Post by goldensandslash on Feb 15, 2019 18:32:59 GMT
Let's play a game of Magic! Okay, great. What format? Standard? Okay. Let me just double-check what's legal in that format real quick.
So, it's pretty simple. Anything released in a booster pack from Ixalan onwards is legal.
Ixalan is LEGAL.
Rivals of Ixalan is LEGAL.
Dominaria is LEGAL.
Core Set 2019 is LEGAL.
Guilds of Ravnica is LEGAL.
Ravnica Allegiance is LEGAL.
But wait, there are some booster pack products that aren't legal in Standard: the masters sets.
Modern Masters 2017 is NOT LEGAL.
Iconic Masters is NOT LEGAL.
Masters 25 is NOT LEGAL.
Oh, and there's also whacky weird draft formats that Wizards tries to do occasionally, these aren't legal either:
Unstable is NOT LEGAL.
Battlebond is NOT LEGAL.
Now, there's one other thing that we have to discuss. Each set, starting with Dominaria, has had a buy-a-box promo that isn't found in the actual set itself. Despite that, these are legal... mostly. We'll talk about THAT issue later.
Firesong and Sunspeaker is LEGAL.
Nexus of Fate is LEGAL. (kinda, see below)
Impervious Greatwurm is LEGAL.
The Haunt of Hightower is LEGAL.
Now, in addition to all of that, there are also preconstructed decks released with each set that have cards that aren't found in the actual set. These are legal.
Planeswalker Decks are LEGAL.
However, not all preconstructed products are legal. You just... kinda have to keep track of it, but don't worry about it, because any pre-constructed deck that is Standard-legal is made to be bad on purpose.
Commander 2017 is NOT LEGAL.
Commander 2018 is NOT LEGAL.
Guilds of Ravnica Guild Kits are NOT LEGAL.
Ravnica Allegiance Guild Kits are NOT LEGAL.
But there are some Standard-legal decks that are made to be good. Those ones are not legal, but the next ones coming up are legal.
Challenger Decks 2018 are NOT LEGAL.
Challenger Decks 2019 will be LEGAL.
Now, let's talk about Nexus of Fate. This card is banned on Magic the Gathering Arena, but it isn't banned on Magic the Gathering Online or in physical tabletop play. Except it isn't banned in all versions of Standard on Arena, only some of them. The formats it's banned in aren't really called anything and there's not really a good way of differentiating it. But the best way to think of it is that if a league you join has the word "Traditional" in its name, then you can use Nexus of Fate. Otherwise, you can't. (The primary differences between them is that non-Traditional leagues are best-of-one games instead of best-of-three. Also, your opening hand in non-Traditional games (before you take any mulligans) is guaranteed to be the ratio of lands to spells that is closest to average for your deck, without any regards for color.)
Nexus of Fate is SEMI-LEGAL.
Oh, and also, there is a banned list in Standard that currently consists of a single card: Rampaging Ferocidon. It's banned because... um... to be honest... I have no idea.
Rampaging Ferocidon is NOT LEGAL.
Lastly, there's the issue of Global Series: Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling. This is legal as long as you're playing in China, but it is not legal if you're outside of China.
Global Series: Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling is SEMI-LEGAL.
But wait! Isn't the issue of "What is considered China?" a widely debated issue? Yes it is. What happens if you're playing in Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macau, which are legal gray areas about whether they are China or not. Well, for that, we have to turn to Wizards of the Coast's official stance on international politics! According to Blake Rasmussen on Twitter, these cards stop being Standard-legal as soon as you hit an ocean or a border, thus making them not legal in these aforementioned places, and thus likely pissing off the Chinese government. Hooray!
So, yeah, now I get it. I understand what is and isn't Standard-legal right now. We can play a game of Standard if you like.
After all, it follows such a logical and consistent system that is intuitive and easy to understand!
So, it's pretty simple. Anything released in a booster pack from Ixalan onwards is legal.
Ixalan is LEGAL.
Rivals of Ixalan is LEGAL.
Dominaria is LEGAL.
Core Set 2019 is LEGAL.
Guilds of Ravnica is LEGAL.
Ravnica Allegiance is LEGAL.
But wait, there are some booster pack products that aren't legal in Standard: the masters sets.
Modern Masters 2017 is NOT LEGAL.
Iconic Masters is NOT LEGAL.
Masters 25 is NOT LEGAL.
Oh, and there's also whacky weird draft formats that Wizards tries to do occasionally, these aren't legal either:
Unstable is NOT LEGAL.
Battlebond is NOT LEGAL.
Now, there's one other thing that we have to discuss. Each set, starting with Dominaria, has had a buy-a-box promo that isn't found in the actual set itself. Despite that, these are legal... mostly. We'll talk about THAT issue later.
Firesong and Sunspeaker is LEGAL.
Nexus of Fate is LEGAL. (kinda, see below)
Impervious Greatwurm is LEGAL.
The Haunt of Hightower is LEGAL.
Now, in addition to all of that, there are also preconstructed decks released with each set that have cards that aren't found in the actual set. These are legal.
Planeswalker Decks are LEGAL.
However, not all preconstructed products are legal. You just... kinda have to keep track of it, but don't worry about it, because any pre-constructed deck that is Standard-legal is made to be bad on purpose.
Commander 2017 is NOT LEGAL.
Commander 2018 is NOT LEGAL.
Guilds of Ravnica Guild Kits are NOT LEGAL.
Ravnica Allegiance Guild Kits are NOT LEGAL.
But there are some Standard-legal decks that are made to be good. Those ones are not legal, but the next ones coming up are legal.
Challenger Decks 2018 are NOT LEGAL.
Challenger Decks 2019 will be LEGAL.
Now, let's talk about Nexus of Fate. This card is banned on Magic the Gathering Arena, but it isn't banned on Magic the Gathering Online or in physical tabletop play. Except it isn't banned in all versions of Standard on Arena, only some of them. The formats it's banned in aren't really called anything and there's not really a good way of differentiating it. But the best way to think of it is that if a league you join has the word "Traditional" in its name, then you can use Nexus of Fate. Otherwise, you can't. (The primary differences between them is that non-Traditional leagues are best-of-one games instead of best-of-three. Also, your opening hand in non-Traditional games (before you take any mulligans) is guaranteed to be the ratio of lands to spells that is closest to average for your deck, without any regards for color.)
Nexus of Fate is SEMI-LEGAL.
Oh, and also, there is a banned list in Standard that currently consists of a single card: Rampaging Ferocidon. It's banned because... um... to be honest... I have no idea.
Rampaging Ferocidon is NOT LEGAL.
Lastly, there's the issue of Global Series: Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling. This is legal as long as you're playing in China, but it is not legal if you're outside of China.
Global Series: Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling is SEMI-LEGAL.
But wait! Isn't the issue of "What is considered China?" a widely debated issue? Yes it is. What happens if you're playing in Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macau, which are legal gray areas about whether they are China or not. Well, for that, we have to turn to Wizards of the Coast's official stance on international politics! According to Blake Rasmussen on Twitter, these cards stop being Standard-legal as soon as you hit an ocean or a border, thus making them not legal in these aforementioned places, and thus likely pissing off the Chinese government. Hooray!
So, yeah, now I get it. I understand what is and isn't Standard-legal right now. We can play a game of Standard if you like.
After all, it follows such a logical and consistent system that is intuitive and easy to understand!