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 Feelbads: Breaking Zero-Sum Fun in Magic Sep 20, 2021

Show notes

Our Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Cube 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 talk about the ‘feelbad’ moments in Magic and the cards that are more likely to create them. This seemingly narrow topic turns out to be one of the most critical and easy to take for granted aspects of Cube design: how do we make it fun? They pick out some of the most likely cards they play that can lead to negative experiences, why those experiences create the emotional responses they do, and where that risk is worthwhile.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Nick’s Noob Cube, a Cube designed to be approachable for new players including uncommons and doubled up commons. Nick created the amazing MTG Multiverse project, cataloging cards from the planes of Magic. Invaluable to designers building set themed cubes.

Timestamps:

0:00 — Official Cube banlist update
4:18 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
10:20 — What is a "feelbad"
12:51 — Cards people think have feelbad potential in Andy's Bun Magic Cube
15:06 — Is Magic a Zero Fun game?
19:09 — Cards Andy himself thinks are feelbads in his Bun Magic Cube
27:43 — Combat tricks, Force Spikes, and feelbads in Anthony’s Regular Cube
40:17 — The agony and the ecstasy of Whitemane Lion and cards it feels bad to win with
46:30 — Effect density
48:43 — Repetitive play patterns
50:02 — Inheriting impressions from other formats and exceptions to the rules
53:17 — Esper Sentinel vs Thalia and perceived choices
55:05 — The inherent feelbad of variance
55:58 — Is there a way to make natural power outliers not feelbads?
59:51 — Summary — TLDL;

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 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.

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Mechanics and First Impressions Sep 13, 2021

Show notes

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. They discuss the many different variations of transform mechanics, the challenges and opportunities they create for Cube designers, and how the new mechanics relate to the old.

Timestamps:

6:20 — Day and Night
16:09 — Disturb
20:55 — Flashback
21:22 — Other transform cards and a note on the variety of DFCs in MID
25:06 — Coven
30:23 — Decayed
37:55 — The Adversary Cycle and I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Multikicker
46:37 — Minor mechanics and themes

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.

Single Card Discussion Sep 06, 2021

Show notes

Andy and Anthony indulge themselves in talking about a few individual cards they find interesting in the context of Cube, using them as a jumping off point into an array of cube topics. Andy brings Field of the Dead to the table, leading to a discussion about card evaluation, single card archetypes, and fixing. Anthony shares why he thinks Feather, the Redeemed is a power outlier that creates positive gameplay experiences in his cube, contrasting it with Kess, Dissident Mage which for different reasons turned out to be problematic. Lastly they weigh the pros and cons of Cling to Dust and when does interaction feel incidental.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Tim’s Proliferate Cube.

Discussed in this episode:

Check out plancpills.org for up to date information about getting a medical abortion through the mail
The Lucky Paper Cube Map
David Rees Records
Parker’s Midrange Cube
Anthony’s Irregular Cube

Timestamps:

5:33 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
15:40 — Cube Map update — now with card search features!
21:23 — Single card discussion: Field of the Dead
33:49 — Feather, the Redeemed vs Kess, Dissident Mage
44:50 — Is Cling to Dust too tilting?
56:46 — Outro

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.

Atomic Spells: The Role of One Mana Cards in Cube Aug 30, 2021

Show notes

Andy and Anthony talk about the role of one mana spells in Cube. The first play of the game can be fundamental to starting off the game with a plan. The atomic unit of the game’s resource shapes the decisions players have and the way plays can be sequenced.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from nettlesomeReflexion’s Public Library Cube, emulating their first experience with Magic at their local public library: old school cards with a vanguard twist.

Discussed in this episode:

Constructed Resources

Timestamps:

2:11: Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
12:57: The nature of one mana spalls
17:19: What is the first thing each of the decks in your cube want to do?
23:34: Context switching — when you go from the defensive to the offensive
30:56: The best start for an aggressive deck
36:52: The implications of one mana spells on tempo
43:15: The unadulterated joy of taking game actions
47:49: The flexibility and nuances of one mana hand disruption
50:16: The Ragavan Effect
52:24: One mana activated abilities

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.

Live from Cube Weekend '21 Aug 23, 2021

Show notes

This is a special, ‘live’ episode of Lucky Paper Radio. The audio quality is not to our normal standards — if you’ve never heard the show before we do not recommend starting with this one!

Andy and Anthony decompress with the draft crew in the middle of a long weekend of many, many cube drafts, sharing the greatest and saltiest moments in a rare, unfiltered episode of Lucky Paper Radio.

Our cube weekend featured:

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.

