The Vintage 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 encounter immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event launches on Oct. 28. As per the announcement, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on Arena and will showcase some of the most powerful cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the Power Nine."
Understanding the Vintage Cube?
For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a unique form of draft format that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but instead 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 strongest cards in the history of the game without having to pay the significant money required for tabletop Vintage. Arena previously offered a comparable option with its Timeless format, but it did not include cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, including the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Details of the Arena Powered Cube
The Arena Powered Cube will include a hundred fresh MTG Arena card printings, but not all of them will be obtainable at the launch of the event. This enables the addition of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. Based on the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube faster. Fans online are already speculating that this move was a response to the poor reception of Through the Omenpaths — the Arena version of a Spider-Man themed set and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, according to some reports.
Event Structure and Entry Details
Introducing a version of one of the most popular cubes ever will certainly increase engagement in Arena, but there is an important caveat to add. The Arena 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:
- Begins On: October 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Registration Ends: November 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1500 gems, or one draft token
- Game Style: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
- Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
- Match Play Mode: Three matches; without ranking
Prizes and Extra Details
The reward packs awarded during the event can include almost every card legal in the Timeless mode, along with cards from a new, special bonus sheet. For more details on the prizes and the included cards in the Powered Cube, enthusiasts can examine the official announcement. Additionally, on October 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
