Lucky Paper Radio Andy Mangold and Anthony Mattox

Andy and Anthony are joined by Richard Garfield, legendary game designer and the creator of Magic: the Gathering. Richard talks about how he got interested in modifying and tweaking games, his concept that players can be loosely understood as either ‘honers’ or ‘innovators’, and why some games with great mechanics have no soul as a result of overdevelopment. Andy and Anthony also take advantage of this opportunity to ask Richard about his relationship to Cube, getting insight into how he designs his own and what he values about the format. They cover all the most salient Cube topics, including handling feedback from players, how to approach power level outliers, and how to manage complexity.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

1:49 - Welcoming Richard Garfield to the show

3:31 - How Richard got started modifying games

11:12 - How do you know when a game has gotten too complex?

17:37 -  Honers vs. Innovators

22:48 - Richard’s relationship to Cube

28:46 - On “Overdeveloped” Games

31:22 - The virtues of a wider power level band

43:09 - How to process feedback from players

46:58 - Is getting into nature an important part of Richard’s creative process

49:15 - The role of visual and narrative elements in games

55:00 - Designing a meta vs designing a game

58:10 - Richard’s current favorite games

1:02:56 - Richard’s game design book recommendations

Discussed in this episode:


MH3 Community Review Survey and the Commander Set Survey
Episode 202: Reading Series — The Creator of ‘Magic the Gathering’ Knows Exactly Where it All Went Wrong
Stratego
Dungeons and Dragons
Algomancy
The Encyclopedia of Chess Variations
Balatro
Founders of Reyvik
Finkel vs. Garfield
Deckmasters Garfield vs. Finkel Product
Slay the Spire
Spectromancer
Munchkin
Innovation, by Carl Chudyk
Quadradius
Gamut of Games, by Sid Sackson
New Rules for Classic Games, by R. Wayne Schmittberger

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

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:


Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

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.

Lucky PaperPO Box 4855Baltimore, MD 21211

Anthony is taking a break this week and it takes no less than two other people to fill his shoes, so Andy is joined by two other friends from their Baltimore playgroup to discuss two recent roto drafts of the full vintage card pool. They share their strategies surrounding this complicated draft format and talk about whether or not it led to actually fun games, while also touching on how this exercise informs their own Cube designs and why some cards from Magic’s history are just miserable to play with and against. Is full vintage roto the future? Or just an overwhelming way to ineveitably get Strip Mine locked?

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:


MH3 Community Review Survey and the
Rotisserie Draft Template
First Full Vintage Roto Card Pool
Second Full Vintage Roto Card Pool
Splendor
Cascadia
The Beauty of Games

0:00 - Introduction

3:12 - Overview of Rotisserie Draft

4:54 - Our experience with Full Vintage Rotisserie Drafting

31:35 - Does this draft format actually lead to fun games?

37:35 - Observations on which cards got drafted and which didn’t

43:51 - Andy’s rant against the Initiative

51:10 - The way full vintage rotos impact cube design considerations

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

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:


Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

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.

Andy and Anthony take a first look at Modern Horizons 3. The latest installment of this Time Spiral-esque series continues the tradition of a huge range of cards and an abundance of callbacks and remixes of classics. Our hosts talk about their overall impressions of the set and go into individual cards their interested in generally and for specific Cubes.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:


MH3 Community Review Survey and the Commander Set Survey
The Beauty of Games, by Frank Lantz
Carmen Klomparens’ Tweet about the Wedge/Shard Fetchlands
GLHF Modern Horizons 3 Rules Episode with Judge Rob

