MTG's Top-Tier Draft Format Finally Makes Its Debut on MTG Arena
The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena came into existence. Now, MTGA players will have the chance to experience true power when the Powered Cube limited event launches on Oct. 28. As per the announcement, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, including the legendary Power Nine."
Understanding the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique form of draft format that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but rather from a predetermined pool. The Classic Cube has consistently served as a fun and popular way for MTG players to experience the thrills of using some of the strongest cards in the game's history without having to pay the significant money required for physical Vintage play. 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 spell, and Ancestral Recall ability.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card versions, but not all of them will be obtainable at the release of the event. This allows for the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. According to the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the latest cube faster. Online community members are already theorizing that this decision was a response to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena version of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set ever, as indicated by various sources.
Event Structure and Participation Information
Introducing a iteration of one of the most popular cubes ever will surely boost numbers 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 event structure will be the following:
- Event Start: October 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Registration Ends: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or one draft token
- Format: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
- Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
- Best-of-Three: 3 matches; without ranking
Rewards and Additional Information
The reward packs issued as rewards can include almost every card legal in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. For more details on the prizes and the included cards in the Powered Cube, enthusiasts can examine the full details. Additionally, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will share further insights on their video platforms.
