iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 21/09/2026

Our editor said "gotta say, Ryan records very well, natural presence". It's nice to be in the studio with a pro

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

An enormously satisfying 3-0 in a cube I fell in love with immediately. I have so many more thoughts but it’s 1:30am and I must sleep. Thank you Lincoln and the whole @capitolcube.org team. Long live Cube.

0141

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

Game 3 is all about Triskelion. I get an absolute blowout on turn 7 attacking into three creatures with Triskelion and Jilt in hand, which results in all 3 of my opponent’s blockers dead and my Triskelion back in hand. I replay it with Aether Spellbomb protecting it and eventually grind out the win

150

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

Round three is against mono-black zombies. Game 1 I just had all the answers and won with a Form of the Dragon my opponent had no answers to, and I saw no flyers. Game 2, however, a Visara the Dreadful locks me out of even playing the Form and I lose a nail biter.

140

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

Round two is against the cube owner, on a bant midrange/token deck. Glorious Anthem is a bit of a headache, but I manage to bounce my own Triskelion multiple times to clean up Migratory Route tokens and eventually grind my way to a win game 1. Unanswered Grim Lavamancer absolutely carries game 2.

130

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

Easily one of my all-time favorite games of Magic. Just so fucking cool and satisfying to take my ZERO pressure, your life total is irrelevant to me until turn 15, 3 creature control deck and shift gears into a burn deck when the game demanded it.

140

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

But my hand is a couple lands, Barbed Lightning, Essence Drain, and Grab the Reins… and I think maybe, just maybe there’s a chance. Sure enough I’m able to control the board to buy time and then use my removal as face burn to flip the Vortex back on my opponent. Entwined Grab the Reins closes it out

130

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

Game 3 they play an early threat, which I remove, then a Sulfuric Vortex on turn 3 on an empty board with both of us at 20. Nightmare scenario. I have zero answers for Vortex and am aiming to go super long. I have 3 creatures in my whole deck and basically no way to race or apply pressure.

120

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

Game 2 they side into a second color: green. I control the early game and feel like I’ve stabilized, but I made the mistake of tapping out for a Triskelion at 17 life and then ate a Sylvos, Rogue Elemental w/ haste from Dragon’s Breath and two pumps to the face for 10 and eventually get burned out.

120

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

Round 1 game 1 my opponent starts the game by Firebolting my face on turn 1, and a mid game Peek reveals that their hand contains Flame Rift and Char with me at 12. Those plus the flashbacked Firebolt puts me at an effective 2, but with the info from Peek I’m able to play conservatively and win.

130

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

I take Future Sight pack 1, pick 1 and end up drafting this almost completely creature-free, scraping for playables control deck. I am somewhat skeptical that a deck like this can be successful, but it’s the last draft of the day and I’m just happy to be playing a style of deck that I love.

130

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

The power level is low and the vibes are very good. There is a Goblin Glider with a very heartfelt note scrawled in the sky around the glider about how Kittyhawk reminds us that we must not be afraid to fail. It’s signed “love, Dad”.

130

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

I open the first pack and it’s a beautiful and weird mix of rare, old foils and signed cards, really top shelf stuff… and then a bunch of printer proxies of absolute bulk like Jilt and Innocent Blood? There are multiple OG foils of Proteus Machine going around the table? I am intrigued.

120

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

I misheard the name of the cube as “Invasion of Kamigawa” but turns out to be “Invasion to Kamigawa”. I’m barely paying attention anyway because this is the seat that needs filled.

130

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 20/09/2026

Ok, so it’s the last round of the day, I’ve corralled a pod of 100 Ornithopters, a few bonus pods are firing through Hedron, and there’s another group trying to fire a side draft. As the dust settles it’s clear this group is going to be 5 people, so I offer to sit down and fill up a team draft.

140

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 19/09/2026

Won round 3 in two, learned a lot about this environment! Practiced Scrollsmith is a really cool and fun card I may have to work into my own projects moving forward.

170

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 19/09/2026

Neither seems heinously out of place to me

000

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 19/09/2026

Smoked in like 5 minutes for the full match against my friend Allison, who thanked me for pulling her out of her slump, lol. As expected, deck is not focused and the strong decks in this cube are hyper synergistic. Decent cards is, in fact, not gonna get there.

170

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 19/09/2026

Lost round one in 3 to a BW deck that curved out like crazy in game 3. I probably should have mulliganned, and that’s on me!

