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The Vintage 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 MTG Arena came into existence. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to experience true power when the Powered Cube limited event launches on October 28. As per the announcement, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on Arena and will showcase some of the most powerful cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the Power Nine."

Understanding the Vintage Cube?

For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a distinctive form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but instead from a pre-selected collection. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a enjoyable and widely-used way for MTG players to experience the thrills of using some of the strongest cards in the game's history without having to pay the substantial cost required for tabletop Vintage. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it did not include cards such as the Power Nine — Magic's classic powerhouse cards, such as the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.

Features of the Arena Powered Cube

The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card printings, but some of these will be collectible 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 made the release of the latest cube faster. Online community members are already speculating that this decision was a response to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena version of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set to date, as indicated by various sources.

Event Structure and Entry Details

Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Powered Cube will use a reward system and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being costlier to play than previous Arena cubes. The format details will be the following:

• Event Start: October 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
• Signup Close: Nov. 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 (Players do not keep the drafted cards)
• Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; 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 permitted in the Timeless format, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the rewards and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can examine the full details. Also, on October 22, MTG pro players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.