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The Classic Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the primary digital platform for playing MTG before MTG Arena came into existence. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to experience immense strength when the Arena Powered Cube launches on Oct. 28. As per the official description, "This exciting event is distinct from all others on Arena and will showcase some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, including the Power Nine."

What Is the Vintage Cube?

As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a distinctive form of draft format that doesn't draw cards from particular expansions, but instead from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a enjoyable and widely-used way for MTG players to experience the thrills of using some of the strongest cards in the history of the game without needing to spend 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 Power Nine — Magic's classic powerhouse cards, including Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, 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 printings, but not all of them 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 formats. Based on the announcement, this also made the release of the new cube quicker. Online community members are already speculating that this decision was a reaction to the poor reception of the Omenpaths set — the Arena adaptation of a Spider-Man themed set and the least-played Arena set ever, as indicated by various sources.

Event Structure and Participation Details

Introducing a version of one of the top draft formats ever will surely boost numbers in Arena, but there is an important caveat to add. The Arena Powered Cube will adopt a prize structure and entry fee similar to the Premier Draft events, thus being costlier to play than previous Arena cubes. The event structure will be the following:

• Begins On: Oct. 28, 8 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC)
• Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
• Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
• Format: Phantom Player Draft (Players do not keep the drafted cards)
• Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; with ranking
• Match Play Mode: 3 matches; without ranking

Rewards and Additional Information

The reward packs awarded during the event can contain nearly all cards permitted in the Timeless format, along with cards from a new, special bonus sheet. For more details on the prizes and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can review the full details. Also, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, long-time Vintage Cube aficionados, will share further insights on their video platforms.