(I don't actually see that reason though - certainly you can play Kaladesh without AER as proven in PT Kaladesh, and I don't see why you can't play AER without Kaladesh)

I referenced two articles. Right near the top of the second article,
"But when the rotation began to take place twice a year, we started hearing from players that it was more difficult to keep up. Yes, the change was exciting, but if play lapsed for a few months—as it often does for any number of reasons—players found it more difficult to jump back into Standard. More and more, players were seeing the twice-yearly rotation of Standard as a bug rather than a feature.

This is the opposite of how we want Standard to feel for new or returning players. Standard has long been the format we feel should be the most welcoming, and a twice-yearly rotation has put up a barrier that was not intended."


Standard was rotating every two sets from the time of my first-referenced article until that last article from late last year, which ... hasn't actually changed anything yet anyway (the first time it'll have an impact is when Amonkhet comes out and BFZ block would've-rotated-but-now-hangs-around-another-6-months). They had it rotating every 2 sets, they found it to be adversely affecting the player experience, and they changed it and provided the above-quoted reasoning.

The last rotation was 2 sets (Dragons of Tarkir and Magic Origins went out when Kaladesh landed). The rotation before that was 2 sets (Khans of Tarkir and Fate Reforged went out when Shadows over Innistrad landed). They've tried the rotate-every-2 model, and by their measure of 'working', it wasn't working.

I referenced two articles. Right near the top of the second article,
"But when the rotation began to take place twice a year, we started hearing from players that it was more difficult to keep up. Yes, the change was exciting, but if play lapsed for a few months—as it often does for any number of reasons—players found it more difficult to jump back into Standard. More and more, players were seeing the twice-yearly rotation of Standard as a bug rather than a feature.

This is the opposite of how we want Standard to feel for new or returning players. Standard has long been the format we feel should be the most welcoming, and a twice-yearly rotation has put up a barrier that was not intended."


Standard was rotating every two sets from the time of my first-referenced article until that last article from late last year, which ... hasn't actually changed anything yet anyway (the first time it'll have an impact is when Amonkhet comes out and BFZ block would've-rotated-but-now-hangs-around-another-6-months). They had it rotating every 2 sets, they found it to be adversely affecting the player experience, and they changed it and provided the above-quoted reasoning.

The last rotation was 2 sets (Dragons of Tarkir and Magic Origins went out when Kaladesh landed). The rotation before that was 2 sets (Khans of Tarkir and Fate Reforged went out when Shadows over Innistrad landed). They've tried the rotate-every-2 model, and by their measure of 'working', it wasn't working.