4 ms·

This is completely backwards. Each card is assigned a rarity (common, uncommon, rare, mythic rare) based on its power. All cards of a given rarity have the exa

This is completely backwards. Each card is assigned a rarity (common, uncommon, rare, mythic rare) based on its power. All cards of a given rarity have the exact same probability of showing up in a given booster pack. It's possible for a card to get reassigned during a reprint, but it's pretty unusual. Wizards doesn't set the secondary market prices; the secondary market prices are determined by the demand for that card[0] and the outstanding supply. The outstanding supply is also fairly straightforward: with the exception of cards in pre-built decks[1], cards are basically only printed through booster packs. So, if two cards are both printed at "rare" in a single set (and not printed in any other sets), there will be exactly the same number of each card available in the market - the price there is solely driven by the demand. Wizards has some control in the sense that they can decide which cards to reprint in a given set, or which new cards to print to alter the metagame, but that's very difficult to actually predict, as anybody who plays Magic regularly is aware. As for the expected value of cards in booster packs: that's always going to be lower than the price of the booster pack. Why? Because stores purchase packs wholesale, and if the expected value of the pack is greater than the MSRP of the pack, they'll just open the packs instead and sell the cards individually. So Wizards can't tell you the expected value of a given pack, or even predict the price of a given card on the secondary market. [0] The demand is determined by the metagame, which Wizards has only very loose control over in the short- and medium- term. [1] Pre-built decks almost never contain cards that are particularly valuable; they're meant for beginners or casual players, whereas the players who care about the valuable cards are "power players", so to speak.

ubernostrum 9y ago
Each card is assigned a rarity (common, uncommon, rare, mythic rare) based on its power This is not really true. Rarity is a combination of power level, complexity and some other design principles. For example, cards which appear at common rarity can have powerful effects, but they must be simple and straightforward effects, easy for a newer player to understand (since commons will be the majority of the cards a new player sees). Uncommons are permitted to be slightly more complex, and rares and mythics more complex yet. Several cards which even in recent years appeared at common in their respective sets are considered too powerful to reprint in the Standard format at any rarity. And of the seven cards currently banned in Standard (which is a massive failure on the part of the set design/development teams, and almost unprecedented in the game's history), one (Attune with Aether) is a common, and three (Felidar Guardian, Ramunap Ruins, Rogue Refiner) are uncommons. All cards of a given rarity have the exact same probability of showing up in a given booster pack. This is also not always true due to the logistics of the printing process. A while back I posted a comment on reddit about how it can happen, sometimes, that not all cards of a given rarity are equally likely to appear in a booster pack: https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgfinance/comments/2fblta/odds_of_pulling_certain_cards_not_rarity/ck7u1on/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgfinance/comments/2fblta/odds_of_... The tl;dr is that the math of setting up the printing sheets doesn't always work out perfectly with the number of cards the set needs at a given rarity (commons are printed on one set of sheets, uncommons on another, and rares/mythics on a third set of sheets). Which sometimes -- though not always -- can lead to a card being slightly underprinted relative to other cards of the same rarity.

ubernostrum 9y ago

Each card is assigned a rarity (common, uncommon, rare, mythic rare) based on its power This is not really true. Rarity is a combination of power level, complexity and some other design principles. For example, cards which appear at common rarity can have powerful effects, but they must be simple and straightforward effects, easy for a newer player to understand (since commons will be the majority of the cards a new player sees). Uncommons are permitted to be slightly more complex, and rares and mythics more complex yet. Several cards which even in recent years appeared at common in their respective sets are considered too powerful to reprint in the Standard format at any rarity. And of the seven cards currently banned in Standard (which is a massive failure on the part of the set design/development teams, and almost unprecedented in the game's history), one (Attune with Aether) is a common, and three (Felidar Guardian, Ramunap Ruins, Rogue Refiner) are uncommons. All cards of a given rarity have the exact same probability of showing up in a given booster pack. This is also not always true due to the logistics of the printing process. A while back I posted a comment on reddit about how it can happen, sometimes, that not all cards of a given rarity are equally likely to appear in a booster pack: https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgfinance/comments/2fblta/odds_of_pulling_certain_cards_not_rarity/ck7u1on/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgfinance/comments/2fblta/odds_of_... The tl;dr is that the math of setting up the printing sheets doesn't always work out perfectly with the number of cards the set needs at a given rarity (commons are printed on one set of sheets, uncommons on another, and rares/mythics on a third set of sheets). Which sometimes -- though not always -- can lead to a card being slightly underprinted relative to other cards of the same rarity.