The Vintage Cube is one of the most popular cubes on Magic Online, the original digital platform for playing Magic: The Gathering before MTG Arena came around. Now, MTGA players will have a chance to experience true power when the Arena Powered Cube limited event debuts on Oct. 28. According to the official description, “This exciting event is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will feature some of the most powerful cards from throughout Magic’s history, including the Power Nine.”
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a peculiar form of Booster Draft that doesn’t draw cards from one or more specific sets, 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 most powerful cards in the game’s history without having to pay the significant money required for tabletop Vintage. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it did not include cards such as the Power Nine — MTG‘s classic powerhouse cards, including Black Locus, the five Moxen, Time Walk, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new MTG Arena card printings, but not all of them will be collectible at the release of the event. This allows for the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could cause balance problems in Constructed formats. According to the official news, this also made the release 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 ever, according to some reports.
Introducing a version of one of the most popular cubes ever will surely boost numbers in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to add. The Arena Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and access cost similar to the Premier Draft events, thus being more expensive to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:
- Event Start: October 28, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Signup Close: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token.
- Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards.)
- Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
- Best-of-Three: Three matches; unranked
The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards during the event can include almost every card legal in the Timeless format, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. For more details on the prizes and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, you can check the official announcement. Also, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