140

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 19/09/2026

Draft 2 is the Trinket Cube. Didn’t look at the list and my draft felt pretty bad. Seems like there are some combos floating around and I’m not sure aimless Jeskai decent cards is a deck. We will see, I suppose!

140

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 19/09/2026

Definitely not the coolest deck in the pod, so all credit to the Cube designer

000

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 19/09/2026

Got there in round 3. Fire Covenant as a clean 3-for-1 and land destruction stays winning

260

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 19/09/2026

Ironically this is the first game in which I drew Fire Covenant, but it didn’t do anything explosive because of said Nantuko Husk. Used it to pick off creatures on my turn, but couldn’t take out the husk itself, obviously.

130

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 19/09/2026

Lost round two. Mulliganned to 6 in game one then didn’t draw lands while my opponent curved out a string of elvish visionaries. Thought I had game two pretty well wrapped up after my opponent missed a bunch of lands drops then lost to Might of Oaks on Nantuko Husk with Brawn in the yard ☠️

350

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 19/09/2026

Lost a game on a mulligan but got there round 1 against base blue black control. Haven’t drawn Fire Covenant yet but Avalanche Riders is nutty here.

170

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 19/09/2026

Capitol Cube Champs thread! Full random, as per, and ended up in “Desert Bird”, a low power old school desert cube. p1p1 was FTK over Sulfuric Vortex, knowing I was almost certainly putting the player to my left in red. Pick 3 Fire Covenant felt cracked

6510

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 18/09/2026

All gray area! When a skilled player puts Bow of Nylea in a good control shell, other people often feel that Bow is broken. However, Bow's winrate is meh and it's mostly not abused in that way. Hard to say if the skilled players are revealing systematic balance issues or just winning as expected

001

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 18/09/2026

I think it’s a tight line to walk when in the hands of those experienced players those decks _FEEL_ unbeatable. It’s so different to balance a format for casual play compared to balancing it for hyper-competitive optimization, and in reality I’m targeting a gray area inbetween.

100

Reposted by Andy Mangold

Dan Schneider @worklifevalue.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

If you're more of an Audio/Podcast person vs. written words, you can also now listen to my Obscura Design interview with @andy.luckypaper.co and @anthony.luckypaper.co if that's more your speed! The article goes into more detail around my experience at Obscura too! open.spotify.com/episode/70jB...

open.spotify.com

Bonus Episode — Obscura: Cavalier

Lucky Paper Radio · Episode

1103

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 16/09/2026

My friend Jake designed the Boolean cube

010

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 15/09/2026

Never make fun of someone who misspells a word, but pronounces it perfectly. It means they learned it by listening to podcasts.

1180

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 10/09/2026

First episode of or Obscura interview series is out today!

0121

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 10/09/2026

(I realize this hastily tapped out reply might've sounded very patronizing because of the child implication, but I was just looking for a 'disappointed but love you anyway' pull. If anything YOU'RE the cube dad!)

010

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 10/09/2026

Your mother and I are deeply disappointed, but we still love you unconditionally.

130

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 09/09/2026

The only reason Flickerwisp isn't in every single one of my cubes is that I don't like it alongside Ravnica bouncelands 😭

250

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 09/09/2026

All my answers are boring. Cantrips, efficient and limited-scope removal, that kind of stuff. Is that what you're looking for? Or are you specifically interested in less generic and scaling cards?

110

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 04/09/2026

I’ve gotten a couple questions about what “proceeds” means, and to clarify every single dollar of this auction (minus eBay fees) goes directly to @maketheroadny.bsky.social.

1133

Reposted by Andy Mangold

DSB @dsb-cubes.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This latest Obscura Cube event really delivered some amazing designs! A beautiful example of how creatively diverse cube can be. Check out @andy.luckypaper.co spitting facts about his contribution! Super cool design. youtu.be/bLwKn-rbOK4?...

youtu.be

Finally sharing the cube I've been secretly working on for 9 months! (and it could be YOURS)

YouTube video by Lucky Paper

031

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 01/09/2026

I'm so excited to finally share the concept of this cube, which I had to keep a secret for 9 months! Auction ends Friday. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLwK...

youtube.com

Can I design a cube where players ONLY draft mono-color or five-color decks?

YouTube video by Lucky Paper

0174

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 31/08/2026

What's the sort order here? I'm confused by the labels on the blue dots, which don't seem to correspond to their position on the X axis.

100

Andy Mangold @andy.luckypaper.co · 31/08/2026

Yessss this is exactly what I wanted to see!

1101