MTG Standard Rotation Guide 2024

What Is Standard?

Standard is one of the formats for competitive Magic: The Gathering. Because Standard only uses cards from specific sets in the past three years, it has enjoyed decades of popularity with collectors, and it is a common format for events such as Friday Night Magic.

What Sets Are Legal in Standard?

After the release of Foundations on November 15, 2024, the following sets are legal in Standard:

Are Any Cards Banned in Standard?

As of August 2, 2024, there are no cards currently banned in Standard. All cards previously banned in the format were in sets that rotated out of Standard with the release of Duskmourn: House of Horror.

What Is the Newest Standard Set? What Is the Next Standard Set?

The newest Standard set is Foundations, release date November 15, 2024. The next Standard set will be Aetherdrift, scheduled to release on February 14, 2025.

What Is Standard Rotation?

Once every year, Wizards of the Coast (WotC), makers of Magic: The Gathering, change the Standard format by taking out older sets. This is called “Standard rotation,” and it helps keep Standard exciting by giving players a new pool of cards to use.

Standard rotation affects both in-person play with physical cards (“paper” / “tabletop”) and online play through Magic: The Gathering Online (MTGO) and Magic: The Gathering Arena. On Arena, this process is also called “renewal.”

The 2025 Standard rotation will occur as previously scheduled; however, starting in 2027, the annual Standard rotation will shift to align with the release of the year’s first set. Under this new model, Standard will continue to span sets from the last three years.

Magic Foundations

Foundations will offer a stable starting experience for new MTG players on release. Foundations, which was released on November 15, 2024, will be Standard-legal for an extended period of time: while most MTG sets are in Standard for between two and three years, Foundations “will be Standard legal through at least 2029”.

Magic Foundations Rules Change

With the release of Magic Foundations, the concept of damage assignment order will be completely removed. Currently, damage order is “…used whenever an attacking creature was blocked by more than one creature,” however according to WotC, this iteration has become “…unintuitive, adds a fair bit of rules baggage, and losing it means more interesting decisions and less double-dipping if you know the tricks.” The change to damage assignment order is as follows:

“Damage assignment order no longer exists. If a creature is facing multiple opposing creatures in combat, that creature’s combat damage is assigned and dealt as its controller desires during the combat damage step. Other players won’t necessarily know what’s going to happen.”
Wizards of the Coast

What Happens During Standard Rotation?

During a Standard rotation, the oldest year’s worth of sets, usually a total of four sets, leave Standard. At the same time, a new set enters Standard.

When Did the Most Recent Standard Rotation Take Place?

The most Standard rotation took place on August 2, 2024, with the release of Bloomburrow.

Which Sets Left Standard with the Recent Rotation?

The following sets left Standard with the August 2, 2024 rotation:

Which Sets Make Up Standard After the Recent Rotation?

The following sets make up the new Standard after the August 2, 2024 rotation:

Can I Use Older Versions of Cards in Standard-Legal Sets?

Yes! Any tournament-legal version or printing of a card in a Standard-legal set is okay to use when playing Standard. For example, a player may use a copy of Broken Wings printed in Streets of New Capenna after its rotation out of Standard because it was also printed in Dominaria United.

Broken Wings cards from *Streets of New Capenna* and *Dominaria United.* Both versions remain legal in Standard after *Streets of New Capenna* left the format in the August 2, 2024 rotation.

How Can I Use Cards That Rotated Out of Standard?

While Standard rotates, most Magic: The Gathering formats let you keep using your favorite cards. Examples of non-rotating formats include Pioneer, Modern, and Commander.