The Classic Cube stands 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 experience immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube launches on Oct. 28. According to the official description, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the most powerful cards from throughout Magic's history, including the Power Nine."
What Is the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Classic Cube has consistently served as a fun and popular way for Magic fans to experience the thrills of using some of the strongest cards in the game's history without having to pay the substantial cost required for tabletop Vintage. Arena previously offered a comparable option 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, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the New Cube Event
The Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card printings, but not all of them 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 create imbalance issues in Constructed formats. Based on the official news, this also made the release of the new cube quicker. Online community members are already speculating that this decision was a reaction to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of a Spider-Man themed set and the lowest-engagement Arena set ever, as indicated by various sources.
Event Structure and Entry Details
Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly boost numbers in Arena, but there is an key point to add. The Arena Powered Cube will use a reward system 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 (3 p.m. UTC)
- Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Entry: 10k gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the drafted cards)
- Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
- Best-of-Three: Three matches; unranked
Prizes and Extra 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. For more details on the prizes and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the full details. Also, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
