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:

In Defense of Unpopular Cards Jul 12, 2021

Show notes

Our Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Cube survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Make sure to check out a special video made by Jason Waddell to accompany this week’s intro.

Using Cube Cobra’s new feature to sort a cube by popularity of cards, Andy and Anthony explore Andy’s Bun Magic Cube. They discuss some of the factors that may influence card’s popularity among cube owners and talk through some notable unpopular cards.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Geena’s Unpowered 270 Cube

Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps:

3:24 Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
9:33 Introduction to card popularity
11:14 Portent
15:38 Primordial Mist
19:52 Bloodsky Berserker
26:07 Ulcerate
29:06 Tarfire and Seal of Fire
38:15 Edge of Autumn
42:23 Oath of Nissa
45:40 Fire Covenant
49:56 City of Traitors

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.

The Chromatic Cube with David McDarby Jul 05, 2021

Show notes

David McDarby of Wizards of the Coast joins Andy and Anthony to talk about The Chromatic Cube, designed by David and currently on Arena. They talk about the cube’s goals and how they contrast with those of other cubes on Magic Online and Arena. David shares his design process behind cubes and the inspiration for The Chromatic Cube.

They start things off with a pack 1, pick 1 from the cube and talk about their experiences with the cube so far.

Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps:

3:20: Pack 1, Pick 1 from The Chromatic Cube
10:57: The Chromatic Cube
31:45: David’s Cube design process

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.

Magic: the Gathering is a Difficult Game Jun 28, 2021

Show notes

In an effort to expand on past discussion about what makes a particular cube “hard” or “easy” to play, Andy and Anthony are dedicating an entire episode to unpacking what exactly makes Magic a difficult game. After being pressed by Andy to define seemingly simple terms, Anthony expounds upon his concepts of a “competency floor”, “mastery ceiling”, and overall “exertion”, and how each of these factors makes the game difficult in a different way.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from listener Cameron’s 1 Drop Cube. Thanks, Cameron!

Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps:

6:29 — Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
15:04 — Main topic: the different kinds of difficulty associated with playing Magic
1:03:18 — The Salt Box™

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.

Modern Horizons 2 Cube Set Review Jun 21, 2021

Show notes

Do some light stretches and grab some popcorn, because this is Lucky Paper Radio’s most in depth set review ever. Andy, Anthony, and Jett dive into Modern Horizons 2, a set with an unprecedented number of cards for cubes of all kinds. They explore support for classic mechanics, designs that can enable new themes, and the many powerful cards pushing the limits.

Conversation is guided by the results of our MH2 community survey revealing what in the new set is capturing the cube community’s interest, the most controversial cards, and appealing new options for the many facets of the community.

View the episode on our site for extensive, interactive timestamps!

Discussed in this episode:

Our YouTube Channel and Twitch Stream
The 540’s set review episode 1 and 2
Anthony’s Turbo Cube
The Degenerate Micro Cube
The Combat Trick Cube
Andy’s Mono Colored Starter Decks
Sam Black’s Playtesting Article
Cultic Cube’s Preview Card Video for Foundation Breaker
Richard Kane Ferguson’s Illustration for Dakkon, Shadow Slayer
Naming Captured by Lagacs

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 Win Friends & Influence People (into Playing Your Cube) Jun 14, 2021

Show notes

Andy and Anthony talk about the practical side of cube. For many of us, Cube is about bringing people together through our favorite game, but finding or creating a consistent playgroup can be a challenge. Our hosts share what they they’ve learned seeing their own group develop, treating a draft like a party, with food and clear communication, and playing with what can turn into a very pricy board game.

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

Timestamps:

5:24 Listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
14:09 Draft recap of Regular Cube
28:43 How to host a cube draft successfully
42:52 What if my cube is expensive?
46:15 Cube draft recap

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.

Midrange Matchups with Parker LaMascus Jun 07, 2021

Show notes

Timestamps

5:25 Introduction to Parker’s Cube
19:44 High fixing density, it’s effects and player expectations
23:08 What does it mean for a cube to be ‘hard to draft’?
28:50 Playtesting observations and notes
40:57 Synthesizing our draft experiences
52:26 Highs and lows drafting Mordor’s Cube
1:04:02 Pack 1, pick 1 from Parker’s Cube

Our Modern Horizons 2 Cube survey is open! Please take a few minutes to let us know what you’re testing in your cube from the new set.

Cube enthusiast and Lucky Paper contributor Parker LaMascus joins Andy and Anthony to talk about his own cube and their experience with his midrange focused environment. They discuss a draft of the cube, reflecting on how Parker’s design goals translate to individual card choices, breaks in the tradition cube structure, and how these choices manifest in gameplay.

Parker elaborates on his goals to remove the rock-paper-scissors nature of the traditional aggro, midrange, and control archetypes to create a skill-testing environment emphasizing player abilities and careful decision making.

They finish the episode with a pack 1, pick 1 from Parker’s Cube where they apply what they learned from the draft and our conversation to drafting.

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.

