Standard: the format explained
The newest cards, 1-on-1, rotates every year.
- Card pool
- Only the sets from the last ~3 years.
- Notable
- Rotates: older sets drop out every year, so the card pool stays small and fresh.
Who is it for?
A good first step into competitive 1-on-1 play. Because the pool is small and current, you don't need to know or own thousands of old cards.
Getting started with Standard
The cheapest way to try Standard is MTG Arena: it's free to start, gives you starter decks, and every game earns cards and wildcards. In paper, most players buy singles for one known deck instead of opening boosters and hoping. A competitive Standard deck costs more than a Pauper deck and usually less than a Modern deck. The catch: cards rotate out of the format after a few years.
Standard is the Friday Night Magic format at many local game stores, and on Arena it's the format of most ranked games and events. Because rotation happens once a year, it's smart to buy cards from the newest sets first: they stay legal the longest. At the kitchen table, Standard is a good fit if you want to learn with a small, manageable card pool.
Building a Standard deck
A Standard deck has at least 60 cards, with no more than 4 copies of any card except basic lands. You may also have a sideboard of up to 15 cards; between games of a match, you swap cards between deck and sideboard. The limit of 4 counts deck and sideboard together. Stick to exactly 60: every extra card lowers the odds of drawing your best ones.
A sensible land count is 20 to 23 for fast aggro decks, 24 to 25 for midrange and 25 to 27 for control. Stay in one or two colors for your first deck; three colors need a strong mana base, and a small card pool doesn't always offer one. Build a curve with something to do on turns 2, 3 and 4, and keep cards costing 5 or more to a few top-end threats.
On Arena you play both best-of-one (Bo1) and best-of-three (Bo3). Bo1 has no sideboard, so decks that are consistent on their own do best. In Bo3, including paper tournaments, your sideboard is where you fix bad matchups. A first deck is usually two-color aggro or midrange: easy to play and forgiving while you learn the format.
Common mistakes
- Buying cards from a set that's about to rotate. Check which sets leave the format next before spending money on paper Standard cards.
- Too many colors. A third color for one great card often loses you more games to bad mana than the card wins.
- No sideboard plan. Fifteen random cards don't help in Bo3; pick cards for the opponents you actually expect to face.
- Spreading wildcards thin on Arena. Finish one complete deck you'll actually play before crafting rares from five different decks.
Frequently asked questions
- How often does Standard rotate?
- Once a year the oldest sets leave, and a set stays legal for about three years. The current list of legal sets is on the Standard page at magic.wizards.com.
- How many lands in a 60-card Standard deck?
- Usually 22 to 26, depending on how fast your deck is. The lower your mana curve, the fewer lands you need.
- Can I play Standard on MTG Arena?
- Yes. Arena has Standard in Bo1 and Bo3, with the same card pool as paper. Alchemy is a separate, digital-only format with rebalanced cards.
- Where's the Standard ban list?
- On the Banned and Restricted page at magic.wizards.com. Check it right before a tournament, since an update can hit your deck.
Other formats
Commander (EDH)PioneerModernPauperLegacyVintageOathbreaker
See which of your cards are Standard-legal →
Last updated: 26 October 2026