The Classic Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital service for playing MTG before MTG Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to encounter immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube debuts on October 28. According to the official description, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the strongest 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 particular expansions, but instead from a pre-selected collection. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as 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 needing to spend the significant money required for tabletop Vintage. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the iconic Power Nine — Magic's legendary high-power cards, including Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Details of the Arena Powered Cube
The Powered Cube will include a hundred fresh Arena card versions, but not all of them will be obtainable at the release of the event. This enables the addition of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could cause balance problems in Constructed formats. According to the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube quicker. Fans online are already speculating that this move was a response to the poor reception of Through the Omenpaths — the Arena version of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set to date, according to some reports.
How It Works and Participation Details
Launching a iteration of one of the most popular cubes ever will surely increase engagement in Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. 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 format details will be the following:
- Event Start: Oct. 28, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Entry: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or one draft token
- Game Style: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards)
- Single Game Mode: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
- Match Play Mode: Three matches; unranked
Rewards and Extra Information
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can include nearly all cards permitted in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the rewards and the included cards in the Powered Cube, enthusiasts can examine the full details. Additionally, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their video platforms.
