Declaration of Affinipendence

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to have a second fucking cube, one must "Spice It Up A Li'l Bit," and so I find myself with another batch of 450 Magic: the Gathering cards lying about in a box, waiting for my monthly draft session with the homies.

The initial vision for this was heavily inspired by Shane's Artifact Cube, which seems to have Vanished From Existence...

Anyway, big shouts out to Shane for his efforts. My goals were to remove some of the combo potential (though I did add Splinter Twin into it...), lower the power ceiling of possible decks, and eliminate what seemed to be some of the lower floor power outliers as well in early playtesting. My ideal drafting sessions, as with Son of Cubemo, would result in any deck style holding a reasonable shot at a 2-1 or 3-0, and not having specific includes that might mop less experienced players (something that seems very easy to sneak through in an artifact-centric list, so I probably still have some of those in here tbh).

What does it actually do, though, you might ask?

THINGS

Dr. Cubemo is a 450 card, un-powered eternal cube focused largely on artifact synergies or anti-artifact Technology. The power level and complexity are both intended to be a bit higher than my Son of Cubemo cube, though that does not mean that games should be any quicker or slower - just that decisions during the draft and during gameplay are a touch more important. Flubbing your strategy or misplaying your answers will cost you dearly in the realm of Dr. Cubemo - MONKE is legal, after all.

As with all Cubemo variants, if the Card does not induce a minimum of one Goose Bump, it is NOT to be included.

Two sets of each fetch land and two sets of each shock land are available, all other cards are Strictly Singleton so far.

Drafting

No special draft format, standard 3 packs of 15 cards each in as big a pod as you can get (until you hit 10 people cause you'll run out of freakin' cards, wontcha!...LMAO!), 1 card per pick, 40 card minimum deck size.

I do have a tendency to go for special treatments or alternative arts, so I recommend that my paper drafters take their time reading cards instead of expecting familiar card arts. I find this encourages (if only slightly) people to re-read cards they think they know by heart, which in turn leads to better understanding of the synergies in the cube during the draft. Or maybe it's just overwhelming and annoying lol, I just think they look neat tbh.

Supported Archetypes

Or so a brewer must hope...

Decks are based less around guilds this time and more around SYNERGY(TM). If a given theme can be supported in three, four, or even all five colors, I'm going to put in as many enablers for that theme as I can find, and my drafters can make decisions based on signals and lands as to which colors they want to settle on.

I find there are a few good questions to ask yourself when you see a card in this cube that you think is really busted or really ass:

"What makes this card really [busted/ass]?" followed by "Does that same reasoning apply when that card is surrounded by all artifacts or all artifact hate?"

Let's consider a few examples.

It's one of the first picks of the draft. Galvanic Blast and Lightning Bolt are in the same pack. You think back to your training wheel days and recollect the heuristics. "Galvanic Blast needs my deck to have a lot of artifacts. The higher floor is the safer bet," you think, nearly placing the Lightning Bolt face down on your draft pile. But as sleeve touches sleeve, a new neural pathway forms in your mind - this is not your grandpappy's cube. You are drafting Dr. Cubemo. Your deck will be artifacts. Galvanic Blast is the safer bet. Into the deck it goes.

Across the table, a fellow drafter has been passed a Cankerbloom. They look at it and think "solid stats, versatile ability, I think that could pad out a counters deck or maybe be a good curve-filler if I need it, but maybe I'll let it wheel." They sift through the rest of the pack and see a Great Furnace. The very one that you may take when this pack is passed to you and you inevitably think "the artifact lands got banned in Modern! They are fucking cracked!" This fellow drafter of yours, this future adversary, remembers "I am drafting Dr. Cubemo. Cankerbloom is Stone Rain. Cankerbloom is Doom Blade. Cankerbloom is my best friend today." Into the deck it goes.

For similar reasons, a control drafter would in most cases be better off drafting Metallic Rebuke over Counterspell, especially with the likelihood of being able to land a turn one Hard Evidence, Retrofitter Foundry, Tamiyo, Aether Spellbomb, Moonsnare Prototype, Phyrexian Walker, Candy Trail, etc. Into the deck it goes.

With that said, here are some of the intended strategies and where I feel they really find their footing, as well as their "core" colors (if applicable).

Artifact Creatures - Tempered Steel

"What if there was a little guy going around?" Bro, what if there was like four or FIVE little guys going around? And what if they became Large? If you get one of the better artifact creature lord effects early on, you can just start snagging all of the cheap artifact creatures and artifact-based draw synergies if you need that late-game extension.

I would hesitate to consider this exactly like the Modular deck, since that needs some other key pieces like Arcbound Ravager. There is obviously plenty of overlap between the two, however, and most decks with artifacts would be remiss to regret a Ravager include. If you are primarily in / or /, I think focusing on pumping your creatures via the passive effects of Tempered Steel, Urza Prince of Kroog, Unctus, etc. is the superior way to go, whereas the Modular deck can thrive better in // due to aristocrats payoffs. Speaking of which:

Artifact Creatures - Modular

This is along the same lines as the Tempered Steel type list, but with different rewards and different matchup benefits. If you get the right sacrifice outlets in place for the Modular list, you will have the ability to easily move all your power on the board around into the places that need it the most at a moment's notice. You can also benefit from the sacrifice/aristocrats-type synergies that are already present in / better than the Tempered Steel oriented build will likely want to. This can give you some much-needed reach over matchups that are seeking to flood the board or deny you your precious combat step. I would argue that // are the colors to be in for this Modular-oriented build specifically, though the broader +1/+1 counters synergies expand very well into both and . Keep in mind that not all instances of the "Modular" type of effect are called out verbatim in the card text.

