Usman The Rad

aqua - aquaone powered

This week, @aquaone.bsky.social gives us a tour of aquaone powered, a heavily-customized powered cube. We chat about art and alters, creating novel experiences, and not-quite-power-maxing. Be sure to check out the visual spoiler of the cube! Thanks for inspiring the community, aqua.

a sample pack 1

Theres a spiritual sequel to Shandalar called Forge and I really liked it. Might be worth a whirl :)

I'd still have to print out new versions of the cards (for the pack 1 buildarounds and pack 2+3 other cards) and curate the cards; This does take out some randomization if it gets repeatedly drafted, since it'd be something like "this could be one of these 10 known cards" but I think that's ok.

So the concept that I'm thinking is this: have some more build-aroundy cards in pack 1 and have drafters look at those cards after pack 1 is done, and then the other 2 packs are more generic cards, which would then be revealed after the draft (and then getting more picks between rounds, ala STS.)

Curating those piles ended up making things a mess when I got home to tinker with it more, and I may have accidentally done it right with the "flip the card over, there's your card" tech instead of having to have drafters get 30 cards that match a characterstic from various boxes.

Logistics were awful and I ended up just putting cards on the back of the sleeve; at draft end, you'd flip over the paper to find that <WHITE CREATURE MV2> was a Giant Ox, since true Momir would just be midrange soup. Between rounds, players would crack small packs and add cards ala Slay the Spire.

Cube Cobra List: Usman's Roguelike - Cardpool

The concept was to have it so that you'd pull from a box of curated cards, but at CubeCon, I intended on taking it to the day 0 event at Misty, but the process ended up being a mess and the piles of bulk I was curating was to be like this: cubecobra.com/cube/list/ro...

Since I'm done with the TMNT review and procrastiating making updates to my regular cube list, I had some thoughts on the roguelike cube idea that premiered at CubeCon 2025.

The concept was to be something like a momir cube like in @rhysticstudies.bsky.social's video, drafting cards like this:

2025 Cube Cards: Set Overview This article discusses 2025's sets from a cube perspective, highlighting the sets for cards to include in power-motivated cubes in Magic: The Gathering.

For sets in 2025: usmantherad.substack.com/p/2025-cube-...
ECL: usmantherad.substack.com/p/cube-overv...
TMNT: usmantherad.substack.com/p/cube-overv...

Findings are mostly unchanged for ECL and TMNT from when I wrote those cube reviews.

hell yeah :) congrats!

I was talking with some friends lately about how it's so weird how $200-$300 is considered budget, and it's not uncommon for decks to be $500+. No idea how other games are but if I was starting now, I just wouldn't bother with the high prices (and esp if prereleases are that bad.)

People tend to have weird assumptions about assuming that people are involved with WoTC product, likely from visible people like MaRo and Gavin working on a lot of WoTC product, that they assume people like Shivam do so on a similar basis.

Which is weird.

it is a mystery for why people on a site that leans right would choose to taunt a visible brown guy for their hatred on a product that they assume said brown guy worked on

I'm so glad that I abandoned that place. Every time I peek back at it, it's just so rancid

For the TMNT fans out there

CubeCon Logo.

Howdy, gamers. 👋

Emma here, and I'm here to bring you some exciting news about CubeCon 2026! There's a lot to go through today, so let's dive in! 👀

#CubeCon2026 #MTGCube

Cube Overview- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & TMNT Commander In this article, Usman discusses the impact from the TMNT set and its commander set for cube.

usmantherad.substack.com/p/cube-overv...

My TMNT cube review is finally done, in time for the pre-release. :)

@usmantherad.bsky.social is the very best at shuffling #mtgcube

LuckyPaperMTG - Twitch Cube for a Cause 2026 AW Day 1

We’re going live now! www.twitch.tv/luckypapermtg

We’re raising money for Make the Road New York, and yes, we are programming against the Olympic Games

BREAKING: The Supreme Court STRIKES DOWN Trump's "emergency" tariffs. The vote is 6–3. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

As weird as the AI could be with bad decisions
Shandalar is a goddamn masterpiece

go for it :) it's how I started and wouldn't have started a cube if I had to get actual duals/shocks, etc

hey #cubefam! what's your pick?

Magic Online Weekly Announcements, February 17, 2026 Every week, we round up all the biggest Magic Online news for the Weekly Announcements Blog.

The Weekly Announcements are live! This week: Vintage Cube rolls on, sign up for the TMT Beta this week, Legacy & Pauper Qualifiers this weekend, and Pack Wars has a special edition starting tomorrow. www.mtgo.com/news/mtgo021...

Ok...first of all....wow, this commander card is mean....second....OH MY GOD, THERE DOING PIXEL ART SHOWCASE TREATMENT! YESSSSSS!
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Pack One Slick Ones - Bonus Episode - Usman Interviews Patrick Chapin about his early history with Cube In this bonus episode of Pack One Slick Ones, Usman interviews Patrick Chapin about having the first cube, his history of cube and current thoughts on cube design.

Around 2018, I started researching cube history and was referred to Patrick Chapin as having a hand in the early part of cube.
In this episode, I interviewed him about having the first cube, his history of cube and current thoughts on cube design.

usmantherad.substack.com/p/pack-one-s...

25 years ago today, ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US began its worldwide invasion on @newgrounds.com.

someone once said "the loudest boos come from the cheapest seats" which makes me think of people like that clown

Topographical map of MTG cubes

Pretty delighted with my MTG Cube "map" based on the lucky paper cube map from @anthony.luckypaper.co @andy.luckypaper.co
vibes.sqlgene.com/cube-map-exp...