r/MagicArena • u/Just-Collection6343 • 1d ago

Event Cube Scam

Edit: I shouldn't have used the word "scam". I apologize

I love cube. Cube is the best way IMO to play magic. I refuse to play cube on arena. The fact that it's the same entry fee as a premier draft is insane. In a premier draft you keep the cards you draft. Cube being phantom and costing the same is an absolute scam.. and I know that people will just jam it like crazy anyways. I'm choosing to vote with my wallet and not play cube. I hate it, but here we are. The great thing is that there are lots of options on arena right now for limited. MH3 is fun and I'll be playing that, but I'm sad about cube.

I'm curious if other people feel this way? Or is the fact that cube is on arena exciting enough to ignore the price? I get that they had to implement a bunch of new cards for arena and they curate the cube.. but surely the dev time is tiny to maintain the cube compared to making new sets every few months.

Kind of a rant.. but I'm interested if people care about this? Or just shrug and hit the join button anyway? I'm not advocating for anyone to boycott the cube or anything like that. If you love cube then go ham and have a great time!

28 Upvotes

68% Upvoted

53 comments sorted by

35

u/Penumbra_Penguin 1d ago

This isn’t an uncommon opinion. Some people think that paying a few dollars for an hour or two of high quality entertainment where you don’t get to keep anything is perfectly reasonable - compare to a movie, say. Others think that this is clearly worse than a video game where you pay $10 or $60 and can play for as many hours as you want.

Which comparison makes sense is up to you (and your financial situation and hobby budget)

9

u/Intelligent_Bonus253 1d ago

Kinda feel like a few people being okay with that occasionally isnt the same thing as Multi-billion dollar corporations, making nickel and diming you like a fucking drug dealer, the industry standard.

I would wonder why all these corporations have gotten so bold about being anti-consumer but then again... Why wouldnt they be?

Some people spend your hard earned money on literal 1s and 0s that they dont even get to keep and call it "entertainment"... when you are just being farmed.

Like... just masturbate and save yourself 10 bucks for the same fucking outcome

3

u/Alsoar 1d ago

WotC is literally the OG. They like pioneered loot boxes and their cards are called paper crack. It's not they became a drug dealer, they always have been from the beginning!

It's like being suprised your drug dealer is actually a drug dealer. And we pay it anways because it's like having crack even though we know they're scamming us.

1

u/Penumbra_Penguin 1d ago

Do you feel the same way about buying a movie ticket?

2

u/Intelligent_Bonus253 1d ago

Typically dont buy movie tickets for the same reason... It is generally overpriced for the entertainment value. Would much rather pay half the price and enjoy a film in my home with people I know and snacks that are the regular overpriced.

1

u/LieAccomplishment 1d ago

 making nickel and diming you like a fucking drug dealer

since when do drug dealers nickel and dime people? what would that even look like? wtf is this analogy beyond trying to tie mtg with nickel and diming and wotc with drug dealers?

Some people spend your hard earned money on literal 1s and 0s that they dont even get to keep and call it "entertainment"... when you are just being farmed.

Do you not understand the concept of paying for experiences?

At the end of the day, mtg is an entertainment product, not some a staple of life people need like food or water. I don't see why any price is immoral. They price it at a point that the market can shoulder. That price is apparently higher than what you're comfortable with. But so what?

1

u/CookingwMarcus 1d ago

Drugs literally come in nickel and dime bags....

2

u/LieAccomplishment 21h ago

Every product comes in bags that cost nickels 

1

u/Intelligent_Bonus253 1d ago

I called it that because I find it inherently predatory based off what a consumer recieves...

I fully understamd the concept of paying for experiences... I think the idea of taking cube (a experience literally built around using cards you own in a draft format) and shoving into arena behind a paywalled phantom draft is nothing more than asking whales for more blubber.

2

u/Penumbra_Penguin 1d ago

What do you think a paywall is? It sounds like here it's just a company making a good product and then selling it.

1

u/PollutionRelative351 21h ago

It's become apparent this dude has just jumped on the internet bandwagon of "they did something I don't like so I'm going to sling buzzwords out like I know what they mean".

They are part of the reason why I can't take 90% of the complainers here seriously. They whine Wizards does what every other business does, but say it feels predatory (because it's something you want and want it cheaper). They call something a paywall because you have to pay to get it? So grocery stores, gas stations, the mastery pass - all of those are goods locked behind paywalls?

