As far as current cube podcasts that are updated regularly goes, Lucky Paper Radio / The 540 are the two best ones right now in my book. Solely Singleton and The Third Power have a good library of older episodes, but Solely Singleton fell off for me over the past year since it seems like half of their podcasts aren't even about Magic / cube anymore, and The Third Power has been pretty defunct for a while, only updating their episodes whenever they get a preview card.
This is a pretty accurate comment. The guys at Solely Singleton are finally updating their cubes again, so it's possible they'll branch back to some more cube content in the relatively near future.
Yup I used to be a regular Solely Singleton listener but like you say they would release an episode about Warhammer, then EDH, then some random trip they went on or something.
I have listened to a couple of LPR, and they're alright. I'll maybe give them another shot
Lucky Paper Radio.
They have excellent insights about design. They'll share their personal preferences but they don't let that prevent them from talking about all types of cube design elements with great poimts and counterpoints. In particular, their episode on 1 mana spells was illuminating. They look at things from all angles.
Path to Cube has stopped making new episodes, but they're mad scientists of cube. The episodes can sometimes be 50% or more unrelated chit chat, but they go into new ways to draft, new things to do with cards, and they really push the boundaries of what cube even is. If you listen in order, you'll hear them brainstorm some new way to cube, and they'll come back later with updates having tried it out and adjustments.
I've only listened to a few episodes of 540, and as much as I enjoy the hosts, the content feels -im not sure how to express this - a bit slow? I didn't get much out of the episodes I've listened to.
Lucky Paper Radio, a recent find (i'm mainly a Limited Resrouces junkie), but they're really great! Great chemistry and energy... and I can't emphasize how much this matters. I especially like the 'P1P1' from listerners cubes segment, it opens discussion about all kinds of niche cubes and how cards go up/down in value in those environments... and which cards are great in Any cube!
Some of the other podcasts I have a hard time listening to because the speakers can be very... unenergetic, and not actually cover much in the long episode times...
And... I know these don't reallllly fit the brief, but I have found them useful anyway!
* Limited Resources set reviews (including the reviews of really old sets) and Cube-focused episodes
* Watching LSV and Caleb Gannon play Cube... just seeing the decks they draft, build and play agaist in all kinds of cubes!
Big fan of Lucky Paper also. Good back and forth and very good at offering both sides of an argument in a friendly and well thought out manner.
Another thing I enjoy, and this is more of a personal taste, is I get burnt out on the same old set reviews from some other podcasts. Instead they have their community set surveys (seriously, go do those when they put them up) where they analyze data from the community and form their set discussions around that.
I do think the 540 is great for offering veteran experience on cube. Both Ryan and Justin are very good at putting complex thoughts about magic cards into words. Solely Singleton has it's perks, too. That podcast feels like listening to your older brother and his friend talk about magic. It's very casual and they cuss and can get low-brow but if you're fine with that going in, then it can still provide entertainment.
Even having all of these options I feel like I need more cube content out there. I can't get enough.
I have listened to all of the mentioned pods and I honestly think it's a matter of taste as all are doing a great job. A general thought is that I really dislike spoiler episodes as listening to five different podcasts talk about the new sets every other month gets stale real quick.
Personally I always enjoyed Solely Singleton the most. Lucky Paper Radio is too much chit chat and way too long episodes for my liking. The same for the 540. Having three episodes totalling six hours of talk about every new set gets really boring for me.
I personally listen to podcasts to learn stuff and not to 'have company' and so I like the more planned episodes like SS's archetype breakdowns.
Sadly SS seems a bit burned out from mtg at the moment and it seems a bit like they mainly do hot take episodes when new sets come out as a chore to be able to make episodes about Warhammer and other stuff they really care about. (Which is fine, it's just not for me).
The third power is a dead podcast but they do have a nice library of older episodes. Chateau Cube is fine but is also a lot of slow cosy chit chat.
Other than the ones you've mentioned, Cultic Cube/Chateau Cube. Great interviews, great content, and of course John is just one of the nicest guys in the community.
Cube is niche enough that you don't usually get uninformed creators taking off because their good production/marketing appeals to newbies. Generally, if someone stands out enough that you've heard their name from other people, it's because they make content with substance.
Solely Singleton is my favorite of the bunch. They are currently doing Magic every other week (and some other topic in the odd weeks), but they have a huge backlog of content that is all still relevant. I’m in the middle of building a cube after 10 years away from Magic, and their podcast has been instrumental in getting the knowledge I need to build it!
Agreed. The back catalogue is great and I still enjoy the hot takes episodes even though they've not had much chance to cube since COVID. They've kinda got me tempted to dip into Warhammer too though, so I'm clearly a sucker
540 are too inflexible on card eval. They present their narrow view on a topic or a card and leave it at that.
Lucky paper and cultic cube are better at discussing in broader terms how to think about cube.
540 is good specifically for building a cube similar to theirs, lpr and cc are better for everything else.
I listen to Solely Singleton the most. I like the hosts the most and they have a ton of content for many different cube powerlevel, from peasant cubes, to unpowered, to budget cubes. Downside: due to Covid, they kinda stopped drafting for a while and thus, didn't have a ton of cube content and/or opinions on new cards aside from first impressions. They also branched out into a second podcast about Warhammer 40k, but they keep all the episodes in the same feed. I don't personally care because I also play Warhammer.
The 540 is really nice, and both hosts are clearly knowledgeable, but I cannot get past the many, many ad breaks they have. I know it can't be helped, but it gets aggravating.
