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The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the primary digital service for playing MTG before MTG Arena was launched. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube debuts on October 28. According to the announcement, "This thrilling occasion is unlike anything else on Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring the Power Nine."

Understanding the Classic Cube?

For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a distinctive form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from particular expansions, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a enjoyable and widely-used 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 substantial cost required for tabletop Vintage. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it did not include cards such as the iconic Power Nine — MTG's classic powerhouse cards, including the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall ability.

Details of the New Cube Event

The Arena Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh MTG Arena card versions, but some of these will be collectible at the launch of the event. This enables the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. According to the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube faster. Fans online are already speculating that this move was a response to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set ever, according to some reports.

How It Works and Participation Details

Launching a version of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. The Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and access cost comparable with the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:

• Event Start: Oct. 28, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
• Signup Close: November 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
• Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
• Game Style: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the drafted cards)
• Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
• Best-of-Three: 3 matches; unranked

Rewards and Extra Information

The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can contain almost every card legal in the Timeless format, along with cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the prizes and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can review the full details. Additionally, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, experienced Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.