Token Rarity

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Today we wanted to talk about a rather interesting image posted by Redditor 'DeliciousCrepes' which qualitatively shows the rarity of tokens from 36 Battle for Zendikar Booster Boxes.  Yep - that is a total of 1,296 booster packs, a sample size that we would feel confident with on making some general observations on the distribution of specific tokens within booster packs - at least for the latest Magic: the Gathering set.

When we first started playing shortly after the release of Lorwyn, we suffered a certain level of naivety with regards to the distribution and availability of tokens included within booster packs.  We really had not given it much thought until Scars of Mirrodin was release and we wanted to acquire the accompanying wurm tokens (the 2 lifelink and deathtouch 3/3 wurms) to the lovely Wurmcoil Engine we were lucky to pull from a booster pack.  To our surprise, we could secure these, but only by purchasing them for $4 each.  We quickly realised that our false belief that these 'free' token cards that came with (almost) every booster pack had a certain rarity to them which was also tempered by an additional complexity driven by consumer demand.

What we came to realise, is that there was a loose relationship between the rarity of a token and the particular spell (card) which created it.  This was most recently confirmed by Mark Rosewater in a Tumblr post from October 18, 2015 who indicates that a "Tokens’ rarity is based upon the rarity (or rarities) of the cards that make them".  

This statement may be modified slightly for Battle for Zendikar as it is now widely thought that the occurence of an 'advertisement' card in each booster pack was reduced so that the ratio would be approximatley 1 of 10 packs would contain an advertisement.  Contrariwise, 9 of every 10 packs would produce a token.  At this time, we are uncertain what the ration may have been previously.  To throw another level of complexity into this, a token's rarity may also be affected by how many spells / cards produce said token.  by way of example, the 1/1 White Kor Ally (token 6/11) is produced by only two cards (Retreat to Emeria and Unified Front), whereas the 1/1 Colourless Eldrazi Scion (tokens 2/11, 3/11, 4/11) are produced by 15 different cards.

Anywhos, in Battle for Zendikar, there was a total of 14 tokens, which also includes 3 emblems created by Planeswalkers.  Redditor DeliciousCrepes found that the rarest token was was the 10/10 colourless Eldrazi creature token (1/14) created by Desolation Twin, a rare card.  This is rather interesting as there was only 18 copies of this 10/10 Eldrazi token in 1,242 packs - one would have thought perhaps one of the (Mythic Rare) Planeswalker Emblems would have been.  One observation is that Desolation Twin has a whopping casting cost of 10 which means the Twin may not show up in games as often as compared to Dragonmaster Outcast which is able to generate a 5/5 Red Dragon creature token with flying, also a rare, but has a casting cost of only one.

We are only scrapping the surface here but will say that although very cool to know, we still relish playing Magic: the Gathering with its complexities and a small measure of inherent mysterious unknown.

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Avacyn Restored Boosters

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Some very lovely Avacyn Restores spoilers out today - essentially the entire line-up of products which of course, being fans of the game we will want to spend some time carefully reviewing the art on all the packaging and start speculation as to what this next Magic the Gathering set may have for us.  Stay tuned for the next few posts as well provide a post for . . .

• Avacyn Restored Boosters / Booster Box,
• Avacyn Restored Event Decks / Fat Packs, and
• Avacyn Restored Intro Packs

Here's the essential 4.1.1. for the set - Avacyn Restored is the third set in the Innistrad block, being released May 4, 2012. It is the fifty-eighth expansion for Magic. Prerelease Events will take place April 28-29, 2012 and Launch Parties will take place May 4-6, 2012. Game Day will be on May 25-26, 2012. This set contains 244 cards.  Make sure you speak with your local Games Store to reserve or pre-order what you want.  Personally, we already have our orders in to OMG! Games here in Central Ontario and would buy it right now if we had a time machine.

Anwyhoos - Let's have a look at the Booster Box and Packs . .

There area 15 cards per Dark Ascension Booster Pack, and 36 boosters per Dark Ascension Booster Box.  Each Booster Pack will likely contain the following - 1 marketing card, 1 basic land, 9 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare or mythic rare (with Mythic Rares found in approximately 1 in every 8 packs).






  

 


 











Well, it looks like a nice blend of three angels and two demons.  We already know the Angel Avacyn (Angel of Hope) as well as the Demon Griselbrand.  We don't know the red-headed Angel (we're really hoping for a multi-colour here), the creepy / beautifly no eye retina angel.  We can't really call the last devil / demon but we love that cool retro coat he has.


Join on in with your speculations as to colours / abilities, etc. - drop a line in the comment thingy below.
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M10 Intro Pack Contents

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Directly from a French retailer to your desktop . . . Magic 2010 Intro Pack contents.

