Date: Mon, 20 Jun 94 11:52:33 pdt
From: msen!fix!sparcom!magic (magic)
Subject: MTG Print Runs, Revision 1.0

Here's what we know about the print runs for Magic: The Gathering.
Comments are welcome.

Scott.

scott@sparcom.com
magic@sparcom.com

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Document Revision History
============================================================================

Revision 1.0 -- June 20, 1994
Changes: Revised Arabian Nights information. Changed Oasis from U3 to U4 and
Serendib Efreet from U3 to U2. Still assuming Desert Nomads is a C4 and not
a C5, contrary to the official list.

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Legends
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Total print run is 35,000,000, sold as 64,800 boxes of booster packs.
There are five levels of rarity: R1, U1, U2, C1, and C2.
Typically thought of as Rare (R1), Uncommon (U1,U1), and Common (C1,C2).

Rares (R1)
- ----------
There are  19,300 of each of the 121 R1 cards.

Uncommons (U1,U2)
- -----------------
There are  57,900 of each of the 107 U1 cards.
There are 115,700 of each of the   7 U2 cards.

Commons (C1,C2)
- ---------------
There are 212,100 of each of the  29 C1 cards.
There are 424,200 of each of the  46 C2 cards.

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Antiquities
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Total print run was 15,000,000, sold as 31,250 boxes of booster packs.
There are six levels of rarity: U1, U2, U3, C1, C2, and C4.
The U3 and C1 levels are identical, so the buyer only sees five levels.
Typically thought of as Rare (U1,U2), Uncommon (U3,C1), and Common (C2,C4).
Note: The Duelist Companion list shows some U2s as Rare and some as Uncommon!

Rares (U1,U2)
- -------------
There are  30,000 of each of the 26 U1 cards.
There are  60,000 of each of the  4 U2 cards.

Uncommons (U3,C1)
- -----------------
There are  90,000 of each of the 29 U3 cards.
There are  90,000 of each of the 11 C1 cards.

Commons (C2,C4)
- ---------------
There are 180,000 of each of the  5 C2 cards.
There are 360,000 of each of the 25 C4 cards.

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Arabian Nights
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Total print run was 5,000,000, sold as 10,400 boxes of booster packs.
There are seven levels of rarity: U2, U3, U4, C1, C4, C5, and C11.
The U3 and C1 levels are identical, so the buyer only sees six levels.
Typically thought of as Uncommon (U2,U3,U4,C1) and Common (C4,C5,C11).

Uncommons
- ---------
There are  20,000 of each of the 33 U2 cards.
There are  30,000 of each of the 17 U3 cards.
There are  30,000 of each of the  1 C1 cards.
There are  40,000 of each of the  1 U4 cards.

Commons
- -------
There are 120,000 of each of the 16 C4 cards.
There are 150,000 of each of the  9 C5 cards.
There are 330,000 of each of the  1 C11 cards.

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Gathering
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Total print run was  2,500,000 for the Limited (Alpha) series, sold as
   2,300 boxes of booster packs and  20,800 starter decks.
Total print run was  7,500,000 for the Limited (Beta) series, sold as
  13,900 boxes of booster packs and  62,500 starter decks.
Total print run was 40,000,000 for the Unlimited series, sold as
  37,000 boxes of booster packs and 333,300 starter decks.

There are three levels of rarity: R1, U1, and C1. (Not including Land.)
Typically thought of as Rare (R1), Uncommon (U1), and Common (C1).

Rares (R1)
- ----------
There are   1,000 of each of the 116 A/R1 cards (the Alpha rares).
There are   3,100 of each of the 117 B/R1 cards (the Beta rares). *
There are  16,500 of each of the 117 U/R1 cards (the Unlimited rares).
*  Added the Rare card, Volcanic Island, which was missing from Alpha.

Uncommons (U1)
- --------------
There are   4,300 of each of the  95 A/U1 cards (the Alpha uncommons).
There are  12,900 of each of the  95 B/U1 cards (the Beta uncommons).
There are  68,900 of each of the  95 U/U1 cards (the Unlimited uncommons).

Commons (C1)
- ------------
There are  15,300 of each of the  74 A/C1 cards (the Alpha commons).
There are  46,000 of each of the  75 B/C1 cards (the Beta commons). **
There are 245,200 of each of the  75 U/C1 cards (the Unlimited commons).
** Added the Common card, CoP:Black, which was missing from Alpha.

Land
- ----
There are 8 zillion of the land cards.

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Notes
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1  Thanks to Nick Sauer's postings for some of the Gathering and Arabian
   Nights information.  Thanks to many for help with Legends information.
   Thanks to WotC for causing trouble with the Legends frequencies.  :-p

2  All print run estimates are rounded to the nearest million.

3  All card frequency estimates are rounded to the nearest hundred.

4  Alpha, beta, and unlimited print runs are all assumed 50/50 split between 
   starter decks (60 cards = 2 R1 + 13 U1 + 45 C1) and booster packs
   (15 cards = 1 R1 + 3 U1 + 11 C1)

5  I didn't bother with the Revised print run, because there's got to be a
   billion of them out there by now...

6  The number of out-of-print cards out there can be determined by simply
   adding the alpha, beta, and unlimited print runs for that type of card
   (for example, there are 1,000 + 3,100 + 16,500 = 20,600 of each Mox.)

7  Last, but not least, if none of this makes any sense to you, it's based
   on three 11x11 sheets of cards (one for rare, one for uncommon, and one
   for common) for the Gathering and Legends sets, and two 11x11 sheets of
   cards (one rare/uncommon and one common) for the Arabian Nights and
   Antiquities sets.  15-card booster packs = 1 from rare sheet + 3 from
   uncommon sheet + 11 from common sheet, while 8-card booster packs = 2
   from uncommon sheet + 6 from common sheet.  The frequency numbers R1,
   U1, U2, U3, C1, C2, etc., indicate which sheet and how many times on
   that sheet the card was printed--so U2 cards appear twice on the uncommon
   sheet and are therefore twice as frequency as U1 cards from the same set.
   Hope that clear it up...


- -----
Scott Burke - Project Leader - Sparcom Corporation - Corvallis OR
scott@sparcom.com - Telephone (503) 757-8416 - FAX (503) 753-7821