Lucky Paper Radio
by Andy Mangold and Anthony Mattox
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.
Episodes
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Set Review Backlog: Edge of Eternities to Reality Fracture
View all cards mentioned in this episode Rejoice! Parker is back in the studio for a second episode in a row! He’s joining Andy and Anthony to do a little speedrun through all the recent sets they haven’t reviewed on the podcast — from Edge of Eternities to Reality Fracture. Which sets have been...
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Book Club: The Score by C. Thi Nguyen
Andy, Anthony, and Parker tackle C. Thi Nguyen’s The Score in their fourth episode of “Book Club.” Nguyen’s book compares how metrics apply to and effect games and social structures. He argues that while metrics are a defining construct that allow games to exist and be fun, when applied to social...
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Bonus Episode — Obscura: Legacy
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk with Gabor about their Obscura Cube designed from the prompt “Legacy,” a very loaded term in the Cube space. Skipping past the obvious interpretation, Gabor chose to look to legacy board games for inspiration — games that permanently...
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Inland Northwest Cube Fest II Recap
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy recaps his experience at the second annual Inland Northwest Cube Fest to Anthony. He talks through each of his four drafts at the event, recounting how he handled novel Cube environments and gameplay highlights. He talks about the overall experience…
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Bonus Episode — Obscura: Feudal
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy, Jane, and Anthony talk about Andy’s Obscura cube, prompted with the word ”feudal.” His attempted to capture the experience of feudalism in gameplay by putting the powerful cards in certain spots that would force players to build decks a certain way....
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The Paradox of Balance in Cube Design
View all cards mentioned in this episode What makes a cube “balanced”? When a card or deck performs very differently in the hands of especially skilled players, are they using their greater knowledge of the game to exploit a balance issue that others can’t see? Or are they just having the...
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Bonus Episode — Obscura: Déjà Vu
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk with Brett about his Obscura Cube. Prompted with the phrase “Déjà vu” Brett explored some wild, logistically impossible ideas before settling on a cube filled to the brim with subtle repetitions. The feeling of things having happened...
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Capitol Cube Championship 2026 Tournament Report
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony recap their experience at Capitol Cube Championship in Washington D.C. They talk about the five different cube drafts they did between them and their overall experience at the event. Discussed in this episode: Team Fundraiser for Birds of...
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Bonus Episode — Obscura: Dangerous
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk with Ollie about their Obscura Cube with the prompt “Dangerous.” Ollie’s interpretation of the prompt led them to build a desert cube where all lands cost life to generate colored mana. Limiting each player to 20 colored pips of mana...
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Leveraging Scarcity in Cube Design and Play
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy, Anthony, and Parker talk about how to draft cubes better by framing their thinking in terms of the scarcest resource in any give context. Flipping the perspective, they talk about how to leverage a diversity of themes as a cube designer. Discussed in...
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Bonus Episode — Obscura: Collapse
View all cards mentioned in this episode Gabe joins Andy and Anthony talk about his Obscura cube, starting with the prompt “collapse”. Gabe chose to build on the theme in both aesthetic and mechanical ways. Pulling heavily from zendikar sets he set a tone of a world after the collapse of...
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Drafting and Designing Weird Cubes with Ryan Overturf
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony are joined by Cube icon Ryan Overturf to talk about drafting and designing weird cubes. They talk about his experience at CubeConbroadening his experience into novel designs. They go more in depth into Ryan’s cube Stadium Stampede where…
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Bonus Episode — Obscura: Cavalier
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk with Dan, best known for creating the Devoid Cube, about his cube for Cube for a Cause: Obscura. Starting with the prompt “cavalier” Dan dove into the world of knights and found himself with a cube pulling heavily from the plane of...
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Expensive Spells We Actually Like
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about expensive cards in Cube — how high mana value cards fit into their cube designs. They talk about specific expensive cards they love, break down some specific roles they see the cards playing, and how variety makes cubes more…
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Bonus Episode — Obscura: Anti-War
View all cards mentioned in this episode In the first installment of Obscura cube design discussions, Andy and Anthony are joined by Ollie to talk about Anthony’s cube designed around the prompt “anti-war”. Moving past the literal interpretation of a cube without war, Anthony chose to make his…
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Summer 2026 Cube Zeitgeist
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about recent trends in Cube design. After looking through the revealed Cube lists for the recent Cube for a Cause: Obscura our hosts noticed a few design features popping up again and again. They talk about them in the broader…
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What Makes a Card “Sacred?”
