The Classic Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on the original digital platform, the primary digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena came into existence. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to encounter immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event launches on Oct. 28. As per the official description, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the most powerful cards from across Magic's legacy, including the legendary Power Nine."
Understanding the Classic Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from one or more specific sets, but rather from a pre-selected collection. The Classic Cube has consistently served as a enjoyable and widely-used 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 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, including the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Details of the Arena Powered Cube
The Arena 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 allows for the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could cause balance problems in Constructed formats. According to the announcement, this also facilitated the launch of the latest cube quicker. Fans online are already speculating that this move was a response to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — the Arena version of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set to date, according to some reports.
How It Works and Participation Details
Introducing a iteration 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 adopt a prize structure and access cost similar to the Premier Draft events, 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 (15:00 UTC)
- Signup Close: Nov. 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 drafted cards)
- Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
- Match Play Mode: 3 matches; unranked
Prizes and Extra Details
The Cube Prize Packs awarded during the event can contain nearly all cards permitted in the Timeless format, along with cards from a new, special bonus sheet. Additional information on the prizes and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can review the full details. Also, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will share further insights on their video platforms.
