🔗 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 get the opportunity to encounter immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube launches on October 28. According to the announcement, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on MTG Arena and will feature some of the most powerful cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring the legendary Power Nine."

Understanding the Classic Cube?

For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but rather from a pre-selected collection. The Vintage Cube has long been a fun and popular way for MTG players to enjoy the excitement of using some of the most powerful cards in the game's history without having to pay the significant money required for tabletop Vintage. MTG Arena previously offered a comparable option with its Timeless play style, but it did not include cards such as the iconic Power Nine — MTG's classic powerhouse cards, including Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall ability.

Details of the Arena Powered Cube

The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new MTG Arena card versions, but not all of them will be collectible at the launch of the event. This enables the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. Based on the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube faster. Online community members are already theorizing that this decision 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, as indicated by various sources.

Event Structure and Entry Information

Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely increase engagement in Arena, but there is an key point to add. The Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and access cost similar to the Premier Draft events, thus being costlier to play than earlier cube events. The event structure will be the following:

• Event Start: Oct. 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
• Signup Close: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
• Entry: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
• Game Style: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
• Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
• Match Play Mode: Three matches; without ranking

Prizes and Additional Details

The Cube Prize Packs awarded during the event can contain nearly all cards legal in the Timeless format, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. For more details on the rewards and the cards present in the Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the official announcement. Also, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will share further insights on their video platforms.