Magic: The Gathering Arenais adding several new features in the upcoming months. Along with the much asked forDirect Messaging addition, a new type of format is going to be added: Sealed Cube.
Cube drafting is a format that is fairly popular in paperMagic. Players come up with a theme, like high-end cards, one-drop cards, or a certain block or time-frame, and choose cards to put into the cube. After all the cards are chosen, they are randomized and put into 15 card “packs” that can been drafted as though they were sealed packs. Once the draft is over with, the cards can be put back into the cube and reshuffled to create new 15-card “packs” for next time.
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Cube drafting, while easy to do in paper, has never really been an option online. So when Wizards announced on June 17, 2025 that Cube Drafting would soon be available inMagic the Gathering Arena, it raised a lot of questions. Cubes will be prebuilt with cards currently available inArena, which will includethe “new” cards for the historic formatfrom History Anthology II.
https://media.wizards.com/2020/videos/daily/march_sog_sealed.webm
This will be a phantom event, which means that the cards from the Cube won’t be added to players' collections, but will only be available temporarily for the event itself, much like a real Cube. It’s unfortunate if a players “opens"one of the best cards from Theros Beyond Death, but it also is part of the sealed cube’s charm. It also looks like players won’t be cubing against bots, so perhaps players will be able to build friend groups or choose a random match.
The Sealed Cube is slated to start onArenain April of 2020, and hopefully will also be available onMagic the Gathering Arenamobile versionwhen it is live.
Adding new sealed events toArenais great for bothMagicand the fanbase. Cube drafts are incredibly fun, but finding the time to sit down with seven friends in one location can be difficult for a lot of people. Having a cube feature online and on mobile will be amazing for tons ofMagicfans all over the world. This also means players may even see other new formats moving toArena,like thenew Jumpstart format.
On the other side of the coin, however, it seems as thoughArenawill only have one, premade Cube to draft from. Hopefully they will add features for players to make their own Cubes out of cards in their collections, or have a variety for people to choose from. Only time will tell.
Magic: The Gathering Arenais available for Mac and PC.
Source:Wizards of the Coast
