Standards

[JamesCB]

What is the difference between Towers Standard and Towers, and Kind Standard and King?

[Legion]

Towers Block is any set with Towers Sites (4, 5 and 6 only). Towers Standard is any set that was released by that time (so sets 1 to 6, but with Towers Block sites).

Similarly, King Block is any set with King Block sites (7, 8 and 10, not 9), whereas King Standard is any set released at the time RotK (set 7) came out (so sets 1-7, though King Block sites only). It's more of a fan-made league: Movie (sets 1-10 with King Block sites) is more popular, but KS die-hards say it has too many overpowered cards particularly from sets 8 and 9.

[JamesCB]

Ok, that makes sense. But why does Towers standard have all of Towers block, but King standard is missing 8 and 10?

[TelTura]

When TTT was released, Standard was the format that included everything released, and it kept this meaning with each new set. This changed in 2005 when set 12 was released; FOTR rotated out of Standard, and Expanded was created to mean "all cards released" by definition.

The various Standard formats that exist nowadays are snapshots of what Standard was historically at different times. (Technically, FOTR could be called "Fellowship Standard" except no one called it that back then because there were not any standalone blocks to differentiate it from yet.) King Standard is an anomaly because we have the term "Movie Block" to mean "everything released up to set 10", and this was a term coined while the game was still alive, so it stuck.

"King Standard" thus kept the meaning it had before "Movie Block" entered the scene. It has stuck around for the reason pointed out, the perception that sets 8 and 10 started the power creep treadmill.