re testing from these sets!
Lucky Paper Radio
Lucky Paper Radio is a podcast about Magic: the Gathering hosted by lifelong friends Andy Mangoldand Anthony Mattox. Focused primarily on sandbox formats like Cube, which are free of banlists, rotation, and net decking, the show is about the best parts of Magic and how to get the most out of the game.
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Episode 269
Open Drafting the Turbo Cube: Co-op Edition
September 15th, 2025
Andy and Anthony co-draft Anthony's Turbo Cube, talking through each of their picks as they navigate this novel environment.
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Episode 268
Dos Okies
September 8th, 2025
Anthony is one again out sick, and trying to fill his sizable shoes are both judge Bones and Kade from Recross the Paths to discuss a potpurri of Cube related topics.
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Episode 267
2025 Standard Set Rotation in Review
September 1st, 2025
Andy and Parker review the cards rotating out of Standard and how they've impacted their cubes.
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Episode 266
Cube Resonance
August 25th, 2025
Andy and Anthony talk about what makes the presentation of a Cube connect with players and set expectations.
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Episode 265
Stone Soup, A Magical Community Stew with D.S.B.
August 18th, 2025
Andy and Anthony are joined by D.S.B. to talk about one of his favorite cube-ish formats - Stone Soup - where a group of players each contribute a set of cards to a drafted pool.
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Episode 264
Tuning Control in 100 Ornithopters (Again)
August 11th, 2025
Andy and Anthony talk about disenchant control decks in Andy's 100 Ornithopters Cube - again. They review their continued overperformance, why that conflicts with Andy's goals, and what's he's going to do about it.
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Episode 263
Inland Northwest Cube Fest Tournament Report
August 4th, 2025
Andy and Anthony recap their drafts from the Inland Northwest Cube Fest, a local Cube event in Spokane Washington.
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Episode 262
8 Players, 8 Cubes, 1 Weekend, 1 Cabin
July 28th, 2025
Andy and Anthony recap their experience of 8 back-to-back Cube drafts over the course of a long weekend in a cabin in the woods.
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Episode 261
Big Story Moments with Joe Anderson
July 21st, 2025
Andy and Anthony talk with Joe Anderson about some of his favorite Cube moments and organizing Cube events, big and small.
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Episode 260
The ABC’s of Midrange
July 14th, 2025
Andy and Anthony break down the midrange macro-archetype, how it fits into the meta game and how it can be used as a framework to think about strategy and cube design.
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Episode 259
Cubing in Unsanctioned Spaces and The Ten-Year-Old Child Test
July 7th, 2025
On the fifth anniversary of the podcast Andy and Anthony talk about organizing a cube night without an local game store, how their playgroup has evolved, and introduce their patreon and bonus podcast — Magic Doesn't Exist.
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Episode 258
Open Drafting the Neoclassical Cube
June 30th, 2025
Andy and Anthony separately draft the exact same seat of Andy's Neoclassical cube and discuss how their card evaluations, picks, and ultimately decks, differed.
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Episode 257
The Big, Beautiful World of Set Cubes with Jenn the Judge
June 23rd, 2025
Andy and Anthony are joined by Jenn who shares her expertise in designing all manner of set cubes.
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Episode 256
A Eulogy for the Degenerate Micro Cube
June 16th, 2025
Andy and Anthony send off Andy's Degenerate Micro Cube, talking about it's highs and lows and why Andy's disassembling it.
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Episode 255
A Tale of Two Cubes with Parker LaMascus
June 9th, 2025
Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about Parker and Andy's respective "simple" cubes, Atavus and Sacred Geometry, and what it means to design a clean, approachable cube.
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Episode 254
Modal Mechanics 001 — Some Nonzero Number of Mechanics Are Kicker
June 2nd, 2025
Andy and Anthony start a journey through the history of modal mechanics comparing them and discussing how they fit into their Cube design philosophies.
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Episode 253
Every Cube a Painting with Jane and Arlo
May 26th, 2025
Andy and Anthony are joined by Jane and Arlo to talk about taste in Cube design. What is 'taste' in Magic? Can it be intentionally cultivated? Exactly what does Rothko have in common with Spirit of the Night?
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Episode 252
The One “About Saprolings”
May 19th, 2025
Andy and Anthony talk about their own aesthetic values within and beyond Magic and somehow tie it to saprolings and fractals.
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Episode 251
Book Club: Playing Oppression by Mary Flanagan and Mikael Jakobsson
May 12th, 2025
Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about the book Playing Oppression in the second installment of book club.
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Episode 250
The Cube Design Paradox
May 5th, 2025
Andy and Anthony talk about the specific challenge in cube design trying to play a counter point to others, but finding them supporting each other instead.
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Episode 249
Tarkir: Dragonstorm Cube Set Review
April 28th, 2025
Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the community survey results from Magic's next visit to Tarkir talking about what the new set offers to Cube curators.
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Episode 248
Boston Cube Party Two and Sacred Geometry First Impressions
April 21st, 2025
In the afterglow of the second annual Boston Cube Party, Andy and Anthony recap their experience at the tournament, paying special attention to reviewing the deckslists from the first few drafts of Andy's new cube, Sacred Geometry.
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Episode 247
The Barash Files 005 — Playtesting and Cube Feedback
April 14th, 2025
Andy, Anthony, and Zach talk about playtesting Cubes and how to ask for and use feedback from players.
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Episode 246
The ↑↑↓↓←→←→ABCs of Combo
April 7th, 2025
Andy and Anthony talk all things combo including their personal history with a sometimes divisive deck strategy and how they approach it in Cubes they design.
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Episode 245
Judge Bones Teaches You How To Organize Your Own Grassroots Cube Event
March 31st, 2025
Andy and Anthony are joined by Judge Bones, the de-facto Cube event head judge, to talk about running small and mid-sized Cube events.
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Episode 244
The Salt Box Tournament Report
March 24th, 2025
Andy, Anthony, and Patrick report on their experience at Baltimore's first mid-sized cube event - The Salt Box.
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Episode 243
Aetherdrift Cube Set Review
March 17th, 2025
Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about Aetherdrift, discussing the results of the Cube community set review and their own impressions of the set.
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Episode 242
The Barash Files 004 — Building Skill vs. Building Community and Learning from Your Mistakes
March 10th, 2025
Andy, Anthony, and Zach talk about improving as a Magic player, building a community and balancing the two.
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Episode 241
Mindbreak Trap Forgives All Sins with Julien Henry
March 3rd, 2025
Andy and Anthony our joined by Julien who offers his pro-tour level insight on potential changes to Anthony's Turbo Cube.
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Episode 240
Our Favorite Cards from 2024
February 24th, 2025
Andy and Anthony discuss each of their top ten new cards for cubes from the last year.
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Episode 239
Aesthetic Values and Style in Cube Design
February 17th, 2025
Andy and Anthony talk about the value of style in Cube design and the concepts of wabi-sabi and sprezzatura.
