The Vintage Cube is recognized 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, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube launches on Oct. 28. As per the announcement, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the most powerful cards from across Magic's legacy, including 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 one or more specific sets, but instead from a pre-selected collection. The Classic Cube has long been a enjoyable and widely-used way for Magic fans to enjoy the excitement of using some of the most powerful cards in the history of the game without needing to spend the significant money required for tabletop Vintage. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it excluded cards such as the iconic Power Nine — Magic's legendary high-power cards, including Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Arena Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh Arena card versions, but not all of them will be collectible at the launch of the event. This enables the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed formats. Based on the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube faster. Online community members are already theorizing that this move 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 to date, according to some reports.
How It Works and Participation Information
Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly increase engagement in Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. The Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft events, thus being costlier to play than earlier cube events. 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)
- Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the drafted cards)
- Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; unranked
Rewards and Additional Information
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can contain almost every card permitted in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. Additional information on the rewards and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can examine the official announcement. Additionally, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will share further insights on their YouTube channels.