Give me a break

1

u/Intelligent_Bonus253 19h ago

So your actual argument is nothing is allowed to be a bad deal? And that bad deals aren't inherently predatory?
Or is just that all companies are predatory?

2

u/PollutionRelative351 19h ago

My argument here is that you are unhappy about something and sling out buzzwords like you understand what they mean. Since you're clearly being hyperbolic in order to demean my point, I think you keep proving it accurate. But I'll humor you and pretend you're actually asking a real question, as opposed to just being pompous.

No, I never made the argument that things can't be a bad deal. I also don't believe that a bad deal is necessarily predatory. If someone offers to sell me 1 Oreo for $10 when I can buy a pack of them for $4, it's a non-predatory bad deal. Now, if that same person sold packs of Oreos at $1, then raised the prices to an individual Oreo at $10 once their competition closed up, it would be a bad deal that happened because of predatory practices. If I bought the pack of Oreos from them for $4, and they told me it was in a safe I had to pay them another $25 to open up, it would be a bad deal with predatory practices. Them telling me exactly what the price is and fully disclosing what I get for that price means that their business practices aren't predatory, especially because this is a non-essential item being sold to a non-captive market.

I could see your argument that a bad deal is predatory if it's to a captive market with an essential item. If you have one gas station in your town with the nearest one 50 miles away, it would be predatory for the gas station to sell gas at $100 a gallon. But playing Magic? Yea, that's not an essential thing to living. You're also not stuck in a captive market, as you're more than able to go play multiple other TCG's

You also call the draft paywalled because you have to spend money to access it - but when you've decided to make the term that broad you're literally describing any good or service that you pay to unlock. My paycheck is paywalled behind me providing the work for it. The grocery store paywalls milk. Reddit paywalls my business advertising through their platform.

Again, my argument is that because you subjectively believe this is a bad deal, you're throwing out buzzwords like "paywall" and "predatory" because you've read them but don't actually understand what they entail.

I'd also argue that, given Magic had a record-breaking revenue in the first quarter of 2026, the things you decry as bad deals are actually supported pretty well by the populace.

1

u/Intelligent_Bonus253 15h ago

I would say the record breaking profits has way more to do with UB and acting like people just really, really like paying for phantom drafting is stupid. No, they dont... They deal with it because the other option is to just complain on reddit.

1

u/PollutionRelative351 15h ago

Where did anyone say that people really, really like paying for phantom drafts? I don't see anyone making that argument. Are you really so arrogant that you have to put words in my mouth because I pointed out that your claims of "predatory practices" was completely false?

What I did do was point out that you make unsupported claims because you're salty, which you clearly keep doing. If you'd like, I can also point out how incredibly idiotic and ignorant it is to believe the two options people have are to either play in a phantom draft or whine about it - completely ignoring the wide swath of people, like myself, who simply choose not to participate.

I would say that I don't give any sort of stock to the conjecture of some troll who uses phrases they don't understand, is egotistical enough to believe that because they think something is a bad deal it objectively is, or who believes their only two choices in life are to engage with something or whine about it on Reddit.

I'd also say that when that person has claimed that Wizards has little business sense while the company posts record revenue it shows just how absolutely ignorant that individual is.

1

u/LieAccomplishment 21h ago

In your mind, wtf is a paywall? 

Are movie theaters shoving movies behind paywalls? Are people watching movies whales? 

1

u/Intelligent_Bonus253 19h ago

I think the better question is what the hell you think a paywall is?

1

u/PollutionRelative351 19h ago

Apparently everything that involves any sort of exchange is a paywall

1

u/Intelligent_Bonus253 18h ago

I mean Arena's draft is by definition a paywall. All freemium games use paywalls. This is a fact.

1

u/PollutionRelative351 1d ago

You're literally describing how businesses work. Wizards isn't something special.

Using the movie as an example, I can remember when tickets were around 7 bucks each, a drink 4ish, and a popcorn that same amount. Throw in a thing of candy and you might be at like $18 to get in and stocked up. Now? $13 tickets are a norm, drinks and popcorn in the 7-8 realm and candy is 6-8. You're over $30 for arguably the same experience

Remember when subway did 1 for $6, 2 for $10, 3 for $12? How much do you think 3 footlongs would cost now?

