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The Vintage Cube stands as one of the highly popular cubes on Magic Online, the premier digital service for playing MTG before Arena was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to experience true power when the Powered Cube limited event launches on Oct. 28. According to the announcement, "This thrilling occasion is distinct from all others on Arena and will feature some of the strongest cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the Power Nine."

Understanding the Vintage Cube?

As experienced Limited players know, a cube is a unique form of Booster Draft that does not pull cards from particular expansions, but rather from a predetermined pool. The Vintage Cube has long been 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 substantial cost required for physical Vintage play. MTG Arena introduced something similar with its Timeless play style, but it excluded cards such as the Power Nine — MTG's legendary high-power cards, including the famed Black Lotus, the Mox gem series, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall ability.

Features of the New Cube Event

The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new Arena card printings, but some of these will be collectible at the launch of the event. This allows for the inclusion of a larger card pool, as some of these massively overpowered cards could create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. 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 version of Marvel's Spider-Man and the least-played Arena set ever, according to some reports.

How It Works and Entry Details

Introducing a version of one of the most popular cubes ever will surely increase engagement in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to add. The Powered Cube will use a prize structure and access cost comparable with the Premier Draft tournaments, thus being costlier to play than previous Arena cubes. The format details will be the following:

• Begins On: October 28, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
• Registration Ends: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
• Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
• Format: Powered Cube Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the drafted cards)
• Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
• Best-of-Three: Three matches; unranked

Rewards and Additional Information

The Cube Prize Packs issued as rewards can include almost every card legal in the Timeless format, along with cards from a unique bonus card list. For more details on the prizes and the cards present in the Arena Powered Cube, interested players can examine the full details. Additionally, on Oct. 22, professional Magic players LSV and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will share further insights on their YouTube channels.