The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital platform for playing MTG before Arena came into existence. Now, MTGA players will have the chance to experience true power when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on October 28. According to the official description, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, including the Power Nine."
Understanding the Classic Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of draft format that does not pull cards from particular expansions, but rather 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 significant money required for tabletop Vintage. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the iconic Power Nine — Magic's legendary high-power cards, such as Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Powered Cube will incorporate 100 new Arena card printings, but not all of them will be collectible at the launch of the event. This allows for the inclusion of a broader selection of cards, as some of these extremely strong cards could cause balance problems in Constructed gameplay. Based on the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube quicker. Fans online are already speculating that this move was a reaction to the poor reception of Through the Omenpaths — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set to date, according to some reports.
Event Structure and Entry Details
Introducing a iteration of one of the most popular cubes ever will certainly increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to add. The Arena Powered Cube will use a reward system and entry fee comparable with the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being costlier to play than earlier cube events. The event structure will be the following:
- Event Start: Oct. 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Signup Close: November 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or one draft token
- Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the drafted cards)
- Single Game Mode: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; without ranking
Prizes and Additional Details
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can contain almost every card legal in the Timeless format, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. For more details on the prizes and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can review the official announcement. Also, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