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Episode 237
Debriefing Vertex Philadelphia & 100 Ornithopters Unite
February 3rd, 2025
Andy and Anthony recap their recent Magic events: the 100 Ornithopters Unite charity stream and Vertex Philadelphia respectively.
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Episode 236
The Barash Files 003 — Reflections on Cube Drafts Past
January 27th, 2025
Zach shares stories of his drafts of Andy and Anthony's Cubes over the last few years, offering insights into their designs and how he approaches them as a player.
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Episode 235
Using the Foundations Starter Collection as the Base for Your Own Cube — with Carmen Klomparens
January 20th, 2025
Andy and Anthony talk with Carmen Klomparens, lead designer of the Foundations Starter Collection, about the set and how it could be used as a Cube starting point.
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Episode 234
Changing Patterns in Magic R&D
January 13th, 2025
Andy and Anthony talk about changes to Magic's design, how they effect the experience of playing the game, and how they think about them from the perspective of a cube designer.
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Episode 233
The Barash Files 002 — On Terminology, Communication, and Community
January 6th, 2025
Andy and Anthony and returning guest Zach talk about Cube terminology: how the language we use shapes the conversations and community we form.
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Episode 232
Always Be Cubing — 2024 in Review
December 30th, 2024
Andy and Anthony reflect on their experience in Magic in 2024, a year that brought a proliferation of cube events, solidification of an inter-state Cube culture, and clarity to how Magic is moving forward as a product.
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Episode 231
The Barash Files 001 — The Principles of Game Design
December 23rd, 2024
Zach Barash joins Andy and Anthony for the first episode in a series sharing his game design expertise, starting with the basic principles of game design.
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Episode 230
A Loom Made of Yarn: the Tools of Cube Design
December 16th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about the digital tools and workflows necessary for Cube designers from finding cards, to managing lists, to playing games.
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Episode 229
Fixing is Cringe with Jenn the Judge
December 9th, 2024
Andy and Anthony are joined by Jenn the Judge to talk about 5 color decks in Cubes, how they come about, affect drafts, and what to do about them.
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Episode 228
Foundations Community Set Review
December 2nd, 2024
Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the Foundations and Jump Start surveys, discussing the cards the Cube community is most excited to try.
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Episode 227
On Board Wipes and Cube Design
November 25th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about board wipes in Cube, how they effect drafting and gameplay and how they think about them in their own Cubes.
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Episode 226
Clown Shoes Cubes and How to Use Feedback
November 18th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about their Cubes included in CubeCon 2024, what they learned from players' experience and potential changes they're considering.
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Episode 225
Foundations First Impressions
November 11th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about their first impressions of Foundations including overall feelings about the set and individual cards they're interested in.
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Episode 224
Heuristics for Having a Good Time
November 4th, 2024
Andy and Anthony, in the wake of CubeCon 2024, talk about how they approach drafting new Cubes.
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Episode 223
2–1 Into 3–0 Into 3–0 Into 3–0 Into Drop and Go Eat Ramen
October 28th, 2024
Andy, Anthony, and Patrick recap their CubeCon 2024 experience draft-by-draft and meal-by-meal.
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Episode 222
Bloomburrow and Duskmourn: House of Horror Cube Community Set Reviews
October 21st, 2024
Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the Cube community set reviews from Bloomburrow and Duskmourn.
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Episode 221
Ryan Saxe’s Auto Battler Inspired Format
October 14th, 2024
Andy and Anthony are joined by Ryan Saxe to talk about his latest Magic passion project, a unique draft inspired by auto battlers.
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Episode 220
Commander Bans and Consumption as Self Expression
October 7th, 2024
Andy and Anthony reflect on the recent shake up in commander and how it ties to the state of the game more broadly.
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Episode 219
Boromir Sucks and Oko is a Joke-O: Sweeping Updates to the Turbo Cube
September 30th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about big updates to Anthony's Turbo Cube, a special format where every card is powered up.
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Episode 218
State of the Game 2024
September 23rd, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about the last year in Magic following Mark Roeswater's 2024 state of the game article.
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Episode 217
Cards We Were Wrong About: 2024 Standard Rotation
September 16th, 2024
Andy, Parker, and Anthony look back at the sets that are cycling out of standard and discuss overall feelings about the sets in retrospect and individual cards they've been surprised or happy with.
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Episode 216
Randomness Revisited — Strategy vs. Tactics in Game Design
September 9th, 2024
Andy and Anthony go even deeper on randomness in Magic with resources and perspectives from listeners.
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Episode 215
Using Little Pieces of Paper as a Supermassive Random Number Generator
September 2nd, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about randomness in Magic - where it comes from, what it does, and why it's important.
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Episode 214
Grassroots Cube Event Potpurri
August 26th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about some of the past and pending Cube events they are attending.
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Bonus Episode
Spotlight: Recross the Paths
August 19th, 2024
With the novel coronavirus ravaging the cast of Lucky Paper Radio, Andy and Anthony are taking a week off to recover and using this as an opportunity to highlight another podcast they’ve been enjoying, Kade Goforth’s Recross the Paths.
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Episode 213
French Vanilla Face-Off
August 12th, 2024
Andy and Anthony rank and argue about their favorite evergreen, creature keyword abilities.
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Episode 212
Bloomburrow First Impressions, Mechanics, and Personal Cube Additions
August 5th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about their first impressions of Bloomburrow and the cards they're interested in for their Cubes.
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Episode 211
Book Club: The Beauty of Games by Frank Lantz
July 29th, 2024
In the first “book club” edition of the podcast, Andy, Anthony, and Parker discuss The Beauty of Games by Frank Lantz.
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Episode 210
Text, Subtext, and Cards with Secrets
July 22nd, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about complexity, it's different forms and impacts in old school and contemporary Magic.
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Episode 209
It Feels Good to Riffle Shuffle Duals: Preparing the Neoclassical Cube for Steel City
July 15th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about the evolution of the Neoclassical Cube leading up Steel City Cube.
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Episode 208
Modern Horizons 3 Cube Community Set Review
July 8th, 2024
Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the Modern Horizons 3 Cube Community Survey.
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Episode 207
Boston Cube Party Tournament Report with Patrick ‘Dirt’ Doherty
July 1st, 2024
Andy, Anthony, and Patrick, fresh off Boston Cube Party, talk through their matches and experience from a weekend of Cubing.
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Episode 206
The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield
June 24th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk to Richard Garfield, creator of Magic: the Gathering and legendary game designer, about games, Cube, and his personal design process.
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Episode 205
Full Vintage Rotisserie Draft with Alex and Aran
June 17th, 2024
Andy is joined by two special guests from his local playgroup, Alex and Aran, to talk about a rotisserie draft of every card in Magic’s history.
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Episode 204
A Review of All the Coolest Cards from Modern Horizons 3
June 10th, 2024
Andy and Anthony take a first look at Modern Horizons 3, discussing their overall impression and individual cards they're interested in.
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Episode 203
A Cube is Like a Building
June 3rd, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about the history of architecture and how the design of physical spaces relates to the design of play and games, and specifically Cube design.