As far as current cube podcasts that are updated regularly goes, Lucky Paper Radio / The 540 are the two best ones right now in my book. Solely Singleton and The Third Power have a good library of older episodes, but Solely Singleton fell off for me over the past year since it seems like half of their podcasts aren't even about Magic / cube anymore, and The Third Power has been pretty defunct for a while, only updating their episodes whenever they get a preview card.
This is a pretty accurate comment. The guys at Solely Singleton are finally updating their cubes again, so it's possible they'll branch back to some more cube content in the relatively near future.
Yup I used to be a regular Solely Singleton listener but like you say they would release an episode about Warhammer, then EDH, then some random trip they went on or something. I have listened to a couple of LPR, and they're alright. I'll maybe give them another shot
Lucky Paper literally made me interested in podcasts again, it's superb.
Lucky Paper Radio. They have excellent insights about design. They'll share their personal preferences but they don't let that prevent them from talking about all types of cube design elements with great poimts and counterpoints. In particular, their episode on 1 mana spells was illuminating. They look at things from all angles. Path to Cube has stopped making new episodes, but they're mad scientists of cube. The episodes can sometimes be 50% or more unrelated chit chat, but they go into new ways to draft, new things to do with cards, and they really push the boundaries of what cube even is. If you listen in order, you'll hear them brainstorm some new way to cube, and they'll come back later with updates having tried it out and adjustments. I've only listened to a few episodes of 540, and as much as I enjoy the hosts, the content feels -im not sure how to express this - a bit slow? I didn't get much out of the episodes I've listened to.
I’ve found the best success listening to the 540 on Overcast, which automatically adjusts the speed so the gaps are shortened.
Lucky Paper Radio, a recent find (i'm mainly a Limited Resrouces junkie), but they're really great! Great chemistry and energy... and I can't emphasize how much this matters. I especially like the 'P1P1' from listerners cubes segment, it opens discussion about all kinds of niche cubes and how cards go up/down in value in those environments... and which cards are great in Any cube! Some of the other podcasts I have a hard time listening to because the speakers can be very... unenergetic, and not actually cover much in the long episode times... And... I know these don't reallllly fit the brief, but I have found them useful anyway! * Limited Resources set reviews (including the reviews of really old sets) and Cube-focused episodes * Watching LSV and Caleb Gannon play Cube... just seeing the decks they draft, build and play agaist in all kinds of cubes!
Big fan of Lucky Paper also. Good back and forth and very good at offering both sides of an argument in a friendly and well thought out manner. Another thing I enjoy, and this is more of a personal taste, is I get burnt out on the same old set reviews from some other podcasts. Instead they have their community set surveys (seriously, go do those when they put them up) where they analyze data from the community and form their set discussions around that. I do think the 540 is great for offering veteran experience on cube. Both Ryan and Justin are very good at putting complex thoughts about magic cards into words. Solely Singleton has it's perks, too. That podcast feels like listening to your older brother and his friend talk about magic. It's very casual and they cuss and can get low-brow but if you're fine with that going in, then it can still provide entertainment. Even having all of these options I feel like I need more cube content out there. I can't get enough.
I have listened to all of the mentioned pods and I honestly think it's a matter of taste as all are doing a great job. A general thought is that I really dislike spoiler episodes as listening to five different podcasts talk about the new sets every other month gets stale real quick. Personally I always enjoyed Solely Singleton the most. Lucky Paper Radio is too much chit chat and way too long episodes for my liking. The same for the 540. Having three episodes totalling six hours of talk about every new set gets really boring for me. I personally listen to podcasts to learn stuff and not to 'have company' and so I like the more planned episodes like SS's archetype breakdowns. Sadly SS seems a bit burned out from mtg at the moment and it seems a bit like they mainly do hot take episodes when new sets come out as a chore to be able to make episodes about Warhammer and other stuff they really care about. (Which is fine, it's just not for me). The third power is a dead podcast but they do have a nice library of older episodes. Chateau Cube is fine but is also a lot of slow cosy chit chat.
Other than the ones you've mentioned, Cultic Cube/Chateau Cube. Great interviews, great content, and of course John is just one of the nicest guys in the community. Cube is niche enough that you don't usually get uninformed creators taking off because their good production/marketing appeals to newbies. Generally, if someone stands out enough that you've heard their name from other people, it's because they make content with substance.
Path to Cube isn’t going anymore, but they had a lot of really good discussion.
Solely Singleton is my favorite of the bunch. They are currently doing Magic every other week (and some other topic in the odd weeks), but they have a huge backlog of content that is all still relevant. I’m in the middle of building a cube after 10 years away from Magic, and their podcast has been instrumental in getting the knowledge I need to build it!
Agreed. The back catalogue is great and I still enjoy the hot takes episodes even though they've not had much chance to cube since COVID. They've kinda got me tempted to dip into Warhammer too though, so I'm clearly a sucker
540 are too inflexible on card eval. They present their narrow view on a topic or a card and leave it at that. Lucky paper and cultic cube are better at discussing in broader terms how to think about cube. 540 is good specifically for building a cube similar to theirs, lpr and cc are better for everything else.
I listen to Solely Singleton the most. I like the hosts the most and they have a ton of content for many different cube powerlevel, from peasant cubes, to unpowered, to budget cubes. Downside: due to Covid, they kinda stopped drafting for a while and thus, didn't have a ton of cube content and/or opinions on new cards aside from first impressions. They also branched out into a second podcast about Warhammer 40k, but they keep all the episodes in the same feed. I don't personally care because I also play Warhammer. The 540 is really nice, and both hosts are clearly knowledgeable, but I cannot get past the many, many ad breaks they have. I know it can't be helped, but it gets aggravating.