MTG Standard Rotation 2024: Overview and Final Rankings

The extension is over folks. As of July 30 and August 02, 2024, the updated rotation schedule for MTG will finally take place, and we shall bid goodbye to the four sets that were slated to leave Standard a year prior.

Yes indeed, it has been a year already since WoTC announced the extension of the Standard rotation. I know, I know, though opinions were fairly mixed, it was generally on a downward trend due to how Hasbro has been handling the company for the last few years.

In fact, the very next two Standard sets following the extension announcement (Wilds of Eldraine, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan) kind of showed a set of metagame updates that reflected more of what could have been if the Standard rotation was not stretched out. It was not until the release of Murders at Karlov Manor and Outlaws of Thunder Junction that we saw the actual adjusted card sets that were optimized for the rotation update.

Standard Rotation 2024 Recap

The next rotation will occur as Bloomburrow gets officially released, which is on July 30, 2024, at the earliest (MTG Arena), and August 2, 2024, at the latest (tabletop release). The sets that will rotate out are as follows:

• Innistrad: Midnight Hunt (MID)
• Innistrad: Crimson Vow (VOW)
• Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (NEO)
• Streets of New Capenna (SNC)

The following sets would then remain in standard this year:

• Dominaria United (DMU)
• The Brothers' War (BRO)
• Phyrexia: All Will Be One (ONE)
• March of the Machine (MOM)
• March of the Machine: The Aftermath (MAT)
• Wilds of Eldraine (WOE)
• The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI)
• Murders at Karlov Manor (MKM)
• Outlaws of Thunder Junction (OTJ)
• Bloomburrow (BLB)

What to do with Rotated-out Cards?

^{Remember these guys?}

You can still use them in non-rotating/extended formats. For MTG Arena in particular, they will continue to be usable in Historic, Explorer, and Timeless, unless specifically banned later.

Also, if that specific card is reprinted again in a future Standard set, it will once again be legal to use in Standard.

Top Meta Cards that Will Rotate out of Standard

By order of popularity, excludes cards that were eventually banned.

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt (Top 8)

^{(excluding lands, bye bye Field of Ruin)}

Innistrad: Crimson Vow (Top 8)

^{(excluding lands)}

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (Top 8)

^{(channel lands should have eaten more than half the slots, though Selesnya Echantments did it anyway)}

Streets of New Capenna (Top 8)

^{(triomes and fetch lands will eat the entire list if lands are included)}

Cards that I Will Personally Miss After Rotation

Let’s be honest. There are a lot of cards that we always miss every MTG Standard rotation. Heck, even some of the more popular ones in the meta that you probably have encountered for the nth time will still be missed somehow. So it ultimately depends on personal experience.

Lier, Disciple of the Drowned (MID) – Just gotta love the resource potential of this card in decks that don’t even handle resource rotation very efficiently. In MTG Arena, there’s also the slight tinge of annoyance seeing the card resolve and looking at all of the options that the opponent suddenly has at the upper left part of the screen.

Burn Down the House (MID) – a lot of fun jank decks with access to red mana always default to using this versatile card for just about anything under the sun. It’s modal, stops set-ups in two ways, and is every bit worth the penny to recast for free over and over again.

Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset (MID) – also affectionately known as he who slows the game. It doesn’t get as crazy as other extended formats, of course. But when this Teferi is smartly slotted into a control deck, well then get ready to take your coffee break. Oh and The Celestus is also in the same set, by the way.

Concealing Curtains (VOW) – got a wacky tech deck that you want to try out but isn’t fast enough for aggro? Do you also want to disrupt your opponent's hand using the same card? Well we’ve got an excellent deal for these pair of curtains! Well… the card gets replaced, but at least you got some juicy intel on the way.

Halana and Alena, Partners (VOW) - First strike, provides free counters PLUS haste, and is synergistic to so many decks within its colors and typing. And no, I don’t love the card just because Roaming Throne exists.

Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice (NEO) - Thanks to The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, current Standard Aura decks got a bit of resurgence, at least in the interesting card interactions department. Still, I would really have wanted to see more of Light-Paws action before it finally leaves Standard, as I personally love the card.

Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh (NEO) - A surprisingly lore-accurate card where its resurgence actually coincided with Phyrexian-based sets. I mean, it did have its niche uses during NEO’s heyday. But this version of Tezzeret only really started flying off after ONE was released. Too bad it didn’t go beyond jank territory, though, but it was still at least a good wild ride.

Atsushi, the Blazing Sky (NEO) - So long as it is not countered, Atsushi will still generally provide value no matter what. If not, it at least functions as a Leyline Binding magnet. So go ahead, just ram the thing to your opponent as soon as it can attack.

Isshin, Two Heavens as One (NEO) – Samurai Obi-Wan. ‘Nuff said.

Giada, Font of Hope (SNC) – An indirect ramp to Angel decks that not only stands on its own normally, but also increases the value of other Angels you cast? At a cost that is equivalent to your average mana rock/dork? Sign me up! Will definitely miss her moving forward.

Ledger Shredder (SNC) – As a casual bird fanatic in MTG, Ledger Shredder’s core existence in connive and double spell decks was always welcome for me. Its presence may have been a fluctuating mess in the ranks, but it continued to appear every now and then.

Witness Protection (SNC) – No particular reason related to deck building actually. I just always find it funny to see cards plastered with the “Legitimate Businessperson” name, no matter how ridiculous the situation may be in a flavor-based context.