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:

Streets of New Capenna Cube Additions Apr 18, 2022

Show notes

Our Streets of New Capenna survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Andy and Anthony discuss each card their interested in giving a try in their own Cube environments, including Andy’s Bun Magic Cube, a high powered legacy environment, Anthony’s peasant-ish Regular Cube, and a few other more novel environments. Visit our website for detailed, linked show notes and a visual spoiler of every card mentioned in this episode in chronological order.

Discussed in this episode:

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at mail@luckypaper.co. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. 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.

Streets of New Capenna Mechanics & First Impressions Apr 11, 2022

Show notes

Andy and Anthony talk about the headline mechanics of Magic’s latest premier set, Streets of New Capenna, a set featuring five, three-color factions, the families, each with their own named mechanic. They discuss each abstractly, breaking down the possible design space, how they fit into existing contexts, and what kinds of individual card designs they’re hoping to see.

27 weeks to CubeCon!

Timestamps:

5:33 — The mechanics of Streets of New Capenna
7:52 — The Brokers (Bant): Shield Counters
13:23 — The Obscura (Esper): Connive
19:34 — The Maestros (Grixis): Casualty
28:43 — The Riveteers (Jund): Blitz
34:31 — The Cabaretti (Naya): Alliance
43:28 — Overall mechanical impressions, Hideaway, and no double faced cards

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 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.

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Recap Apr 04, 2022

Show notes

Andy and Anthony revisit the topic of the rock, paper, scissors metagame on the axis of tempo and respond to listener feedback from last week’s episode. In addition, they share some highlights and bad-beats from a long weekend playing a range of Cubes.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Gasedup’s Micro Grixis Cube.

Timestamps:

1:56 — Brags and Bad Beats: A Cube Weekend Recap
8:43 — Cube Con: The long anticipated, premier Cube event
14:28 — Pack 1, Pick one from Gasedup's Micro Grixis Cube
17:32 — Follow up from last week’s listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
21:16 — Follow up from last week’s main topic: the RPS meta game
32:12 — Reacting to LSV’s “The Meaning of Midrange” article from 2009
39:05 — Reacting to the “PV’s Playhouse — Midrange” article from 2013

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 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.

Rock Beats Paper, Paper Beats Scissors, Scissors Beats Rock Mar 28, 2022

Show notes

After alluding to it in passing multiple times, Andy and Anthony are finally going deep on Andy’s contentious assertion that there are no intrinsically favored matchups between aggro, midrange, and control as the common heuristic suggests. In this episode, they define the macro-archetypes, talk about where they come from, and cover appropriate and innappropriate applications of these kinds of thought technologies. Then, they discuss how each matchup is won and lost for all the permutations of aggro, midrange, and control.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Arcade’s Commander Cube, the “Brawlbox”.

Timestamps:

6:29 — Introduction to Topic and Pack 1, Pick 1 from Arcade's Hand Matters Cube
16:51 — What are the macro-archetypes and where do they come from?
25:32 — Andy’s argument that there is no inherent advantage between the marco-archetypes in Magic
31:07 — A Simple Origin for the Typical Rock, Paper, Scissors Heuristic
41:11 — A Comprehensive Rundown of How Each Matchup Is Won and Lost Between Aggro, Midrange, and Control

Discussed in this episode:

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

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.

Slay the Spire with Parker LaMascus and Jason Waddell Mar 21, 2022

Show notes

Andy and Anthony are off this week, but fear not! Friends of the show Parker LaMascus and Jason Waddell are filling in and discussing one of their favorite, non-Magic card games: Slay the Spire. You do not need to have played Slay the Spire to appreciate this episode as Parker and Jason tie their experience with the game back to Cube design and Magic more broadly.

Check out Jason’s Twitch stream where he has been playing Slay the Spire recently.

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.

