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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 was launched. Now, Arena enthusiasts will get the opportunity to encounter immense strength when the Powered Cube limited event launches on Oct. 28. According to the official description, "This thrilling occasion is distinct from all others on MTG Arena and will feature some of the most powerful cards from across Magic's legacy, featuring the legendary 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 instead from a pre-selected collection. The Vintage Cube has consistently served as a enjoyable and widely-used way for MTG players 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 excluded cards such as the iconic Power Nine — Magic's legendary high-power cards, such as Black Lotus, the five Moxen, Time Walk, Timetwister spell, and Ancestral Recall ability.

Details of the Arena Powered Cube

The Arena Powered Cube will include 100 new MTG 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 create imbalance issues in Constructed gameplay. Based on the announcement, this also facilitated the launch of the new cube faster. Fans online are already theorizing 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 Participation Information

Launching a iteration of one of the top draft formats ever will surely boost numbers in MTG Arena, but there is an important caveat to add. The Arena Powered Cube will use a prize structure 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, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (15:00 UTC)
• Signup Close: Nov. 18, 8:00 AM Pacific Time (3 p.m. UTC)
• Participation Cost: 10k gold, or 1500 gems, or 1 Player Draft token
• Format: Phantom Player Draft (Participants won't retain the event cards)
• Best-of-One: 7 victories or 3 defeats; ranked
• Best-of-Three: Three matches; without ranking

Rewards and Additional Details

The reward packs awarded during the event can contain nearly all cards permitted in the Timeless format, plus cards from a unique bonus card list. Additional information on the rewards and the cards present in the Powered Cube, interested players can review the official announcement. Also, on October 22, professional Magic players Luis Scott-Vargas and Paul Cheon, experienced cube format experts, will provide more updates on their YouTube channels.