The Classic Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the premier digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before MTG Arena came into existence. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to encounter immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on October 28. As per the announcement, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on Arena and will feature some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, including the Power Nine."
What Is the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, 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 long been a fun and popular way for MTG players to experience the thrills 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 excluded cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's classic powerhouse cards, including Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Details of the New Cube Event
The Powered Cube will incorporate 100 new Arena card printings, but not all of them will be obtainable 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 gameplay. Based on the announcement, this also facilitated the launch of the latest cube faster. Fans online are already theorizing that this decision was a response to the poor reception of Through the Omenpaths — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, as indicated by various sources.
Event Structure and Entry Details
Introducing a version of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly boost numbers in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. The Powered Cube will use a reward system and entry fee comparable with the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being costlier to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:
- Event Start: October 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Registration Ends: November 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Game Style: 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
Prizes and Extra Details
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can include almost every card legal in the Timeless mode, along with cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the prizes and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can review the full details. Additionally, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, experienced Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their video platforms.
