There's a new way to play Magic: The Gathering and it's one that pays no heed to the universes beyond.
The format is called Planar Standard. In short, it's the same as Magic's normal standard format with one key difference: There are no Universes Beyond sets allowed.
That isn't because the folks who came up with the format are against Universes Beyond as a whole, by the way. It's more because they wanted to limit the card pool and UB sets were an easy line to set.
"It was a very easy line to draw," says RasOne77, one of the format's moderators and biggest streamers. "It had nothing to do with whether you like [Universes Beyond] or not."
The end result is a format that is roughly seven sets per rotation that encourages more originality in deckbuilding and more interaction in games when compared to the ultra-fast pace of normal Standard these days.
The format has even gained attention from Mark Rosewater, Magic: The Gathering's head designer.
"I'm excited to see the community creating a new format," he stated on his blog. "I'm curious to see if it picks up steam."
To learn more about Planar Standard, please watch our interview with RasOne77 where we talk all about it.
