MTG's Most Popular Draft Format Finally Arrives on Arena
The Classic Cube is recognized as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena came into existence. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to experience true power when the Arena Powered Cube launches on Oct. 28. According to the official description, "This thrilling occasion is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will feature some of the most powerful cards from throughout Magic's history, including the legendary Power Nine."
Understanding the Classic Cube?
As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of draft format that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but rather from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has long been a fun and popular way for MTG players to experience the thrills of using some of the strongest cards in the game's history without needing to spend the substantial cost required for tabletop Vintage. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it did not include cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's classic powerhouse cards, such as Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall.
Features of the Arena Powered Cube
The Powered Cube will include 100 new MTG Arena card versions, but some of these will be collectible at the release of the event. This enables the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these extremely strong cards could cause balance problems in Constructed gameplay. Based on the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube quicker. Online community members are already theorizing 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 least-played Arena set to date, as indicated by various sources.
Event Structure and Participation Details
Launching a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely boost numbers in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Arena Powered Cube will use a reward system and access cost similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:
- Event Start: Oct. 28, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
- Registration Ends: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
- Participation Cost: 10,000 gold, or 1500 gems, or one draft token
- Game Style: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
- Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; with ranking
- Match Play Mode: 3 matches; without ranking
Rewards and Additional Details
The reward packs issued as rewards can contain almost every card legal in the Timeless mode, plus cards from a new, special bonus sheet. Additional information on the prizes and the cards present in the Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the full details. Also, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, long-time cube format experts, will share further insights on their YouTube channels.
