Are Synergy and a High Density of Interaction Incompatible?

After watching Caleb draft his Powered Synergy Cube on Magic Online for hours, Andy is dying to support some more sweet, synergistic decks in his Bun Magic Cube. After some reflection, he’s not sure if that would even work, so he’s bringing his hopes and dreams to Anthony to discuss whether it’s even possible to support Bazaar of Baghdad, Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, or Molten Vortex in a cube that is over one-third interaction.

Our listener submitted pack 1, pick 1 this week comes from Donald K. Magic’s “Balanced Budget” Cube. Special thanks to Donald for being the first person to help us annotate old episodes. If you’d like to be as handsome and well liked as Donald, you too can help us add robust metadata to old episodes of the show.

View cards mentioned in the episode

Timestamps:

• 4:06 — Listener Submitted Pack 1, Pick 1
• 8:57 — Donald’s Follow Up Question: What is an overlooked card under 50 cents?
• 13:33 — Are synergy and interactivity at odds?
• 17:44 — Proposed Definitions for “Synergy Decks” and “Interactive Decks”
• 23:53 — Reviewing the Deck’s Caleb Posted to YouTube, Beginning With His Favorite Deck He’s Ever Drafted
• 32:00 — Comparing Densities of Interactions in Decks Between Caleb and Andy’s Cubes
• 34:06 — One Change to Andy’s Bun Magic Cube in the Name of Synergy
• 39:36 — Finding More Room For Synergy In Your Cube
• 42:06 — Synergy and Interactivity in Anthony’s Regular Cube
• 47:50 — Summary Thoughts

Discussed in this episode:

• Lucky Paper Radio 55 — In Defense of Unpopular Cards
• Caleb Gannon’s Drafts of his Own Cube on Magic Online
• Cards in Anthony’s Regular Cube Under 50 Cents
• Cards in Andy’s Bun Magic Cube Under 50 Cents
• Bikeshedding

21 weeks to CubeCon! Blackjack!

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

You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

• Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
• Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

If you have a question for the show, or want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube, email us at [email protected]. Please include how you’d like to be credited, your pronouns, a link to your cube if relevant. You can also find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord.

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Musical production by DJ James Nasty.