The Phyrexians are everywhere! Let's take a look at the MTGMOM cards that make the cut in different Cube environments! Video version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/je0IElaKsGs CUBECON!: https://www.mtgcubecon.com/ Cubes Referenced: Petty Nobility Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pettynobility Eleusis Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube Projects Referenced: Cultic Bestiary tokens: https://culticcube.etsy.com/ Redbubble: https://culticcube.redbubble.com/ Threadless:...

Avid cube designer and friend Stephen Konefal returns to guide us through Dominaria United! Join us as we evaluate cards and chat about CubeCon and more! For a video version of the podcast with cards displayed, visit https://youtu.be/GbhzOmSrQUE! Special thanks to all our Patreon members and to super patron Cube Cobra for their support!   Guest Resources: https://twitter.com/cubedraft https://www.instagram.com/cubedraft/   Resources Cited: CubeCon: http://www.mtgcubecon.com/ Cut...

Magic visits a world of bootleggers and art deco! In part two of my MTGSNC review, we look at those New Capenna cards that I'm adding to my lower power, Jenny/Johnny-oriented environment. YouTube version of podcast (with card visuals): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRD1j1shb1M CUBECON!: https://www.mtgcubecon.com/ Cubes Referenced: Eleusis Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube  Petty Nobility Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pettynobility Projects...

Magic visits a world of bootleggers and art deco! In part one of my MTGSNC review, we look at those New Capenna cards that I'm adding to my higher power, vintage unpowered environment. YouTube version of podcast (with card visuals): https://youtu.be/D1F8ikLE87I Cubes Referenced: Eleusis Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube  Petty Nobility Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pettynobility Projects Referenced: Cultic Bestiary tokens:...

We're back in Kamigawa! In part two of my MTGNEO review, we look at those Neon Dynasty cards that I'm adding to my lower power, masters unpowered environment. Cubes Referenced: Eleusis Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube  Petty Nobility Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pettynobility Projects Referenced: Cultic Bestiary tokens: https://culticcube.etsy.com/ Cultic Bestiary apparel: https://culticcube.redbubble.com/ MTG Flavorbot:...

A return to Kamigawa brings a raft of cards that look awesome for all sorts of cubes. In part one of my MTGNEO review, we look at those Neon Dynasty cards that I'm adding to my higher power, vintage unpowered environment. Cubes Referenced: Eleusis Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube  Petty Nobility Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pettynobility Projects Referenced: Cultic Bestiary tokens: https://culticcube.etsy.com/ Cultic Bestiary apparel:...

Let's take a tour through the VOW cards that make the cut for my higher-power and lower-power cubes! Cubes Referenced: Eleusis Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube  Petty Nobility Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pettynobility Projects Referenced: VOW Preview Card: https://youtu.be/C0wlfNKGH60/ Cultic Bestiary tokens: https://culticcube.etsy.com/ Cultic Bestiary apparel: https://culticcube.redbubble.com/ MTG Flavorbot: https://twitter.com/Flavorbot1 Support the...

Magic artist Joshua Raphael joins us today! Podcast listeners may wish to tune in on YouTube in order to see the art we discuss: https://youtu.be/pFSKYxordaA. Josh illustrated our preview card from Crimson Vow, and besides working on MTG, he has worked on Dungeons & Dragons, Eternal, and Flesh and Blood, and many more IPs. Come hang out and learn about Josh’s style, process, influences, and a case study of how he developed art for Sawblade Slinger. Special thanks to all our Patreon...

Prerelease is upon us for a return to Magic’s beloved spo-o-oky world: Innistrad! I’ve been pouring over the Midnight Hunt spoiler, picking out cards I want to run in my cubes. Today we’ll take a quick tour through the MID offerings that I plan to add to my vintage unpowered environment. Cubes Referenced: Eleusis Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube  Petty Nobility Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pettynobility Projects Referenced: MID review pt. 1:...

Prerelease is upon us for a return to Magic’s beloved spo-o-oky world: Innistrad! I’ve been pouring over the Midnight Hunt spoiler, picking out cards I want to run in my cubes. Today we’ll take a quick tour through the MID offerings that I plan to add to my vintage unpowered environment. Cubes Referenced: Eleusis Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube  Petty Nobility Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pettynobility Support the Show: ►Patreon:...

Wizards' Dungeons & Dragons Magic set is entirely spoiled, and it’s time to update the cubes! This episode combines both sections of my video review on Cultic Cube, where I run through the AFR cards that I am adding to my vintage unpowered and to my masters-level unpowered cubes. Video Reviews: Part 1: https://youtu.be/-Ke1BOWvXz4 Part 2: https://youtu.be/_2yX-nor7vg Cubes Referenced: Eleusis: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube  Petty Nobility:...

Modern Horizons 2 is more or less out now, and it’s time to update the cubes! In the second of a two part series, I run through the MH2 cards that I am adding to my lower power, synergy-driven cube. Cubes Referenced: Video version: https://youtu.be/sNfCnM-QTN8 Eleusis Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube  Petty Nobility Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pettynobility Sources Cited: Derek Gallen: https://www.hipstersofthecoast.com/author/derekgallen/ Support the...

