The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the premier digital platform for playing MTG before MTG Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to encounter immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube debuts on Oct. 28. As per the announcement, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on Arena and will feature 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 unique form of draft format that does not pull cards from one or more specific sets, but rather from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a enjoyable and widely-used way for Magic fans 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 tabletop Vintage. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, such as the famed Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall ability.
Details of the New Cube Event
The Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card printings, but some of these will be collectible at the launch of the event. This enables the inclusion 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 new cube faster. Online community members are already theorizing that this decision was a reaction to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena version of a Spider-Man themed set and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, according to some reports.
Event Structure and Participation Details
Launching a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly increase engagement in Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Powered Cube will adopt a reward system and access cost similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being costlier to play than previous Arena cubes. The format details will be the following:
- Begins On: October 28, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Registration Ends: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or one draft token
- Game Style: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards)
- Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
- Match Play Mode: 3 matches; without ranking
Prizes and Extra Information
The reward packs awarded during the event can contain almost every card legal in the Timeless format, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the rewards and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can review the full details. Also, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their video platforms.