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Episode 202
Reading Series — The Creator of ‘Magic the Gathering’ Knows Exactly Where it All Went Wrong
May 27th, 2024
Andy and Anthony read and comment along a recent article on Magic's history and it's creator, Richard Garfield's, struggles with the game.
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Episode 201
Commitment to the Bit — On Context Shift Cubes
May 20th, 2024
Andy and Anthony discuss novelty Cube design: the value and cost of new for the sake of new.
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Episode 200
We Can Cut This if You Want
May 13th, 2024
On their 200th (!!) episode, Andy and Anthony look back on where they were when they started the podcast and where they are now.
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Episode 199
Tutors in Cube Design: Creating Variety by Reducing Variety
May 6th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about "Tutors" in Cube. How do cards that give you access to any card in your library impact the game?
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Episode 198
Outlaws of Thunder Junction Cube Community Set Review
April 29th, 2024
Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of our community set review of Outlaws of Thunder Junction.
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Episode 197
Cube Design Iron Chef: Goblin Charbelcher
April 22nd, 2024
Andy and Anthony revisit designing a Cube starting with a single card for inspiration and each follow paths branching off Goblin Charbelcher.
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Episode 196
The Hardest Part is Just Getting Started, with Sam from Rhystic Studies
April 15th, 2024
Andy and Anthony are joined by Sam from Rhystic Studies to talk about his entree Cube design.
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Episode 195
Magic on the Holodeck: Outlaws of Thunder Junction First Impressions and Personal Cube Additions
April 8th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about their first impressions of Outlaws of Thunder Junction and the cards their interested in for their own Cube lists.
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Episode 194
Striving for a More Accountable and Inclusive Playgroup
April 1st, 2024
Andy and Anthony welcome Tara, Jenn, and Haiyue to talk about how we can work towards making spaces more accountable and inclusive to promote growing more diverse playgroups.
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Episode 193
100 Ornithopters in a Trenchcoat
March 25th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about Andy's newest Cube creation, where the only creatures are Ornithopters, and there's no shortage of them.
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Episode 192
The episode concerning the art provokes.
March 18th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about the role and history of art in Magic, and move on to talk more broadly about the role of "art" in our lives.
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Episode 191
Vibes-Forward Cube Design with Ryan Overturf
March 11th, 2024
Andy and Anthony are joined by Ryan Overturf to talk Cube design, starting with two of Ryan's recent articles on his own process.
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Episode 190
Murders at Karlov Manor Cube Community Set Review
March 4th, 2024
Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the Murders at Karlov Manor Cube Community Survey and discuss the top, most popular, cards.
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Episode 189
Second Order Interaction in Cube Design
February 26th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about layers of interaction in Magic and how they see them fit into Cube design.
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Episode 188
Peasant Cube, Accessibility, and Playing within Restrictions with Emma Partlow
February 19th, 2024
Andy and Anthony are joined by writer, podcaster, and Magic raconteur Emma Partlow to discuss her history with the game.
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Episode 187
Murders at Karlov Manor and Ravnica: Clue Edition Personal Cube Additions
February 12th, 2024
Andy and Anthony review the cards they are planning on adding to their four relevant Cube projects from the latest sets, while also touching on cards they're specifically not adding and potentially starting a new Cube culture war with a hot take about a widely beloved card.
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Episode 186
Murders at Karlov Manor and Ravnica: Clue Edition First Impressions
February 5th, 2024
Andy and Anthony discuss the mechanics of Murders at Karlov Manor and their first impressions of the set for Cube.
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Episode 185
Solving Game Design Issues with Marshmallows
January 29th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about rapid prototyping and difficult design challenges with a new, experimental Battle Box.
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Episode 184
Designing and Playtesting a New Archetype for the Turbo Cube
January 22nd, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about some recent updates and play experience to Anthony's Turbo Cube, where all spells and activated abilities cost {2} mana less.
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Episode 183
Designing and Drafting a Cube on a Budget
January 15th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about building a Cube on a budget, selecting, acquiring, and safely storing cards.
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Episode 182
Emergent Cube Design by Example
January 8th, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk through how they would use a single card as a seed crystal for generating ideas for a brand new Cube.
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Episode 181
Gold Cards and You
January 1st, 2024
Andy and Anthony talk about all things gold, how multi-colored cards play into the drafts and games of cubes.
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Episode 180
Live from Maro’s Lap: the Cubesmas Wishlist Spectacular
December 25th, 2023
Andy, Anthony, and Parker climb up on Maro's Lap and share their Christmas Cube wishes for the coming year.
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Episode 179
The Changing Landscape of Magic — 2023 in Review
December 18th, 2023
Andy and Anthony take a look back at 2023 discussing the rise in grass-roots Cube events, and the fundamental changes in the way Magic is produced that are making the game less hospitable for some players.
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Episode 178
Holiday Mailbag
December 11th, 2023
Andy and Anthony open up the mailbag and answer questions from listeners.
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Episode 177
The Nature of Combo in Cube
December 4th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about everything ‘combo' - how combos fit into the game and how they effect drafting and playing cubes.
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Episode 176
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Cube Community Set Review
November 27th, 2023
Andy, Anthony, and Parker discuss the results of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan community Cube survey.
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Episode 175
What Can and Cannot Be Learned From Studying Draft Pools
November 20th, 2023
Andy and Anthony review the decklists from drafts of their cubes at CubeCon 2023, discussing what they can learn from the decks and potential future directions for their cubes.
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Episode 174
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan First Impressions, Mechanics, and Personal Cube Additions
November 13th, 2023
Andy and Anthony take a first look at The Lost Caverns of Ixalan giving their thoughts in the new mechanics, themes, and the specific cards they're interested in for their Cubes.
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Episode 173
Riding Siege Rhinos to Victory with Tim Meyers
November 6th, 2023
Andy and Anthony welcome CubeCon 2023 champ Tim Meyers onto the show to talk through his path to victory in the second annual, premiere Cube event.
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Episode 172
Refreshingly Dangerous Confusion with Dom Harvey
October 30th, 2023
Andy and Anthony and joined by Dom Harvey in the wake of CubeCon to discuss how to approach drafting new environments.
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Episode 171
Cube Accessibility: Making Magic Approachable and Welcoming
October 23rd, 2023
Andy and Anthony discuss cube accessibility, the importance of, and how to make a cube more approachable and inviting to help grow your playgroup.
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Bonus Episode
The Road to CubeCon 2023
October 19th, 2023
Andy and Anthony lay out the coverage schedule for CubeCon 2023 and share their excitement for the event.
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Episode 170
In Praise of Lower Mana Curves
October 16th, 2023
Andy and Anthony discuss the mana curves of Cubes, how it influences the way they play and how they think about it as designers.
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Episode 169
Spike University Part Two with Justin Parnell
October 9th, 2023
Andy and Anthony are again joined by Justin Parnell to finish their discussion on every Cube that will be featured on Coverage during Cube Con.
