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The Vintage Cube stands as one of the most beloved cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital service for playing Magic: The Gathering before Arena was launched. Now, MTGA players will have the chance to experience immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube debuts on October 28. According to the announcement, "This exciting event is unlike anything else on MTG Arena and will showcase some of the most powerful cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the Power Nine."

What Is the Vintage Cube?

As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique form of draft format 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 Magic fans to enjoy the excitement of using some of the most powerful cards in the game's history without having to pay the substantial cost required for physical Vintage play. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it did not include cards such as the iconic Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, such as the famed Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk card, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall ability.

Details of the Arena Powered Cube

The Arena Powered Cube will incorporate a hundred fresh Arena card printings, but some of these will be collectible at the launch of the event. This enables the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed formats. Based on the announcement, this also made the release of the latest cube faster. Fans online are already speculating that this decision was a reaction to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of Marvel's Spider-Man and the lowest-engagement Arena set to date, according to some reports.

Event Structure and Entry Information

Introducing a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will certainly increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an key point to note. The Arena Powered Cube will use a prize structure and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being more expensive to play than earlier cube events. The format details will be the following:

• Begins On: Oct. 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
• Signup Close: November 18, 8 a.m. PT (3 p.m. UTC)
• Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1,500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
• Game Style: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
• Best-of-One: Seven wins or three losses; with ranking
• Match Play Mode: Three matches; without ranking

Rewards and Extra Details

The reward packs awarded during the event can include almost every card 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, interested players can review the official announcement. Additionally, on October 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, experienced Vintage Cube aficionados, will provide more updates on their video platforms.