The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the primary digital service for playing MTG before MTG Arena was launched. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to experience true power when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on Oct. 28. According to the official description, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, including the legendary Power Nine."
Understanding the Classic Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from one or more specific sets, but rather from a predetermined pool. The Classic Cube has consistently served as a fun and popular way for MTG players to enjoy the excitement of using some of the strongest 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 iconic Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, including Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card printings, but not all of them will be collectible at the release of the event. This enables the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could cause balance problems in Constructed formats. Based on the announcement, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube faster. Online community members are already speculating that this decision 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 Information
Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to add. The Arena Powered Cube will use a reward system 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 (3 p.m. UTC)
- Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Game Style: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
- Single Game Mode: Seven wins or three losses; with ranking
- Match Play Mode: 3 matches; unranked
Rewards and Additional Details
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can contain almost every card permitted in the Timeless mode, along with cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the rewards and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can review the full details. Also, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their video platforms.
