🔗 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 get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event launches on Oct. 28. According to the official description, "This thrilling occasion is unlike anything else on Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, including the Power Nine."

What Is the Vintage Cube?

As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a fun and popular way for Magic fans to enjoy the excitement of using some of the most powerful cards in the history of the game without having to pay the significant money required for tabletop Vintage. Arena previously offered a comparable option with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the iconic Power Nine — MTG's classic powerhouse cards, such as the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.

Features of the Arena Powered Cube

The Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card printings, but some of these will be collectible at the release of the event. This allows for the inclusion of a broader selection of cards, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. Based on the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube faster. Fans online are already speculating that this decision was a reaction to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set ever, as indicated by various sources.

How It Works and Entry Details

Launching a version of one of the top draft formats ever will surely increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. The Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than previous Arena cubes. 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 (15:00 UTC)
• Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or one draft token
• Format: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
• Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
• Match Play Mode: 3 matches; without ranking

Rewards and Additional Information

The Cube Prize Packs awarded during the event can contain almost every card legal in the Timeless mode, along with cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the prizes and the cards present in the Powered Cube, enthusiasts can examine the full details. Also, on October 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.