Magic Online Vintage Cube LIVE Prize Cube Version Details

Posted on Oct 11, 2024

by Ryan Spain

Greetings, Vintage Cube enthusiasts and MagicCon attendees! Last week, we showcased the 540 cards that will be drafted at MagicCon Las Vegas in the Ultimate Guard Finals of the Magic Online Vintage Cube LIVE. You can find live coverage of the event on www.Twitch.tv/UltimateGuardLive, and a co-stream on www.Twitch.tv/MagicOnline. Starting after the conclusion of the Finals Draft on the evening of Friday, October 25th, the Prize Cube will be available to draft on Magic Online as well! 

Our curation team has meticulously selected each card to create an unforgettable experience. We'd like to share the guiding principles that shaped our decisions, from embracing an old-school aesthetic to ensuring the cube is as exciting for players as it is for spectators. 

Lean Old-School 

We wanted the Prize Cube to evoke a sense of nostalgia, celebrating the rich history of Magic: The Gathering. To achieve this, we leaned heavily into an old-school aesthetic: 

• Pre-Mirrodin Originals: If a card was originally printed before the Mirrodin set, we generally used a pre-Mirrodin copy unless an alternative version was even more collectible or served different aesthetic goals.
• Retro Frames with Original Art: For post-Mirrodin cards, we generally opted for retro-frame versions when they featured the original art. Retro frames with alternate art were considered on a case-by-case basis, ensuring they aligned with our overall theme.

• Limited Edition Beta Commons and Uncommons: If a common or uncommon card saw print for the first time in Limited Edition Alpha, the version in the cube will be from Alpha or Beta. 

Maximize the Interesting and Cool 

Our goal was to make as many cards in the Prize Cube as possible special and exciting in some way beyond the baseline excitement of a “regular” printing of a powerful card. 

• Pre-Modern Editions: We included as many cards as possible from the Pre-Modern era to capture the classic feel.
• Different but Identifiable: We prioritized cards that were different from their "regular" printings but still used the original art. Extended-art printings are the most common example of this.

• High-Demand Variants: Cards with versions that are in high demand compared to their standard printings made the cut, adding extra allure to the cube. 

Spread the Excitement Around 

To create a balanced and rewarding experience, we used version and condition considerations to distribute the demand more evenly throughout the cube instead of putting it all in a handful of top cards. 

• Downgrading the High-End: We targeted lower-condition grades on some of the higher-end cards to allow us to include a greater number of high-demand cards rather than concentrating it all in just a few. When we adjusted conditions, we prioritized the front face of the cards. This ensures they look excellent when sleeved—perfect for finalists who wish to keep and play with their winnings.
• Reinvesting Budget Gains: The extra budget carved out from using lower-grade, high-end card grades was reinvested to enhance other aspects of the cube while aligning with our curation goals. 

Coverage-Friendly Choices 

We also considered how the cube would present during live coverage: 

• Selective Use of Foils: Foil cards were included only when essential to our other goals, because they can produce glare on camera that can make it harder to follow the action on coverage. To prevent issues like glare or potential markings, non-foil versions will be available to swap in during the event if needed.
  • Iconic Foils and Promos: Early Magic foils from sets like Urza’s Legacy or Seventh Edition and the earliest promotional foils have a unique allure given their history and scarcity. These were the types of foils we felt warranted inclusion despite the potential coverage issues.

• • Retro-Frame Promos: Some retro-frame promos perfectly fit our old-school theme but only come in foil. We included many of these to enhance the cube's nostalgic feel.
• Original and Iconic Art: We used the original or most iconic card art whenever possible for easy identification on the battlefield. Variant art was selected only if the card remained easily recognizable from a distance. Many Planeswalkers feature alternate art where they stand out against the background, ensuring clarity during gameplay. 

Embracing White-Bordered Cards 

Adhering to tournament-legal English cards while maintaining our $65K value target meant necessarily including white-bordered cards, so we leaned into it a bit. Instead of avoiding white borders, we embraced them as part of the cube's charm and historical significance. 

• Inclusion of Unlimited and Revised Editions: We generally used Unlimited where possible for rares, with Revised also acceptable for higher-demand cards.
• Portal Three Kingdoms: We also included cards from the scarce Portal Three Kingdoms set. It's an English edition of a set where first printings of cards had white borders, adding unique value and rarity to the cube.

Vintage Cube Sudoku

Balancing all these factors—card availability, condition, aesthetic appeal, and overall value—was like solving a complex Vintage Cube Sudoku puzzle. Adjusting one card often meant tweaking others to maintain our value target. It was a delightful challenge, and we're thrilled with the final list. We hope you are too!

The official info page for the Magic Online Vintage Cube LIVE Powered by Ultimate Guard has been updated with the version and condition information. You can also check out the same details in a CubeCobra.com presentation, where hovering over any card will show you a near-mint version.

The Final Say

The grades in the table on the info page and in CubeCobra are as graded by the retailers and collectibles experts they came from and should be fairly accurate. The cards with the greatest demand have links to photos in the CubeCobra listings, and we will continue to add photos until the top 50+ are available.

However, the grades listed are not the last word! The ultimate arbiter of quality and retail value of the Prize Cube will be Lukas Schwendinger, Head of Purchasing at Three for One Trading. We will be meeting Lukas with the Prize Cube ahead of the event in Las Vegas, where he will conduct a final grading on site.

This will include busting the Prize Cube Black Lotus out of slab jail! The Unlimited Black Lotus we secured for this event is a graded 6.0 by Beckett, but it's tough to shuffle in its current sleeve, and might be considered "marked" by the head judge:

Lukas will have the right tools on hand to crack the case safely for the card and for himself, and we will free the flower to be played again!

If Lukas’s independent assessment estimates the total value of the Prize Cube to be below $65K, we will upgrade versions or conditions of cards on the spot until we meet or exceed the target to Lukas’s satisfaction.

The Final Surprise

Full details on the Ultimate Guard Finals can be found here, and we're not quite done with the curation details. Next week, Ultimate Guard will reveal an additional surprise about the curation that could shift some card versions ahead of the final grading with Lukas. Rest assured; the cube will still meet the $65K threshold even if you valued every affected card at zero. Keep an eye on Ultimate Guard's blog next Friday—you won't want to miss the final details of this Prize Cube curation!

It's been a blast putting on this event, and we hope those who participated enjoyed taking their shots. The stage is set for an incredible Ultimate Guard Finals in just a couple of weeks! If you're attending MagicCon, we hope you'll stop by Room S204—found in the second-floor breezeway leading to the main convention hall—to say hello and catch some of the Finals action!