The Vintage Cube stands as one of the most beloved cubes on Magic Online, the premier digital platform for playing MTG before MTG Arena came into existence. Now, Arena enthusiasts will have the chance to experience immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on Oct. 28. As per the official description, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring the Power Nine."
Understanding the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but rather from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a enjoyable and widely-used way for MTG players 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 iconic Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, such as Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall ability.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Arena Powered Cube will include a hundred fresh 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. According to the announcement, this also made the release of the new cube quicker. Fans online are already speculating that this decision was a reaction to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set to date, according to some reports.
How It Works and Entry Information
Launching a version of one of the most popular cubes ever will surely increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to add. The Powered Cube will adopt a reward system and access cost similar to the Premier Draft events, thus being costlier to play than earlier cube events. The format details 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: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or one draft token
- Format: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
- Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
- Match Play Mode: 3 matches; without ranking
Prizes and Extra Information
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can include almost every card legal in the Timeless format, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the rewards and the included cards in the Powered Cube, enthusiasts can examine the official announcement. Also, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will share further insights on their YouTube channels.
