The Vintage Cube stands as one of the most beloved cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena came into existence. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to experience true power when the Powered Cube limited event launches on October 28. As per the announcement, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will feature some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the legendary Power Nine."
What Is the Vintage Cube?
For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a distinctive form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from one or more specific sets, but instead from a pre-selected collection. The Vintage Cube has long been a enjoyable and widely-used way for MTG players to enjoy the excitement of using some of the strongest cards in the game's history without needing to spend 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 — MTG's legendary high-power cards, including the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Details of the New Cube Event
The Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh Arena card versions, 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 formats. According to the announcement, this also made the release of the new cube faster. Fans online are already theorizing that this decision was a reaction to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — the Arena version of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set to date, as indicated by various sources.
Event Structure and Participation Information
Launching a version of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly increase engagement in Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. The Arena Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and access cost similar to 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)
- Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1500 gems, or one draft token
- Game Style: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the drafted cards)
- Single Game Mode: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
- Match Play Mode: Three matches; unranked
Prizes and Extra Information
The reward packs issued as rewards can contain nearly all cards permitted in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the prizes and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the official announcement. Also, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
