The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital platform for playing Magic: The Gathering before MTG Arena came into existence. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to encounter immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube launches on October 28. As per the official description, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on MTG Arena and will feature some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the legendary Power Nine."
Understanding the Classic Cube?
For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from particular expansions, but instead from a pre-selected collection. The Classic Cube has consistently served as a fun and popular way for MTG players to enjoy the excitement of using some of the strongest cards in the history of the game without having to pay the significant money required for physical Vintage play. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's classic powerhouse cards, including the famed Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Powered Cube will include a hundred fresh Arena card versions, but some of these will be collectible at the launch of the event. This allows for the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could cause balance problems in Constructed formats. According to the official news, this also made the release of the latest cube quicker. Online community members are already speculating that this decision was a reaction to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of a Spider-Man themed set and the least-played Arena set ever, as indicated by various sources.
Event Structure and Entry Information
Launching a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. The Arena Powered Cube will use a prize structure and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft events, thus being more expensive to play than previous Arena cubes. The format details will be the following:
- Event Start: Oct. 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Registration Ends: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1500 gems, or one draft token
- Game Style: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
- Single Game Mode: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; without ranking
Prizes and Additional Information
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can contain nearly all cards legal in the Timeless mode, along with cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the prizes and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the full details. Additionally, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, experienced Vintage Cube aficionados, will share further insights on their YouTube channels.
