The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the premier digital platform for playing Magic: The Gathering before MTG Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to experience true power when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on October 28. According to the official description, "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 legendary Power Nine."
What Is the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of draft format that doesn't draw cards from one or more specific sets, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has long been a enjoyable and widely-used 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 format, but it did not include cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's classic powerhouse cards, including the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Details of the New Cube Event
The Powered Cube will include 100 new MTG Arena card versions, but not all of them will be obtainable at the launch of the event. This allows for the addition of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. Based on the official news, this also made the release of the latest cube quicker. Online community members are already theorizing that this decision was a response to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of a Spider-Man themed set and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, according to some reports.
How It Works and Participation Information
Introducing a version of one of the top draft formats ever will surely increase engagement in Arena, but there is an important caveat to add. The Powered Cube will use a reward system and access cost similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being costlier to play than earlier cube events. The event structure will be the following:
- Event Start: October 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Signup Close: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Entry: 10k gold, or 1,500 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; ranked
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; without ranking
Rewards and Additional Details
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can contain nearly all cards legal in the Timeless format, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the prizes and the included cards in the Powered Cube, interested players can review the official announcement. Also, on October 22, MTG pro players LSV and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
