Magic: The Gathering Arena Is Getting Another Popular Format

Magic: The Gathering Arena is looking to add another popular format to the game. During the first-ever State of the Game video released earlier this week, Wizards of the Coast revealed that it is planning to add the Cube Draft format to Magic: The Gathering Arena. Cube Draft is a format that is played in paper Magic and Magic: The Gathering Online. The idea behind Cube Draft is that a player or playgroup builds its own unique "cube," a draft pool of 360 or more Magic: The Gathering cards from anywhere the builder chooses from the history of the game. Players then use that cube to play in a limited format, such as splitting the cards into 15-card "booster packs" and performing a sealed draft using those packs.

The Cube Draft format is only in the conceptualization phase for Magic: The Gathering Arena right now. That means the format is still in its planning phases and that the developers may not move forward with it if it presents too many developmental challenges. One interesting question is how cubes will be built. The number of cards available in Arena is small compared to what's available in Magic: The Gathering Online. It could be that the developers will build unique cubes for players to draft with during special events.

The developers laid out a full roadmap of things to come in Magic: The Gathering Arena. The Throne of Eldraine set releases on September 26th, launching the game out of public beta. The introduction of the Constructed Brawl format and friends lists to the game are expected to happen in October.

Features that are in development include the macOS client and availability in the Epic Games Store, friends messaging to accompany the friends list feature, the upcoming Theros Beyond Death and Ikoria Land of the Behemoths sets, cards for the Arena-only Historic format, and unnamed new event types. Other features in the conceptual phase include friend deck sharing, Core Set 2021, and the Zendikar Rising expansion. Other features being discussed include pod drafts, spectating, data API, four-player formats, and more.

Players got a taste of the Brawl format when Arena ran a brief Throne of Eldraine preview event using preconstructed Brawl decks. Upcoming events include an opportunity to play with every card and Standard and use those card to win a single copy of every card in Standard.

Are you excited by the idea of Cube Draft coming to Magic: The Gathering Arena? Let us know what you think in the comments.