Arena Power Cube is Here

It's no secret that my favorite way to play Magic has always been Limited. Cube, specifically powered Cube, mixes the best of both worlds—Limited Magic, but the goal is to draft a Constructed-power level deck.

I haven't played a ton of the Cube yet since it's only been out a few days as of writing. I'm enjoying it more than I did the MTGO Cube because it feels more authentic. It's wild to think, but MTGO has included so many supplementary product cards that it no longer feels like a vintage Cube. Instead, it feels like a powered Cube with the most broken threats from Commander decks and other products not legal in the formats I play. While there's some of that in the Arena Power Cube, it's minimal, and I don't feel bogged down having to read three or four cards per pack.

While many of us are familiar with Power Cube, a younger generation is just now learning it because it's finally available on the modern client. This will mean a lot of leaky drafts where you see many cards later than you should, and decks in the mythic ranks will be better on average than you may see on MTGO, which has a more experienced and smaller player base.

You can take advantage of this by expecting new players to take archetypes you want to avoid. New players aren't going to draft Underworld Breach Storm, for instance. They will gravitate towards more permanent-based decks.

I'll likely create a lot of Cube content, as we have access to the Power Cube. However, first and foremost, let me explain my current philosophy and offer advice on how to approach the Cube.

The number one goal with Cube, especially currently, is to maximize fun. I am willing to disregard my win rate to increase my enjoyment. I get my dopamine from putting together nonsense combo decks and stumbling into something unique. Currently, Cube is not a highly competitive format, so it's not worth increasing my win rate by a small margin, such as from 62 to 64%. Admittedly, drafting in this manner will lead to some bad habits that could carry over if and when Cube becomes a more competitive endeavor. I hope we get to see it for some Arena Opens or maybe even Arena directs.

My second goal is, of course, winning. I want to win but not by drafting white or red aggro decks. I enjoy playing combo and would like to give myself an opportunity to play all the power, so I'm almost always going to draft blue.

One of these days I plan to write about a list of under- and overvalued cards in Cube, but with such a new player base, this is the time to actually embrace those cards.

For example, Tolarian Academy is taken too aggressively on MTGO, likely because of LSV's content and his enthusiasm for the card. It's not like the card is bad. Its ceiling is ridiculously high. However, it's hard to get a deck together with it, especially when a lot of players are taking artifact mana and hoping to open it, or have it passed to them in later packs. There are dozens of examples of these cards popping in very good decks where their absence leads to a complete train wreck. If your goal is to have fun first, and you can withstand a few bad draft decks before a great deck, then by all means, slam Academy first pick. I would. If your goal is to win and mitigate expenditures, then you're better off taking Ragavan or Ocelot Pride, which have lower ceilings but higher floors.

As far as color preference, I don't draft white or green cards early. Those colors don't facilitate the degenerate combo decks very well. I won't think twice about taking a card like Lion's Eye Diamond over Swords to Plowshares. Most people, however, just take Swords if they want to win.

My general rule is don't play green creatures. Uro and other value cards like that are different, but I never want to have enough green in my deck to be able to cast a turn-one Birds of Paradise. Sometimes I will, but I'm usually fighting against it with my picks, and I only play that much green when I'm pushed into a corner. Green-ramp creatures' game plan is too fragile in 2025 Magic, and there's enough artifact mana that ramping, the one thing green is good at, is available to every color combo. Green is basically obsolete because the artifact mana is available to all colors, inherently more powerful because it's harder to interact with, and generally more efficient.

If you're new to the Cube, I suggest starting out by drafting some easier-to-navigate decks like White Aggro, specifically Boros Aggro is strong and easy to draft and play. UB Reanimator is simple to play, deep, and fairly powerful, but it's not as good as it once was because there are so many ways to go over the top.

I'd avoid drafting decks like Storm, as they can be tough to navigate and draft and, due to the Arena software's smaller timing windows, difficult to pilot. On MTGO, we play a 4-5 minute kill turn. On Arena, you must move quickly to avoid timing out. It has taken me some time to adjust. Every time I cast a cantrip or a draw spell and information changes, you have to recalibrate when playing a combo turn, and it's hard to adjust with the rope running.

Another word of advice to less-experienced Cube drafters, especially those with a Limited background, is that mulligan decisions are more important, and the games themselves are extremely front-loaded. Your opening hand must either apply pressure, interact, or advance a game plan in a meaningful way. It's going to cost you if you're keeping a hand because it's a few lands and spells. In a format with Lotus and Moxen, you don't get much time to catch up. You need to make sure you're either developing your game plan or preventing your opponent from executing theirs. There's no middle ground.

I'll be battling it out in Cube over the next few weeks, but we also have Avatar around the corner. This is an exciting time for Magic with a lot to look forward to. On top of that, I expect a Standard shakeup in the immediate future. When Final Fantasy was out, Magic's hype was extremely high, but an immediate whiplash occurred when Spider-Man hit the shelves. I'm hoping during the holiday season, we have more of the former and can sink our teeth into new formats, cards, and ways to play.