Hope Tender & Devoted Druid & Ragavan & Laelia May 31, 2021

Show notes

On this episode, Andy and Anthony are discussing a recent draft of Anthony’s “Regular” Cube, in which Anthony made a stupid amount of mana with Hope Tender, making Andy question all of the decisions he made in his life that led to that moment. This dovetails into a conversation about the nuanced differences in what Anthony and Andy value about Magic and how they capture that in their respective cubes. What is the difference between having conditional cards as enablers vs having conditional cards as payoffs? What is the difference between having a power outlier 1 mana value card vs a power outlier 3 mana value card? Is there any kind of proactive deck that can beat two 3/2s for 3 generic mana? On Sword of Hearth and Home, which color is “Hearth” and which color is “Home”?

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from listener Simon’s Cubus Color Correctus. Thanks, Simon!

Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
1:46 The pros and cons of an 8 person team draft
7:29 Hope Tender and Devoted Druid — build around enablers vs build around payoffs
25:52 listener submitted pack 1, pick 1
41:00 Ragavan and the differences between really pushed one drops and really pushed cards at higher mana values
52:37 Pedantry department: Sword of Hearth and Home
56:56 Outro

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.

Playing to Win: Evaluating New Cubes May 24, 2021

Show notes

Andy and Anthony talk about how they approach drafting a cube they’ve never played before. What do they look for in the list to optimize their chances of success, and have a good time doing it. After discussing power outliers and big picture structure of an environment, they agree one of the most important aspects to focus on is the speed of the format, which shapes the tempo-value balance and the effectiveness of different strategies. It’s challenging to evaluate an environment just by looking at the list, and they share some heuristics they use to get a head start.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Ryan’s Peasantish Cube.

Timestamps:

0:00 Show Intro
1:57 Introduction of Main Topic
6:43 Anthony’s First Point: Read the Cube Overview
10:04 Andy’s First Point: Look for Supported Broken Strategies
14:55 Anthony’s Second Point: Look for Patterns and Familiar Cards
17:11 Andy’s Second Point and Anthony’s Third Point: Determine the Speed of the Environment
24:59 Andy’s Third Point: Quantity and Quality of Removal and Board Wipes
26:50 Should the Density of Mana Fixing Affect How You Draft an Environment?
39:22 Andy’s Fourth Point: Look at What the Cube Wants You To Do
40:46 Familiarity Bias
42:04 Know Your Opponent and Meta
46:44 Anthony’s Bonus Point: Look at the Low Mana Value Cards
49:15 Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1
1:03:53 Outro

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.

Irregular Cube: Rarity in Custom Draft Formats May 17, 2021

Show notes

Andy and Anthony discuss Anthony’s newest cube project, Irregular Cube. Like his primary cube it’s a lower power environment with a variety of overlapping archetypes, but it also has a novel structure: a main set and a second list of ‘rare’ cards, largely composed of higher powered cards with a healthy helping of build-arounds. They talk about the many opportunities rarity offers, challenges it imposes, and what they’ve learned from initial playtesting.

To kick off the conversation, our pack 1, pick 1 comes from the cube in question.

Discussed in this episode:

Timestamps:

4:03 Pack 1, Pick 1
8:49 Capturing the Thrill and Novelty of Rarity
16:57 Playtesting First Impressions
47:30 The Impact of Conspiracies
1:06:08 Outro

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.

Strixhaven and Commander 2021 Cube Set Review May 10, 2021

Show notes

Our Strixhaven: School of Mages and Commander 2021 prospectives are out! Thank you to everyone who participated.

Andy and Anthony are joined by Lucky Paper contributor Jett for a deep dive on what they believe to be the noteworthy cards from Strixhaven and Commander 2021. In their discussion, they reference their Strixhaven mechanics episode and their episode on Card Evaluation and the Playtesting Paradox.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
8:28 Elite Spellbinder
14:43 Leonin Lightscribe (and white Magecraft in general)
22:35 Clever Lumimancer
28:19 Professor of Symbology
33:20 Thunderous Orator
37:58 Mavinda, Students’ Advocate
40:32 Pillardrop Rescuer
42:15 Detention Vortex
44:33 Secret Rendezvous
45:32 Multiple Choice
51:58 Frost Trickster
55:23 Curate
59:25 Resculpt
59:30 Tempted by the Oriq
1:02:53 Sedgemoor Witch
1:09:12 Baleful Mastery
1:14:42 Unwilling Ingredient
1:17:14 Brackish Trudge
1:18:44 Oriq Loremage
1:19:53 Lash of Malice
1:23:58 Plumb the Forbidden
1:26:28 Eyetwitch
1:27:05 Laelia, the Blade Reforged
1:32:51 Conspiracy Theorist
1:37:08 Grinning Ignus
1:38:05 Efreet Flamepainter
1:40:07 Abundant Harvest (and the roles of cantrips in different kinds of decks)
1:49:26 Pest Infestation
1:52:47 Bayou Groff
1:54:12 Emergent Sequence
1:57:17 Bookwurm
1:58:50 Paradox Zone (and Fractal Token art criticism)
2:07:14 The Command Cycle, with special focus on Prismari, Witherbloom, and Quandrix Command
2:22:04 Rip Apart
2:26:23 Vanishing Verse
2:29:09 Expressive Iteration
2:35:56 Zephyr Boots
2:37:54 The Campuses
2:38:47 Modal Double Face Cards
2:41:59 Andy, Anthony, and Jett’s favorite cards from Strixhaven and Commander 2021
2:43:00 Outro
2:44:31 Outtakes