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction and Admin

8:07 - Card by Card Discussion: Regular Cube

8:23 - Mandibular Kite

9:40 - Expel the Unworthy

12:24 - Indebted Spirit

13:41 - Brainsurge

15:16 - Lethal Throwdown

18:14 - Retrofitted Transmogrant

19:37 - Mogg Mob

20:48 - Molten Gatekeeper

21:14 - Fanatic of Rhonas

22:13 - Kudo, King Among Bears

24:44 - Wight of the Reliquary

27:30 - Pinnacle Monk

29:56 - Deceptive Landscape

31:41 - Card by Card Discussion: Turbo Cube

32:00 - Vexing Bauble

33:38 - Disruptor Flute

35:07 - Fanged Flames

35:51 - Glimpse the Impossible

37:04 - Molten Gatekeeper

37:57 - Warren Soultrader

39:42 - Urza’s Cave

41:21 - Glaring Fleshraker

43:24 - A diversion about lands in the Turbo Cube

47:23 - Monumental Henge, Arena of Glory, and Shifting Woodland

51:25 - Glyph Elemental

52:29 - Guide of Souls

57:57 - Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd

1:00:35 - Consign to Memory

1:01:49 - Shadow of the Second Sun

1:04:01 - Nethergoyf

1:05:50 - Detective’s Phoenix

1:07:47 - Reckless Pyrosurfer

1:08:33 - Skoa, Embermage

1:09:47 - Birthing Ritual

1:11:41 - Six

1:13:49 - Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury

1:17:23 - Fell the Profane

1:18:08 - Waterlogged Teachings

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

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:


Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

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.

Lucky PaperPO Box 4855Baltimore, MD 21211

Andy and Anthony talk about the history of architecture and the design of the physical spaces we inhabit. They draw parallels to design more broadly, the design of games as mental spaces, and specifically Cube design.

Discussed in this episode:


The Beauty of Games
Buckminster Fuller
Tech Won’t Save Us, Episode 221: Tech’s Plan to ‘Ethnically Cleanse’ San Francisco
Cod, by Mark Kurlansky
GeoGuessr
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Nine Men’s Morris
No One Knows How to Make a Computer Mouse TED Talk — Andy’s note: as it turns out, this talk absolutely sucks, lol. It’s almost like a parody of a bad TED talk.
Toaster Made from Scratch, by Thomas Thwaites
The Brown Center
Antoni Goudy
Catenaries
Typescript

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

5:22 - Generalists vs. Specialists and Contextual Knowledge

11:55 - Andy and Anthony’s Relationship to Architecture

16:48 - The Abstract Similarities between Architecture and Game Design

23:46 - An abridged history of Architecture and how it connects to game design — Vernacular Architecture

33:05 - Architecture in the European Renaissance and the changing relationship between the designer and the building

39:23 - The Industrial Revolution and Modernism

41:51 - Andy and Anthony’s Relationship with Modern Architecture

55:51 - Summary

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

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:


Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

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.

Lucky PaperPO Box 4855Baltimore, MD 21211

Andy and Anthony read and comment on the entirety of a recent article on the early history of Magic and it’s creator’s struggles with the game. The article, including quotes from an interview with Richard Garfield, explores his complex relationship to his creation. It explores his perspective on games, and why he values them. Since it’s first publication, Richard has struggled to re-create the experiences he found most valuable from the pre-publication version. Our hosts unpack the article, give their own perspective, and inevitably tie it back to their own Cube experience.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:


The PDH Pod, Episode 100
The Creator Of ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Knows Exactly Where It All Went Wrong, by Nick Zarzycki on Defector
Six Man Zonk
Yahtzee
Radical Markets, by Eric A. Posner and Eric Glen Weyl
Law of the Instrument
Mindstorms, by Seymour Papert
Keyforge
Netrunner
Orange (colour)
Patrice O’Neal
Hearthstone
Shandalar, 1997 Computer Game
Uber Cube Podcast
Squares that Cube

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

1:54 - Overview of episode format

4:57 - Read Through Begins

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

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:


Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

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.

Andy and Anthony talk about novelty Cubes. Many Cubes are built around a novelty concept or design restriction. Novelty designs can be fun and light, but gimmicks can also pigeonhole cubes, making them feel unworthy of serious attention. Our hosts discuss their experience with novelty design, from its benefits to its challenging implications.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:


Anthony’s Turbo Cube
Andy’s 100 Ornithopters Cube
Andy’s Degenerate Micro Cube
The Bolt Cube
The Descent Into Avernus
Anthony’s Defunct Monoblack Cube
Gimmicks
Novelties
Dan Dan — Rhystic Studies Video
Anthony’s Battle Box

Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

3:45 - What is novelty in Cube design?

8:38 - How does novelty impact draft vs gameplay? What about self-imposed restrictions?

17:13 - The Monoblack Cube, The Turbo Cube, and first impressions of your themes “at common”

29:08 - A Ward Sliver Detour

35:54 - What can Dan Dan’s virality teach us about novel ways to play Magic?

49:44 - Pack 1, Pick 1 from the 100 Ornithopters Cube

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

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:


Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper

PO Box 4855

Baltimore, MD 21211

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.