Hello there! If you're asking yourself what all this posting about **Planar Standard** is lately, let me bring you up to speed : it's a community-run format which includes Universes Within cards from sets in the current year, the previous one, and Foundations; you can read all about it, and what makes it awesome, [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/1tnbftz/tired_of_games_being_decided_by_turn_3_time_to/).

Today we have a special event to announce! Back at the very start of our format back in 2025, I had to make a hard choice : which sets would I exclude from the legality, for the sake of fixing the breakneck pace of releases?

The logical answer was Universes Beyond sets : UW and UB sets were already set up in an alternating fashion, the dividing line was very easy to identify and communicate to other people, and - anecdotally speaking - the existing Standard player base was more interested in the Magic IP.

My choice had the unfortunate side-effect of leaving the new players who found Magic through a cool collaboration set without an onboarding path to play Planar Standard, which is a real shame. We want as many people as possible engaging and having fun with both Planar and Magic in general, so that was something we had to rectify.

Enter: ***Legality Fracture***

**What is Legality Fracture?** In short, it's our attempt at a *Planar Standard* vs *Beyond Standard* event, where you can choose whether to play cards from the last two years of *Universes Within* sets *plus Foundations* **or** to play cards from the last two years of *Universes Beyond* sets *plus Foundations.*

That means that any creature, spell or land from the last two years can only be played alongside cards that match their status as either printed in a Universes Beyond set or a Universes Within set, with Foundations providing a shared baseline for both card pools.

It's meant to be a clash of giants, giving existing PLS players a cool new challenge, while also  
providing players that came to Magic through Universes Beyond sets a way to dip their toes into Planar Standard, playing a deck they built from their favorite IP.

**How often will** **Legality Fracture events be offered?** Currently, we're aiming for one event per month, in order to provide a chance for people to regularly use any *Beyond Standard* deck they might build, without interfering with the existing Planar Standard schedule.

The first Legality Fracture event will take place on Magic Arena, on the 20th of September at 1 PM EDT, and you can sign up for it [right now](https://melee.gg/Tournament/View/465247)! Just for this first event, for the sake of providing a small incentive for brewers to bring their A game, i'll even provide a 30 bucks gift card from my own pocket, as a symbolic prize for whoever gets first place.

**Is anything banned?** The event follows the Planar Standard banlist, meaning that at time of writing, only *Cori-Steel cutter* is banned. Which yes, means that Vivi, Badgermole Cub and Gran-Gran will be legal. I feel that given that so much of what made those cards broken was tied to how big Standard was, and that they lack access to many of the Universes Within pieces that made them so strong, it's fair to give them a chance in this new event, although of course, we'll keep watch to make sure they don't become problematic, and will intervene if they prove to be.

That is the crux of it, it's a new idea meant to be both a fun deckbuilding challenge for invested players while also offering a bridge for new players coming in from UB; we hope it proves entertaining for both audiences. Can't wait to see what people bring to the table September 20!

**Extra answers for those still curious:**

**Where can i go to learn more, talk about and test for the event?** Find out more in our dedicated [subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/planarMTG/comments/1qh3h91/where_can_i_find_planar_standard_players/).  
**What's the meta like thus far?** Well as you can imagine there isn't an established *Beyond Standard* meta yet, but you can check out our latest [Planar Standard Meta Snapshot](https://www.reddit.com/r/planarMTG/comments/1w5pgdk/meta_update_august_2026/), to see what you'll be up against from the Universes Within side!  
**Do you have a Scryfall link with the whole format on hand?**  
Here is one for [Planar Standard](https://scryfall.com/search?q=game%3Apaper+(set%3Asos+or+set%3Aecl+or+set%3Aeoe+or+set%3Atdm+or+set%3Adft+or+set%3Afdn)+-name%3A%22Cori-steel+cutter%22&order=color&as=grid&unique=cards) (Universes Within sets from 2025 and 2026 + Foundations), and here is one for [Beyond Standard](https://scryfall.com/search?q=%28game%3Apaper%29+%28set%3Ahob+OR+set%3Amsh+OR+set%3Atmt+OR+set%3Atla+OR+set%3Aspm+OR+set%3Afin+OR+set%3Afdn%29+prefer%3Abest&order=color&as=grid) (Universes Beyond sets from 2025 and 2026 + Foundations).

Planar Standard presents: Legality Fracture! (Planar Standard vs Beyond Standard)