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Old 11-01-2017, 11:23 AM   #1
MazeMonster
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Default Rarity level of cards and distrubution thereof

I'm not a CCG player, but I'm making an exception for Munchkin. What will the rarity classifications for cards be, and what will be their overall frequency in starter packs, boosters, etc.? The upshot of my question is how many boosters I should be buying in the first and successive waves to guarantee a reasonable arsenal of desired cards. Also, will there be promo cards in the future published in the same manner as regular Munchkin?
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Old 11-01-2017, 03:13 PM   #2
HunterS
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Default Re: Rarity level of cards and distrubution thereof

Players can build competitive decks using only common and uncommon cards. Increased rarity typically correlates to increased complexity, but more complex cards are not necessarily stronger. There are quite a few rarity classifications for the Season 1 launch, but since common and uncommon cards are absolutely viable (and arguably required) for high-level play, the number of boosters any player feels they need to buy beyond the initial starter sets is completely subjective.

Yes, there will be promo cards.
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Old 02-16-2018, 12:34 PM   #3
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Default Re: Rarity level of cards and distrubution thereof

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Originally Posted by HunterS View Post
Players can build competitive decks using only common and uncommon cards. Increased rarity typically correlates to increased complexity, but more complex cards are not necessarily stronger. There are quite a few rarity classifications for the Season 1 launch, but since common and uncommon cards are absolutely viable (and arguably required) for high-level play, the number of boosters any player feels they need to buy beyond the initial starter sets is completely subjective.

Yes, there will be promo cards.
Looking at the newly released card list... each class has one card at X rarity that is not present at lower rarities, and each class has three cards at V rarity that are not present at lower rarities.

These are, in essence, the ultra-rares for the game. I can't say I'm happy to see that ultra-rares are a thing, especially since a couple of them are very high power level. Plus the placement of alt-arts at the ultra-rare level actually makes it HARDER to acquire the ultra-rares.

If I have a 1/30 chance of opening an X rare (making this up, since to my knowledge actual rarity has not been announced), and I have a 6/33 chance of pulling one of the non-alt art ultra rares - Then my odds of pulling one of the actual ultra-rare cards in any given pack are 6/990, or 0.606 percent.

In other words, ultra rares would occur in about 6 out of every 1000 packs.

By loading the ultra-rares with alt-arts you are actually making the real ultra-rares incredibly hard to acquire.
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Old 02-16-2018, 01:27 PM   #4
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Default Re: Rarity level of cards and distrubution thereof

I guess we'll see once tournaments really get going, and we see what the makeup of the winning decks are.

If it ends up that most of the decks winning tournaments are stacked with a bunch of rares and above, then perhaps they'll need to rethink their rarity breakdowns, if having common/uncommon decks be competitive is something they desire (which it seems like it is).

Until that happens, I'm not going to worry about it.

Probably won't worry even then, as I was never likely to be frequenting tournaments. So long as I can build fun decks for home play without needing a bunch of rares (which I'm SURE is true, since we've already enjoyed the starters), and so long as we don't end up with a few good cards unbalancing things severely when we try our hand at building our own decks (which seems unlikely), I'll be fine. I was never going to be going for full sets, anyway.

Last edited by Mister Ed; 02-16-2018 at 02:20 PM.
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Old 02-16-2018, 02:10 PM   #5
Devin Lewis
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Default Re: Rarity level of cards and distrubution thereof

We are doing something different than you've seen with our X rarity cards. Comparing it to other rarity systems isn't only going to lead you to incorrect assumptions. Part of the nature of CCGs is that you generally don't tell what your rarity mix is beyond a few basics. I'm afraid in this case you'll have to trust us when we say we aren't trying to be purposely obtuse or trying to make people buy far more packs than they need to.
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Last edited by Devin Lewis; 02-16-2018 at 02:15 PM. Reason: Too harsh without intending it to be.
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Old 02-16-2018, 02:47 PM   #6
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Default Re: Rarity level of cards and distrubution thereof

By the way, thanks for the Card Search page. It really is great to be able to tell what is out there.

I noticed the Card Search had no entries under "Promo" or "Fomo", even though I thought I had already seen at least one card that would fit that classification...
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Old 02-16-2018, 03:29 PM   #7
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Default Re: Rarity level of cards and distrubution thereof

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Originally Posted by Mister Ed View Post
By the way, thanks for the Card Search page. It really is great to be able to tell what is out there.

I noticed the Card Search had no entries under "Promo" or "Fomo", even though I thought I had already seen at least one card that would fit that classification...
It's a Blarg card so you'll have to wait a bit.
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Old 02-21-2018, 09:37 AM   #8
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Default Re: Rarity level of cards and distrubution thereof

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Originally Posted by Devin Lewis View Post
Part of the nature of CCGs is that you generally don't tell what your rarity mix is beyond a few basics.
In magic the rarity breakdown is expressly provided by WotC. The idea that "you generally don't tell what your rarity mix" is is not true.
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Old 02-21-2018, 09:51 AM   #9
Devin Lewis
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Default Re: Rarity level of cards and distrubution thereof

They happily tell you how many of each type of card are in a set, and the gigantic magic community gets together months after a set has come out and does the math to come up with an approximation of something like 1 out of every 75 packs is a Mythic rare.

I'm afraid I've never been able to find where Wizards talks about exactly how they've broken down their current sets. If your Google Fu is better than mine, I'd love to see that information. That would also give us a better picture of what it is you're looking for.
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Old 02-21-2018, 12:42 PM   #10
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Default Re: Rarity level of cards and distrubution thereof

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Originally Posted by Devin Lewis View Post
They happily tell you how many of each type of card are in a set, and the gigantic magic community gets together months after a set has come out and does the math to come up with an approximation of something like 1 out of every 75 packs is a Mythic rare.

I'm afraid I've never been able to find where Wizards talks about exactly how they've broken down their current sets. If your Google Fu is better than mine, I'd love to see that information. That would also give us a better picture of what it is you're looking for.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/article...ges-2008-06-02

"We will also be replacing one common card in each booster pack with a basic land card. The expected composition of a booster pack will now be 1 rare, 3 uncommons, 10 commons, 1 basic land, and 1 tip card or token (with the mythic rare replacing the rare in approximately 1 out of every 8 packs)."

That is the level of detail I was hoping for. It's even more important* the more rarities you add.

*to me obviously. I can't speak for everyone :).
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