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The One “About Saprolings”
May 19, 2025 · 65 min

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Andy and Anthony talk about saprolings, sort of. Our hosts talk about aesthetics and their own personal tastes, and how that applies to their preferences in Magic. Anthony somehow tries to make the case that saprolings connect to a pattern of affinity for systems thinking, complex iterative processes with emergent properties.

Discussed in this episode:

Episode 211 — Book Club: The Beauty of Games by Frank LantzEpisode 251 — Book Club: Playing Oppression by Mary Flanagan and Mikael JakobssonThe Design of Everyday ThingsWhy Fish Don’t ExistA Pattern LanguageReading Rainbow (Cube)Cod by Mark KurlanskyA People’s History of the United States by Howard ZinnLaw of the InstrumentThe Neoclassical Cube100 OrnithoptersSacred GeometryWhat if the 4-Card Limit Was Abolished in Modern? by Frank KarstenSaproling’s and Thallid Cards over TimeMeander Artwork by Robert HodginMandelbrot SetL-system fractalsChaos & Fractals: New Frontiers of ScienceNileRedWARNING Little Guys Spotted

Check us out on Twitch and YouTube for paper Cube gameplay.

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

Andy’s “Bun Magic” CubeAnthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at mail@luckypaper.co or our p.o. box:

Lucky PaperPO Box 4855Baltimore, MD 21211

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Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro3:39 - Introduction to episode4:50 - What are Andy’s broad aesthetic sensibilities?12:59 - How do these aesthetic preferences relate to games?18:33 - What are Anthony’s aesthetic sensibilities?27:52 - Anthony’s love/hate relationship with Slimefoot33:12 - Andy’s application of his aesthetic values to Sacred Geometry38:59 - How the aesthetics of Magic have changed over time43:50 - River corner48:17 - Dynamic equilibrium, Magic meta games, and power creep54:14 - “The Fractal Perspective”