Magic: The Gathering Arena—the online version of the trading card game—recently launched a new draft mode based on a format that paper players have been playing for a long time: cubes.
Cubes are similar to Booster Drafts, except participants draft from a shared ‘pool’ of cards. A preset pool allows groups to fine-tune their experience, encouraging some deck archetypes and discouraging others.
New Mode, Same ‘Ol Tricks
MTG Arena’s ‘Arena Powered Cube’ is the online game’s first foray into the format, allowing players to draft from a pool of “Magic’s strongest and most storied cards of all time.” The mode includes decades of obnoxiously powerful cards, including each component of the famous Power Nine. In total, Wizards of the Coast selected 540 cards, mostly based on fun factor.
This all sounds wonderful. Arena players get to try a new format while experiencing famous cards from throughout Magic’s long history. However, there’s a catch. Every time a player wants to participate in an Arena Powered Cube draft, they must pay $10 for the privilege.
It’s not uncommon for draft formats to be pay-to-play; Hearthstone’s arena mode comes to mind. However, $10 is a very steep price to pay for a single draft. It’s even more unfortunate because the mode has been very well received by those willing to pay the cost of entry.
Tordana is one of many players expressing outrage about the price of Arena Powered Cube, with the player making their feelings about the monetisation of Magic: The Gathering known in a Reddit thread about the topic.
“Just let us play the game for f**king free, Wizards,” they complain. “Make your money from cosmetics like every other game these days. I spent $20 to play a video game tonight with nothing to show for it, and if I choose to play the game again tomorrow, I’ll have to pay another $20. And another $20. And another $20. I’m f**king sick of it. I love the idea of Powered Cube, but simply can’t afford to play it anywhere. Paper is obviously far too expensive, and so are all the digital forms.”
There are other threads expressing similar sentiments, and the comments are full of people complaining about the sheer amount of product coming from Wizards of the Coast right now. The company is clearly making a lot of money, but it risks alienating its core audience by demanding such a high level of consumption from people who struggle to keep pace with the price of everything.
- Franchise
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Magic: The Gathering
- Original Release Date
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August 5, 1993
- Player Count
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2+