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Episode 168
Spike University Part One with Justin Parnell
October 2nd, 2023
Andy and Anthony are joined by Justin Parnell to talk about how to spike the Cubes that will be featured on coverage in Cube Con 2023.
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Episode 167
Bun Magic Cube Draft Primer
September 25th, 2023
Andy and Anthony discuss how to draft Andy's “Bun Magic Cube” including an overall summary of how the environment plays and key cards and themes to look out for.
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Episode 166
Wilds of Eldraine Cube Community Set Review
September 18th, 2023
Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the Wilds of Eldraine Cube community set review discussing the top cards the community is interested in and shifting trends in Cube design.
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Episode 165
The ABCs of Control
September 11th, 2023
Andy and Anthony break down everything about control decks in Cubes.
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Episode 164
Wilds of Eldraine First Impressions, Mechanics, and Personal Cube Additions
September 4th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about their first impressions and the mechanics of Wilds of Eldraine and their own Cube addions.
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Episode 163
Draft Matters
August 28th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about mechanics and cards that interact with drafting — with a special emphasis on Cogwork Librarian.
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Episode 162
State of the Game 2023
August 21st, 2023
Andy and Anthony discuss Mark Rosewater's 2023 state of design and their own relationships to Magic.
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Bonus Episode
Admiring and Analyzing Aquaone’s Powered Cube
August 14th, 2023
Andy and Anthony's plan for this week's episode fell through, so instead they're sharing the audio from a stream in which they discussed Aquaone's legendary Powered Cube with the designer himself.
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Episode 161
Man vs. Machine 2: Judgment Day
August 7th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about the cards Cube Cobra's analytic tools recommend they cut from their main Cubes, and about the limitations of, and necessary context to understand, these tools.
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Episode 160
Restrictions Breed Podcast Topics
July 31st, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about Cube restrictions. Designers impose all kinds of restrictions on the cards they put into a Cube to help them push boundaries, meet budges, or found a clear identity for an environment.
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Episode 159
Wishes, Lesson/Learn, and Companions: The Dynamics of Outside the Game Mechanics
July 24th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about the unusually class of "wish" cards, why they're interesting, and the challenges they present in Cube design.
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Episode 158
Cheese Two Ways
July 17th, 2023
Andy and Anthony dig into two kinds of cheese: "cheesing people out" in games of Magic and how to serve it up when hosting game nights.
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Episode 157
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Cube Community Set Review
July 10th, 2023
Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the Cube community response to The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth.
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Episode 156
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Mechanics & Cube Additions
July 3rd, 2023
Andy and Anthony take a first look at The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, discuss the mechanics, and talk about cards their interested in for their own Cubes.
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Episode 155
Deeper than Winrate: Measuring Growth as a Player in Casual Magic
June 26th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about Andy's six month exercise in tracking the details of all of his Cube games and why he is abandoning the spreadsheet for a new model.
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Episode 154
Live from SCGCon Baltimore 2023: Bun Magic Cube Rotisserie Draft Review
June 19th, 2023
Andy and Anthony have three special guests in the studio to talk about their recent rotisserie draft of the Bun Magic Cube.
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Episode 153
In Defense of Forcing: How to Draft Cube Successfully with Ryan Saxe
June 12th, 2023
Andy and Anthony are joined by Ryan Saxe to talk about his approach to Cube drafting, and limited Magic at large, that may seem to run contrary to conventional wisdom.
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Episode 152
The Risks and Rewards of Custom Rules in Cube
June 5th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about custom rules in Cubes. While Cube is a unique space that allows for creative takes on the game, altering the game fundamentally comes with risks to fun and accessibility. Not all changes work equally well.
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Episode 151
Xerox Theory and You
May 29th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about "Xerox Theory", a strategic Magic concept. Andy explains the history and origins of the idea and how it applies different to early and contemporary Magic.
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Episode 150
Going Against Your Intuition: A Different Approach to Tuning the Neoclassical Cube
May 22nd, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about the state of Andy's Neoclassical cube: how the environment's been playing out, things they want to tweak, and specific areas of potential change.
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Episode 149
All About Ramp
May 15th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about ramp, how it fits in their cubes and broadly in green's identity.
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Episode 148
Talking Cube Cuts with the Boys: Real-Time Regular Cube Update
May 8th, 2023
Andy, Anthony, and James do a live review of Anthony's Regular Cube. They talk about how the environment has been playing recently, sift through potential cuts, and make a plan for the next iteration of the Cube.
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Episode 147
March of the Machine Cube Community Set Review
May 1st, 2023
Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the March of the Machine Cube community set review, discussing the top cards appealing to the most designers, things that surprised them, and a deep dive on Battles.
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Episode 146
Big and Small Games Revisited
April 24th, 2023
Andy and Anthony follow up on their discussion with Sam Black on 'big' and 'small' games considering community feedback and attempting to quantitatively analyze their own Cubes.
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Episode 145
March of the Machine Mechanics and Cube Additions
April 17th, 2023
Andy and Anthony take a first look at March of the Machine, considering the new mechanics from an abastract, game design perspective and also assessing individual cards that have a chance in their own cubes.
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Episode 144
How to Play Your Own, Custom Cube on Arena
April 10th, 2023
Andy and Anthony are joined by Chris and Tim from the Jank Diver Gaming Community to talk about how to play your own, custom-designed cube on Arena.
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Episode 143
Big and Small Games with Sam Black
April 3rd, 2023
Andy and Anthony are joined by professional Magic player Sam Black to talk about "big" and "small" games of Magic and the complex nature of card advantage.
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Episode 142
Pulp Nouveau and Drafting Your Basics with Parker LaMascus
March 27th, 2023
Parker joins Andy and Anthony to talk about his newest Cube design project, Pulp Nouveau, featuring a dark, flavor focused aesthetic and a mechanical variation on a desert cube where players only have free access to basic swamps.
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Episode 141
Introducing Your Cube, With Myagic!
March 20th, 2023
Andy and Anthony and special guest May talk about writing good Cube overviews. What goes into writing a concise, and practical introduction for potential players and designers.
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Episode 140
Cube and the Soul of Limited With Ryan Saxe
March 13th, 2023
Andy and Anthony are joined by Ryan Saxe to talk about the design of "low powered" cubes and what can be learned from the design of limited sets.
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Episode 139
A Weeklong Game of Chicken with Justin Parnell
March 6th, 2023
Andy and Anthony and joined by Justin Parnell and discuss their recent rotisserie draft of Anthony's Regular Cube at Magic Con Philadelphia.
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Episode 138
Phyrexia: All Will Be One Cube Community Set Review
February 27th, 2023
Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the ONE and ONC community set reviews, talking about the cards the community is most excited for and patterns and surprises in the survey results.
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Episode 137
Cube Update Potpourri
February 20th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about the state of their Cubes - recent changes they've made, how they feel they've changed, and how they expect them to change in the future.
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Episode 136
Phyrexia: All Will Be One Cube Additions
February 13th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about the cards they're interested in giving a try in each of their own Cube environments, including Andy's eternal Bun Magic Cube, Anthony's low power 'Regular Cube' and a few more extreme environments.
