I've been so excited to share this: for CASCADE CASCADE, I interviewed Miguel Lopez, the former WOTC writer and worldbuiler who helped create the Edge (of Eternities), Ixalan, & more. we discuss the proliferation of tiny, irrelevant, beautiful details in the worlds of Magic. give it a read!

hmmm, I bet I can sweeten the deal. after your @cascadecascade.com Founder's Coin drink from Rob, I will answer any Cube question you have. (Like a cube sphinx. One that takes bribes from drunkards.)

Welcome to Issue 1 - it's go time. CASCADE CASCADE begins tomorrow - but here's a bit of an introduction to us, what we're about, our FIRST MONTH of articles, subscription options (YOU CAN SUB BY BUYING A T-SHIRT BTW), and other fun stuff. www.cascadecascade.com/welcomein/

“I cast Apex Devastator. Triggers. I’ll choose to cast Time of Ice, followed by Abolish targeting Ice.”

You don’t need a perfect cube to begin organizing great cube nights: (also applies to premodern, edh, board games…) luckypaper.co/articles/din...

math is dictating we have so many writers & so little time so we keep announcing. how exciting! you know 'em. or you don't and you should. @parker.luckypaper.co is bringing some strong Johnny energy to the table with thoughtful reflections on how Magic interacts with Real Life (& cube)

big convert to bo2 cubing after this weekend. allowed me to fit in two more drafts than i’d usually have the energy for. also, bonus: the 0-3 record becomes a much rarer thing

INTRODUCING CASCADE CASCADE, a collective publishing weekly essays, deep dives, and other good-ass writing about the card game Magic: The Gathering. Built on the idea that those who love this game deserve more than an endless scroll of short form video. Community over content, every time.

would you download a horse

riding one of the last NJT trains out of new york like it’s Snowpiercer

we gotta find a way to make money off this thing! it is simply *too good* (and also the money goes to a great cause)

I’m gonna be in the booth this morning with Andy and @ollie.bostoncubeparty.com for 100 Ornithopters commentary. We fear no blizzards. We fear no maindeck Shatterstorms.

or maybe it’s most fortunate! maybe there are other magic writers who also feel this way…

Lucky Paper’s chief Egyptologist returns for a mechanics-focused look at Amonkhet for #mtgcube: luckypaper.co/articles/amo...

One weird trick to win more #mtgcube (Or, if you’re a designer, one weird trick that explains why drafters aren’t falling for your planned synergies) My latest for Lucky Paper: luckypaper.co/articles/win...

fantastic news everyone, every other week you can hear your two favorite transsexuals, @bugsmaytrix.bsky.social and I, yap for about an hour about pretty much anything we want. our first episode is simply propaganda for our favorite format, Pauper! rss.com/podcasts/pap... (Apple Podcast link soon)

Today on @hipstersofthecoast.com, my monthly slot has a guest author - @oz-edgewalker.bsky.social They've written a wonderful and heartfelt tribute to a Tree - give it a read This is the type of written work I love to lift up www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2026/01/root...

Happy snow day to those who celebrate! Here's a hot-off-the-presses #mtgcube article to keep you warm :) luckypaper.co/articles/why...

two great Magic cards that go great together!

Was doing some QA testing of the site, re-reading old articles to ensure nothing's broken. Old... but still relevant. "The Gateless are a reminder that... we ordinary citizens have the power to turn back the tides of fascism." (And you'll be glad to know the page isn't broken, either. Breathe.)

Shadows Over Innistrad came out nearly a decade(!) ago. It's still one of my favorite sets for #mtgcube, and an exemplar for excellent graveyard-focused design: luckypaper.co/articles/sha...

Just finished my longest, most ambitious Magic article draft yet. It won't be published for awhile... but there might be a teaser in some upcoming Lucky Paper pieces ;) love publishing entire articles as prep work for other projects!

Weak cards are not just unavoidable in #mtgcube. They're not merely "acceptable," either. Weak cards have unique cube design benefits *because* of their weakness: luckypaper.co/articles/the...

⭐ New Video 🪓 Revolution, Fascism, & Magic: The Gathering Folks, this one's a bit big... youtu.be/4JghX1MBU68

A tricky thing about #mtgcube, and Eternal deckbuilding more generally, is that pet cards don't always play well together. It's not just "power creep," either. Magic's design ethos has changed so much over 30 years, it might as well be 4 different games: luckypaper.co/articles/fou...

TWO new #mtgcube articles this week? You better believe it. First up, my thoughts on ATLAxMTG. ATLA was my favorite TV show as a teen. The set may be a good product, but if so, that's in spite of Magic's game engine, not because of it: luckypaper.co/articles/the...

