With Pioneer in an odd "ban Treasure Cruise and maybe more" waiting room, Modern and Historic being completely upended by Modern Horizons 3, and Legacy in a constant state of Grief, there's no doubt in my mind that Standard is currently the best format in Magic: The Gathering.

Which is a refreshing thing to say!

Standard went through a very rough patch during the FIRE design era, with tons of bannings, stale formats, and more, but in the last year or so it has seen an absolute renaissance. Tons of viable decks across almost all archetypes, and perhaps more importantly surprises at every turn. We've seen new decks pop up both early and late in seasons, and metagames shift with the winds in new and fun ways. I was hesitant when they moved Standard to a three-year rotation rather than a two year one, but clearly it has been working out very well, despite the fact that many of these sets were designed for a two-year rotation, not a three year one.

However, now the time has come for that rotation!

Say goodbye to Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, and Streets of New Cappena, which will be moving on to Pioneer and beyond. Of course, this will all happen with the release of the brand-new set Bloomburrow, but while new cards are very exciting, the exodus of 4 powerful sets from Standard will have a far bigger impact on the format than the introduction of one set.

So, with that being said, today I will be going over the most important cards that are leaving the Standard format with rotation, and what effect that will have on the format as a whole!

The Triomes

There are three major land cycles that are leaving Standard, each of which is the cornerstone to a powerful deck beyond just normal mana fixing.

The first is the triomes, which occasionally see play in other places but are the backbone of the domain ramp deck. While Dominaria United and the actual domain cards like Leyline Binding and Herd Migration will still be in the format, without the insane fixing and smorgasbord of land types of the triomes, achieving domain (as well as actually casting your spells in a five-color deck) will be much more difficult.

Leyline Binding in particular goes from one of the best removal spells in the format to likely unplayable, and while there may still be ramp decks they will likely be focused on less colors.

The Channel Lands

Next up is the channel lands from Neon Dynasty.

While these obviously see play as singletons in many formats because the first copy is often just better than a basic land, in Standard in particular they formed quite the engine alongside Slogurk, The Overslime, Relic of Legends, and Rona, Herald of Invasion // Rona, Tolarian Obliterator. This Legends deck was a force at Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction, and has filled the role of "deck that is extremely good but also extremely hard to play which keeps it in check" in Standard while it has been around.

Obviously Slogurk is also rotating, so the deck was doomed either way, but the exit of these channel lands will effect basically every deck in the format in a very small way as pretty much every deck played some number of them.

The Common Sac Lands

The last set of lands that have a deck built around them is the common New Capenna sac lands.

While most of the cards in the Temur Analyst combo deck are staying in the format except for Memory Deluge, these lands are what actually make the deck function in conjunction with Aftermath Analyst. Without the critical mass of lands that naturally put themselves in the graveyard, actually setting up Aftermath Analyst is far too difficult, and that's to say nothing of the life gain really adding up too.

Unlike the triomes or channel lands, these lands only see play in in this particular deck, which will clearly no longer exist after rotation. Good riddance!

The Slow Lands

The last land cycle isn't the backbone of a particular deck, but is very important for how players have built their mana bases over the last three years.

These slow lands are frankly just excellent in Standard, providing great mana fixing in almost any type of deck, especially in conjunction with the fast lands and early enters the battlefield tapped lands. They see play in Pioneer as well and their loss will be felt majorly as we build our mana bases in the new format.

Individual Cards

While the lands leaving the format are perhaps the most important thing as far as format upheaval goes, there are a ton of individual cards also leaving that have been archetype staples for the last three years.

Ah yes Raffine, Scheming Seer.

Esper... well anything, be it Midrange or Legends, has been a major force in Standard since Raffine first came on the scene. We're talking Top 8s in major events over three years, winning Worlds in 2023, and much much more.

When it comes to midrange curve-out draws, especially on the play, Raffine is has been the poster child. Without Raffine, midrange decks will definitely be slower, and also be less good and finding the exact correct cards while curving out.

I played with and against Raffine at Worlds in 2022. I played with and against Raffine at Pro Tour OTJ in 2024. I happy she's on her way out!

Ah old Harvey, Bloodtithe Harvester.

Bloodtithe Harvester was a key card in Standard for most of its legality, but saw its stock fall of a cliff once Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki got banned. Turns out Robin just ain't that threatening without Batman around.

Still, it saw a little play here and there and is a notable exit, even if most midrange decks moved on to be Golgari or Dimir.

The backbone of control decks since it was printed way back three years ago, Memory Deluge is such an important card for both making sure that control decks can find the right answers at the right time, as well as ensuring late game inevitability with the flashback effect.

This is the kind of hole that control players will have to look long and hard to fill, as Memory Deluge presented such a unique and powerful effect that deck-builders will have to find other ways to both smooth out draws in the midgame as well as present inevitability in the lategame.

Speaking of fantastic control cards, the other half of the turn four control deck fix is also leaving the format in The Wandering Emperor.

The Wandering Emperor is perhaps the most perfectly balanced planeswalker of all time. It is very good, but much its power is frontloaded on the first cast, making it not make the whole game revolve around it like Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.

While being a flash threat as well as an answer is nice, The Wandering Emperor will be easier for control decks to replace than something like Memory Deluge.

Perhaps the card on today's list that features in the least number of archetypes, there's no denying that Kumano Faces Kakkazan // Etching of Kumano has been one of the most important cards in Mono Red Aggro decks since it first entered the format.

The amount of value provided by this one mana play, dealing damage, augmenting your creatures, and providing offense will not be easy to replace, although there have been quite a few powerful Red cards previewed!

The third of the "big three" midrange 3-drops after Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Raffine, Scheming Seer, Wedding Announcement has seen less play recently but is still an extremely powerful midrange effect that has at times helped to define the format. Like Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, it produces a handful of different threats while also being able to create card advantage, and is also hard to answer at parity as it leaves behind so much value.

While Wedding Announcement leaving the format doesn't create as big of a gap as some of the other cards leaving, it is a reminder that as the format gets smaller, these sorts of awesome midrange value cards get better.

Ban List Goes To Zero

One interesting thing to note about this rotation is also that all four cards currently on the Standard ban list, The Meathook Massacre, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki, Invoke Despair, and Reckoner Bankbuster, are all also rotating as well.

In the grand scheme of deck-building for the new format this doesn't matter that much, as you obviously couldn't play these cards anyway, but it is a good sign that nothing has been banned in a while!

Standard's Most Annoying Decks Gone!

The best part about this rotation is that some of Standard's most annoying decks are hitting the bricks.

Domain Ramp, Four-Color Legends, and Temur Analyst are all decks that are powerful and present a unique threat that can be hard for some decks to deal with, and while they're all novel and cool in their own rights it is nice to see them moving on from the format. With any flavor of Esper Raffine finally also leaving the format, an already awesome format is getting a nice breath of fresh air.

Add in some awesome Bloomburrow cards and we're cookin'!