The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the primary digital platform for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena was launched. Now, MTGA players will have the chance to encounter immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on Oct. 28. As per the official description, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring the 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 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 MTG players to experience the thrills of using some of the strongest cards in the game's history without having to pay the substantial cost required for physical Vintage play. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the iconic Power Nine — Magic's classic powerhouse cards, including Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Details of the Arena Powered Cube
The Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh MTG Arena card printings, but not all of them will be obtainable 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 gameplay. According to the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube faster. Fans online are already theorizing that this decision 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 ever, as indicated by various sources.
How It Works and Entry Details
Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to add. The Powered Cube will use a prize structure and entry fee comparable with the Premier Draft events, thus being more expensive to play than earlier cube events. The event structure will be the following:
- Event Start: October 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Registration Ends: November 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1500 gems, or one draft token
- Game Style: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
- Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
- Match Play Mode: 3 matches; unranked
Rewards 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. Additional information on the prizes and the cards present in the Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the official announcement. Additionally, on October 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