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Episode 135
Phyrexia: All Will Be One Mechanics & First Impressions
February 6th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about their first impressions of the mechanics and themes from Phyrexia: All Will Be One, which is full of new takes on classic mechanics.
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Episode 134
The Neoclassical Cube: The Spirit of Old-School Magic, With a Twist
January 30th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about Andy's latest cube creation, The Neoclassical Cube, intended to capture the spirit of old school Magic.
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Episode 133
The Common Pitfalls of First-Time Cube Designers
January 23rd, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about the most common pitfalls new Cube designers fall into and how to avoid them.
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Episode 132
Designing Set Cubes
January 16th, 2023
Andy and Anthony are joined by Aran to talk about designing Set Cubes, the spectrum of design approaches and how they can be a great entry point to Cube.
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Episode 131
Cube Drafting with Smaller Groups
January 9th, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about ways to draft Cube with any number of players.
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Episode 130
Cube Community Building
January 2nd, 2023
Andy and Anthony talk about growing a local Cube group, reflecting on what's been working in their group and challenges to overcome.
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Episode 129
Seasons of Cube
December 26th, 2022
Andy and Anthony look back at 2022 and the highs and lows for Cube design and the Cube Community.
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Episode 128
Live Cube Update: Making Removal Better in the Bun Magic Cube
December 19th, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about updates to Andy's Bun Magic Cube, evaluating three drops that keep removal relevant in the environment.
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Episode 127
Threat Density & Value Against Removal
December 12th, 2022
Andy and Anthony analyze the types and distribution of threats in their main Cubes and talk about how threats relate to removal and shape how environments play out.
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Episode 126
The Brothers’ War Cube Community Set Review
December 5th, 2022
Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results and most popular cards in The Brothers’ War Cube community set review.
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Episode 125
How to Test Your Cube
November 28th, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about testing their Cubes. How do you create a feedback loop and assess whether or not your design decisions are having their intended effect?
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Episode 124
The Brothers’ War Cube Additions
November 21st, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about the individual cards from The Brothers’ War they're interested in giving a chance in their own cubes.
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Episode 123
The Brothers’ War Mechanics & First Impressions
November 14th, 2022
Andy and Anthony review the mechanics and themes from The Brothers' War, a set jam-packed with artifacts, in the context of Cube design.
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Episode 122
Lessons From the Death of an Experimental Cube
November 7th, 2022
Andy and Anthony look back at lessons learned from designing and playing Anthony's Mono Black Cube and why it makes sense to start from scratch and iterate on Cube designs.
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Episode 121
CubeCon “Tournament Report”
October 31st, 2022
Andy and Anthony recap the highlights of the inaugural CubeCon with Patrick, Daniel, and Theo.
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Episode 120
The Duality of Power Outliers
October 24th, 2022
Andy and Anthony respond to an episode of The Eternal Glory Podcast and discuss reasons and motivations to ban cards in formats. They compare the creative process of banning cards to Cube design.
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Bonus Episode
The Road to CubeCon
October 19th, 2022
Andy and Anthony share some details about their trip to CubeCon.
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Episode 119
How to Use Scryfall: Improving Your Decks, Improving Your Cubes, Improving Your Life
October 17th, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about the fundamental element of the game: how to go about searching for cards and leverage Scryfall to master the process.
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Episode 118
Turbo Cube Draft Primer
October 10th, 2022
Andy and Anthony turn their attention to Anthony's "Turbo Cube" where all spells and activated abilities cost {2} less to cast, talking about how they approach drafting this novel environment and the cards and strategies that define the format.
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Episode 117
Regular Cube Draft Primer
October 3rd, 2022
Andy and Anthony discuss how to draft Anthony's “Regular Cube”, including the themes and strategies they think are the most powerful and key cards that overperform or shape the environment in some way.
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Episode 116
Cards We Were Wrong About: 2022 Standard Rotation
September 26th, 2022
Andy, Anthony, and Parker look back on the sets rotating out of standard in 2022 and discuss how their expectations of cards line up with their current Cube goals, as well as how prospective survey results line up with current data.
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Episode 115
Dominaria United Cube Community Set Review
September 19th, 2022
Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about the results of the Dominaria United community set review. They explore the results of the community survey including the top cards, highest rated cards, qualitative trends in comments, and some things that surprised them.
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Episode 114
Dominaria United Cube Additions
September 12th, 2022
Andy and Anthony discuss the new cards from Dominaria United they're interested in for their own particular cube environments, focusing on Andy's Eternal cube, Anthony's unrestricted mid-power cube, and a few other novel environments.
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Episode 113
Dominaria United Mechanics & First Impressions
September 5th, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about the new mechanics, themes, and their first impressions of Dominaria United and what they're most excited about for Cube.
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Episode 112
Cube as a Personal History with Dom Harvey
August 29th, 2022
Andy and Anthony are joined by competitive grinder, latent Cube content creator, and actually good Magic player Dom Harvey to talk about his relationship with the game.
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Episode 111
The Texture of Removal
August 22nd, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about all things removal. They categorize the different types of removal and discuss how all these features impact gameplay in an environment.
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Episode 110
Tarmogoyfs & Elvish Visionaries
August 15th, 2022
Andy and Anthony revisit the age-old topic of Baneslayers and Mulldrifters and break down how Andy's thinking about them has evolved over time.
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Episode 109
State of the Game 2022
August 8th, 2022
Andy and Anthony discuss the state of Magic over the last year by discussing Mark Rosewater's State of Design article and expanding on their own feelings about the state of the game.
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Episode 108
Cards That Are Cool
August 1st, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about all the cards shared between their two, very different environments.
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Episode 107
How Many Lands Should you Include in Your Cube?
July 25th, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about how many lands to include in a Cube, drawing precedents from other formats and analysis of draft data from Cube Cobra.
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Episode 106
Commander Deck Building Inspiration, Self-Imposed Restrictions, and Guidelines
July 18th, 2022
Andy and Anthony prove that Lucky Paper Radio is not a “Cube” podcast by talking about their personal approaches to designing Commander decks.
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Episode 105
Scholar of the Game
July 11th, 2022
Andy and Anthony run down the Magic podcasts, videos, and articles that they follow and why media about Magic is important to them.
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Bonus Episode
Introducing the Commander Map
July 5th, 2022
Andy and Anthony are joined by Jett to announce Lucky Paper's latest project: the Commander Map! The map visualizes the wide world of EDH showing every deck on EDHREC organized based on the cards they contain.
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Episode 104
Deciding Which Cards to Cut from Your Cube
July 4th, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about the least fun aspect of Cube curation for many designers: making cuts.
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Episode 103
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Cube Set Review
June 27th, 2022
Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Cube survey.
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Episode 102
Regular Cube Draft Along
June 20th, 2022
Andy and Anthony collaboratively draft a deck from Anthony's Regular Cube, discussing how they approach the environment and the roles individual cards play.