With Modern Horizons 2 entirely spoiled, it’s time to update the cubes! In the first of a two part series, I run through the MH2 cards that I am adding to my unpowered vintage cube. Cubes Referenced: Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI1-QN2jI6I Eleusis Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/culticcube  Petty Nobility Cube: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pettynobility Support the Show: ►Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/culticcube  ►TCG Affiliate:...

I participated in WOTC’s Strixhaven Symposium live on Twitch, where I represented Quandrix College! My talk: “Manamancy: The origin, application, and exploitation of Magic's fundamental resource.” For those who didn’t catch the live lecture, I reprise it now on the Cultic Cube YouTube channel and on the Chateau Cube podcast! Quandrix Lectures VOD: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1005041444 Support the Show: ►Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/culticcube  ►TCG Affiliate:...

Magic streamer Floopy Minx joins us today! Floopy got her start in our beloved game by playing paper Vintage Cube. When she began her successful professional streaming career, she naturally gravitated toward Cube even as she embraced other formats. She explains today how building a community around her stream fosters goodwill and supports the visibility of non-cisgendered men in Magic. Special thanks to Patreon members and to super patrons Djake Noose and Dylan Quern for their...

Andrew Magrini, jankmaster extraordinaire and stalwart of the New York City cube scene, joins us to talk about how he conjoins the high-powered and the broken with the intricate and the idiosyncratic. We discuss Andrew’s vintage cube in the first part of the conversation, then move on to his new passion project, which brings 3 vs. 1 Archenemy game play to cube draft. Special thanks to Patreon members and to super patrons Djake Noose and Dylan Quern for their support! Guest...

J.J. the ManCub, cube design streamer and lover of cube curiosities, joins us to chat about his approach to creating cubes that express one’s own personality, interests, and principles. He shares joy he has found in bringing the community into his design process as he develops cubes live on stream. Then we chat about the advantages and disadvantages of many different approaches to cubing for two players. We share the methods with which we have had the most fun and success. Special thanks to...

Andy Mangold of Lucky Paper joins us for the conclusion of the conversation that we began last week. Today we focus on the Degenerate Micro Cube, a powerful cube environment that Andy pioneered and that has been his quarantine passion project. It has a novel mechanism for bringing Vintage constructed-level consistency to a limited environment. Special thanks to Patreon members and to super patron Djake Noose for their support! Resources Cited: Andy’s article introducing his new cube...

Andy Mangold is the founder of Lucky Paper, a blog devoted to cube, battlebox, and other such sandbox environments. He co-hosts the Lucky Paper podcast, which has quickly proved itself a must-listen resource for cube enthusiasts. In this first segment of a two-part conversation, Andy and I set out to talk about cube in schematic terms, discussing how we approach cube curation largely without focusing on individual cards or strategies. Tune in next week for part two, when Andy will introduce...

Jonathan Brostoff, a.k.a. TeamJBro, is a popular streamer and peerless master of cube play. He won the SCGCon Winter 2019 cube championship, and he is by far and away the most consistent trophy leader in MTGO cubes. CUBECON is very much Jonathan’s initiative as well, and I’m excited to be part of the team that is putting together a big, real-life competitive cube event. Jonathan sits down with me to chat about features of his favorite environments, how he analyzes cube lists when preparing to...

Drew Pierce, a.k.a. Beyond the Machina, is an awesome artist and graphic designer who produces Magic-related work. He is also a cube aficionado and designer of a budget-friendly pauper cube. We discuss Drew’s affection for the madness mechanic and how he sculpts an environment around it, cycles and the New Phyrexian shrines, pack one pick one, different ways with heroic, how to value gold cards in draft, uses of auras, the origins of sagas and designing one’s own, pauper bombs, breaking board...

Thomas Krone has what is, to my knowledge, the longest-running competitive cube event in history: Cubevitational, founded in the Netherlands in 2010. He and I sit down to explore a host of issues: Testing cards, vagaries of pronouncing Garruk, D6 game (Gruul!), Spell punishing mechanics, Green sections, why Thomas began cubing, benefits of different cube sizes, desirability of redundancy for archetype components, differences between designing for competitive and casual cube environments,...

Gwen Dekker teaches us all about advanced features of Cube Cobra and the behind-the-scenes effort that makes the cube management platform tick. We share stories about the sometimes surprising uses that we have found for Cobra tools. Here we do a p1p1 of the Dekkaru cube, talk about how the two of us met, discuss the ELO system of card ranking for draft AI, Ryan Saxe’s recommender model, hypergeometric analysis, multiplayer drafting (in the future!), Zach Halpern’s dr4ft.info, and as-fan...

Stephen Konefal has designed many cube environments with the overarching goals of creating aesthetically unified spaces, whether by crafting environments based on place in the multiverse, moment in Magic history, or artistic impulse and style. We discuss lessons that Core Sets teach cube designers, ways of limiting new product overload, knitting together environments mechanically, the artwork of Magic that moves us, the value of cycling, starting one’s first cube, cube’s place between limited...