White : We Are Legion (20 White / 3 Red)
Foil Rare : Lightwielder Paladin, 3WW
Creatures: (13)
Palace Guard
Razorfoot Griffin x2
Silvercoat Lion x2
Prodigal Pyromancer
Griffin Sentinel
Serra Angel
Elite Vanguard
Soul Warden
Stormfront Pegasus
Undead Slayer
Lightwielder Paladin

Spells: (10)
Glorious Charge
Lightning Bolt
Lava Axe
Pacifism x2
Divine Verdict
Armored Ascension
Harm's Way
Righteousness
Honor of the Pure

Land: (18)
Plain x12
Mountain x5
Terramorphic Expanse x1

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Blue : Presence of Mind (20 Blue / 3 Black)
Foil Rare : Djinn of Wishes, 3UU
Creatures: (12)
Snapping Drake x2
Zephyr Sprite
Sage Owl x2
Coral Merfolk
Horned Turtle
Air Elemental
Phantom Warrior
Wall of Frost
Djinn of Wishes
Clone

Spells: (11)
Essence Scatter
Divination x2
Doom Blade
Negate
Mind Rot
Cancel
Mind Control
Rise from the Grave
Sleep
Telepathy

Land: (18)
Island x12
Swamp x5
Terramorphic Expanse x1

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Black : Death's Minions (20 Black / 3 Green)
Foil Rare : Nightmare, 5B
Creatures: (12)
Gravedigger
Zombie Goliath x2
Warpath Ghoul
Looming Shade
Bog Wraith
Enormous Baloth
Howling Banshee
Wall of Bone
Drudge Skeletons
Nightmare
Cemetery Reaper

Spells: (11)
Giant growth
Doom Blade x2
Assassinate
Naturalize
Mind Rot x2
Tendrils of Corruption
Consume Spirit
Diabolic Tutor
Rise from the Grave

Land: (18)
Swamp x12
Forest x5
Terramorphic Expanse x1

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Green : Nature's Fury (3 White / 21 Green)
Foil Rare : Kalonian Behemoth, 5GG
Creatures: (13)
Giant Spider
Llanowar Elves x2
Brambles Creeper
Runeclaw Bear
Borderland Ranger x2
Stampeding Rhino
Elvish Visionary
Enormous Baloth
Awakener Druid
Prized Unicorn
Kalonian Behemoth

Spells: (11)
Giant Growth x2
Oakenform
Naturalize
Pacifism
Divine Verdict
Overrun
Harm's Way
Nature's Spiral
Windstorm
Might of Oaks

Land: (17)
Forest x11
Plains x5
Terramorphic Expanse x1
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Red : Firebomber (3 Blue / 20 Red)
Foil Rare : Shivan Dragon, 4RR

Creatures: (12)
Fiery Hellhound
Lightning Elemental x2
Raging Goblin
Canyon Minotaur
Goblin Piker
Prodigal Pyromancer
Goblin Artillery
Berserkers of Blood Ridge
Wall of Fire
Dragon Whelp
Shivan Dragon

Spells: (11)
Divination
Lightning Bolt x2
Seismic Strike x2
Lava Axe
Negate
Fireball
Pyroclasm
Sleep
Earthquake

Land: (18)
Island x5
Mountain x12
Terramorphic Expanse x1
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M10 Intro Packs

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Some online retailer just let the cat out of the bag - the result - we not have images and names of all five Magic 2010 Intro Packs.

White : We Are Legion
Foil Rare : Lightwielder Paladin, 3WW
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Blue : Presence of Mind
Foil Rare : Djinn of Wishes, 3UU

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Black : Death's Minions
Foil Rare : Nightmare, 5B

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Green : Nature's Fury
Foil Rare : Kalonian Behemoth, 5GG

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Red : Firebomber
Foil Rare : Shivan Dragon, 4RR

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While we are at it, here are some smaller-resolution images of Magic 2010 booster packs . . .






















Stay tuned for more M10 spoilers !

ARB Booster Packs

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Happy Saturday morning to all. Hope your FNM or other Friday night activities were fun and without incident. I tossed a coin and went with a Naya stompy / Realm Razor build over the Fae / Fish last night and went 2-1 to Top 8 where I was crushed - still, considering a good turnout of close to almost 30, I guess I cannot complain.

Anywho - We have for you yet another Alara Reborn spoiler treat today . . . Magic: The Gathering Alara Reborn Booster Packs ! Let's have a look -

Right - Are you thinking what I'm thinking ? Yep - Perhaps they should have installed full windows at the Boa Constrictor Zoo display. Other than that, it appears to be some odd union with a Naya serpent and a Grixis Zombie. The Zombie almost does look to have the appearence of a Vedelkan mage however . . . what's your guess here ?

Here is the next Booster Pack - in this image, we can clearly see a Bant Knight who shuned the conventional Leotau Mount for a larger Naya beast. This perhaps may be prudent given the conflux of shards and ensuing battles with hoards seeking out new mana sources.

We have seen this Angel before - check out the previous MTG Realm post on MTG iGoogle Themes. This image still has the community scratching their collective head. One popular speculation is that this is Asha freshly returned after many years of planeswalking / self-exile (?).

Enjoy - stay tuned for more hot spoiler action and wild speculations (hopefully some more news on Zendikar is forthcomming).

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