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Episode 101
A Deep Dive on Disruption Density in Cube
June 13th, 2022
Andy and Anthony return to one of their most discussed episodes, Bread and Butter Breakdown, for a detailed analysis of how the Bun Magic Cube has changed in the last 17 months, with a special focus on disruption.
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Episode 100
Centennial Retrospective
June 6th, 2022
On their milestone, 100th show, Andy and Anthony reflect on important episodes and things they've learned in the last two years of Lucky Paper Radio.
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Episode 99
How To Build a Cube From Your Collection
May 30th, 2022
Andy and Anthony discuss building a Cube from your existing collection, including the pros and cons of working with what you have and a process for shaping a Cube.
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Episode 98
Are Synergy and a High Density of Interaction Incompatible?
May 23rd, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about the drafts of Caleb Gannon's Powered Synergy Cube posted to Youtube and whether extremely synergistic decks can thrive in an environment with a high density of interaction.
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Episode 97
Lands That Do Things: All About Fetch Lands
May 16th, 2022
Andy and Anthony are going deep on fetch lands, discussing their benefits, to both players and cube designers, as well as their costs.
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Episode 96
Streets of New Capenna Cube Community Set Review
May 9th, 2022
Andy, Anthony, and Parker discuss the results of our survey, reviewing the most popular Cube cards from Streets of New Capenna.
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Episode 95
The Powered Synergy Cube with Caleb Gannon
May 2nd, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk with Cube designer, scientist, and artist Caleb Gannon about his Powered Synergy Cube, coming to Magic Online.
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Episode 94
Cooking & Cube, Breaking Bread & Cracking Packs
April 25th, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about two of their favorite hobbies, Magic and cooking, exploring what they value about them and all the things they share.
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Episode 93
Streets of New Capenna Cube Additions
April 18th, 2022
Andy and Anthony discuss each card their interested in giving a try in their own Cube environments, including a high powered legacy Cube, low powered peasant-ish list and a few more novel contexts.
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Episode 92
Streets of New Capenna Mechanics & First Impressions
April 11th, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about the headline mechanics of Magic's latest premier set, Streets of New Capenna.
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Episode 91
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Recap
April 4th, 2022
Andy and Anthony revisit the tempo axis rock, paper, scissors theory, responding to listener feedback, and recapping an exciting weekend of Cube.
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Episode 90
Rock Beats Paper, Paper Beats Scissors, Scissors Beats Rock
March 28th, 2022
Andy and Anthony dissect the macro-archetypes of Magic and discuss whether or not any type of deck is intrinsically favored against another.
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Bonus Episode
Slay the Spire with Parker LaMascus and Jason Waddell
March 21st, 2022
Parker LaMascus and Jason Waddell fill in for Andy and Anthony by discussing one of their favorite, non-Magic card games.
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Episode 89
Housman, Grid, and Beyond: Cube Drafting with Two Players
March 14th, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about their first experiences with Housman draft and other Cube draft formats for two players.
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Episode 88
How To Use the Other Half of Your Cube
March 7th, 2022
Andy and Anthony answer a question from the Cube subreddit about signaling cards and how we evaluate them differently as designers and players.
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Episode 87
My Deck Is a 7 With Mike Coyle & Andy Floury
February 28th, 2022
Andy and Anthony are joined by guests Andy Floury and Mike Coyle of The Guardian Project Podcast and talk about how they approach the game and focus on making the most of it.
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Episode 86
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Cube Community Set Review
February 21st, 2022
Andy and Anthony are joined by Parker LaMascus to discuss the results of the Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Cube community set review.
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Episode 85
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Cube Additions
February 14th, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about the Neon Dynasty cards they're interested in giving a shot in their own various Cube environments.
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Episode 84
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Mechanics & First Impressions
February 7th, 2022
Andy and Anthony analyze Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty’s mechanics and themes in their first of three set review episodes.
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Episode 83
Bottling an Iconic Mirror Match: the Jeskai Control Battle Box
January 31st, 2022
Andy and Anthony discuss a new Battle Box of Andy's design inspired by the Jeskai control mirror.
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Episode 82
Just Slap it Down and Start Playing
January 24th, 2022
Andy and Anthony revist Battle Box with a discussion focused on changes in goals and gameplay in Anthony's new list.
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Episode 81
What We Talk About When We Talk About Magic
January 17th, 2022
Andy and Anthony talk about the language that has evolved around Magic, how that language shapes the way we communicate and think, and the positive and negative effects it has.
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Episode 80
Open Drafting the Bun Magic Cube
January 10th, 2022
Andy and Anthony separately draft the exact same seat of Andy's Bun Magic Cube and discuss where their decks and card evaluations diverged.
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Episode 79
Power Cuts Both Ways
January 3rd, 2022
Andy and Anthony discuss what it means for a cube to be more or less powerful.
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Episode 78
Looking Backwards; Moving Forwards
December 27th, 2021
Andy and Anthony look back on the year and discuss the highs and lows for Cube and how their relationship with Magic continues to evolve.
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Episode 77
Inaugural Draft of the Irregular Cube
December 20th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about recent drafts of their Cubes and specifically break down rarity and power level disparity in Anthony's Irregular Cube.
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Episode 76
Un-Cards for Cube
December 13th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about all things un-, the history of silver bordered Magic, and if and how to play these cards in Cube.
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Episode 75
All About Brainstorm
December 6th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are dedicating an entire episode to the discussion of a single card — Brainstorm.
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Episode 74
Innistrad: Crimson Vow Cube Community Set Review
November 29th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are joined by Parker LaMascus to share the results of the Innistrad: Crimson View cube community survey.
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Episode 73
Innistrad: Crimson Vow Cube Additions
November 22nd, 2021
Andy and Anthony discuss the cards from Crimson Vow that they are going to be testing in their respective cubes.
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Episode 72
Innistrad: Crimson Vow Mechanics & First Impressions
November 15th, 2021
Andy and Anthony take a first look at Innistrad: Crimson Vow, breaking down themes, mechanics, and cycles for Cube.
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Episode 71
The Use and Abuse of Archetype Driven Design
November 8th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about the pros and cons of designing your cube with 10, two-color archetypes as the guiding light.
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Bonus Episode
A Farewell to Cube Tutor
November 1st, 2021
In a special episode we bid farewell to the first Cube management website, Cube Tutor.
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Episode 70
Evolving Cubes and the Power of Novelty
October 25th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about a few topics including novelty, Cube evaluation, and player feedback.
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Episode 69
A Normal Conversation About Magic Cards
October 18th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about a handful of nice cards from each of their own Cubes.
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Episode 68
Mark Rosewater is My Personal Design Intern with Jason Waddell
October 11th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk with Jason Waddell about Cube, game design, and the complications of Magic as a hobby.
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Bonus Episode
CubeTutor Shutdown
October 6th, 2021
Andy and Anthony discuss the imminent shutdown of CubeTutor and their plans to memorialize it — with your help!
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Episode 67
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Cube Set Review
October 4th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are Joined by Parker to dive into Innistrad Midnight Hunt and all the cards and mechanics they’re interested in for cubes of call kinds.
