Ryan Saxe’s Auto Battler Inspired Format
Andy and Anthony talk with Ryan Saxe about his latest Magic passion project. Inspired by one of his favorite video game genres, AutoBattlers, Ryan has been working to create a Magic variant that incorporates the feeling of quick mini-games and constant upgrades and expansion of your arsenal. In his format, players face of in a series of mini-games with only a few cards available to each player. After each quick game, players get to modify and expand their available pool of cards to use by trading with a random new selection of cards from the Cube list. Players are eliminated as they accrue a certain number of losses leaving one the champion. The three talk about the design process, challenges and successes Ryan’s had through iterating on the rules system, and their experience drafting the AutoBattler cube. View all cards mentioned in this episode Discussed in this episode: George W. Hart’s Geometric Sculptures Pai Gow AutoBattler Cube Rules and Card List Ryan’s Autobattler Discord Ogre Battle Tactics: Match of the Black Queen Team Fight Tactics Loading, Ready, Run AutoBattler Stream Slay the Spire Timestamps 0:00 - AI Corner 13:01 - Introduction to Ryan’s new format 14:20 - What is an auto battler? 17:59 - How did Ryan go about applying the patterns of an auto battler to Magic? 28:42 - How does Ryan’s auto battler format work? 46:16 - Designing the rules system vs. designing the cube list 53:22 - A deep dive on the design details of the auto battler 1:33:45 - How Anthony would teach the auto battler format 1:35:40 - Is it productive to describe this as an auto battler? 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 want us to do a pack 1, pick 1 from your cube submit it on our website. 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 Paper PO Box 4855 Baltimore, MD 21211 If you’d like to show your support for the show, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Musical production by DJ James Nasty.