The Formats of Altered – Standard

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  • News

  • July 26th, 2024

Reading time

5 minutes

Standard is a format where you build a deck ahead of time and bring it to the game. Choose your favorite Hero or favorite faction and build a deck following the strategies you like best.

Whether you pick a pre-constructed deck, follow a decklist or craft a list of your own, Standard is the classic Altered experience and the one we recommend for new players and tournaments alike.

As a constructed format, Standard requires that you bring your own deck to any event.

Setting up an Altered Standard game

  • Standard is played 1v1. A Standard event can welcome any number of players.
  • Both players need a deck that follows the deck construction rules below.

Standard Deck Construction Rules

Standard decks in Altered must adopt the following guidelines:

  • A deck must contain a minimum of 39 non-Hero cards plus exactly 1 Hero card. (Token cards do not count towards the deck minimum. If you have token cards to go with your deck, they start outside of your deck.)
  • All cards in your deck must be of the same faction as your Hero card.
  • You may have a maximum of 3 copies of a card with the same name, regardless of rarity.
  • You may have a maximum of 15 Rare cards in your deck.
  • You may have a maximum of 3 Unique cards in your deck.

Standard Tournament Structure Recommendations

  • Structure: Best-of-one

  • Round Time: 30m

  • Rounds: 4

  • Benefits of this format: Players are able to interact with a wider variety of opponents, is more appealing to players who are looking for a lower time commitment

  • Structure: Best-of-three

  • Round Time: 50m

  • Rounds: 3

  • Benefits of this format: More competitive leaning, less rounds overall/more time seated

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I win a Standard game of Altered?

For all rules on how to play Altered, refer to the Quick Rules.

What happens if I want to play a card without a text box on it?

Some Promo cards are “textless,” or lack written rules text on the card. Any cards in your deck that are textless are still legal to play as long as they have a QR code that links to the rules text of the card.

Is competitive Altered played in best-of-one or best-of-three?

The decision between best-of-one or best-of-three in competitive Altered is determined by the tournament organizer. For future, specific events, there may be mandates on which to use. Each specific event will have information that is unique to that event provided at that time.

In best-of-three games or more, do I have to build a sideboard? (a reserve of cards that you can pick from and swap in your deck after the first game is played) ?

Altered does not use sideboards in any format (for now).