With only one week to go before spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender kick off, most Magic: The Gathering players weren’t expecting any big news this week. So far, however, it’s looking pretty eventful. Tomorrow, we’ll be getting an update on the Commander brackets system. Today, we got the surprise announcement of the MTG Arena Powered Cube, as well as some pre-bans from within it.
This is a new Limited experience for Arena players, analogous to the popular MTG Online Vintage Cube. It offers players the chance to draft and play with some of the most powerful cards the game has seen. It also brings a bunch of new cards to Arena for the first time via its bonus sheet. Most of these cards will be fair game in all Arena formats on launch, but Wizards are banning a few in Historic right out of the gate. Others won’t even be collectible at all, owing to their immense, format-warping power level.
The MTG Arena Powered Cube Pre-Bans
Of the 26 confirmed cards from the MTG Arena Powered Cube so far, four will be getting pre-bans in Historic. In the official announcement article, Wizards noted that these cards are getting the hammer “Due to their power level, ability to accelerate mana, and/or status as free spells.”
The latter point easily explains two of the pre-bans here, Fireblast and Pyrokinesis. Both are red burn spells that can be cast for free, provided you sacrifice two Mountains or a red card in hand, respectively. In the grand scheme of free spells, these two aren’t particularly powerful, and in fact neither has ever been banned or restricted in any other MTG format.
That said, Wizards has been aggressively anti-free spell when it comes to Historic. The current Historic ban list features no less than 12 free spells, including weaker ones like Commandeer. This is clearly part of the format’s philosophy, so it makes sense to see it continue with these pre-bannings.
Interestingly, we’ll be getting another free spell in the Arena Powered Cube Bonus Sheet that won’t be catching a pre-ban. Snuff Out was another of the 26 cards announced today, and is, arguably, better than both of its red cousins. Paying life is much easier than the alternate costs on these spells, and hard removal is often more effective than burn.
Wizards’ reasoning on this one is pretty unclear at present. Perhaps it’s an error, or perhaps Snuff Out just proved more manageable in testing. Red is a more dominant color in Historic than black, after all, with both Izzet Wizards and Boros Energy topping the charts regularly.
Seething Song And Preordain
The other two pre-bans from the MTG Arena Powered Cube are a bit more intuitive. Preordain is an immensely popular blue cantrip, right up there with Brainstorm and Ponder in terms of power level. The card selection it offers is excellent, and the rate of one blue gives it a ton of easy synergies. Wizards actually added Ponder to Arena fairly recently. That said, it seems one is the limit on great cantrips in Historic, as Brainstorm has been banned there since 2022.
All things considered, keeping Preordain out of Historic is probably for the best. Izzet Wizards, Jeskai Control, and Azorius Control are all top-tier archetypes there already. The addition of a major consistency booster like this would only cement that further.
The final pre-banned card revealed today was Seething Song. Like free spells, Wizards is also very much opposed to fast mana in Historic. Ancient Tomb, Chrome Mox, and Dark Ritual are all banned there already, so seeing this card go as well isn’t surprising. It’s a bit unclear exactly what deck would run the card currently, but this still feels like a safe ban. Ritual cards like this open the door to all kinds of nonsense combos, which is really what Timeless is for.
These four cards will be available in MTG Arena Powered Cube Prize Packs once the event begins on October 28th. While you won’t be able to play them in Historic, they will still be legal in Timeless. All four could do some serious work in that format, too, given their obvious pedigree.
Bans Beyond Bans
Ultimately, pre-bans from new Arena expansions is nothing new. What is new with the Arena Powered Cube is that some of its cards won’t be collectible at all. As the announcement article notes:
“Not all Powered Cube cards will be collectible upon the release of this event. This was a trade-off we made to accelerate this release and maintain the best play experience possible across our Constructed formats.”
Wizards of the Coast
The article then goes on to establish four reasons for this move. These included keeping Historic and Timeless reasonable balanced, and opening up more options within the Cube itself. Excitingly, it also says the full new card list will include cards like Black Lotus, the Moxen, Sol Ring, and the original Dual Lands. Obviously, having these cards legal in any Arena format would be a bit of a problem, so this uncollectible approach by Wizards makes sense.
Interestingly, the announcement article also notes that “The cards in the bonus sheet will update over time as we change which cards are collectible on MTG Arena.” This almost certainly doesn’t apply to the Power Nine and friends. It does, however, mean some cards will change camps over time. This should create a scenario where the cards you only get to play in Powered Cube Draft eventually make their way over into your actual collection.
The MTG Arena Powered Cube is exciting on multiple axes. The potential of a Vintage Cube that actually brings new cards to multiple formats is off the charts. If it proves as popular as its clear inspiration, this could be a huge boost for Arena as the default digital MTG client.
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