🔗 Share this article

The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the premier digital platform for playing Magic: The Gathering before MTG Arena came into existence. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube launches on Oct. 28. According to the announcement, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, including the Power Nine."

Understanding the Classic Cube?

As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from particular expansions, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Classic Cube has long been 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. Arena previously offered a comparable option 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 Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.

Features of the New Cube Event

The Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card versions, but some of these will be obtainable at the release of the event. This allows for the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. According to the announcement, this also facilitated the launch of the latest cube faster. Fans online are already theorizing that this move was a reaction to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — 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 iteration of one of the most popular cubes ever will surely boost numbers in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and entry fee comparable with the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being costlier to play than earlier cube events. The format details will be the following:

• Event Start: Oct. 28, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
• Signup Close: November 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
• Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
• Game Style: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards)
• Single Game Mode: Seven wins or three losses; with ranking
• Match Play Mode: 3 matches; without ranking

Rewards and Extra Information

The reward packs issued as rewards can include nearly all cards legal in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. Additional information on the rewards and the cards present in the Powered Cube, interested players can review the full details. Additionally, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, experienced Vintage Cube aficionados, will share further insights on their YouTube channels.