Artifact Creatures - Affinity

Go wide with little artifact creature dum-dums early game, then stack up some big artifact creature dum-dums earlier than you should be able to! Thoughtcast is already good in most decks in this cube, but getting a bunch of little 0-drop artifacts out ASAP and then firing that off into Thought Monitor or Kappa Cannoneer should put you in a great spot. This is core /, and overlaps nicely with the Ensoul Artifact synergies to make your Ornithopters/Memnites into actual wincons.

Equipment

Thanks essentially single-handedly to the Reconfigure mechanic, this archetype is viable in a very general sense without needing the parasitic combo pieces like Sigarda's Aid to succeed. Having creatures that also double as equipment lets you achieve a critical density of both in your deck so that your payoffs like Bruenor can actually Pay Off consistently. This is largely a go-tall strategy, but again because of Reconfigure this is less likely to get you two-for-oned to the degree that it usually would. Aside from just picking the good equipments and good bodies to equip them to, there are a few specialized versions of the deck better suited to other colors than just /.

Equipment - Stoneforge

There are a few different types of equipment builds available here, from meme to menacing, and obviously all of them get better with Stoneforge Mystic, but the first one to talk about is the more controlling build-around with the high-CMC payoffs like Batterskull and Kaldra. These are here as finishers if you pick up a Stoneforge in pack 1 and then a bunch of counterspells and efficient answers. Not so much an "Equipment" list as an "I win with an equipment" list. Core is obviously still and then best supported by / to stall out the game. Some nice Cawblade-type potential as well with Cryptic Coat and such.

Sacrifice

I used to have Korvold in this bih... Now I think just streamlining this deck as an aristocrats build is more competitive. There are so many cards in this cube that just doodoo out a couple of cheap artifact permanents for one card, so might as well put them to use. Marionette Apprentice is so incredible on rate, and Dockside Extortionist is very likely to net you some treasures in this environment. This archetype does not need to solely rely on artifacts either - there are plenty of good creature sac outlets in here as well.

+1/+1 Counters

Another deck that does not need to rely on the artifact synergies, the +1/+1 counter deck has actually done a great job of being the proactive threat deck in practice. You can quickly establish a very threatening board state with this deck, the core of which is //, and a lot of the interaction elements that you can pick up will provide flexibility to enhance your own board as well, such as Ruinous Intrusion, Dromoka's Command, or Quandrix Command.

CONTROL

My sweet, beautiful, flawless archetype. Control is so fun in this environment, man. Stick a Chrome Host Seedshark and start blocking and generating incubators. Stoneforge up an Assimilation Aegis. Maybe incapacitate your opponent's board with interactive threats like Kitesail Larcenist and Tishana's Tidebinder. This cube has so many ways to use extra mana, it feels so nice to just hit them with the old "Draw, Go." Highly recommend.

Reanimator

The Controversial Include. The actual reanimation targets in this cube I would consider a bit powered down from Son of Cubemo, and the LotR land-cyclers are not in here, but the methods of reanimation are a bit stickier for sure. Goblin Welder, Daretti, and Recurring Nightmare are all theoretically repeatable reanimation effects. The best target in the cube is probably either Sundering Titan or Bolas's Citadel, so it's not like this is totally nerfed, but most of the other high-cost creatures are (hopefully) just good value instead of instant wins. Still busted when it works though lol.

Running with Scissors

Largley a blue-centric build, but a potentially very aggro blue-centric build, which is neat! Turn your indestructible artifact lands into an early game threat, or use them as your finisher in a control deck. I don't care how you use it, but there are a few ways to animate noncreature artifacts, and plenty of solid noncreature artifacts to animate. The interaction in this cube is also a bit lower-powered relative to Son of Cubemo, so getting blown out on the stack is a bit less likely! Maybe!

Tokens

Not necessarily a cohesive archetype as much as just something you WILL be doing in this cube. Might as well snag some synergy pieces for it if you find your draft pool filled with cards that generate more game pieces. There's at least a little bit of this in every color, whether by making extra copies of tokens, triggering an effect when tokens enter, or enhancing the tokens you have. Sandsteppe War Riders seems like.... fine? Idk man I like the obscure cards.

Splinter Twin

I legalized it before Modern did. If you are unfamiliar with this archetype, honestly it might be better to lose to it first before trying to draft into it on reputation alone. It's more of a vibes thing...

Anyway

There are still generic aggro deck and midrange deck options here as well, but most of them hopefully do a little bit more when you lean into the artifact or anti-artifact options. Essentially, I want familiar cards to be seen in a new light, and unfamiliar cards to find a home here. Hopefully the vision is successfully realized in your experience with the dauntingly dense and wordy DOCTOR CUBEMO.

If you want the inside Gamer Scoop, I would say that some of the best earliest possible picks across the colors would be Stoneforge Mystic, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Kappa Cannoneer, Recurring Nightmare (if you have the stones), Boseiju, Wurmcoil Engine, Smuggler's Copter, Urza's Saga, and maybe Gut or Cryptic Coat. If you want to lean right into a synergy piece instead, you're a true gamer and you're playing how I'd hoped, even if I may not always follow you down that road.