The Vintage Cube stands as one of the most beloved cubes on the original digital platform, the primary digital platform for playing MTG before Arena came into existence. Now, Arena enthusiasts will have the chance to experience immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on October 28. According to the announcement, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on Arena and will feature some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the legendary Power Nine."
Understanding the Vintage Cube?
For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, 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 fun and popular way for MTG players to experience the thrills of using some of the most powerful cards in the game's history without having to pay the significant money required for tabletop Vintage. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it did not include cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's legendary high-power cards, including Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Details of the Arena Powered Cube
The Arena Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh 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 extremely strong cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. According to the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube faster. Fans online are already theorizing that this move was a reaction to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set ever, according to some reports.
Event Structure and Entry Details
Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly boost numbers in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to add. The Arena Powered Cube will adopt a reward system and access cost comparable with the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than earlier cube events. The event structure will be the following:
- Begins On: October 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Signup Close: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
- Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; with ranking
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; without ranking
Rewards and Additional Details
The Cube Prize Packs awarded during the event can include almost every card legal in the Timeless format, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. For more details on the rewards and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can examine the full details. Additionally, on October 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will share further insights on their YouTube channels.