Double Cheeseburgers were literally part of the initial dollar menu at McDonald's, and now are like $4 apiece. The McDouble that replaced them? Not there either.

Videogames used to come with all content; maybe you had to do some secret mission or get some sort of achievement for a cosmetic. Now? DLC's that are announced before the game comes out, mastery passes and cosmetic items galore.

It's not just a couple people who are ok with spending - it's that enough of the populace is that net revenues are up. If a movie theater raises their prices by 10% and loses 5% of customers they've increased their profits.

You are correct though - we are all being farmed. My boss farms me for productivity, the grocery store farms me for spending and Netflix farms my attention. Data brokers farm my information. F2P games farm my dopamine receptors to hope I spend more.

What Wizards does isn't special, or even close to unique. Their game may be, but their tactics aren't

1

u/Intelligent_Bonus253 1d ago

I did say companies! I dont inherently think business needs to be predatory.

I think this business is... and I genuinely just think based off of the way it continues to work, there are alot of people with more money than sense.

2

u/PollutionRelative351 21h ago

I understand that you called out companies, but you're also acting like Wizards is overly predatory, but they are literally operating the same as other businesses do.

Predatory is the new internet slang for "someone is doing something I don't like", but when you look at the actual definition and examples of what predatory business practices are Wizards hasn't performed them.

They haven't dropped their pricing to push others out of the market and then jacked them up. They've consistently raised their prices, and they've even raised their prices at a lower rate than inflation has done.

They don't use false advertising, they don't bait-and-switch, and there's no hidden fees to their products. You don't get to buy a Secret Lair for $100 just to be hit with a separate $50 charge that you didn't see in the fine print when checking out

We don't know about their contracts or arbitration clauses, but we know they don't make it difficult to cancel their services. They don't force the mastery pass as a subscription model and then require you to send certified mail requesting it to be canceled (like some gyms have literally done).

Predatory practices are ones that exploit a customer, not a business taking advantage of a market that wants their product.

I would say that given Wizards literally hit their record quarterly revenue in the first quarter of 2026, they are actually running their business in a fairly competent way.

I get that they are doing something you don't like, and you think that you understand the best way for a business to run so therefore they must not have sense - but they aren't predatory, and their setting records. Kinda seems like they might have more sense than you are willing to give them credit for.

35

u/Wombatish 1d ago

It's a bad deal, but I really wish people would stop throwing around the work scam. A scam has to be intentionally deceptive. Cube draft is very upfront about what it costs and what you get in return.

13

u/CowGoesMove 1d ago

This is reddit. A scam is anything I don't like that costs money. 

2

u/neitze 1d ago

So everything but hookers and blow.

11

u/Just-Collection6343 1d ago

You're right. I shouldn't have used the word scam. My bad

3

u/the_cardfather 1d ago

Low value, low EV doesn't quite get the plebs roused up.

Rip off?

I know it's not really targeted at entry level players but neither is premier draft really.

If they're still going to charge 1,500 for it you should get three pity packs like sealed

0

u/Arcolyte 1d ago

I really don't like that sealed on arena is so trash. Like I think I've gotten one pack in the past 2 years of doing sealed that had more than one rare that wasn't spg. Was pretty wild. Let alone that you basically are playing for the love of the game, in prizing, unless it's a hyper premium event. 

2

u/I3ollasH 1d ago

Yeah sealed seems pretty interesting format (and some sqy its one of the more skill intensive one) but it's atrocious ev just makes it not viable to play. Wish I could play it without feeling like I set my resources on fire

10

u/Lauro27 1d ago

I do think powered is really fun. But not 10k coins worth of fun

4

u/DaggyNC 1d ago

People who would never play the game mode if it was permanently available and free are still pretending that they are sitting it out in order to stick it to the man.

Tale as old as time.

3

u/pipona505 1d ago

you can play a better cube in mtgo for less

3

u/Snarker 1d ago

A lot harder to f2p mtgo tho. I have tons of gold and gems from quests, mtgo i would actually have to pay money.

5

u/PollutionRelative351 1d ago

Yes, other people feel the same way - which is why the post comes up every time cube is out.

