The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the most beloved cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena came into existence. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to encounter true power when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on October 28. According to the announcement, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on Arena and will feature some of the most powerful cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring the legendary Power Nine."
What Is the Vintage Cube?
For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but rather from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has long been a fun and popular way for MTG players to experience the thrills of using some of the strongest cards in the history of the game without having to pay the substantial cost required for physical Vintage play. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it did not include cards such as the iconic Power Nine — Magic's classic powerhouse cards, including Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Details of the New Cube Event
The Arena Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh MTG Arena card versions, 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 extremely strong cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed formats. Based on the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube faster. Online community members are already speculating that this decision was a reaction to the negative feedback of Through the Omenpaths — the Arena version of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set ever, according to some reports.
How It Works and Entry Information
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 adopt a prize structure and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:
- Begins On: October 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
- Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; without ranking
Rewards and Extra Information
The reward packs issued as rewards can include almost every card legal in the Timeless format, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the rewards and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can examine the official announcement. Also, on October 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, experienced Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
