Usman The Rad

Usman The Rad

@usmantherad.com

usmantherad.com I've been writing and podcasting about cube since 2010. I'm also one of the people involved with developing the MTGO cubes and thepaupercube.com. linktr.ee/usmantherad

1.1K followers2K following920 posts

Usman The Rad reposted

Uber Cube
@ubercubemtgpodcast.bsky.social

Join Team Uber Cube and @usmantherad.com as we chat on cards that slipped past designer’s radars and how to spot them for your cube. Thanks for listening, subscribing, 5-stars, and as always happy cubing! ubercube.buzzsprout.com/1989337/epis...

ubercube.buzzsprout.comSleeper Cards - Uber CubeDuring this episode join Team Uber Cube and special guest Usman Jamil as we tackle the question "What are sleeper cards?" Tune in as we chat on cards that slipped past designer’s radars and later were...

Usman The Rad reposted

Sahoni, Official Re(a)d Wolf
@sahoni.bsky.social

Magic creative just said Cruelclaw is bi as part of the trans lifeline fundraiser when asked about some of their favorite lgbtq+ mtg characters and I'm taking it. He's ours now.

Usman The Rad reposted

Mork
@fourdeltavictor.bsky.social

Hello #mtgcube community I have an odd request. I want to acquire 8x of these reminder cards for my MH2+ cube. From what I understand they're on the back of tokens. If you happen to have MH2 tokens lying around and can help me figure out which ones they're on, that would be amazing.

Usman The Rad reposted

yoman5
@yoman5.bsky.social

General vibes from a few hours of FRA early access Ajani 6 is busted, I told you so Way of the pyromancer nice Dark matter manipulator nice Emrakul kinda stinky Jund felt great but we both know that's EA only vibes real standard decks will murder bob and then you (also goyf was small w/o mill)

Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com

In case you missed it, I posted this cube review of Reality Fractured yesterday. Even if you have no intention of ever cubing Extrapolate the Impossible, the part on it is worth reading as an exercise in avoiding snap-decisions and mental shortcutting.

Usman The Rad@usmantherad.com

I am once again joined by stormcount1 to do my 77th cube set review, this time for everyone's favorite Jace plane. Jace Place? It's a long read but the set's got a lot of neat stuff for power-motivated cubes. usmantherad.com/2026/09/22/c...

usmantherad.comCube Review: Reality Fracture with Kai | usmantherad | MTG Cube Design Articles by Usman JamilThis article talks about Reality Fractured for high-powered cubes.
Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com

It is refreshing to see this; when I started and for a while, I knew people who were like "I'm not playing this card as a non-foil of it" and others who refused to proxy. I wouldn't have gotten into cube myself, as I wouldn't have been able to pay 2008 prices for ABU duals (let alone 2026.)

Bugs 🔜 MC Atlanta@bugsmaytrix.bsky.social

the inherent anti-capitalist ethos of Cube,,

Usman The Rad reposted

Boston Cube Party
@bostoncubeparty.com

LOOKING FOR SPONSORS! Trying to do something much more ambitious next year but venues in Boston are prohibitively expensive. If you can help in any way or know someone who can, lmk! RTs appreciated ❤️

Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com

I concepted this cube in 2025 as a 15-year celebration of the first cube design article I wrote. I started my cube journey in 2008 and started writing about cube to create what I wanted to see in the world - there were so many articles about how cool cubes were, but nothing about *making* one.

STL^3@stlouiscubed.bsky.social

@usmantherad.com (pictured here with his giant white son Merlin) has been writing articles about cube design since 2010. www.mtgsalvation.com/articles/153...

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Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com

There's a VHS by Neil Peart, Rush's deity of drumming, that came out in 1997 and despite his already-cemented reputation as arguably rock's best drummer, he still reached out to Freddie Gruber because he knew he still needed to improve. Always the student. The VHS was called "A Work in Progress."

Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com

I see myself as a Work In Progress. I've written and podcasted a lot & I'm very proud of my work in developing cube theory from a loose pile of cards (look at the MTGS 2007 "you design the cube" forums.) This cube is also a Work In Progress and will change, but it's a reflection of me now in 2026.

Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com

I concepted this cube in 2025 as a 15-year celebration of the first cube design article I wrote. I started my cube journey in 2008 and started writing about cube to create what I wanted to see in the world - there were so many articles about how cool cubes were, but nothing about *making* one.

STL^3@stlouiscubed.bsky.social

@usmantherad.com (pictured here with his giant white son Merlin) has been writing articles about cube design since 2010. www.mtgsalvation.com/articles/153...

Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com

The article's title was about supporting aggro (and it did) - and as someone who attacked with Icatian Javelineers and White 2-drops in 1995, I always wanted the deck to work in cube, and my first cube experiences IRL had it as an afterthought, and I wanted to rectify that. Eventually, it caught on.

Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️‍⚧️@sharkabytes.bsky.social

I was curious about what game first featured Charles Martinet as the voice of Mario. And while this, Mario's Game Gallery (1995, DOS PC) is the second (the CDROM version of Mario Teaches Typing is the first), Game Gallery is the one which features substantial VA from Martinet.

Usman The Rad reposted

Arya (hogpog_98 elsewhere)
@aryawrites.bsky.social

This was released yesterday, and just wanted to say I'm profoundly grateful for the amazing and welcoming trans community in magic. I look forward to many years of the community staying that way. #wotcstaff www.npr.org/2026/08/26/n...

npr.orgHow 'Magic: The Gathering' creates transgender communityMagic: The Gathering, the fantasy card game with over 50 million enthusiasts worldwide, has become an important social outlet for some real people: the transgender community.
Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com

He is a persuasive Big Mac. :3

STL^3@stlouiscubed.bsky.social

#mtgcube players! #STL^3 playmat preorders are LIVE and you can place your order HERE: www.fantasyshoponline.com/new-page-1

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Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com

It's one of those butterfly effect things where I'd rather have the current trajectory than the one where I was grinding Standard in the 2000s, but still funny that this happened again, 20 years later.

Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com

Unsurprisingly, this didn't happen (and failed to mention that decks had to maindeck artifact hate like Oxidize, which made many artifacts from Mirrodin block unplayable.) I uninstalled Arena a few weeks ago because, in part, Standard was awful. I'm at least enjoying not doing the ladder grind.

Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com

I started playing M:TG when Revised and Fallen Empires were the most recent sets, and was a Standard player until I quit in 2000, when Academy did most of the damage and Masques fell flat, so I quit from then until the BoK prerelease. Had Standard been good, I'd have started that again.

Usman The Rad
@usmantherad.com

Funnily, that non-banning back then got me to say "I'm not playing Standard" to just being a drafter, and getting into cube, and cube design and then being one of the first and longest-running cube content creators, shaping where cube design ended up.

Usman The Rad reposted

Crucible Of Words
@crucibleofwords.bsky.social

Compiled this weeks legacy stats before the BnR hits later today. Only 4x Tamiyo decks won challenges this week, no Car decks did. Looking at the data over the last six weeks, Tamiyo is more deserving of a ban than the Car. If they don't hit both, it would be a massive mistake IMO.