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

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Musical production by DJ James Nasty.