The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital service for playing MTG before MTG Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will have the chance to encounter immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube launches on October 28. As per the official description, "This thrilling occasion is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the most powerful cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the legendary Power Nine."
What Is the Classic Cube?
For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a distinctive form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from one or more specific sets, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has long been a enjoyable and widely-used way for MTG players to experience the thrills of using some of the most powerful cards in the history of the game without having to pay the substantial cost required for physical Vintage play. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it excluded cards such as the iconic Power Nine — MTG's classic powerhouse cards, such as Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh MTG Arena card versions, but not all of them will be collectible at the release of the event. This allows for the addition of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed formats. According to the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube quicker. Fans online are already theorizing that this move was a reaction to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena version of Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, according to some reports.
How It Works and Participation Details
Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely boost numbers in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Powered Cube will adopt a reward system and entry fee comparable with the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than earlier cube events. The event structure will be the following:
- Begins On: October 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Registration Ends: November 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Game Style: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the drafted cards)
- Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; without ranking
Prizes and Extra Information
The reward packs issued as rewards can contain almost every card legal in the Timeless format, along with cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the rewards and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the official announcement. Also, on October 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will share further insights on their video platforms.
