Games

Lucky Paper Radio

Lucky Paper Radio is a podcast about Magic: the Gathering hosted by lifelong friends Andy Mangold and 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.

Latest Episodes:

Cube Drafting with Smaller Groups Jan 09, 2023

Show notes

Andy and Anthony absolutely obliterate the notion that you need eight people to draft a cube. While a full pod might be your ideal, with tons of different draft formats, there’s a great way to play regardless of the size of your playgroup.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Moon’s Fast and Friendly Cube. Thanks, Moon!

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

2:53 — Intro to topic
4:12 — The origins of 8 players drafts
10:52 — Drafting with 6 players
23:02 — Drafting with 4 players
46:50 — Drafting with 2 players
55:36 — What to do when you have an odd number of players
1:03:19 — A nod to some non-cube alternatives
1:06:08 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

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.

Cube Community Building Jan 02, 2023

Show notes

Andy and Anthony talk about growing a local Cube playgroup. They reflect on what’s been working for them to get a consistent, weekly Cube night running as well as challenges that need to be overcome. The talk specifically about the importance of consistency and a good location and managing events to engage new players.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

1:35 — Introduction to the Topic
3:14 — In Short: Be Consistent, Pick a Location, Pick a Time, and Show Up
5:36 — Finding a Location
24:23 — Choosing a Time
27:48 — Finding New Players
35:17 — Extra Events Beyond Scheduled Programming
36:20 — Additional Tips and Advice
47:52 — Cube Design Considerations for Community Building

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

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.

Seasons of Cube Dec 26, 2022

Show notes

Andy and Anthony look back at 2022 on the highs and lows for Cube design and the Cube Community. They talk about the sets and cards they think will have the biggest, lasting impact on Cube design. Cube is a unique format that requires specific tooling to support design, the community, and events. They talk about the challenges these unique needs present as the community grows. Beyond Cube, they talk about the broader state of Magic in 2022 and how they see changes in the game influencing their relationship to it in the future.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

4:38 — Introduction to the Retrospective
7:20 — Cube Hit of the Year
17:32 — Cube Miss of the Year
37:05 — Cube Card of the Year
39:41 — Best Set for Cube
43:35 — Cube Level Up
50:25 — Meta Corner: Reflections on Another Year of the Podcast

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

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.

Live Cube Update: Making Removal Better in the Bun Magic Cube Dec 19, 2022

Show notes

On the heels of last week’s episode, wherein Andy realized that his 3 drop slot is perhaps inappropriately high-value in the face of removal, and in response to some grumbling from his local playgroup about reactive strategies not being viable because of there being too many recursive threats, the boys are talking through 18 different three drop creatures Andy is considering adding. All of these creatures are more ”Baneslayer” than ”Mulldrifter” with the goal of making removal a bit better in the environment.

To inform his decisions Andy polled his local playgroup, the MTG Cube Talk Discord, and Twitter about which cards they perceived to be the most powerful, least powerful, most fun, and least fun. Some of the results were surprising and throughout this episode Andy and Anthony go into detail about how to parse them.

Our show notes were too long this week for the timestamps to fit, so make sure to check them out on our website.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Pino’s The CoMa Cube.

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

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.

Threat Density & Value Against Removal Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

Andy and Anthony talk the types and distributions of threats in their Cubes. Like they’ve done with removal and fixing in the past with interaction and fixing, they make a somewhat subjective categorization of how resilient threats are against removal and look at how the distribution changes across the mana curve in each of their main cubes.

View the full show notes, including the graphs discussed in this episode →

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

5:50 — Belated BRO Hot Take
7:47 — Overview of threat analysis methodology
12:36 — Evaluation of threats in the Regular Cube
28:45 — Summary of threats across mana value and comparisons to the Bun Magic Cube
42:02 — Are there are too many recursive threats in the Bun Magic Cube?

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

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.

The Brothers’ War Cube Community Set Review Dec 05, 2022

Show notes

Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of The Brothers’ War community set survey. They talk about the top cards being tested by the most people as well as some cards that surprised them, being rated higher or lower than they expected.

While the set didn’t have many huge stand out cards, one catching the attention of more than half of respondents, a lot of novel cards lurk lower down the list that might inspire new designs if there isn’t already an obvious home for them.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

View the full show notes with timestamps →

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

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.