View all cards mentioned in this episode Sometimes a card design just sings — all of the individual elements come together to make an elegant, resonant game piece. In this episode Andy and Anthony talk about this concept through the lens of Andy’s cube Sacred Geometry as he considers committing...
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Open Drafting Take Five
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony collaboratively draft Andy’s Take Five cube, discussing their strategy through a whole draft and how they might approach this unique environment. To follow along, or try the draft yourself before listening, you can download the seeded pack...
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Exploring Cube Cobra’s New Winrate Analysis Features
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony explore Cube Cobra’s new analytic tools for card and deck winrates. The new features allow you to upload decks and their matchup records, or import matchup data if a Cube has been played at an event using Hedron Network to track matches....
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Summertime Mailbag
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony first talk about their upcoming series of interviews related to Cube For a Cause: Obscura. The event will feature 17 secret Cubes from 17 well known designers created just for the event. Until the first packs are cracked, the contents of...
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Cross Pod Cube Throw Down: Regular Cube vs Sacred Geometry
View all cards mentioned in this episode In a strange experiment, Andy and Anthony organize drafts of their cubes Sacred Geometry and Regular Cube and then pair players against the opposite cube. The two cubes have some major similarities, and clear differences. They wanted to see how drastically...
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Narrow Tutors in Cube
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about narrow tutors in Cubes. In contrast to the most open ended ways for players to search up a card from their library, narrow tutor effects give cube designers an opportunity to make specific sets of cards more accessible. Our…
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CubeCon DMV Tournament Report
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony report on their experience at CubeCon DMV — from the organizers of the original CubeCon — a cube event right in their back yard. They talk about their drafts in the event, highlights from games, and lunchtime highs and lows. Discussed in...
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Cards that are Cool — Part 2
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about cards they think are cool. In the long anticipated follow up to episode 108, they just talk about things they think are neat. Anthony shares some cards he’s seen pop up regularly in recent cube drafts that spark some intrigue....
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Board Stalls and Cube Design
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about board stalls and Cube. They talk about what they don’t like about this particular genera of board state. They theorize about some aspects of a cube’s design would lead to more stalls, and ways they might, as a designer, try to...
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Token Episode
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about the logistics of tokens for Cube. They talk about different ways they’ve managed them over the years and for different Cubes. They make recommendations for the best way to approach the problem, and even how their Cube design is...
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Powering Down Eternal Cubes with Jake and Parker
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony are joined by Jake and Parker to talk about their shifts in approach to each of their eternal cubes. While Jake, Parker, and Andy have long maintained generally “power motivated” eternal cubes, they’ve each grappled with concerns about...
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Cube Cards That Are Hated
View all cards mentioned in this episode Riffing on last week’s slightly divisive topic, Andy and Anthony talk about cards in their own cubes that players hate. They comb through their cubes discussing the many reasons players might dislike a card and why they might still be justifiable…
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Hate Cards in Cube
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about hate cards, and how they fit into Cube design in particular. Of course, they start by trying to define the term. They talk through the pros and cons of them and how different types may play a role in Cubes. They go through a...
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Steal Our Cube Ideas
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony scour the cutting room floor for unfinished gems. They offer up some of their half-baked, unfinished cube ideas for you to steal. Andy shares his ideas for an aesthetic sun-bleached cube, a cube where your deck is your life total, and an...
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The Scorpion and The Cube with Ollie Beeks
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony are joined by Cube Person of the Year 2024, Ollie, to talk about whether it’s irresponsible to present a cube for drafting without any playtesting. What is the difference between ‘playing’ and ‘playtesting’? Can you design a cube…
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Salt Box Recap with Judge Bones
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony are joined by the de facto Cube judge — Bones! The three recap The Salt Box, a small Cube event in Baltimore. At this event, Andy debuted Take Five and Judge Bones Arcane Lessons. They share what they learned from players drafting their...
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The Barash Files 006 — Cube Design Lenses
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony are joined by returning guest Zach Barash. They talk about about different lenses Cube designers can use to approach designing a new cube. They finish on a pack 1, pick 1 from Andy’s new cube Take Five. Previous episodes with Zach: 001 The...
