The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will have the chance to experience immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event launches on Oct. 28. According to the announcement, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the Power Nine."
Understanding the Vintage Cube?
For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from one or more specific sets, but instead from a pre-selected collection. The Classic Cube has long been a fun and popular way for Magic fans to enjoy the excitement of using some of the strongest cards in the game's history without having to pay the significant money required for tabletop Vintage. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it did not include cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's legendary high-power cards, such as Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Details of the Arena Powered Cube
The Powered Cube will include 100 new MTG Arena card printings, but some of these will be collectible at the launch of the event. This enables the inclusion of a broader selection of cards, as some of these extremely strong cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. Based on the announcement, this also facilitated the launch of the latest cube faster. Online community members are already theorizing that this move was a response to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — the Arena version of a Spider-Man themed set and the least-played Arena set to date, according to some reports.
How It Works and Participation Details
Launching a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely boost numbers in Arena, but there is an key point to add. The Arena Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and access cost comparable with the Premier Draft events, thus being costlier to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:
- Begins On: October 28, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Registration Ends: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1500 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; with ranking
- Best-of-Three: Three matches; unranked
Rewards and Additional Information
The Cube Prize Packs awarded during the event can contain nearly all cards legal in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the rewards and the cards present in the Powered Cube, enthusiasts can examine the full details. Additionally, on October 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, experienced Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