How to Test Your Cube Nov 28, 2022

Show notes

Many cube designers, Andy and Anthony included, have way more time an energy to put into their Cubes than the rest of their playgroup. Given that designers do spend so much more time thinking about and tinkering with their lists than playing them, how do you set up a feedback loop so you can effectively test your Cube? What are the compromises of testing in different ways? What information should you listen to and what should you ignore? How much trust can you actually put into bot drafts?

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps:

3:22 — Introduction to Topic
4:23 — What do we mean by “testing”?
12:31 — Testing methods when drafting with a full pod
17:53 — Testing by drafting with smaller groups
22:23 — Testing by drafting against yourself
26:27 — Testing by drafting online with others
31:14 — Testing by playing online
32:28 — Testing by simulating solo drafts
36:44 — Testing by constructing decks from your cube list or playing sealed
40:14 — Testing by thinking really hard about your cube
48:43 — Common pitfalls of looking at your cube quantitatively

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

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.

The Brothers’ War Cube Additions Nov 21, 2022

Show notes

Our survey for The Brothers’ War is up now! Share what cards you’re interested in for your Cube!

Andy and Anthony talk about the new cards from The Brothers’ War they’re interested in giving a chance in their own cubes.They talk about slam dunks for environments from Anthony’s limited-emulating Regular Cube, to Andy’s novel, vintage Degenerate Micro Cube and some cards they’re more speculatively giving a try.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps:

7:03 — Episode Structure Overview
8:48 — BRO Additions to the Regular Cube
9:02 — Recruitment Officer
15:30 — Thopter Mechanic
17:29 — Scrapwork Mutt
20:31 — Bushwhack
24:36 — Legions to Ashes
27:42 — BRO Honorable Mentions for the Bun Magic Cube
28:18 — Lay Down Arms
29:58 — Misery’s Shadow
32:19 — Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim
35:34 — Goblin Blastrunner
38:16 — BRO Additions to the Regular Cube
38:35 — Arcane Proxy
40:58 — Titania’s Command
45:18 — Third Path Iconoclast
49:25 — Soul Partition
52:43 — BRO Additions to Anthony’s Battlebox
53:37 — Scrapwork Mutt (again)
54:18 — Combat Courier
55:36 — Reconstructed Thopter
56:18 — BRO Additions to the Degenerate Micro Cube
56:46 — Defabricate
58:35 — Ashnod’s Harvester
59:25 — Portal to Phyrexia
1:01:31 — BRO Additions to the Turbo Cube
1:02:02 — Levitating Statue
1:03:02 — Stasis Coffin
1:04:53 — Loran of the Third Path
1:05:43 — Tocasia’s Welcome
1:07:22 — Combat Courier

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen.

The Brothers’ War Mechanics & First Impressions Nov 14, 2022

Show notes

Our survey for The Brothers’ War is up now! Share what cards you’re interested in for your Cube!

Andy and Anthony review the mechanics and themes from The Brothers’ War. They talk through the headline mechanics and smaller themes in the set all in the context of what might be most valuable to Cube designers of all types. The set is jam packed with new takes and synergistic payoffs for artifacts, but also includes tons of open, flexible cards that could be great new options for many Cubes.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Timestamps:

7:12 — Our First Impressions of The Brothers’ War
9:55 — Prototype
19:25 — Powerstone Tokens
25:31 — Unearth
30:09 — A Belated Introduction to our Review Format
31:26 — Meld
35:28 — Graveyard Matters Theme
37:39 — Soldier Tribal
39:21 — The New Cycle of Commands

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

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.

Lessons From the Death of an Experimental Cube Nov 07, 2022

Show notes

After one last draft, Andy and Anthony look back on the now disassembled Mono Black Cube. They talk about highlights and lessons learned from the particular design. Unique constraints pushed Anthony to explore new space that will inform future projects. More broadly, they discuss the life-cycle of cubes: why it makes sense to start from scratch and iterate rather than circling around a local maximum to improve one’s Cube design skills.

View all cards mentioned in the episode →

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from listener donald_k_magic’s Changeling Cube.

Timestamps:

2:59 — A Very Special Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1
14:25 — Kill Your Darlings
16:49 — The Value of Iteration and a Parable About Ceramics
20:36 — Final Reflections on the Mono Black Cube
38:00 — The Phyrexian Obliterator Question
42:51 — Building a Home for Every Card
50:57 — Some Logistics and Updates

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

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.

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