dragsamou wrote: The fact that they are inserted in X boosters doesn't change the Rarity of the card:
If we take the example of a Black Lotus, it's still a Rare on the Rare sheet of Alpha, Beta, Unlimited.
A Black Lotus in an Alpha booster pack is a Rare.
Roughly 1100 sheets of 121 Rares per sheet were printed. (yes, I know Island appeared more than once.)
Every Alpha Booster pack contained a Rare, so your odds of opening a Black Lotus from an Alpha pack is 1 in 121
For Unlimited, roughly 18500 sheets of 121 Rares per sheet were printed. (yes, I know Island appeared only once on these sheets.)
Every Unlimited Booster pack contained a Rare, so your odds of opening a Black Lotus from an Unlimited pack is 1 in 121
A Black Lotus in an Unlimited booster pack is still a Rare. Same odds of opening, even though almost 17 times as many Black Lotus cards were printed in Unlimited.
Rarity of a card is entirely separate from total world population. An Alpha Black Lotus (1100 made) is much harder to find than an Unlimited Black Lotus (18500 made), but they have equal rarity.
You see, total world population of Black Lotus cards went up a Lot, which makes Black Lotus cards easier to get, but it did not change the rarity of the card. Black Lotus was still a Rare because rarity is based on your chances to open a specific card from a booster pack.
Rare odds 1 in 121
Uncommon odds 3 in 121 (= 1 in 40.3)
Common odds 11 in 121 (= 1 in 11)
Masterpiece odds 1 in 2160
The fact that a card is inserted in X boosters does change the rarity of the card. It's the entire basis of card rarity.
I don't have print run info for Zendikar, but I'm confident that the number of Black Lotuses inserted into Zendikar packs was less than 1100, and the number of Zendikar packs produced was significantly more than the number of Alpha packs produced.
This would make the odds of opening a Black Lotus in a Zendikar pack 1 in (very large number, bigger than 121).
A Black Lotus in a Zendikar pack would occupy the Priceless Treasure rarity slot, which is different from the Rare rarity slot.
Priceless Treasures are more rare than a Rare. Whether the Priceless Treasure was originally a Rare, Uncommon, or Common is irrelevant, it will be harder to find than a Rare.
I mentioned earlier that rarity of a card was entirely separate from world population.
In the previous example, world population went way up, but rarity did not change.
For Priceless Treasures, world population does not change, but rarity goes way up.
IF the Priceless Treasures had been newly printed cards instead of old cards, remaining inserted into packs at the same rate as what actually happened, Then there would be no doubt at all that Priceless Treasure is a unique rarity slot.
Mythic Rare, Timeshifted, and Masterpiece are all unique rarity slots. Priceless Treasures should also be listed as a unique rarity.
The confusion only exists because we can't tell them apart from the original printing after opening them.
The fact remains that an Alpha Black Lotus sealed inside a Zendikar pack is more rare than an Alpha Black Lotus sealed inside an Alpha pack.
We should include Priceless Treasure as a rarity option, and have a list of cards that could potentially be opened. This information could be important to sealed pack collectors and investors.
That would be a better solution than ignoring Priceless Treasures or pretending they don't exist. We're here to accurately document history.
dragsamou wrote: So, I have a look at MTG shops, most of them are selling the Kaladesh Inventions with a Mythic Rare Rarity.
What the MTG shops do is not necessarily correct. The probably have a software limitation. For them it's multiple choice, Common, Uncommon, Rare, or Mythic. They simply choose the best answer, even if it's not correct. If WotC continues making these in the future, maybe there will be a software update showing the new rarity level.
Many shops list Candelabra of Tawnos as a Rare, and that's not correct either.
GlobalBoosterHunter wrote: That makes sense!
So would it all be down to which sheet it is printed on rather than which booster it comes from? I.e. if it is printed on the common sheet in Arabian Nights and the common sheet in Revised but on the uncommon sheet in another set then you treat each cards rarity according to the sheet it was printed on,
You have the right idea, but it's not quite accurate to describe it that way because some sets have weird sheet layouts.
For example, Visions has 3 sheets, but they are not Common, Uncommon, Rare.
The Common sheet is 110 cards, having 2 copies of 55 cards. (not all of the Commons)
The Uncommon sheet is 110 cards, having 2 copies of 55 cards. (yes, all of the Uncommons)
The Rare sheet is only 100 cards, having 1 copy of each of the 50 rares, & 7 copies each of the other 7 Commons (+1 more Common)
Because of stuff like this, it's better to describe rarity as the chance of opening a specific card an a pack.
Each pack has 11 Commons. Each of those Commons is a chance to get the specific Common you want. Your odds are 11 in (quantity of Commons in the set)
If you take the bigger number (quantity of Commons in the set), and divide it by the little number (quantity of those in a pack), then you get a 1 in (answer) version of the odds, which is easier to compare with.
For example, if the Common sheet has 121 cards, then your odds of opening a specific Common are 11 in 121.
Dividing the big number by the little number, and we see that equals 1 in 11.
Compared to 1 in 2160 for Masterpiece cards gives a fair comparison of just how rare the Masterpiece cards are.
Right now, we have a lot of different rarities.
Common
Foil Common (does anyone know if Foil Commons are more rare than non-foil Uncommons?)
Uncommon
Foil Uncommon
Rare
Foil Rare
Mythic
Foil Mythic
Etc.
dragsamou wrote:
If we take the example of Kird Ape and where it was placed on the sheet:
Arabian Nights: Common (5)
Summer Magic: Common
Revised: Common
Beatdown: Common
Ninth Edition: Uncommon
FNM: Promo (could be Common or Uncommon)
From the Vault: Exiled: Mythic
Duels Deck: Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas: Uncommon
Eternal Masters: Common
Beatdown, Promo cards, From the Vault, & Duel Deck cards may have colored expansion symbols to reflect the rarity level these cards have had previously, but these sets actually do not have any rarity because there is no randomization. Your odds of getting a specific card in any of these products is 1 in 1. You're guaranteed to get the card your looking for.
Collectors Edition is the same way. Black Lotus in Collectors Edition is just as Common as Grizzly Bears.
Tav