The Classic Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the primary digital platform for playing MTG before Arena was launched. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event launches on October 28. According to the announcement, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the most powerful cards from throughout Magic's history, including the Power Nine."
Understanding the Vintage Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from particular expansions, but rather from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has long been a enjoyable and widely-used way for Magic fans to enjoy the excitement of using some of the most powerful cards in the game's history without having to pay the significant money required for physical Vintage play. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it did not include cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, such as the famed Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The 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 addition of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could cause balance problems in Constructed gameplay. Based on the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube quicker. Online community members are already theorizing that this decision was a reaction to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena version of a Spider-Man themed set and the least-played Arena set ever, according to some reports.
How It Works and Participation Information
Launching a iteration of one of the most popular cubes ever will surely increase engagement in Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being costlier to play than earlier cube events. The format details will be the following:
- Begins On: Oct. 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
- Registration Ends: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
- Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
- Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
- Best-of-Three: Three matches; unranked
Prizes and Extra Information
The reward packs issued as rewards 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, interested players can review the full details. Also, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.
