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...

NEW CUBE ALERT Imagine a rules-modified emblem cube with a desert draft. It's a gestalt shift in a BCW longbox. It's the next era of skill-testing, high-power gameplay. An entire match of Magic strategy, compressed into a single turn cycle. Introducing: 100 Pacts of Negation.

" I also believe that those of us who are older, whiter, safer from the threats of state violence do not have the moral ground to lecture the younger, browner and blacker, more directly impacted demographic on what they should and should not do." www.meditationsinanemergency.com/some-notes-o...

Seems like everyone is making a simple cube these days! I know that @parker.luckypaper.co and I did, and on this week's episode we're swapping drafts of each other's simple cubes and then comparing notes. luckypaper.co/podcast/255-...

Had a great time on this podcast recording, getting neck-deep into the grimy details of my land-restricted cube, Pulp Nouveau cubelist: cubecobra.com/cube/list/pu...

Had the pleasure of appearing on @domrikade.bsky.social's cube interview podcast this week! Hear us talk about Oklahoma's premier ice cream... and Magic, too, I guess. RSS: anchor.fm/s/f6619fa8/p... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5fwS...

evergreen writing advice: - "care about being specific" - "keep organized records" - "don't forget to skylark" - "after the colon, buddy, you need to tell me what the [bsky repost] is actually about"

Impossible to communicate to people that once you decide that a group more vulnerable than you can be sacrificed in the name of your own safety or interests that you have already entered into an tacit agreement that you can also be sacrificed in the interests of a group less vulnerable than you.

I like this "bad vibes" bucket of feedback, and the cut of this cube's jib in general!

I photograph the final stacks and reference them as I make cube updates. Yes, it's easy for the players, but it's mostly for me 😅 a few of these photos is about as much cube homework as I can handle!

This video is about Andy Mangold’s unconventional Ornithopter cube and the community that has become its champion. ft. @andy.luckypaper.co 🎥 youtu.be/Pddm1gbBuWE?...

What's this -- three new Lucky Paper articles in as many days?! My sort-of follow-up to yesterday's article examines how to be a gracious Magic player. This is the best advice I know for how to make newcomers feel welcome within a Cube draft. luckypaper.co/articles/pla...

We've all heard the #mtgcube aphorism (a paraphrase of MaRo) to "make the fun thing the winning thing". My latest piece reconsiders this advice: forget about winning; make *losing* fun, and the joy of winning will take care of itself. luckypaper.co/articles/eve...

Our results are live for Tarkir: Dragonstorm -- the most popular set for #mtgcube since MH3! Check out our article to find out which mechanics were the biggest hits. luckypaper.co/articles/cub...

Never thought I'd be nostalgic for the days when Quals were the worst part of the process

Zoy's essay convinced me that most of my "complexity" cuts from my #mtgcube are really about refocusing my players' attention on what matters. e.g.: One shuffle isn't very complex, but 4 minutes of attention saved on shuffling could be spent on combat bluffs and counter-bluffs instead!

🐦 MagicCon: Vegas BOP! announcement 📣 Birds of Paradise are so delighted share that our in-person safe playspace is returning for #MCVegas!! Our BOP! booth will be located at the all-new "Gathering Grounds", a space designed for people from marginalized groups to gather! (1/2)

World War II poster.

I have a hard time imagining how a single Magic card could ever exist. rhysticstudies.substack.com/p/this-prima...

Better a pig than a gen A.I. user!

"This is a big deal to our niche group" gonna be stuck in my head for a while

Just in time for Dragonstorm #mtgtdm, we're taking a data-driven look back at the impact of Aetherdrift for #mtgcube. A tepid reception of DFT's headline mechanics, but a few hidden gems and solid roleplayers! luckypaper.co/articles/cub...

Thinking about the time @elon-bust.bsky.social let us rip up the Gideon Jura that dominated a cube draft, and our friend's offhand commentary: "sic semper tyranus". we ripped Gideon in half like a wishbone. he is NOT indestructible as advertised.

I wrote a thing and it's in this zine. For those that want to read my piece it's also here: docs.google.com/document/d/1... Go get organized :)

Awesome to watch Holly (@cloudgoat.bsky.social) go to the finals of The Salt Box yesterday! (makes me feel better for losing to them at all our weekly drafts, sheesh)

Play this cube if you get the chance! I had a ton of fun with this GW deck