The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the primary digital platform for playing Magic: The Gathering before MTG Arena was launched. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on Oct. 28. As per the announcement, "This exciting event 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."
Understanding the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive 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 enjoyable and widely-used way for Magic fans to enjoy the excitement of using some of the most powerful cards in the history of the game without needing to spend the substantial cost required for tabletop Vintage. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it did not include cards such as the iconic Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, including the famed 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 100 new Arena card printings, but some of these 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 create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. According to the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube faster. Online community members are already speculating that this move was a response to the poor reception of Through the Omenpaths — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set ever, as indicated by various sources.
How It Works and Entry Details
Launching a iteration of one of the most popular cubes ever will certainly boost numbers in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. The Powered Cube will use a prize structure and access cost similar to the Premier Draft events, thus being costlier to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:
- Event Start: Oct. 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
- Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
- Match Play Mode: Three matches; without ranking
Prizes and Extra Information
The reward packs issued as rewards can include almost every card permitted in the Timeless format, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. For more details on the rewards and the included cards in the Powered Cube, interested players can review the full details. Also, on October 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will share further insights on their YouTube channels.