Cube Logistics: Sleeves, Storage, Shuffling, and More Aug 16, 2021

Show notes

Andy and Anthony talk about the logistics of Cube including everything from storage and sleeves, to basic basic lands and tokens. They cover everything you need to know when setting out to build a new cube that isn’t what cards to include. As with most things Cube, there’s no right answer to any of these questions for all players, but our hosts explore all the options, and how to find what works for you.

Detailed timestamps available on our website!

Discussed in this episode:

SLEEVES

STORAGE

BCW Plain White Boxes
Ultimate Guard Arkhive 400 and neatly fitting Boulder Boxes
KMC Barrier Box
DEX Protection Supreme Game Chest
Aaron Cain’s Custom Deckboxes
Cubeamajigs
Dragon Shield Cube Shells

MORE RESOURCES

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.

Battlebox: No Setup, No Bad Mana, All Magic Aug 09, 2021

Show notes

Andy and Anthony discuss all things Battlebox, one of their favorite casual ways to play Magic. A Battlebox is a great thing to have for quick games between and around matches. Without the variance of land draws it's both very approachable and gives spikes an opportunity to test their skills in detailed aspects of gameplay.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Milkshake1988’s spell’s only cube, which really commits to the bit.

Discussed in this episode:

Brian Demars’ Danger Room
Ben Stark’s Battle Box
Anthony’s Original List and much tidier current rework
Andy’s Graveyard Themed Battle Box
Degenerate Turbo Cube Draft
Oko Bridge in the DMC

Timestamps:

3:11: Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
11:40: What is Battlebox?
14:42: Battlebox gameplay
18:45: Battlebox design conventions
27:22: Introductions to our respective Battleboxes
30:56: The design of Battleboxes
38:20: Indulgent conversation about our favorite battlebox cards
52:03: Actually, mana screw and mana flood is good
54:36: Outro

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.

The Cube Player's Guide to Manabases Aug 02, 2021

Show notes

Cube presents unique drafting a deckbuilding challenges when it comes to manabases. Retail limited is our only benchmark for drafting, but non-basic lands are so few and far-between that they don’t have a meaningful impact on most drafts. In cube, however, we don’t have to settle for 9-8 manabases of basics only, but how do you navigate mana successfully in a cube draft?

In this episode, Andy and Anthony put their cube designer hat aside and go deep on lands from the perspective of players. How highly should you take non-basic lands when drafting? How many lands should you put in your deck? What counts as a mana source? How many sources do you need to cast your spells reliably? What kinds of cards should you splash and how do you manage a splash successfully? What about four and five color decks?

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from listener Tristan. Thanks, Tristan!

Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps

0:00 — Turbo Cube full draft review
7:58 — Main topic preview
11:17 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
14:59 — The pros and cons of lairs
16:48 — Beginning of main topic: How highly should you draft lands?
23:40 — How many lands should you put in your deck?
33:56 — What counts as a mana source?
37:28 — How many mana sources do you need to cast your spells reliably?
47:20 — Tying it all together: building your manabase at the draft table
54:55 — An addendum on four and five color manabases

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

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

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 on air, your pronouns, and if you’re submitting a cube for the pack 1, pick 1, a link to said cube.

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.

Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Cube Set Review Jul 26, 2021

Show notes

This week’s episode is the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Cube set review. A much less involved affair than our Modern Horizons 2 episode, we’re nonetheless touching on a number of noteworthy cards and how they may impact cubes of all kinds.

Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps:

4:59: Creature Lands — Cave of the Frost Dragon, Hall of Storm Giants, Hive of the Eye Tyrant, Den of the Bugbear, and Lair of the Hydra
13:35: Power Word Kill
16:11:Portable Hole
22:36: Dancing Sword and equipment theme, including Plate Armor and Bruenor Battlehammer)
27:52: Loyal Warhound
28:58: Monk of the Open Hand
30:53: Flumph
32:05: Nadaar, Selfless Paladin and Venture cards in general
37:45: Priest of Ancient Lore
39:34: Demilich
43:50: Phantom Steed
45:41: Minn, Wily Illusionist
48:12: Ebondeath, Dracolich
50:34: Gelatinous Cube
53:23: Manticore
54:45: Shambling Ghast
57:08: Wight
59:36: Plundering Barbarian
1:03:14: You See a Pair of Goblins
1:04:49: Prosperous Innkeeper
1:06:53: Ranger Class
1:09:54: Misnc, Beloved Ranger

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.

The Mechanics of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Jul 19, 2021

Show notes

Andy and Anthony discuss their first impressions of Magic’s newest set, D&D: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. Setting aside individual card evaluation, they dive into the mechanics and flavor from a design and gameplay perspective. With dice rolling, dungeon adventuring, and D&D flavor the set brings a whole new twist to the game for D&D lovers and Magic players who enjoy seeing the game pushed in new directions.

Discussed in this episode: