The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before MTG Arena came into existence. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to encounter immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on Oct. 28. According to the announcement, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on Arena and will showcase some of the most powerful cards from throughout Magic's history, including the Power Nine."
Understanding the Vintage 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 Vintage Cube has long been 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 having to pay the substantial cost required for physical Vintage play. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's classic powerhouse cards, such as the famed Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Details of the Arena Powered Cube
The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new MTG Arena card printings, but not all of them will be obtainable at the release of the event. This enables the addition of a broader selection of cards, as some of these extremely strong cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed formats. Based on the announcement, this also facilitated the launch of the new 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 a Spider-Man themed set and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, as indicated by various sources.
How It Works and Entry Details
Introducing a version of one of the top draft formats ever will surely boost numbers in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to add. The Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and entry fee comparable with the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being costlier to play than earlier cube events. The format details will be the following:
- Begins On: Oct. 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the drafted cards)
- Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
- Best-of-Three: Three matches; unranked
Prizes and Additional Details
The reward packs awarded during the event can contain almost every card permitted in the Timeless format, along with cards from a new, special bonus sheet. Additional information on the prizes and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can review the full details. Additionally, on October 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
