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@crystalkeep.com
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