What is the difference between standard and expanded?

[richie910842]

First, allow me to apologize if I posted this in the wrong board, if I did mess up please redirect me to where this question should be posted. This seemed the best fit at the time.

I understand the difference in available cards in play, but I just got back into the game from about a six year hiatus. (We'd stopped playing right around the beginning of the HS generation.) I don't remember having two different formats back then, tournements, states, regionals, ect, were all in "standard", so I was thinking of standard as being "legitimate" but Im seeing a lot of postings of expanded decks that were played at states and regionals, so Im confused. Please help.

 

[PokePop]

Both formats are "legitimate".
Some Premiere Events are run in Standard. Some are run in Expanded.
Last year, Regionals switched from Standard to Expanded on going from Day 1 to Day 2 (Top Cut).

You can find the list of what is legal in each in links found on our front page (in the upper left).

You should check the tournament details or ask your Organizer to find out what format any particular tournament will be run using.