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The Vintage Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the premier digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to encounter immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event debuts on October 28. As per the official description, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on Arena and will feature some of the most powerful cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring the Power Nine."

Understanding the Vintage Cube?

As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from one or more specific sets, but rather from a pre-selected collection. The Vintage Cube has long been a fun and popular way for MTG players to experience the thrills 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. Arena previously offered a comparable option with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's classic powerhouse cards, including Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.

Features of the New Cube Event

The Powered Cube will incorporate 100 new MTG Arena card versions, but not all of them will be obtainable at the release of the event. This enables the inclusion of a broader selection of cards, as some of these massively overpowered cards could cause balance problems in Constructed gameplay. Based on the official news, this also facilitated the launch of the latest cube quicker. Online community members are already speculating that this decision was a response to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena version of a Spider-Man themed set and the lowest-engagement Arena set ever, as indicated by various sources.

How It Works and Entry Details

Introducing a version of one of the most popular cubes ever will surely increase engagement in Arena, but there is an important caveat to add. The Arena Powered Cube will use a prize structure and entry fee comparable with the Premier Draft events, thus being more expensive to play than previous Arena cubes. The format details will be the following:

• Begins On: Oct. 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
• Signup Close: November 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
• Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
• Game Style: Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the drafted cards)
• Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
• Best-of-Three: Three matches; without ranking

Prizes and Extra Information

The reward packs issued as rewards can contain nearly all cards legal in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the rewards and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can review the full details. Additionally, on October 22, MTG pro players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their video platforms.