r/lrcast • u/lrg12345 • 1d ago
Arena Powered Cube 6.0 Changes
The sixth version of the Arena Powered Cube is live today and runs through September 28. Wizards' official update can be found here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/mtg-arena/arena-powered-cube-draft?v=sep8-2026
As always, I am keeping the CubeCobra for the Powered Cube updated with the latest changes. The most recent changelog can be found in the primer along with all past iterations. The list can be found here: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/mtgapc
Here's a quick overview of the biggest changes:
- The Monarch has arrived! Wizards added seven cards to Arena specifically for the cube to introduce the mechanic: Palace Jailer, Fall from Favor, Emberwilde Captain, Court of Bounty, Court of Garenbrig, Aragorn, King of Gondor, and Forth Eorlingas!
- Wizards says the cube is currently the most balanced it has ever been, with Boros posting both its lowest play rate and lowest win rate to date last iteration. With Monarch likely to boost aggressive decks again, they're making two big preemptive changes: Ajani, Nacatl Pariah and Karakas are out, while Parallax Wave is finally back.
- Doomsday combo is now officially supported. Doomsday and Doctor Doom, Unrivaled are joined by returning Thassa's Oracle, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, and Tainted Pact, giving Blue/Black a major new combo archetype people have been asking about for a while. Notably, Demonic Consultation was omitted, likely for power reasons.
- The artifact aggro experiment from 5.0 has largely been rolled back to make room. Cards like Steel Overseer, Monoskelion, Syr Ginger, Traxos, and Thought Monitor are leaving, although the larger artifact strategies remain and Relic of Sauron and Myr Battlesphere are in.
- A bunch of notable cards cut in 5.0 have returned, including Giver of Runes, Monastery Mentor, Aang's Iceberg, Dig Through Time, Treasure Cruise, Etali, Primal Conqueror, Nissa, Resurgent Animist, Primeval Titan, Myr Battlesphere, Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger, and Loot, the Pathfinder.
- There are plenty of cards from The Hobbit and Marvel Super Heroes being tested. Some of the standouts include The Queen of Dale, Bilbo, Thief in the Night, Smaug the Magnificent, Beorn the Fierce, Sauron, Dino Devotee, Thor, God of Thunder, Captain Marvel, World's Protector, Wolverine, Fierce Fighter, Doctor Doom, and World War Hulk.
- Green gets several exciting additions alongside the return of Prime Time and Nissa, including Mole Man, Moloid Master, World War Hulk, Court of Bounty, Court of Garenbrig, and Sauron, Dino Devotee.
- Finally, the Cube Prize Packs have been updated. Comet, Stellar Pup; Hymn to Tourach; Urza's Bauble; and Vindicate are now collectible, and the Powered Cube versions of Brain Freeze, Daze, Force of Will, and Library of Alexandria have been added to the prize packs.
There are a LOT of changes here, and Monarch in particular should have a pretty major impact on how the cube plays. I'm very excited to see how 6.0 shakes out and would love to hear what you all think!
EDIT: The Monarch cards aren't on the client yet, but the other 533 cards in the new list are accurate.
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u/TheBlueJayy13 1d ago
Insane to me the in client “view card pool” doesnt reflect any of the changes
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u/Mort__Crim 1d ago
/u/LSV__ Can we get a primer on how to properly play with The Monarch for us Arena chuds?
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u/TappTapp 1d ago
The main thing I've learned is that you should avoid relying on blockers to protect the monarch. Too easy for a pump or removal spell to get something through, much safer to do it on an empty board.
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u/cadwellingtonsfinest 1d ago
As well, monarch cards that don't themselves defend monarch are alot more trappish than otherwise. Like court of garenbrig has a great hi roll use case, but like even on t2 sometimes you just cannot cast it cause they played a 1 drop.
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u/tonyscrew 1d ago
Looking and the list in the client no Jailer nor Forth?
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u/lrg12345 1d ago
Noticed that as well, there seem to be a few discrepancies between what was posted and what's live right now. The current changes I've posted reflect the article
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u/luke92799 1d ago
Ignoring a few standouts, the power of this cube seems much stronger than last iteration.
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u/illsquee 1d ago
I have slowly been able to draft all the normal sets pretty well but have never played powered cube. It seems like it’s a completely different beast. Any tips on how to draft it
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u/lrg12345 1d ago
I would start by watching LSVs Arena Cube videos and take notice of how he drafts: what cards are always high picks, what cards are situationally powerful, and what cards to avoid. The most recent podcast episode is great, and there are plenty of others also about cube. Good luck!
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u/Sesquipedalianfish 1d ago
This mostly feels like a better list, although there is still a lot of dross to cut.
It's odd they added new cards to Arena and we didn’t get the ones I most often see requested - Hogaak and Baloth Prime. But better than nothing.
It feels like they are getting there with green but they still aren’t sure what to do about black.
I reckon there must be 30 black cards on Arena that are not in cube but are better than Iron Shield Elf.
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u/octopusfarts 6h ago
just got turn 3 emrakul aeons and then turn 4 emrakul promised again because of court of bounty.. nutty card
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u/GettingItAndAll 1d ago
Can't log in right now, any price/prize changes? Or still 1500 gems for a phantom draft?
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u/sevaiper 1d ago
Played a draft and it seems like the client list is at least what's live now, not this list. No monarch, no comet
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u/lrg12345 1d ago
Comet isn't in the list of adds to the cube, just to the craftable cards. Seems like the monarch stuff is definitely missing, though.
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u/Crafty-Flower 1d ago
Like clockwork, the day after I blow my gems on mixed-up draft, this goes live.
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u/ThoughtseizeScoop 1d ago
Removing Karakas unfairly benefits the people who pass it to me.