The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the premier digital service for playing MTG before Arena was launched. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube debuts on Oct. 28. According to the official description, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on MTG Arena and will feature some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring the legendary Power Nine."
What Is the Classic Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from particular expansions, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Classic Cube has long been a fun and popular way for Magic fans to enjoy the excitement of using some of the strongest cards in the game's history without having to pay the substantial cost required for physical Vintage play. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the iconic Power Nine — Magic's classic powerhouse cards, such as the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall ability.
Features of the New Cube Event
The Arena Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh MTG Arena card printings, but some of these will be obtainable at the launch of the event. This allows for the inclusion of a broader selection of cards, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. According to the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube quicker. Online community members are already speculating that this decision 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 ever, according to some reports.
Event Structure and Participation Information
Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and access cost similar to the Premier Draft events, thus being costlier to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:
- Begins On: October 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Registration Ends: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Game Style: Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards)
- Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; without ranking
Rewards and Extra Details
The Cube Prize Packs awarded during the event can include nearly all cards legal in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the rewards and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can examine the official announcement. Additionally, on October 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will share further insights on their video platforms.
