The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the primary digital service for playing MTG before MTG Arena came into existence. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to experience true power when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on October 28. As per the official description, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the legendary 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 instead from a pre-selected collection. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a fun and popular way for MTG players to enjoy the excitement of using some of the most powerful cards in the game's history without needing to spend the substantial cost required for physical Vintage play. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it did not include cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, including the famed Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall ability.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The 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 extremely strong cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed formats. According to the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube faster. Fans online are already theorizing that this decision was a response to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of a Spider-Man themed set and the least-played Arena set ever, as indicated by various sources.
How It Works and Participation Details
Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly boost numbers in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Arena Powered Cube will adopt a reward system and access cost similar to the Premier Draft events, 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 (3 p.m. UTC)
- Registration Ends: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Entry: 10k gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards)
- Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; with ranking
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; unranked
Prizes and Extra Details
The reward packs issued as rewards can include almost every card legal in the Timeless mode, along with 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 examine the full details. Additionally, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
