Standard

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Standard
 
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Standard
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Standard.png}}|250px]]
DCI Sanctioned
Paper {Tick}
Magic Online {Tick}
Magic Arena {Tick}
Rules
Type Constructed
Multiplayer {Cross}
Add. rules Best-of-three
Scryfall Search
format:"Standard"

Standard, formerly known as Type 2 or Type II, is a rotating constructed play format for Magic: The Gathering, that was created on January 10, 1995.[1][2] It is the most widely sanctioned constructed format at all levels of organized play.[3] Standard matches are best-of-3, so this format is called Traditional Standard on MTG Arena.

Deck construction

Standard decks must contain a minimum of sixty cards. There is no maximum deck size; however, one must be able to shuffle one's deck without assistance.

Sideboards are optional and may contain up to fifteen cards. Except for basic land cards, a player's combined deck and sideboard may not contain more than four copies of any individual card, counted by the card's English title equivalent.[4]

Set legality

Cards from the following sets are currently legal in Standard, except for banned cards:[4]

Sets Legal until
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Early Fall 2023
Innistrad: Crimson Vow
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
Streets of New Capenna
Dominaria United Early Fall 2024
The Brothers' War
Phyrexia: All Will Be One
March of the Machine*
March of the Machine: The Aftermath*
Wilds of Eldraine* Early Fall 2025
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan*
TBA*
TBA*

^* Not released yet.

Banned list

The following cards are banned in Standard tournaments.

Previously banned cards

See also: Banned and restricted cards/Timeline.

The following is a list of cards that have been banned at one point during their stay in the Standard environment.

Should a banned card that rotated out of standard be later reintroduced into Standard, the ban will not carry over to that set. (The only example up to date is Darksteel Citadel, which was banned in Mirrodin Standard, but was later reprinted in Magic 2015).

Rotation

Since the introduction of Three-and-One Model in 2019 (or effectively in 2018), once a year with the release of a new fall set the four oldest expansion/core sets in Standard, as well as any other Standard-legal set released during that period will rotate out. For example, fall 2019 rotation caused Ixalan, Rivals of Ixalan, Dominaria, and Core 2019 (as well as regional exclusive set Global Series: Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling) to leave Standard.

Before the Three-and-One Model, the two oldest blocks still legal in Standard would rotate out of the format. For example, When Ixalan set released in fall 2017, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Shadows over Innistrad, Eldritch Moon, and Welcome Deck 2016 (which counted as a part Shadows over Innistrad in rotation) rotated out of Standard.

Because of this, no set is Standard-legal for more than two years.

Starting in 2021, Wizards of the Coast is trying a new schedule where the premier sets are early fall, late fall, winter, and spring (dates based on Northern Hemisphere seasons.) [8]. There will still be a non-premier product released in the summer. With a late fall release instead of a summer release, this functionally means that the shortest-legal set goes from the minimum of 15 months to about 17 months, though each set shrinks their draft rotation time by a few weeks.[9]

History

Main article: Standard/Timeline

When Standard (then called "Type 2") was created on January 10, 1995, it inherited the banned and restricted lists from Vintage (then "Type 1"). Legal were then the most current basic set (Revised Edition) and the latest two Magic expansions only (The Dark and Fallen Empires).

The original Standard format allowed the recent two blocks, plus the most recent core set (two core sets between the last release and the actual rotation). After Magic Origins, core sets were discontinued and blocks only contained two sets, usually one large and one small. A Standard with three blocks and two rotations (Spring and Autumn) was adopted between 2015 and 2016 (Khans of Tarkir/Fate Reforged and Dragons of Tarkir/Magic Origins were treated as blocks for the purposes of transition). In this system, the number of legal sets would vary less (always five or six, compared to the current five to eight).[10] As the system received heavy criticism among players, Spring rotation was dropped in 2017 and reverted to format which the oldest 4 sets will be rotated out in each rotation in Autumn.

The current Standard allows all cards in the newest three to four story-based blocks (including the Welcome Deck and all exclusive cards Planeswalkers Decks/Deck Builder's Kit released in this period), save for cards on the Standard banned list. The release of the first expansion in Autumn will trigger a rotation, rotating out the oldest two blocks.[11]

Starting in Kaladesh and ending with War of the Spark, the Standard Showdown was introduced as a root-level competitive tournament that awarded special prize packs (notably foil rare cards from standard sets) to participants.

In November 2021, Alchemy, an online-only variant of Standard, was brought forth as a new initiative from MTG Arena. With no paper tournaments planned for the future due to the COVID-19 pandemic and increasingly rapid metagame stagnation, Alchemy was developed as a way to rebalance problematic cards and inject some novelty into solved formats. It was inducted as a tournament format in the first high-level event in 2022.

By late 2022, sanctioned Standard Play had dried up in many stores.[12] Some named reasons were the COVID-19 pandemic, the ease of Standard play on MTG Arena, the rising popularity of Commander play and the lack of grinding opportunities for Organized Play.[13]

Former popular Standard decks

References

  1. ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 6, 2012). "Setting The Standard". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  2. ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 5, 2013). "Twenty Things That Were Going To Kill Magic". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  3. ↑ Reid Duke (April 27, 2015). "An Introduction to the Popular Constructed Formats". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  4. ↑ a b Standard Format, MTG.com
  5. ↑ a b c Ian Duke and Jay Parker (January 25, 2022). "January 25, 2022 Banned and Restricted Announcement". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  6. ↑ Ian Duke (September 19, 2022). "October 10, 2022 Banned and Restricted Announcement". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  7. ↑ Ian Duke (October 12, 2020). "October 12, 2020 Banned and Restricted Announcement". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  8. ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 26, 2021). "Hi marc why does this year have 5 premium sets...". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  9. ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 26, 2021). "I would miss the Summer sets, and that 2 sets in fall feel a bit to close to each other for my taste". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  10. ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 25, 2014). "Metamorphosis". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  11. ↑ Aaron Forsythe (October 19, 2016). "Revisiting Standard Rotation". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  12. ↑ Aaron Forsythe (January 19, 2022). "Why has sanctioned Standard play declined relative to other formats in your store?". Twitter.
  13. ↑ Jake Henderson (December 7, 2022). "The Decline of Standard: What Happened to Magic’s Most Popular Tournament Format?". Draftsim.com.

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