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Episode 66
Brags & Bad Beats
September 27th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about cube updates and beats and brags from a draft of Anthony’s Regular Cube.
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Episode 65
Cube Feelbads: Breaking Zero-Sum Fun in Magic
September 20th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about the ‘feel bad’ moments in Magic and the cards that are more likely to create them.
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Episode 64
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Mechanics & First Impressions
September 13th, 2021
Andy and Anthony take a first look at Innistrad: Midnight Hunt breaking down the mechanics from a design perspective for Cube and other casual formats.
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Episode 63
Single Card Discussion
September 6th, 2021
This week Andy and Anthony indulge themselves in discussing some individual cards in the context of Cube and jump from there to different aspects of their design philosophies.
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Episode 62
Atomic Spells: The Role of One Mana Cards in Cube
August 30th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about the role and importance of one mana spells — how the first play of a deck is the foundation of a plan, and mana costs dictate the sequence of gameplay.
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Episode 61
Live from Cube Weekend ‘21
August 23rd, 2021
Live from Cube Weekend: Andy and Anthony are joined by the draft crew breaking down the highs and lows from a weekend of Cube drafts.
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Episode 60
Cube Logistics: Sleeves, Storage, Shuffling, and More
August 16th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about the logistics of Cube — everything from storage and sleeves to basic basic lands and tokens.
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Episode 59
Battle Box: No Setup, No Bad Mana, All Magic
August 9th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about Battle Box, one of their favorite casual ways to play Magic, covering how the format works, what cards work well in this unique type of environment, and how to build your own.
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Episode 58
The Cube Player’s Guide to Manabases
August 2nd, 2021
Andy and Anthony discuss a challenge unique to Cube: how to optimize drafting and deckbuilding great manabases.
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Episode 57
Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Cube Set Review
July 26th, 2021
Andy and Anthony review the noteworthy cards from the newest expansion: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
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Episode 56
The Mechanics of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
July 19th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about their first impressions of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, breaking down the mechanics and flavor of the set.
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Episode 55
In Defense of Unpopular Cards
July 12th, 2021
Andy and Anthony look at Andy's cube through the lens of Cube Cobra's new 'popularity' feature and discuss under-rated cards and why they might be worth another look.
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Episode 54
The Chromatic Cube with David McDarby
July 5th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are joined by Wizards' own David McDarby to talk about the design process of The Chromatic Cube, currently draftable on Arena.
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Episode 53
Magic: the Gathering is a Difficult Game
June 28th, 2021
Andy and Anthony discuss whether or not Magic, and Cube in particular, is hard to play, and how one might take that into account when designing their own cube.
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Episode 52
Modern Horizons 2 Cube Set Review
June 21st, 2021
Andy, Anthony, are joined by Jett for their most in depth set review yet — Modern Horizons 2. They discuss which cards provide support for classic mechanics, cards that enable new themes, exciting unique designs, and powerful stand-outs.
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Episode 51
How to Win Friends & Influence People (into Playing Your Cube)
June 14th, 2021
Andy and Anthony discuss the logistics of playing cube including how to introduce a cube to your playgroup and how to host a draft.
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Episode 50
Midrange Matchups with Parker LaMascus
June 7th, 2021
Parker LaMascus joins Andy and Anthony to share his cube design experience and highlights from a draft of his midrange focused cube.
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Episode 49
Hope Tender & Devoted Druid & Ragavan & Laelia
May 31st, 2021
Andy and Anthony are discussing the nuanced differences in their approaches to Cube design, taking a few cards as case studies to help them articulate their goals.
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Episode 48
Playing to Win: Evaluating New Cubes
May 24th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about how they approach a new cube — what they look for in the list to set themselves up for success, and a good time, while drafting.
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Episode 47
Irregular Cube: Rarity in Custom Draft Formats
May 17th, 2021
Andy and Anthony pick apart Anthony’s new ‘Irregular Cube’ which features a separate set of ‘rare’ cards and discuss what rarity can enable in Cube design as well as its challenges.
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Episode 46
Strixhaven and Commander 2021 Cube Set Review
May 10th, 2021
Andy, Anthony, and Jett are discussing the results of the Strixhaven and Commander 2021 Cube surveys and sharing some of their own thoughts about the standout cards in the latest sets.
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Episode 45
Smells Like Synergy
May 3rd, 2021
Andy and Anthony discuss and try to come up with a definition of synergy, how it manifests in different Cube environments, and what it adds to gameplay. They talk about hot dogs again.
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Episode 44
Strixhaven Mechanics and Kinds of Decisions
April 26th, 2021
Andy and Anthony talk about the mechanics of Strixhaven and what they’re most interested in for Cube, from avant garde new draft mechanics to polished up classics.
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Episode 43
The Show Must Go On
April 19th, 2021
Guest hosts Parker and Kennedy break down their most recent Cube experience to discuss how cards — and decks — change in different contexts.
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Episode 42
Cube, Art School, & Critical Discourse
April 12th, 2021
Andy and Anthony get personal about their formative art school experiences and the hard learned lessons about the value of critical discourse.
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Episode 41
Cube Is Not a Monolith
April 5th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are not holding back about how the predominant language, focusing on Cube only as “the best cards in magic” limits opportunities of a myriad other Magic experiences... save a few dozen caveats and qualifications.
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Episode 40
More Mana, Faster Mana
March 29th, 2021
Andy and Anthony discuss updates to Andy's cube: more lands and fast mana. Have we found the upper limit of lands? Can fast mana work in a fair environment?
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Bonus Episode
Introducing the Cube Map
March 25th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are joined by Jett to tell everyone about a project they have been working on for a long time: the Cube Map!
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Episode 39
A Flat Power Level
March 22nd, 2021
Andy and Anthony are discussing power level and its impacts on designing a cube. How do big outliers affect an environment? Is a truly flat power level possible, or even desirable?
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Episode 38
Cubers Anonymous with Justin Parnell
March 15th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are joined by Justin Parnell for a walk down memory lane, discussing how Cube has changed over the years.
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Episode 37
Spring Cleaning
March 8th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are going on a little stroll, conversationally speaking, and talking about GeoGuessr, Andy’s awful draft deck, and issuing a correction on Esika’s Chariot.
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Episode 36
Restrictions & Inspiration
March 1st, 2021
Andy and Anthony are answering a listener question and discussing a recent video, both addressing restrictions in Cube design.
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Episode 35
Spreadsheet: the Gathering
February 22nd, 2021
Andy and Anthony are talking about the recent rotisserie draft of Anthony’s Regular cube and all that you can learn as a designer from drafting your environment in this novel way.
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Episode 34
Card Evaluation and the Playtesting Paradox
February 15th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are going back to first principles and asking the question, what even is card evaluation anyway?
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Episode 33
Kaldheim Cube Set Review
February 8th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are joined by Jett, the author of Lucky Paper’s set prospective series, for their most in-depth set review ever.
