The Classic Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the premier digital service for playing MTG before Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will have the chance to experience true power when the Arena Powered Cube launches on Oct. 28. As per the official description, "This thrilling occasion is distinct from all others on Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring the legendary Power Nine."
What Is the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of draft format that does not pull cards from one or more specific sets, but instead from a pre-selected collection. The Vintage Cube has long been a fun and popular 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 significant money required for tabletop Vintage. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's classic powerhouse cards, such as the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the New Cube Event
The Powered Cube will include 100 new MTG Arena card printings, but not all of them will be obtainable at the launch of the event. This allows for the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed formats. Based on the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube quicker. Online community members are already speculating that this move was a response to the negative feedback of Through the Omenpaths — 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 Details
Launching a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly boost numbers in Arena, but there is an important caveat to add. The Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and entry fee comparable with the Premier Draft events, thus being costlier to play than previous Arena cubes. The format details will be the following:
- Event Start: Oct. 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Signup Close: November 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Game Style: Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards)
- Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
- Best-of-Three: Three matches; unranked
Prizes and Additional Details
The reward packs issued as rewards can contain nearly all cards legal in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. Additional information on the rewards and the cards present in the Powered Cube, interested players can review the official announcement. Additionally, on October 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
