The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the primary digital platform for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena was launched. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to encounter true power when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on Oct. 28. As per the announcement, "This thrilling occasion is distinct from all others on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the most powerful cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring the Power Nine."
What Is the Vintage Cube?
For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a distinctive form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from one or more specific sets, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a fun and popular way for MTG players to enjoy the excitement of using some of the most powerful cards in the game's history without having to pay the significant money required for physical Vintage play. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it did not include cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's legendary high-power cards, including Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the New Cube Event
The Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh Arena card versions, but some of these will be obtainable at the launch of the event. This allows for the addition of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could cause balance problems in Constructed formats. According to the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube quicker. Online community members are already speculating 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 least-played Arena set to date, according to some reports.
Event Structure and Entry Details
Launching a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely boost numbers 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:
- Begins On: Oct. 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Registration Ends: November 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
- Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
- Match Play Mode: 3 matches; unranked
Prizes and Extra Details
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can contain nearly all cards legal in the Timeless format, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. Additional information on the prizes and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can examine the full details. Additionally, on October 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
