Teferi's core set
Core Set 2021 is a core set, so the useful question is not what it introduced but what it contains and who it is for. Core sets carry no new mechanics on purpose: they run on evergreen keywords, which is what lets somebody learn the game from one without also learning a gimmick.
What it holds is a broad slice of Magic at every rarity, a planeswalker cycle with Teferi at the centre, and enough removal and creatures at common to make a clean Limited format. Teferi, Master of Time is the card the set is remembered for, and it is the one place M21 does something structurally odd, with loyalty abilities usable on any turn.
Who it is for is two audiences at once, which is the tension in every core set. It has to teach a first draft and it has to print cards a Standard deck wants. M21's answer was a strong rare cycle and a straightforward common environment underneath it.
Where You Can Play It
Core Set 2021 shipped under a single code and has left Standard, which is the only format it left.
Not Standard-legal. Standard only ever holds the last few years of sets, so everything this old has long since left it. These cards are still playable in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Limited
A full ten-pair format and a deliberately readable one. With no mechanic to master first, the format comes down to curve, removal and reading what is being passed.
All ten two-color pairs
Full ten-pair format
Lifegain sits in white-black, sacrifice in black-red, and the blue pairs lean on flyers and card selection. Everything runs on evergreen themes, which is what makes M21 a good format to learn Limited in.
FAQ
No. Standard only holds the last few years of sets, so a 2020 release left it long ago. M21 cards are still legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander.
None, and that is deliberate. Core sets run on evergreen keywords so that a new player can learn the game from one without also learning a set-specific gimmick.
His loyalty abilities can be activated on any turn rather than only your own, and twice each turn cycle rather than once. That is a structural exception to how planeswalkers work, and it is the one place a core set did something genuinely new.
Yes, for the same reason as most core sets: nothing on the cards requires learning a mechanic first, so a first draft comes down to curve, removal and reading what is being passed.
A yearly set with no new mechanics and no plane of its own, built as an entry point and as a place to print reprints a Standard deck wants. Foundations replaced the numbered core sets in 2024 with a longer-lived version of the same idea.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. Core Set 2021 released on Jul 3, 2020; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
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