Cube and the Soul of Limited With Ryan Saxe

Andy and Anthony are joined by Ryan Saxe for a deep conversation on Cube design. They talk about the design of “low power” Cubes, lessons we can take from limited sets and apply to Cubes, and the important impacts of power level disparities on gameplay. View all cards mentioned in the episode → Discussed in this episode: The Iron Giant Limited Resources R House in Baltimore Who’s on First? The Degenerate Micro Cube Ryan’s Buildaround Cube Internet’s Pauper Cube Using the Other Half of Your Cube Zach Barash on Twitter Anthony’s Irregular Cube Playing the Irregular Cube on Stream Anthony’s Turbo Cube Andy’s Day Zero Prediction About Companions Ryan’s Constructed Cube Ryan on Twitter The Cube Map Graph Theory Topology Regression Learning UMAP Projection Hypercube Timestamps: 2:16 — Rotisserie Corner 4:30 — Is Cube somewhere between Limited and Constructed? 8:51 — What does “limited” mean to Ryan and Anthony? 17:41 — Heuristics vs. Cards — The Rules of Engagement of a Format 27:53 — Why a Flat Power Level Isn’t Necessarily a Good Thing 36:21 — Describing the Value of a Speculative Pick 43:47 — What percentage of a Cube is glue? 46:27 — The Irregular Cube and the Nature of Power Outliers 57:49 — Slot Equity 1:01:01 — What does NOT count as a “Limited” Cube? 1:10:14 — Does a truly flat power level ruin the draft? 1:18:50 — Designing for the Draft Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay. 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 [email protected]. 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.