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Magic: The Gatheringhas dozens of ways to play, known as formats. However, there’s only one that has the honour of being considered the game’s primary, premiere format, and that’s Standard.
Competitive and always-changing, Standard is best known for its uniqueset rotationthat lets cards always remain fresh. But how does rotation work, and when will cards from your favourite set finally leave Standard?
What Is Standard?
Standard is aformat(a set of rules and way of playing) for Magic: The Gathering. More importantly, it is often described asMagic’s premiere format, and is the one most of the game’s releases arebuilt to cater to.
Standard comprises the previous few years' majorpremiere releases. These are the six main releases of the year, but don’t include supplementary sets likeCommander MastersorJumpstart.
Standard is acompetitive, one-on-one format.Both players start at 20 life, and, using decks ofat least 60 cards, try and either knock their opponent down or win through an alternate win condition.
Unlike a singleton format, such as Commander, Standard decks can haveup to four copiesof the same card in them.
Standard differs from most other formats in that itrotates. Sets only have a span of afew years in Standard, before they rotate out to make room for other cards. Through this, Magic canbalance Standardmore easily, and ensure each set has the biggest impact on the format possible.
When Does Standard Rotate?
Traditionally, Standard rotates each year with therelease of the fall set.In 2024, this wasBloomburrow, and in 2023 it wasWilds of Eldraine. This remained true in 2025, with Standard rotating out with the launch ofEdge of Eternities on August 1.
However,rotation will bechanging from 2027. Instead of following the Magic year, which runs from fall set to fall set, it will followcalendar years, and will instead rotate with thefirst set of 2027.This means there will beno Standard rotation in 2026.
Sets remain in Standard for aroundthree years, lasting throughtwo rotationsafter their release. With the third rotation, theyleave the format and are no longer legal. This does mean that some sets remain legal for longer than others, but it also means youonly need to update Standard decks once a year.
Which Sets Are Standard-Legal?
These are every known set that is either currently legal in Standard, or will be legal in Standard when they launch.
Foundations
Q1 2029, likely to be extended beyond that.
2026’s changes to rotation mean that, unfortunately,Bloomburrow and Duskmourn: House Of Horrorhave a shorter time in Standard than other sets. They will rotateapproximately seven months earlierthan they would have under the previous system.
What Happens To Cards When They Rotate Out Of Standard?
While youcan’t play rotated-out cards in Standard, Standard is only one way of playing Magic: The Gathering. Other formats, such asPioneer, Modern, Vintage, and Legacy, do not rotate, and so cards from your old Standard sets could be used in them.
There is also, of course,Commander, which only allows you to use one of any card, but allows you to use any legal card printed.Commanderdoes not follow Standard rotation either, and iscasual enoughto allow for even lower-powered Standard cards to be playable.
