The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the premier 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 debuts on Oct. 28. As per the announcement, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the legendary Power Nine."
Understanding the Classic Cube?
For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a unique form of draft format that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a enjoyable and widely-used way for MTG players to enjoy the excitement of using some of the most powerful cards in the game's history 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, such as the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh MTG Arena card printings, but some of these will be collectible at the launch of the event. This enables the inclusion of a broader selection of cards, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. Based on the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the latest cube faster. Online community members are already speculating that this move was a response to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, according to some reports.
Event Structure and Participation Information
Launching a iteration of one of the most popular cubes ever will certainly increase engagement in Arena, but there is an key point to add. The Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and access cost comparable with the Premier Draft events, thus being more expensive to play than previous Arena cubes. The format details will be the following:
- Begins On: October 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Signup Close: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or one draft token
- Format: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
- Single Game Mode: Seven wins or three losses; with ranking
- Best-of-Three: Three matches; unranked
Rewards and Extra Information
The reward packs awarded during the event can include almost every card legal in the Timeless format, along with cards from a new, special bonus sheet. For more details on the prizes and the cards present in the Powered Cube, enthusiasts can examine the official announcement. Additionally, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their video platforms.