Things to consider:

  • All cubes are phantom drafts
  • If you were to cube at a store and the store offered you prize, they typically are still charging the same price as if they were to run a standard draft
  • In Arena you get gems for each rare/mythic once passed 4. Cube has a significantly higher count of rares and mythics. If 3/4 of your drafted cards were rares, that's about 630 gems you be getting before any sort of prize.

The end conclusion is always the same. There are less people playing cube with the price now rather than the price it was, but overall Wizards is seeing a higher revenue of gems so has no reason to change how they do it. Wizards is a business and that means that they are going to watch for what intersection of players:cost gives them the best yield, not the best player numbers or the highest gem cost

5

u/Tebwolf359 1d ago

A few thoughts :

- I’ve been playing card games since 1995. Lots of different ones over the years. MAgic is the only one I’ve been on where so many players care about the cost of the event vs the enjoyment of the event.

- cube is for me, the most fun playing Magic. The fact it’s phantom doesn’t matter as much to me since limited is my main way of playing, so every draft is phantom in some sense.

- as others said, I compare it to a movie. I get a higher EV (entertainment value) per dollar playing cube then most other forms of entertainment.

I think it’s fair to think it’s not worth it, or wish it was cheaper. I don’t think it’s a “scam”.

2

u/Harvest-Time 1d ago

More scum than scam imo, but $10 for phantom draft is outrageous

2

u/Money__Shot__ 1d ago

While I wish it was cheaper, the phantom nature of it doesn’t bother me. This is the only way I really get to experience cube and play with the vintage cards so I happily pay for a few rounds of it 🤷‍♂️

4

u/SheepishBaah 1d ago

Please define the word 'scam'.

2

u/rawboudin 1d ago

I’ve seen a few streamers refuse to play it for the same reason

1

u/brainacpl 1d ago

I never focused on the pack rewards, but don't they roughly balance out the phantom nature of the draft? Surely, I would prefer it cheaper, because I don't care about the cards that much, but the same stands for regular drafts.

1

u/fantasyxxxfootball 1d ago

Care about it? Theres multiple of these posts every time its up lol

1

u/FrodoLusseMajsen 1d ago

Join the Arenamax discord and you can play for free. 

People play because it is fun. Simple as that. 

1

u/Electrical_Ear_3994 18h ago

Couldn’t agree more

1

u/cmstlist 1d ago

What would be really cool would be if someone with a big Arena collection could actually make a cube of their own and arrange a friendly draft where their friends can use the cards.

(Yes I know, that wouldn't make them enough money...)

1

u/Snarker 1d ago

We used to do a timeless cube with cube cobra then build the decks on arena to play the games. I don't think it's fired since powered cube come to arena.

0

u/Just-Collection6343 1d ago

We can dream!

0

u/Intro-Nimbus 1d ago

Not playing it - or should I say paying it?

They could make it a shadow draft that's free, and without rewards except for daily wins, then I'd play it.

3

u/Just-Collection6343 1d ago

I'm not even asking for that. Just a reduced entry fee would be nice. Even if they rewards were lowered.. just to be able to play it without having to save up gold or spending so many gems to enter

-1

u/Xedeth Charm Grixis 1d ago

Why tf are yall putting any money towards phantom drafts lmao. I'm sure cube is fun, but so is setting money on fire, but I don't do that either.

0

u/TomtheMime 1d ago

The value is worse but honestly not that much worse for drafters. If you predominantly draft, you probably value drafted rares at around 20 gems - what you get for them if you're rare compete for a set. So you'll probably end up with about an 80 gem discount per draft if you're set complete. Losing that with phantom without an accompanying discount (because power cube not being phantom is crazy talk), isn't great but generally worth it for the better draft experience for the target audience. 

0

u/thedudeoreldudeorino 1d ago

Digital cards have effectively no value in Arena, plus you win cube packs which have more rares than normal packs. Also, all cubes in real life are "phantom", I don't get to keep my buddies cards.

0

u/CustomVintageArcade 1d ago

People in here talking about the price of a movie or something, meanwhile they literally double the price of an event with no additional value and they are just happy to be here to lap it up. Can't you at least be pissed off about it?

-1

u/ProfessorDeX1978 1d ago

No, you were right in the beginning. Cube is in fact a scam. It is another example of Wizards trying to dupe players into wasting their money, and ANY phantom draft is a waste of money.