MTG Planar Standard Is 1 Year Old, And It's Perfect For Players Who Don't Like Universes Beyond

Published Oct 14, 2026, 5:25 PM EDT Niall (pronounced Ny-ul) is a UK-based writer who has been writing about Magic: The Gathering throughout his entire career, with everything from new set breakdowns and individual deck guides to offering his opinions on the state of formats and the general direction of the iconic TCG. Niall also has a rich history covering triple-A releases, sports games, and PC hardware. Magic: The Gathering has a ton of fun, competitive, and unique formats you can explore, but right now, few are as exciting as Planar Standard. This format is a like-for-like copy of the OG competitive format, only it removes all Universes Beyond cards from the legal pool and operates on a much shorter rotation. This format is perfect for players who miss the feel of old-school Standard Magic, in that post-Modern but pre-Universes Beyond window filled with set blocks and very few yearly products compared to 2026. That's not to say that today's game is bad, but Planar Standard offers an alternative to players who feel much more engaged with Magic when the cards on the table aren't Iron Man, Gandalf, Iroh, Spider-Man, Cloud Strife, Captain Kirk, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Planar Standard Turns One, And It's Been Quite The Year I remember seeing some of the first posts about Planar Standard over on various subreddits at the beginning of 2026 and thinking, "great, another format to track,' but I'm glad I spent the time to dig deeper into the format and am very happy that it exists and is still growing. Universes Beyond is great for Magic: The Gathering. This isn't a wholly controversial thing to say, especially after revelations earlier this year showed that such a small percentage of the playing population is outright unhappy with it, and the various sets have helped bring tons of new players to the game who then stick around for the in-universe releases, too. For those who don't want Universes Beyond to be part of their Magic experience, or specifically the Standard format, Planar is the answer. In a celebratory post on the MagicTCG Reddit, it's noted how far the format has come since its inception, and it continues to grow from strength to strength as more players discover it. It's far from easy to grow as a community-driven operation, but Planar Standard has every chance of succeeding in an economy where players are intimidated by the pace and increasing cost of buying new Magic cards. What Does Planar Standard Do Differently? Planar Standard removes all Universes Beyond cards from the Standard format, and shrinked the legal card pool to just two years worth of in-universe sets, plus the Foundations set, which is a substitute for the old yearly Core Set releases. This means the following sets are currently legal in Planar Standard: Foundations Aetherdrift Tarkir: Dragonstorm Edge of Eternities Lorwyn Eclipsed Secrets of Strixhaven Reality Fracture The card pool also has its own ban list, with Cori-Steel Cutter being the only banned card in the format right now. These bans are voted on by the community to ensure that there is the right amount of support to take a card out of the format. Obviously, as the format grows, this may not be possible depending on how the meta is split, but it works for now. Planar events take place on MTG Arena and you can check out the Planar Standard website for details on how to enter. Everything else about Planar Standard is a carbon copy of regular Standard play. So, if you find yourself struggling to keep up with the pace of releases, don't want to buy into Universes Beyond products, or understandably can't keep up with the cost of building a competitive Standard deck in the current market (both for Paper and MTG Arena), Planar Standard is something well worth looking into. Franchise Magic: The Gathering Original Release Date August 5, 1993 Publisher Wizards of the Coast Designer(s) Richard Garfield