The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the premier digital service for playing MTG before MTG Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will have the chance to experience true power when the Powered Cube limited event launches on Oct. 28. As per the announcement, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on Arena and will showcase some of the most powerful cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the Power Nine."
Understanding the Classic Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique form of draft format that doesn't draw cards from one or more specific sets, but rather from a pre-selected collection. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a fun and popular way for Magic fans to experience the thrills of using some of the strongest cards in the game's history without needing to spend the substantial cost required for tabletop Vintage. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's classic powerhouse cards, such as the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the New Cube Event
The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card printings, but not all of them will be obtainable at the release of the event. This allows for the addition of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could cause balance problems in Constructed gameplay. According to the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube faster. Fans online are already theorizing that this move was a reaction to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, according to some reports.
How It Works and Entry Information
Introducing a version of one of the most popular cubes ever will surely boost numbers in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. The Powered Cube will adopt a reward system and access cost comparable with the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:
- Begins On: October 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or one draft token
- Game Style: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
- Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
- Match Play Mode: 3 matches; without ranking
Rewards and Extra Details
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can contain nearly all cards legal in the Timeless mode, along with cards from a new, special bonus sheet. For more details on the rewards and the cards present in the Powered Cube, interested players can examine the official announcement. Additionally, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will share further insights on their YouTube channels.
