Magic The Gathering:
- Print Runs
- The Reserve List
- Counterfeits
- Buying Cards
- Articles
Visualizing The Rarity of Vintage Cards
The following will be a short and simple guide to help visualize how rare vintage MTG cards are.
Alpha Rare
1,008 of each Alpha Rare were printed in 1993. For more information on how this number was calculated please see the link below:
This is a photo of 1,008 cards stacked on top of each other. The rarity of these cards will be even more apparent when we start to compare it to the rares of other sets.
Unlimited Rare
The estimated number of each Unlimited Rare printed is 16,874. There are a few different variables involved in estimating the number of Unlimited Rares, so different websites may show different estimates. For more details on how the numbers on this site were calculated, please see the link below:
This is what 16,874 cards looks like:
Arabian Nights Rare
The rarest Arabian Nights Cards are "U2", meaning 2 copies were printed on the Uncommon Sheet (Arabian Nights did not have a Rare Sheet). There were 20,662 of each U2 printed. For more information please see the link below:
This is what 20,662 cards looks like:
Antiquities Rare
The rarest Antiquities Cards are "U1", meaning 1 copy was printed on the Uncommon Sheet (Antiquities did not have a Rare Sheet). There were 30,992 of each U1 printed. For more information please see the link below:
This is what 30,992 cards looks like:
Legends Rare
19,284 of each Legends Rare were printed. For more information please see the link below:
This is what 19,284 cards looks like:
The Dark Rare
Exact numbers for The Dark are not known to the same degree of accuracy as numbers for Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, Arabian Nights, Legends and Antiquities, however most estimates come in close to 145,000 of each U1, (give or take 20%).
This is what 150,000 cards looks like:
Modern Era Mythic Rare
Please note, that there is no accurate information regarding the print runs of modern era cards. Everything past The Dark is nothing better than an educated guess.
Most estimates which can be found on the internet approximate around 1.3 Million of each Mythic Rare are printed in a mass produced standard set which sells well. This estimate is based on sales data released by the company, and the known wholesale prices of boxes. For safety's sake we will assume 1.05 Million as a reasonable number.
This is what 1,050,000 cards looks like: