Last update: Late January 1996 The rarity of various cards by number of cards printed is interesting to see. Note that card prices are based more on demand than they are on pure rarity, so don't expect an Alpha rare to be worth over 200 times a Revised rare! Numbers for Revised, Fourth, Ice Age, Chronicles, Homelands and promo cards are guesses based on almost no information. I think I'm in the ballpark, but don't bet money on it. Distribution between starters and boosters for The Gathering is almost completely guesswork. Other numbers are from net postings and such. No inside information was used to build these numbers. ** means set is still in print and the number will be larger based on how long after the date of this posting The numbers below are based on the following: Magic: The Gathering: Alpha 2.6 million cards 50% starter/50% booster Beta 7.8 million cards 50% starter/50% booster Unlimited 40 million cards 33% starter/67% booster Revised 600 million cards 25% starter/75% booster Fourth 700 million cards ** 33% starter/67% booster Collector's Sets: (Gold Borders) United States 3 million cards 1 of each card per set International 1.5 million cards 1 of each card per set Expansions: Arabian Nights 5 million cards Antiquities 15 million cards Legends 35 million cards The Dark 62 million cards Fallen Empires 360 million cards Ice Age 400 million cards ** 33% starter/67% booster Chronicles 250 million cards ** Homelands 200 million cards Promotional Cards: DragonCon 275,000 cards (estimated) Arena 150,000 cards (estimated) Sewers of Estark 150,000 cards (estimated) Windseeker Centaur 100,000 cards (estimated) Giant Badger 100,000 cards (estimated) Mana Crypt 75,000 cards (estimated) Ice Age Promo 4,000,000 cards (all commons) The Ice Age promo commons are: Aurochs, Balduvian Barbarians, Bone Shaman, Chub Toad, Dire Wolves, Essence Flare, Flygja, Gaze of Pain, Gorilla Pack, Norritt, Prismatic Ward, Scaled Wurm, Word of Undoing. About 50% of the promo cards were Norritts. The maximum number of complete sets in that could be made is a good way to judge the printing size for a set. Here's the info sorted to show which sets are theoretically most difficult to get a hold of: Alpha 1,100 sets Beta 3,200 sets Limited 4,300 sets (Alpha+Beta mix) Int. Collector's 5,000 sets Collector's 10,000 sets Unlimited 18,500 sets Legends 19,500 sets Arabian Nights 20,500 sets Antiquities 31,000 sets The Dark 128,000 sets Ice Age 202,000 sets ** Revised 289,000 sets Fourth 353,500 sets ** Homelands 413,000 sets Chronicles 516,500 sets ** Fallen Empires 744,000 sets Another interesting number is to figure the rarity of a single card from a printing. Here is the number printed of each card (rounded to nearest 500): 1,100 Alpha Rare 4,500 Alpha Uncommon 16,000 Alpha Common 85,500 Alpha Land (per picture) 3,200 Beta Rare 13,500 Beta Uncommon 48,000 Beta Common 171,500 Beta Land (per picture) 5,000 International Collector's Set 10,000 Collector's Set 4,300 Limited Rare (Alpha+Beta) 18,000 Limited Uncommon (Alpha+Beta) 64,000 Limited Common (Alpha+Beta) 228,500 Limited Land (Alpha+Beta) (per picture) 18,500 Unlimited Rare 68,000 Unlimited Uncommon 244,500 Unlimited Common 872,500 Unlimited Land (per picture) 289,000 Revised Rare 1,012,000 Revised Uncommon 3,657,000 Revised Common 12,969,500 Revised Land (per picture) 353,500 Fourth Rare ** 1,060,500 Fourth Uncommon ** 3,600,000 Fourth Common ** 6,222,000 Fourth Land (per picture) ** 20,500 Arabian U2 31,000 Arabian U3 -or- Arabian C1 41,000 Arabian U4 124,000 Arabian C4 155,000 Arabian C5 341,000 Arabian Deserts 31,000 Antiquities U1 62,000 Antiquities U2 93,000 Antiquities U3 -or- Antiquities C1 186,000 Antiquities C2 372,000 Antiquities C4 19,500 Legends Rare 58,000 Legends U1 116,000 Legends U2 212,000 Legends C1 424,000 Legends C2 2,333,500 Legends Rulecard 128,000 The Dark U1 256,000 The Dark U2 384,500 The Dark C1 1,153,000 The Dark C3 744,000 Fallen Empires U1 1,487,500 Fallen Empires U2 2,231,500 Fallen Empires U3 -or- Fallen Empires C1 6,694,000 Fallen Empires C3 8,925,500 Fallen Empires C4 202,000 Ice Age Rare ** 606,000 Ice Age Uncommon ** 2,047,000 Ice Age Common ** 3,555,000 Ice Age Land (per picture) ** 2,213,500 Ice Age Promo Commons 4,047,000 Norrit (Ice Age common which was also a promo card) 516,500 Chronicles U1 ** 1,549,500 Chronicles U3 -or- Chronicles C1 ** 3,099,000 Chronicles C2 ** 4,649,000 Chronicles C3 ** 6,198,500 Chronicles C4 ** 413,000 Homelands U1 1,239,500 Homelands U3 -or- Homelands C1 4,958,500 Homelands C4 Now sorted all together you get: 1,100 Alpha Rare 3,200 Beta Rare 4,000 Limited Rare (Alpha+Beta) 4,500 Alpha Uncommon 5,000 International Collector's Set 10,000 Collector's Set 13,500 Beta Uncommon 16,000 Alpha Common 18,000 Limited Uncommon (Alpha+Beta) 18,500 Unlimited Rare 19,500 Legends Rare 20,500 Arabian U2 31,000 Arabian U3 -or- Arabian C1 -or- Antiquities U1 41,000 Arabian U4 48,000 Beta Common 58,000 Legends U1 62,000 Antiquities U2 64,000 Limited Common (Alpha+Beta) 68,000 Unlimited Uncommon 75,000 Mana Crypt promo card (estimated) 85,500 Alpha Land (per picture) 93,000 Antiquities U3 -or- Antiquities C1 100,000 Windseeker Centaur promo card (estimated) 100,000 Giant Badger promo card (estimated) 116,000 Legends U2 124,000 Arabian C4 128,000 The Dark U1 150,000 Arena promo card (estimated) 150,000 Sewers of Estark promo card (estimated) 171,000 Beta Land (per picture) 186,000 Antiquities C2 202,000 Ice Age Rare ** 212,000 Legends C1 228,500 Limited Land (Alpha+Beta) (per picture) 244,500 Unlimited Common 256,000 The Dark U2 275,000 DragonCon promo card (estimated) 289,000 Revised Rare 341,000 Arabian Deserts 353,500 Fourth Rare ** 372,000 Antiquities C4 384,500 The Dark C1 413,000 Homelands U1 424,000 Legends C2 516,500 Chronicles U1 ** 606,000 Ice Age Uncommon ** 744,000 Fallen Empires U1 872,500 Unlimited Land (per picture) 1,012,000 Revised Uncommon 1,060,500 Fourth Uncommon ** 1,153,000 The Dark C3 1,239,500 Homelands U3 -or- Homelands C1 1,487,500 Fallen Empires U2 1,549,500 Chronicles U3 -or- Chronicles C1 ** 2,047,000 Ice Age Common ** 2,213,500 Ice Age Promo Commons 2,231,500 Fallen Empires U3 -or- Fallen Empires C1 2,333,500 Legends Rulecard 3,099,000 Chronicles C2 ** 3,555,000 Ice Age Land (per picture) ** 3,600,000 Fourth Common ** 3,657,000 Revised Common 4,047,000 Norrit (Ice Age common which was also a promo card) 4,649,000 Chronicles C3 ** 4,958,500 Homelands C4 6,198,500 Chronicles C4 ** 6,222,000 Fourth Land (per picture) ** 6,694,000 Fallen Empires C3 8,925,500 Fallen Empires C4 12,969,500 Revised Land (per picture) Thought some of you out there might appreciate this continuation of my original wandering off the deep end of with numbers :-) Stephen. ---- Stephen D'Angelo == dangelo@netcom.com