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.

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.

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