Fans have been complaining about the rate of MTG set releases for close to half a decade now, and they’ve been complaining about Universes Beyond ever since Universes Beyond was created.
With the speed of the Standard MTG release schedule and the number of UB sets both ramping up in 2026, it was only a matter of time before fans took matters into their own hands. Meet Planar Standard: a fan-made format which does away with everything that isn’t Wizards of the Coast’s original IP, effectively shrinking the number of Standard sets going forward by 50%.
While the name Planar Standard references the removal of UB (it only includes content from MTG planes) its creator – who, online, goes by the handle Edoardo_Beffardo – says the real goal was to have “a slower, smaller Standard”. He tells Wargamer the idea was spawned from “the desire to fully play and explore new Magic releases at a pace that would be considered reasonable for a working adult,” something he felt had been lost with six or seven new Standard sets scheduled each year.
Planar Standard began in late 2025, when Edoardo made what he now thinks of as a “very cheesy” format proposal which nonetheless gained “a lot of support and attention”. From there, he set up a Discord, which has steadily grown over the months, to the point where it’s now approaching 1,500 members. Magic’s head designer Mark Rosewater has even acknowledged the format, writing on his blog that he is curious to see where it goes.
According to its creator, Planar Standard slows down the schedule, allowing fans to “enjoy and savor a new Magic set release” instead of being whisked away to the new hot thing in under two months. But the other way it seeks to improve on regular Standard is by significantly reducing the size of its cardpool.
Not only are half of all recently released Magic sets missing from Planar Standard, the format also takes a U-turn on a decision WotC made three years ago (ironically with the goal of revitalizing Standard) returning to a two-year Standard cycle. This cuts down the number of sets available at one time from a whopping 16 to a maximum of seven.
“Piling this many sets in the same format leaves less space for any but the most powerful cards and strategies to emerge,” says Edoardo, explaining his reasoning. “We want to create an environment where new cards and strategies have a fighting chance, and we feel that limiting the size between five and seven sets is the best way to achieve that goal.”
He gives the example that in Lorwyn Eclipsed, each of the five tribal strategies were experimented with in Planar Standard, whereas almost none of these cards made so much as a ripple in regular Standard. Elementals are the one exception, with the Spellementals archetype, but even then “Sunderflock appears to be the only surviving Elemental card out of the entire Lorwyn Eclipsed set”.
While Planar Standard excludes all of Magic’s crossover sets like Avatar The Last Airbender and Final Fantasy, Edoardo_Beffardo doesn’t think that’s the main draw, and the community’s ‘Format Philosophy’ document states “we reject all forms of inappropriate or hateful anti-Universes Beyond sentiments”.
He explains that splitting Standard up on Universes Beyond/Within lines was simply the easiest way to do it. As a bonus, it’s seen as a selling point by some members, and given the price hike associated with UB packs, it also makes Planar Standard cheaper to play.
Right now, Edoardo says, Planar Standard takes place almost exclusively online, and mostly on MTG Arena: “though there are a couple of smaller regular paper groups around the world, which is awesome in its own right.”
Getting involved in a community format always takes some extra effort (there’s a reason MTG Arena has become the most popular place to play Standard: convenience) but the Planar Standard community has taken steps to make getting involved as simple as possible. “Finding a game is as easy as joining the Discord and posting in our find-a-game channel, where another player will challenge you in a matter of minutes at most hours of the day.”
With Premodern and Planar Standard both drawing in fans, it seems like there’s a renaissance of Magic: The Gathering fan formats right now, catering to audiences that aren’t having their needs met by the official channels.
The TCG has always had a passionate fanbase keen to make the game its own, and of course there’s precedent for Wizards taking notice and adopting these communities (for better or worse) if they get large enough.
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Source: Wargamer
