The Classic Cube is recognized as one of the most beloved cubes on Magic Online, the premier digital platform for playing Magic: The Gathering before MTG Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will have the chance to experience immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube launches on Oct. 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 Power Nine."
What Is the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but rather from a predetermined pool. 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 substantial cost required for tabletop Vintage. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it did not include cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's classic powerhouse cards, including Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the New Cube Event
The Powered Cube will include 100 new MTG Arena card printings, but not all of them will be collectible at the launch of the event. This allows for the addition of a broader selection of cards, 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 quicker. Online community members are already speculating that this move was a reaction 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, as indicated by various sources.
Event Structure and Participation Details
Launching a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely increase engagement in Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and entry fee comparable with the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being costlier to play than earlier cube events. The format details will be the following:
- Event Start: Oct. 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Registration Ends: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
- Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
- Match Play Mode: Three matches; unranked
Rewards and Additional Details
The reward packs awarded during the event can contain nearly all cards permitted in the Timeless format, along with cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the prizes and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can examine the full details. Also, on October 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their video platforms.
