The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the premier digital platform for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena came into existence. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to encounter true power when the Arena Powered Cube launches on October 28. According to the official description, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will feature some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, including the legendary Power Nine."
What Is the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from one or more specific sets, but instead from a pre-selected collection. The Classic Cube has long been a enjoyable and widely-used way for MTG players to enjoy the excitement of using some of the strongest cards in the history of the game without having to pay the significant money required for tabletop Vintage. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's classic powerhouse cards, such as Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the New Cube Event
The Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh Arena card versions, but not all of them will be collectible at the launch of the event. This allows for the addition of a broader selection of cards, as some of these massively overpowered cards could cause balance problems in Constructed formats. Based on the announcement, this also made the release of the new cube quicker. Fans online are already speculating that this decision was a response to the poor reception of Through the Omenpaths — the Arena version of Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, according to some reports.
Event Structure and Participation Information
Introducing a iteration of one of the most popular cubes ever will certainly increase engagement in 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 costlier to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:
- Begins On: Oct. 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Registration Ends: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
- Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; without ranking
Prizes and Extra Details
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can include nearly all cards permitted in the Timeless format, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. For more details on the rewards and the cards present in the Powered Cube, interested players can examine the full details. Additionally, on October 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
