Lucky Paper Radio Andy Mangold and Anthony Mattox

Andy and Anthony talk about “Xerox Theory” a strategic Magic concept involving cantrips, land count, a balance of resources. Andy explains the history and origins of the idea, as documented by Mike Flores’s 2005 article. They talk about how the concept applies differently in early and contemporary Magic and how it’s relevant, or not, to different types of decks. They also talk about Gunk Slug for some reason.

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Discussed in this episode:


UB Trippin’ by Mike Flores
The Streisand Effect
Lucky Paper Radio: All About Brainstorm
Drive to Work on Card Advantage
Hypergeometric Calculator
MTG Cube Con Twitter
The Reading Rainbow Cube

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

2:27 - Introduction to Topic

6:27 - What is Xerox Theory at its core?

10:08 - What is a cantrip?

13:44 - The baseline of Xerox cantrips and the case for Reach Through Mists

17:25 - The sometimes unstated context to make Xerox Theory work

19:45 - The power of a smaller deck

22:08 - Going beyond “UB Trippin’” — the ramifications of cantrips on the tempo of reactive decks

31:57 - Modern Xerox “Payoffs”

38:29 - Review, conclusions, and abstraction

48:47 - Gunk Slug Corner

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. 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.

Andy and Anthony talk about the current state of Andy’s Neoclassical Cube. They look at how drafts have played out, potential areas for change, and some specific directions Andy’s considering taking the cube.

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Discussed in this episode:


Andy’s Neoclassical Cube
Regular Cube Update Episode with James
The Degenerate Micro-Cube
MTGCubeCon on Twitter
March of the Machine: Aftermath Survey

Timestamps:


00:00 Mind Twist Corner 
02:39 Early Impressions of the Neoclassical Cube
15:24 How to deal with the burn deck
29:27 Can we make color hate cool?
38:32 Addressing the Pump Knight Problem

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. 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.

Andy and Anthony talk broadly about [ramp](Rampant Growth). They talk about what the mechanic or strategy is all about, it’s important role as part of Green’s identity, how it’s different in limited and constructed, and how it fits into their own Cubes.

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Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from soskwatch’s Graveyard Cube.

Discussed in this episode:


The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Mark Rosewater’s Drive to Work

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

01:52 Ramp overall and in retail limited

11:41 Ramp in constructed Magic

14:25 Ramp Decks vs. Decks with Ramp Cards

18:57 Anthony’s Approach to Green in his Cubes

31:12 Andy’s Approach to Ramp in the Bun Magic Cube

37:26 Lets not talk about the Turbo Cube

41:11 Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. 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.

Andy and Anthony are joined by James from their local play group for an in depth review session of Anthony’s Regular Cube. They bring James in to add his experience and perspective to the conversation. The three of them discuss how the environment has played recently and things that could be improved. They sort through the cards and discuss potential cuts and things they could change.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:


Forgiveness Cube
Breya Cube
The Regular Cube
Towson Hot Bagel
New World Order
James Videos on the Lucky Paper Youtube Channel
CubeCon

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

02:38 Forgiveness Cube Draft Port Mortem1

07:18 Overview of Episode Structure

15:32 List of provisional additions to The Regular Cube

17:15 Green and Gruul’s Identity in the Regular Cube

26:54 The Blue Green Problem

46:32 Artifacts matter and a Puppet Conjurer diatribe

49:08 Black Red: Overperformance of Oversupport?

1:00:47 Blue Red Recent Results

1:03:23 White and Heroic Themes

1:23:40 Black cards that the black deck pilot thinks he shouldn’t have access to

1:36:00 Wrap Up

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. 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.

Andy, Anthony, and Parker review the results of the March of the Machine community Cube set review. As always we surveyed the community on the cards they’re interested in for their cubes and how likely they expect to keep playing them long term. Our hosts review the results, discussing the top cards in terms of the number of people interested in them, patterns and theories about the community response, and some things that surprised them. They also dive deeper into Battles, Magic’s newest card type that’s been met with some skepticism according to the community survey.

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Timestamps:


0:00 - Introduction
4:30 - Scoring System Change
5:40 - Survey Overview
6:32 - Battle deep dive
41:56 - Individual Card Discussion
42:11 - 9. Pile On
43:44 - 8. Invasion of Gobakhan
47:55 - 7. Rampaging Raptor
49:40 - 6. Bloodfeather Phoenix
51:35 - 5. Halo Forager
53:20 - 4. Chrome-Host Seed Shark
57:16 - 3. Deeproot Wayfinder
59:47 - 2. Faerie Mastermind
1:03:21 - 1. Khenra Spellspear
1:09:38 - Overall impressions of MOM
1:15:52 - Death-Greeter’s Champion and March of the Machine Commander
1:19:50 - Seed of Hope: the most popular common from MOM

Discussed in this episode:


Prospective Article
Episode 145: Mechanics and Our own Cube Additions
The Resleevables
The Presleevables video on battles
LuckyPaperMtG on YouTube

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. 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.

View the game size breakdowns for the Bun Magic Cube and Regular Cube. You can also copy this template and fill it out to calculate your own cube’s game size!

Andy and Anthony follow up on their recent discussion with Sam Black on ‘big’ and ‘small’ games of Magic. Sam coined these term in an article he wrote describing a nuanced understanding of card advantage including how effects create, or benefit from, high and low resource games. Our hosts expand on the topic and respond to feedback from the community on the subject. Andy breaks down his Bun Magic Cube and Anthony’s Regular Cube, categorizing each card based on the number of pieces they add or remove from play, and they compare the numerical analysis to their experience playing these environments.

⁠View all cards mentioned in the episode →⁠

Discussed in this episode:


Big and Small Games with Sam Black
Elvish Visionary vs. Elderfang Disciple: the Nature of Card Advantage
Limited Level Ups
Andy’s coached match with Brian Coval
March of the Machine and Commander Decks Cube Surveys
XKCD: Ten Thousand

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

1:35 - Review of big and small game theory

4:38 - The application of big and small game theory as a player

16:35 - The connection between mana cost and deck size

20:19 - Game size as a cube designer

23:51 - Spreadsheet deep dive on the Bun Magic and Regular Cube’s Size

49:55 - So did we learn anything!?

54:20 - On Nissa, Who Shakes the World and other notable cards

59:05 - Card advantage as the absolute value of game size

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. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co. 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.