This week I break down "big and small games" of Magic. I first heard the idea from @samuelhblack.bsky.social, where it helped me level up in Retail Draft, but over the years it's become one of my favorite Cube design tools – especially to craft synergy decks! luckypaper.co/articles/rem...

this week I saw one of my top 5 bands live, mouse on the keys. opener Oavette was new to me, but i was instantly hooked. they played 45 minutes no breaks, the entire album: tokeirecords.bandcamp.com/album/oavett... mouse was as awesome as i hoped: mouseonthekeystokyo.bandcamp.com/album/midnight

This week's #mtgcube piece has been brewing for awhile. Sometimes, you have to show the cards who shuffles whom. luckypaper.co/articles/uni...

Okay, it turns out the Phillies will not be winning the 2025 World Series. Otherwise, this Kamigawa #mtgcube retrospective has held up pretty well over the last 48 hours.

I daresay this might be the finest article on baseball, Magic: The Gathering, and world travel ever written. (Granted, that doesn't leave much competition... but you should still read it!) luckypaper.co/articles/kam... #mtgcube

Sometimes I get unexplained Magic cravings, like "I want to trainwreck this #mtgcube draft," or "I need to know what the experts think of Amonkhet." I'm proud to say we can help with that.* Here's Emma Glenister, Egyptology PhD candidate, for Lucky Paper: luckypaper.co/articles/amo...

What cards from Spider-Man are you testing in your #mtgcube? We wanna know! Respond to our survey... or else I'll shoot some Tobey finger-guns in your direction. luckypaper.co/survey/spm/

A little jetlag can't stop me from getting another article out the door! This week's piece for Lucky Paper is a design-focused review of Gatecrash. luckypaper.co/articles/gat...

Was really glad to see Jacob's byline on Hipsters again! Magic and Meaning was always a favorite column of mine (along with @improphilo.bsky.social's, of course)

It's time for our biggest article of the year: the data-driven Cube Standard Retrospective, which looks back on DMU through LTR. Find out which cards survived 3 years in cubes to become true staples! luckypaper.co/articles/202...

this is what it looks like when nobody knows what Imotekh does in @improphilo.bsky.social's UMA+ Cube (that cube slaps, btw)

This week's #mtgcube article is a deep dive on synergy: how it works, why that matters, and design tips for making the synergies of your dreams! luckypaper.co/articles/cub...

this was the best local #mtgcube event yet

This week's retro design review is a HIT PIECE on a CLASSIC #mtgcube set (no i didn't mean it, Odyssey, i'll love you even if you hate your players) luckypaper.co/articles/ody...

Excited to listen -- I was traveling during EOE previews but this is my ideal way to catch up

Anya Rainwater taps in and out of SEPTA around 8 times a day. As a traveling case manager, she meets her clients where they are, and that means traversing Philadelphia via public transit. With SEPTA cuts looming, she’s concerned for those clients. (1/4) 🔗 www.inquirer.com/transportati...

This week I review #mtgeoe from a data-driven #mtgcube perspective! Hard to believe it's the SIX YEAR anniversary of this series! Find out which cards were most popular among cubeheads (and, bonus, why I think EOE features the best art direction in years). luckypaper.co/articles/cub...

For my latest design-focused retro review, I went back to my very first set: Return to Ravnica. Mechanically, RTR bats a thousand, and that can be instructive for cube-heads like me. (RTR does have one big flavor miss: Azorius. UW droolz, Rakdos rulez.) luckypaper.co/articles/ret...

Decided to switch it up with a 4-for-1 retro set review, focusing on a historically tricky archetype for Cube designers: creature-type matters decks. They may be hard to design in Draft, but the flavor and intuitiveness make up for it, as these 4 sets show! luckypaper.co/articles/the...

Alara Reborn is up next on what's beginning to look like a recurring series: Lucky Paper design reviews with an eye towards #mtgcube! ARB has a lot of cool ideas... and one very badly developed mechanic. (Luckily, Cube is the one format where Cascade can be cool.) luckypaper.co/articles/ala...

I'm following up my Alara design re-review with Conflux! Magic's first 5-color Draft set*, CON had plenty of good ideas (landcycling, flavorful color hate) and a few bad ones (Card Attribute Arbitrage, my least favorite "synergy") from which our cubes can benefit: luckypaper.co/articles/con...

Someone asked me yesterday, "what if I *don't* have aesthetics in my #mtgcube?" No such thing, even if you design mechanics-first. In 2018, if you just added cool mechanics, the end result might feel like a love letter to Magic, or a Magic HOF. In 2025 it'll be more like a funko pop bookshelf :/

Cube curators used to pine for "a strong Black 4-drop". Then came 2018. Then we wanted "mechanics to support my rules-modified cube". Then came 2025. Magic's big shortage for #mtgcube is no longer about power or mechanics, but aesthetics. My latest for Lucky Paper: luckypaper.co/articles/syn...

Couldn't resist a throwback set review in my latest Lucky Paper piece. Shards of Alara may be 17 years old, but that's no reason we can't apply its design successes in our cubes! #mtgcube luckypaper.co/articles/sha...