🔗 Share this article

The Classic Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the primary digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena was launched. Now, MTGA players will have the chance to encounter immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube launches on Oct. 28. As per the official description, "This thrilling occasion is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will feature some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the Power Nine."

Understanding 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 pre-selected collection. 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 strongest cards in the history of the game without needing to spend the significant money required for tabletop Vintage. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the iconic Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, including Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.

Details of the New Cube Event

The Arena Powered Cube will incorporate 100 new Arena card printings, but some of these 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 formats. Based on the official news, this also made the release of the latest cube faster. Online community members are already speculating that this decision was a response to the poor reception of Through the Omenpaths — the Arena version of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set ever, according to some reports.

Event Structure and Participation Information

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

• Begins On: Oct. 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
• Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
• Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
• Game Style: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards)
• Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
• Match Play Mode: Three matches; without ranking

Prizes and Additional Information

The reward packs issued as rewards can include nearly all cards 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 Powered Cube, interested players can examine 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 video platforms.