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Episode 32
Personal Cube Design Level Ups
February 1st, 2021
Andy and Anthony take some time to reflect on each of their four biggest Cube design level-up moments.
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Episode 31
Bread and Butter Breakdown
January 25th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are doing the math on the densities of removal, countermagic, hand hate, card draw, and mana fixing in their respective cubes and talking about what it means, if anything.
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Episode 30
Kaldheim First Look
January 18th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are in the throes of spoiler season and give their first impressions of the mechanics in Kaldheim.
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Episode 29
Vision Design vs. Play Design in Cube
January 11th, 2021
In a follow up from their last episode, Andy and Anthony are talking about how Magic R&D’s approach to “vision design” and “play design” might be applied to Cube.
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Episode 28
On Being a Cube Spike
January 4th, 2021
Andy and Anthony are talking about what it means to be a “cube spike”, whether such a thing even exists, and how terminology is fraught in the Cube community.
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Episode 27
Listener Submitted Chaos Supreme
December 28th, 2020
Andy and Anthony are doing an episode made up entirely of pack 1, pick 1s from listener submitted cubes to close out 2020.
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Episode 26
Tribal Synergies and Parasitism
December 21st, 2020
Andy and Anthony are discussing tribal synergies, parasitism, and their newly formed rivalry which a much more successful Magic: the Gathering podcast.
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Episode 25
The Making of the Degenerate Micro Cube
December 14th, 2020
Anthony indulges Andy in a 90 minute discussion about the project he’s been working on almost non-stop since the beginning of the first COVID-19 lockdown: his Degenerate Micro Cube.
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Episode 24
Setting the Tempo
December 7th, 2020
Andy and Anthony are talking about tempo — what it is, when it matters, and how you apply it to your Cube design and gameplay decisions.
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Episode 23
Cube Potpourri
November 30th, 2020
Andy and Anthony are all over the place this week! With no specific topic in mind, the duo touch on four-color cubes, multiplayer cubes, and hypothetical cubes where you begin the game with only one life.
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Episode 22
Designing a Commander Cube
November 23rd, 2020
Andy and Anthony are discussing how they would do about designing and building a Commander cube. How do you capture the spirit of EDH in a drafted environment?
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Episode 21
Commander Legends and a Cube That Glitters
November 16th, 2020
Andy and Anthony are joined by a special guest to discuss Commander Legends and a very unique sort of cube.
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Episode 20
Designing for the Draft
November 9th, 2020
Andy and Anthony are discussing how card choices affect how your players draft your environment and the different aspects of the draft to keep in mind when designing a cube.
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Episode 19
Man vs. Machine
November 2nd, 2020
Andy and Anthony are discussing the suggested adds and cuts to their primary cubes from Cube Cobra’s machine-learning based recommender feature.
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Episode 18
Context is King
October 26th, 2020
Andy and Anthony are answering listener mail, reviewing Andy’s recent changes to his cube, and talking about how important context is in cube design and card evaluation.
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Episode 17
How and Why to Build a Cube
October 19th, 2020
In a special episode directed at people who are interested in building their first Cube, Andy and Anthony are talking about why they love the format so much and how to get into it.
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Episode 16
Complexity in Cube Design
October 12th, 2020
Andy and Anthony are talking about Mark Rosewater’s definitions for the three different types of complexity in Magic and how those concepts might be applied to Cube design.
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Episode 15
Playtesting & Theorycrafting
October 5th, 2020
Andy and Anthony are tackling a big subject in this episode: how do you turn experience playing your cube into informed design decisions that improve your environment?
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Episode 14
Zendikar Rising Cube Set Review
September 28th, 2020
Andy and Anthony are joined by Lucky Paper founding contributor Jett Crowdis to preview the results of our Zendikar Rising cube survey and talk about our evolving impressions of the set.
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Episode 13
Turbo Eggs
September 21st, 2020
Andy and Anthony spend an entire episode talking about Anthony’s experience designing and playtesing a cube that features a teeny-tiny modification to the core rules of Magic.
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Episode 12
Power Creep, Sacred Cows, and Boiled Frogs
September 14th, 2020
Andy and Anthony talk about the concept of power creep as it applies to cube design and how it's easy to be unaware of subtle changes in your environment over time.
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Episode 11
Lay of the Lands
September 7th, 2020
Andy and Anthony go deep on evaluating the new modal double-face card mechanic in Zendikar Rising by comparing it to a variety of existing mechanics from Magic’s past.
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Bonus Episode
Zendikar Rising First Look
September 1st, 2020
Andy and Anthony give their first impressions on the September 1st Zendikar Rising announcement.
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Episode 10
Analysis Paralysis
August 31st, 2020
Andy and Anthony talk about how difficult it is to design a cube. Then, they are joined by John Terrill of Cultic Cube to discuss the data he received from Wizards of the Coast about how players drafted his cube on MTGO.
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Episode 9
Rotisserie Rundown
August 24th, 2020
Andy and Anthony bring you the long awaited conclusion of their rotisserie draft of Andy’s cube and discuss how profoundly player perceptions shape a draft and our resulting understanding of our environments.
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Episode 8
Matchup Matrix
August 17th, 2020
Andy and Anthony discuss how Andy evaluates cards for his cube based on how they perform against opposing decks rather than on their interactions with other cards in the same deck.
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Episode 7
The Spirit of Singleton
August 10th, 2020
Andy and Anthony talk about the nature of singleton. They explain why they each break this common restriction in their own cubes, in different ways, even though they adhere to the underlying spirit.
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Episode 6
The ABCs of Aggro
August 3rd, 2020
Andy and Anthony are talking all things aggro. What are our hosts’ personal histories with aggressive strategies? What is the definition of aggro? How does it manifest itself in typical cube lists and how it might be approached differently?
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Episode 5
The Problem with Five-Color Goodstuff
July 27th, 2020
Andy and Anthony discuss a pack 1, pick 1 from from listener Elle’s graveyard themed cube and Anthony talks about the recent 3-0 of his cube by a five-color goodstuff deck.
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Episode 4
Drafting Your Own Cube Poorly
July 20th, 2020
Andy and Anthony discuss a pack 1, pick 1 from from listener Chris’s “Dichotomy Cube” and Andy reflects on his repeated poor performances playing his own cube.
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Episode 3
Optimal Sealed Environment
July 13th, 2020
Andy and Anthony discuss a pack 1, pick 1 from Andy’s cube, their experiences with IKO and M21 sealed, a theoretical cube designed specifically for playing sealed, and how kitchen table Magic is the purest and best form of the game.
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Episode 2
A Cube with No Color
July 6th, 2020
Andy and Anthony discuss Anthony’s array of cubes, and do a deep-dive on his Monoblack Cube, talking about its origins, how the environment feels, and some potential changes thanks to new cards from Core 2021 and Jumpstart.
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Episode 1
Core Set 2021 Cube Set Review
July 5th, 2020
Andy and Anthony introduce themselves and discuss the cards that interest them most from Core Set 2021.
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Arcane Denial — Xi Zhang