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Theory Drafting the Best Decks in Regular Cube
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony and joined by Adam, a local player who suggested a novel way to cube. All players involved built what they thought would be the best deck that could ever be drafted from Anthony’s Regular Cube. They talked about the decks they built, their...
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Playing Proactive Green Decks
View all cards mentioned in this episode Following their previous episode about playing with Young Pyromancer Andy and Anthony talk about how to win with proactive green decks. They look back at some of Anthony’s successful decks and try to get some insight into what makes them tick, exploring…
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Tricentennial Q & A
View all cards mentioned in this episode Celebrating 300 episodes, Andy and Anthony answer listener submitted questions. They address their favorite gummy candies, opinions on the free will of jellyfish, the most technologically advanced things they could build from scratch on a desert island…
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How to Win with Young Pyromancer
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about one of Andy’s all time favorite cards Young Pyromancer. After a recent draft of a peasant cube at their weekly cube night, Anthony realized that despite it’s iconic status, it’s not a card he feels like he know’s how to…
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On Colorless Cards
View all cards mentioned in this episode Most of the time when listeners suggest topics we’ve already recorded a whole episode dedicated to that subject. Sometimes we’ve even recorded three. It turns out almost six years is a long time to have a weekly podcast about a niche interest like Cube...
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Book Club: The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
View all cards mentioned in this episode In the third book club Episode, Anthony and Parker talk about Donald Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things. Originally published in 1988, the book was an influential criticism of the built world and interfaces establishing many concepts fundamental to…
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Shoebox Recap with Patrick
View all cards mentioned in this episode In this explicit episode of Lucky Paper Radio, Andy, Anthony, and Patrick recap their experience at Shoebox in St Paul, Minnesota. Shoebox celebrated a range of casual formats including team limited, pauper, and, of course, Cube! They talk about highlights...
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How Do We Know What We Know About Magic: The Gathering
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony finally just talk about epistemology and sort of address Magic: the Gathering. They talk about the way we all generally learn things and incorporate them into our understanding of the world around us, and how that manifests in the smaller...
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Three Years of the Companion Cube, with Greg Cortazzo
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk with Greg about his Companion Cube. In this Cube, each player chooses a card from their deck before each game to be their ‘companion’, which their guaranteed access to. They talk about the history of the cube and the difference…
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The Last Echo of a Boon
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about cutting a long-standing, controversial card from 100 Ornithopters: Echoing Boon. They talk about gameplay experiences with the card and why Andy decided to include a conspiracy in the cube in the first place. The ‘always on’...
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Packing and Mapping Synergies in Cubes
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony discuss how they think about themes within cubes. As always, our hosts beginning with a thorough defining of terms. They talk about how they think about thematically related sets of cards and how many they think can fit, or would want to…
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Power Level and Game Impact in Cube Design
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about the concept of power level band or range in Cubes. It’s sometimes said a Cube should have a pretty even power level, with the strongest card being not too much stronger than the weakest, is a good idea. Our hosts talk about why...
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Lunchbox Tournament Report
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy, Anthony, and Patrick recap their experience at Lunch Box, a 1 day Cube event in their home town of Baltimore raising funds for the Maryland Food Bank. They discuss the cubes they drafted, the highs and lows of their matches, and their overall...
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Star Magic — The Best Way to Cube with Five Players
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony talk about Star Magic, a unique multiplayer format that also happens to be a way to accommodate a draft with 5 players — a notoriously awkward number. In a Star Magic game, 5 players engage in a free-for-all game with a specific win...
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The Death of Magic
View all cards mentioned in this episode It’s been said that Cube Will Outlive Magic, but would it really? Andy and Anthony wildly speculate on the future in a thought experiment: what if Wizards of the Coast stopped existing tomorrow and no new cards were designed or printed. They theorize about...
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Sacred Geometry Draft Along
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony each draft the same seat in a virtual pod of Andy’s Sacred Geometry Cube. They talk through each of their picks and their overall draft strategy and the final decks they end up with. If you want to draft this same seat as well, either…
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The Open Lane “Problem”
View all cards mentioned in this episode Andy and Anthony discuss feedback received by a fellow cube designer: that particular decks are sometimes too dominant when they go uncontested, or as they put it “The Open Lane Problem”. They talk about whether or not this is a real problem in different...
About this show
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.
Hosted by
Andy Mangold and Anthony Mattox