Aesthetic Values and Style in Cube Design

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Inspired by two standards of beauty from different cultures — the Japanese Wabi-Sabi and the Italian Sprezzatura — Andy and Anthony are talking about a seemingly mundane card choice in 100 Ornithopters and how that reflects on the aesthetic values that are informally codified in cube design.

Discussed in this episode:

• Aetherdrift and Aetherdrift Commander Cube surveys
• Boonta Vista 383: “Stanking Ass Or Otherwise”
• Wabi-Sabi
• Sprezzatura
• Wabi-Sabi for Artists and Designers by Leonard Koren
• Wabi-Sabi: Further Thoughts by Leonard Koren
• Neoclassical Cube
• Dear Gonti, Love Sophie
• The Fire Swamp
• Pack One, Slick Ones
• Free “Playing Oppression” PDF
• Arlo’s Thoughts on Cube as an Art Project

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

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at [email protected] or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

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Musical production by DJ James Nasty.

Timestamps

• 0:00 - Intro
• 1:34 - “Vintage Cube Sucks” Follow Up
• 7:34 - Cultural ideas of beauty that influence Cube design
• 13:29 - What is wabi-sabi?
• 28:30 - What is sprezzatura?
• 32:01 - Disenchant/Naturalize effects in 100 Ornithopters
• 44:27 - How do we cultivate style in our cube design choices?
• 48:05 - Examples of stylish Cube design choices
• 53:06 - Anthony talks about fractals
• 54:40 - Arlo’s point about cube inclusions never meant to be put in decks
• 57:52 - Vanquisher’s Banner vs. The Great Henge in 100 Ornithopters and cube style comes full circle