The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital service for playing MTG before Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will have the chance to encounter immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube launches on October 28. As per the official description, "This thrilling occasion is unlike anything else on Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, including the Power Nine."
What Is the Vintage Cube?
For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from one or more specific sets, but rather from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as 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 needing to spend the substantial cost required for tabletop Vintage. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's classic powerhouse cards, including Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Details of the New Cube Event
The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new MTG Arena card printings, but not all of them will be obtainable at the release of the event. This enables the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could cause balance problems in Constructed formats. Based on the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube faster. Online community members are already speculating that this move was a response to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of a Spider-Man themed set and the lowest-engagement Arena set ever, as indicated by various sources.
How It Works and Entry Details
Launching a iteration of one of the most popular cubes ever will certainly increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Powered Cube will use a reward system and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than earlier cube events. The format details will be the following:
- Begins On: October 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1500 gems, or one draft token
- Game Style: Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards)
- Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
- Best-of-Three: Three matches; unranked
Prizes and Extra Information
The reward packs issued as rewards can contain nearly all cards legal in the Timeless mode, along with cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the prizes and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can examine the full details. Also, on October 22, MTG pro players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will share further insights on their video platforms.
