The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital platform for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena was launched. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event launches on Oct. 28. As per the official description, "This thrilling occasion is distinct from all others on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the Power Nine."
What Is the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Classic 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 history of the game without needing to spend the substantial cost required for physical Vintage play. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, including Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall ability.
Features of the New Cube Event
The Arena Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh MTG 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 massively overpowered cards could cause balance problems in Constructed formats. Based on the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube quicker. Fans online are already speculating that this move was a reaction to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — the Arena version of Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, as indicated by various sources.
Event Structure and Participation Information
Launching a version of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Powered Cube will use a prize structure and access cost similar to the Premier Draft events, 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, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
- Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
- Match Play Mode: 3 matches; without ranking
Rewards and Extra Information
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can include nearly all cards legal in the Timeless mode, 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 review the full details. Additionally, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their video platforms.
