Book Club: The Score by C. Thi Nguyen

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 change across a series of play sessions. Starting with a nostalgic list of iconic cards, Gabor altered the Cube over the course of the weekend, swapping in cards from an second list with input from players. Drafters made choices about host the cube changed and also altered cards from their decks. At the end of the weekend, the cube was left more powerful and marked by each player. Discussed in this episode: Gabor’s Cube: “Legacy” C4AC Obscura Legacy Board Games Oath, Board Game by Cole Wehrle “King Me”: A Defense of King-Making in Board Game Design, talk by Cole Wehrle Sisterhood of the Traveling Cube Roguelike Celebration If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. 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 You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at [email protected] or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 Musical production by DJ James Nasty. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 1:29 - Legacy 12:03 - The List 17:16 - Goals 22:10 - Predictions 26:32 - Postgame and Top 8 28:43 - Mystery 33:33 - Sharpies and Stickers 42:48 - Trust

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 of the event including the printed cube companion guides, hosting a draft of 100 Ornithopters, and other extra-curricular activities. Discussed in this episode: Inland Northwest Cube Fest Sliverhome Bridges Over Troubled Waters The Second Hand Middle Child DSB Tokens The Shepard Cube Take Five If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. 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 You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at [email protected] or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 Musical production by DJ James Nasty. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 2:29 - Inland Northwest Cube Fest II 7:15 - Bridges Over Troubled Water 20:20 - Secondhand 29:46 - 100 Ornithopters 32:47 - Middle Child 41:47 - The Shepard Cube 52:47 - Magic is Hard 53:25 - Extras

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. Powerful, high devotion lords, as much as possible represented by sinister human creatures, motivate players into mono colored decks. Players have no option but to fill out their decks with individually weak, under-rate creatures. As a foil, players eschew the high devotion lords and unite the individually weak cards multi-color deck rewarded by domain payoffs. The talk about Andy’s design process. Then looking at the decks drafted at the event, they reflect on how successful these specific design goals were. Discussed in this episode: Andy’s Feudal Obscura Cube Cabbages and Kings INW Cube Fest The Ball Pit If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. 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 You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at [email protected] or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 Musical production by DJ James Nasty. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 4:12 - Feudal 9:06 - Monocolored Decks 12:28 - Flavor 16:56 - Multicolor Decks 24:30 - Scarecrows 30:25 - Predictions 37:17 - Metagame Breakdown 46:49 - Changes 51:53 - Manabases 58:09 - Balance 1:00:30 - Does any of this Matter

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 predictable success you would expect from a more skilled player? Is the experience of strong players a better indicator of a cube’s balance because they use cards optimally? Or are they exploiting the cards in a way that, if balanced for, would negatively impact the play experience of the average player? We sure as hell don’t know, but you can listen to us try to figure it out for an hour if you want. Discussed in this episode: Episode 322 With Ryan Overturf 100 Ornithopters The Fire Swamp The Red Terror Anthony’s Obscura Cube Anti-War Regular Cube Monocolored Starter Decks If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. 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 You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at [email protected] or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 Musical production by DJ James Nasty. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 3:30 - Balance 14:56 - Fun 19:45 - Expectations 23:14 - 100 Ornithopters Balance 28:10 - Metagame Development 37:47 - Smash Ultimate 49:33 - Starter Decks

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 before manifests in my ways from multiple copies of Accumulated Knowledge, Memory Lapses that create repeated moments, and repetitive single card engines. Discussed in this episode: Brett’s Déjà Vu Cube C4AC Obscura The Fire Swamp Low Country Boil Take Five If you’d like to show your support for the show, please consider backing Lucky Paper on Patreon or leaving us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. 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 You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at [email protected] or our p.o. box: Lucky Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 Musical production by DJ James Nasty. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 1:14 - Déjà vu 11:46 - One Card Decks 14:55 - Balancing 20:50 - Hatebears 26:02 - Defining Déjà vu 29:44 - Callbacks 34:44 - Postgame 38:08 - Familiarity 41:21 - Blue-White Blink 45:25 - Blind Cubes 47:53 - Tension 49:32 - Moodboarding 51:58 - Future Updates