Hausman, Grid, and Beyond: Cube Drafting with Two Players Mar 14, 2022

Show notes

Andy and Anthony discuss the new, popular two player draft format, Hausman draft, where players draft a series of rounds exchanging cards from hidden hands with a shared, face-up, set of cards. They talk about their experience with the format, the kinds of decks it creates and pros and cons for this style of drafting. In closing, they touch briefly on the strengths and weaknesses of some other popular draft formats for two players.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Monstrumonium’s Hand Matters Cube. Follow along with the pack 1, pick 1, and the other cards mentioned in this episode with our card-by-card visual spoiler.

Timestamps:

4:59 — Pack 1, Pick 1 from Monstrumonium's Hand Matters Cube
13:33 — Hausman Draft pros and cons
25:17 — The grain of Hausman Draft: does it discourage a particular kind of deck?
38:55 — The benefits of partial hidden information
47:29 — Winston and Winchester Drafts
51:32 — Burn drafting for two players

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 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 Use the Other Half of Your Cube Mar 07, 2022

Show notes

Andy and Anthony explore at length a question from the MTG Cube Reddit. As Cube designers, how do we think about cards with strong build-around, signaling potential when they seem like they may not be a good fit for the environment.

View linked timestamps and our kitchen tier list on our website.

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 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.

My Deck Is a 7 With Mike Coyle & Andy Floury Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

Andy and Anthony are joined by guests Andy Floury and Mike Coyle of The Guardian Project Podcast to discuss their approach to Commander, which has a lot in common with Lucky Paper Radio’s approach to Cube. By figuring out how to use data to optimize for fun, recognizing that the most powerful cards do not always lead to interesting play patterns, and understanding that setting expectations is one of the most important factors in any game, Andy and Mike have established themselves as kindred spirits in trying to get the most out of Magic.

View timestamps and a visual spoiler of cards mentioned during this episode on our website.

Discussed in this episode:

Pubstomping
Settlers of Catan
Dominion
The Next Generation
Gowron
Game Knights
1 drop cube
Degenerate Micro Cube
Turbo Cube
17lands
Andy’s Commander gameplay videos with The Guardian Project
Game 1
Game 2
Rope a Dope
Guardian Project Podcast
Twitch stream
Anthony’s Wizards Commander Deck

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

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.

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Cube Community Set Review Feb 21, 2022

Show notes

Andy and Anthony are joined by Parker LaMascus to review the results from the Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Cube community set review. They talk about the set as a whole and the themes the community is most excited about. They go card by card through the top 16 cards the most respondents are trying in their cubes. Check out the complete results and our written analysis in our set review article.

You can follow along with a visual spoiler of all the cards mentioned in the episode.

Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps (includes spoilers!):

4:56 — Overview of Community Set Review Survey
11:04 — 16. Kaito Shizuki
18:32 — 15. Spirited Companion
21:47 — 14. Containment Construct
25:33 — 13. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
28:35 — 12. Otawara, Soaring City
36:21 — 11. Touch the Spirit Realm
38:39 — 10. Lizard Blades
40:02 — 9. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
45:53 — 8. Twinshot Sniper
49:45 — 7. Reinforced Ronin
55:34 — 6. The Wandering Emperor
1:02:58 — 5. Rabbit Battery
1:09:32 — 4. Blade of the Oni
1:11:37 — 3. Boseiju, Who Endures
1:14:47 — 2. Eater of Virtue
1:23:01 — 1. Lion Sash

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

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.

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Cube Additions Feb 14, 2022

Show notes

Our Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and Neon Dynasty Commander cube surveys are open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Andy and Anthony review Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty from the perspective of their own, growing stable of Cubes, talking about the cards they’re interested in for specific environments ranging from high-powered eternal cubes, low powered cubes, and even a few contexts with special rules.

Our website has comprehensive, linked timestamps so you can navigate directly to the parts of the episode relevant to you and you can follow along with every card mentioned in the episode with our visual spoiler.

Discussed in this episode: