The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the premier digital platform for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena came into existence. Now, Arena enthusiasts will have the chance to encounter immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube debuts on Oct. 28. According to the official description, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, including the Power Nine."
What Is the Classic Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from particular expansions, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a fun and popular way for Magic fans to enjoy the excitement of using some of the strongest cards in the history of the game without needing to spend the substantial cost required for physical Vintage play. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it did not include cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's classic powerhouse cards, including Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall ability.
Details of the Arena Powered Cube
The Arena Powered Cube will include a hundred fresh Arena card versions, but not all of them will be collectible at the launch of the event. This enables the addition of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed formats. According to the official news, this also made the release of the latest cube quicker. Online community members are already theorizing that this decision was a reaction to the poor reception of Through the Omenpaths — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set ever, according to some reports.
Event Structure and Participation Details
Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. The Powered Cube will use a prize structure and entry fee comparable with the Premier Draft events, thus being costlier to play than earlier cube events. The event structure will be the following:
- Begins On: Oct. 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Registration Ends: November 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Entry: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
- Single Game Mode: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
- Match Play Mode: Three matches; unranked
Prizes 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. Additional information on the prizes and the included cards in the Powered Cube, interested players can examine the full details. Additionally, on October 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will share further insights on their video platforms.
