The Classic Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital platform for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event launches on Oct. 28. As per the official description, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring the Power Nine."
What Is the Classic Cube?
For seasoned Limited enthusiasts, a cube is a unique form of draft format that doesn't draw cards from one or more specific sets, but rather from a pre-selected collection. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a fun and popular way for Magic fans to enjoy the excitement of using some of the strongest cards in the history of the game without having to pay the significant money required for physical Vintage play. Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it excluded cards such as the iconic Power Nine — MTG's classic powerhouse cards, including the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk card, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall ability.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new MTG Arena card printings, but some of these will be obtainable at the release of the event. This enables the addition of a larger card pool, 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 move was a reaction to the negative feedback of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set to date, according to some reports.
Event Structure and Entry Information
Introducing a iteration of one of the most popular cubes ever will certainly boost numbers in Arena, but there is an important caveat to note. The Powered Cube will adopt 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:
- Event Start: October 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
- Signup Close: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or one draft token
- Format: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
- Single Game Mode: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
- Match Play Mode: 3 matches; without ranking
Prizes and Additional Details
The reward packs awarded during the event can contain nearly all cards legal in the Timeless format, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the prizes and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the official announcement. Also, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players LSV and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will share further insights on their video platforms.
