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 get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube launches on October 28. According to the announcement, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on Arena and will feature 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 pre-selected collection. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a fun and popular way for MTG players to experience the thrills of using some of the strongest cards in the history of the game without needing to spend the significant money required for physical Vintage play. Arena previously offered a comparable option with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's legendary high-power cards, such as Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall ability.
Details of the New Cube Event
The Powered Cube will incorporate 100 new MTG Arena card printings, but some of these will be obtainable at the release of the event. This enables the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. According to the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the latest cube faster. Fans online are already speculating that this move was a reaction to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set ever, as indicated by various sources.
How It Works and Entry Details
Launching a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly increase engagement in Arena, but there is an important caveat 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 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 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards)
- Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
- Best-of-Three: Three matches; without ranking
Prizes and Extra Information
The reward packs issued as rewards can contain almost every card permitted in the Timeless format, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the prizes and the cards present in the Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the full details. Also, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their video platforms.
