The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the premier digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena came into existence. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to encounter true power when the Powered Cube limited event launches on Oct. 28. According to 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, including the Power Nine."
Understanding the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from particular expansions, 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 strongest cards in the history of the game without needing to spend the significant money required for tabletop Vintage. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it excluded cards such as the iconic Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, such as Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall ability.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card versions, but some of these will be obtainable at the release of the event. This allows for the inclusion of a broader selection of cards, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed formats. According to the announcement, this also made the release of the new cube faster. Fans online are already theorizing that this decision was a reaction to the negative feedback of Through the Omenpaths — the Arena version of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set ever, as indicated by various sources.
Event Structure and Entry Information
Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to add. The Powered Cube will adopt a reward system and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft events, thus being more expensive to play than earlier cube events. The event structure 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 1,500 gems, or one draft token
- Game Style: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
- Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; with ranking
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; without ranking
Rewards and Additional Information
The reward packs issued as rewards can include almost every card permitted in the Timeless format, along with cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the prizes and the included cards in the Powered Cube, interested players can review the full details. Additionally, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will share further insights on their video platforms.
