The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before MTG Arena came into existence. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to encounter immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube launches on October 28. As per the announcement, "This thrilling occasion is distinct from all others on Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring 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 one or more specific sets, but rather from a pre-selected collection. The Classic Cube has consistently served as a enjoyable and widely-used way for Magic fans to enjoy the excitement of using some of the most powerful cards in the game's history without having to pay the significant money required for physical Vintage play. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it did not include cards such as the iconic Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, including Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Arena Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh Arena card printings, but some of these will be collectible at the release of the event. This allows for the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could cause balance problems in Constructed formats. Based on the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube faster. Fans online are already theorizing that this decision 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 ever, according to some reports.
How It Works and Entry Details
Introducing a version of one of the most popular cubes ever will surely increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to add. The Arena Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being costlier to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:
- Event Start: October 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or one draft token
- Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
- Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; unranked
Prizes and Additional Information
The reward packs awarded during the event can contain nearly all cards legal in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the rewards and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the full details. Additionally, on October 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will share further insights on their video platforms.
