The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital platform for playing MTG before Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event launches on October 28. As per the official description, "This thrilling occasion is distinct from all others on Arena and will feature some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, including the legendary Power Nine."
What Is the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of draft format that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Classic Cube has consistently served as a enjoyable and widely-used 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 tabletop Vintage. Arena previously offered a comparable option with its Timeless play style, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, including the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall ability.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Arena Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh MTG Arena card versions, but not all of them will be obtainable at the release of the event. This allows for the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. According to the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube quicker. Fans online are already speculating that this move was a reaction to the negative feedback of Through the Omenpaths — the Arena version of a Spider-Man themed set and the least-played Arena set ever, according to some reports.
Event Structure and Entry Details
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 adopt a reward system and access cost similar to the Premier Draft events, thus being costlier to play than earlier cube events. 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)
- Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Game Style: Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards)
- Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; without ranking
Rewards and Additional Details
The reward packs issued as rewards can contain 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 Powered Cube, interested players can review the official announcement. Additionally, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will share further insights on their video platforms.
