🔗 Share this article

The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the premier digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before MTG Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will have the chance to encounter true power when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on Oct. 28. According to the official description, "This thrilling occasion is distinct from all others on Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, including the legendary Power Nine."

What Is the Vintage Cube?

As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique form of draft format 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 Magic fans to experience the thrills of using some of the most powerful cards in the game's history without having to pay the substantial cost required for tabletop Vintage. Arena previously offered a comparable option with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's legendary high-power cards, such as the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.

Features of the New Cube Event

The Powered Cube will include a hundred fresh MTG Arena card versions, but some of these will be obtainable at the release of the event. This enables the addition of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed formats. Based on the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube quicker. Fans online are already theorizing that this decision was a response to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set to date, as indicated by various sources.

How It Works and Participation Information

Introducing a version of one of the most popular cubes ever will surely boost numbers in Arena, but there is an key point to add. The Powered Cube will adopt a reward system and access cost similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than earlier cube events. The event structure will be the following:

• Begins On: October 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
• Signup Close: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
• Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
• Format: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
• Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
• Best-of-Three: 3 matches; unranked

Rewards and Additional Information

The Cube Prize Packs awarded during the event can contain almost every card legal in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. Additional information on the prizes and the included cards in the Powered Cube, interested players can review the full details. Also, on October 22, MTG pro players LSV and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will provide more updates on their video platforms.