The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the most beloved cubes on the original digital platform, the primary digital service for playing MTG before Arena came into existence. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event launches on October 28. According to the official description, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on Arena and will feature some of the most powerful cards from across Magic's legacy, including the legendary Power Nine."
What Is the Classic Cube?
For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a unique form of draft format that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a enjoyable and widely-used 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. 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 card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall ability.
Features of the New Cube Event
The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card printings, but some of these will be collectible at the launch of the event. This allows for the addition of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed formats. Based on the announcement, this also facilitated the launch of the new 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 Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, according to some reports.
Event Structure and Participation Details
Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. The Powered Cube will adopt a reward system and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:
- Begins On: Oct. 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Signup Close: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Game Style: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
- Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
- Match Play Mode: Three matches; without ranking
Rewards and Extra Information
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can contain nearly all cards permitted in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the rewards and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can examine the full details. Additionally, on October 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
