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The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital service for playing MTG before Arena was launched. Now, MTGA players will get the opportunity to encounter true power when the Arena Powered Cube launches on Oct. 28. As per the announcement, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will feature some of the strongest cards from throughout Magic's history, featuring the legendary Power Nine."

Understanding the Vintage 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 Vintage Cube has long been 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 needing to spend the substantial cost required for tabletop Vintage. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless format, but it excluded cards such as the iconic Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, including Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall ability.

Features of the Arena Powered Cube

The Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card printings, but some of these will be obtainable at the release of the event. This allows for the addition 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 facilitated the launch of the new cube faster. Online community members are already theorizing that this decision was a reaction to the negative feedback of Through the Omenpaths — the Arena adaptation of a Spider-Man themed set and the least-played Arena set ever, as indicated by various sources.

Event Structure and Entry Details

Introducing a iteration of one of the most popular cubes ever will certainly increase engagement in Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Arena Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:

• Begins On: Oct. 28, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
• Registration Ends: November 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
• Entry: 10,000 gold, or 1,500 gems, or one draft token
• Game Style: Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the event cards)
• Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; ranked
• Match Play Mode: Three matches; without ranking

Prizes and Extra Details

The reward packs issued as rewards can contain nearly all cards legal in the Timeless mode, along with cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the rewards and the included cards in the Arena Powered Cube, enthusiasts can review the full details. Additionally, on Oct. 22, MTG pro players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will share further insights on their YouTube channels.