MTG's Top-Tier Draft Format At Last Makes Its Debut on Arena

The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the primary digital service for playing MTG before MTG Arena came into existence. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on October 28. According to the official description, "This thrilling occasion is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will feature some of the most powerful cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring the Power Nine."

Understanding the Classic Cube?

For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but instead from a pre-selected collection. The Vintage Cube has long been a enjoyable and widely-used 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. MTG Arena previously offered a comparable option with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's classic powerhouse cards, including Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall ability.

Features of the Arena Powered Cube

The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card versions, but not all of them will be obtainable at the launch of the event. This enables the addition of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could cause balance problems in Constructed formats. Based on the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube quicker. Online community members are already theorizing that this move was a reaction to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, according to some reports.

Event Structure and Participation Details

Launching a iteration of one of the most popular cubes ever will surely increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Arena Powered Cube will use a reward system and access cost similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than earlier cube events. The format details will be the following:

• Event Start: October 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
• Signup Close: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
• Entry: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
• Format: Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards)
• Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
• Best-of-Three: Three matches; without ranking

Rewards and Additional Information

The reward packs awarded during the event can contain almost every card permitted in the Timeless mode, along with cards from a new, special bonus sheet. Additional information on the rewards and the cards present in the Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the full details. Also, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.