🔗 Share this article

The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital platform for playing MTG before MTG Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to experience true power when the Arena Powered Cube launches on October 28. According to the announcement, "This thrilling occasion is distinct from all others on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the most powerful cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the Power Nine."

What Is the Vintage Cube?

As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique 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 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 having to pay the substantial cost required for physical Vintage play. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's classic powerhouse cards, including the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.

Details 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 release of the event. This enables the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could cause balance problems in Constructed gameplay. Based on the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube faster. Fans online 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, 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 Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. The Powered Cube will use a reward system and access cost similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than earlier cube events. The event structure will be the following:

• Event Start: Oct. 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
• Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
• Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
• Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the drafted cards)
• Single Game Mode: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
• Best-of-Three: 3 matches; unranked

Prizes and Additional Details

The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can include almost every card permitted in the Timeless format, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. Additional information on the prizes and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the official announcement. Also, on October 22, MTG pro players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will share further insights on their YouTube channels.