Dragon's Rarity Scheme - New and Improved?

[SteveP]

Okay, I just got back from my local card shop where we're holding a Dragon Pre-release this Saturday. My PTO opened two boosters in order to give the players a preview of some of the cards they'll be using. Much to my surprise, the rarity scheme is MUCH BETTER than the R&S and Sandstorm sets. From the two packs opened, the PTO pulled a Dragonite EX Hole and Altaria Holo. Also, there was a non-holo rare in each booster. So, it appears Nintendo has listened to the concerns of collectors and stores that sell singles. They've "fixed" the rarity to match what they did in the original printing of R&S.

YES!!!!!!

PS. I DON'T think they now have a Holo/EX in every booster. I think my PTO just got lucky with the two boosters he selected. But, wouldn't that be interesting if they DID have a Holo/EX in every booster? Probably not though.

[Cyrus]

Wow! Glad to hear that...errr...


...you wouldn't mind posting pics, would ya??? :D

[swanton1717]

Awesome do you happen to remember what Dragonite Ex attacks and power are?

[SteveP]

Sorry, I have no info about the card stats. I just glanced at them.

[Gym Leader Blaine]

Okay, I just got back from my local card shop where we're holding a Dragon Pre-release this Saturday. My PTO opened two boosters in order to give the players a preview of some of the cards they'll be using. Much to my surprise, the rarity scheme is MUCH BETTER than the R&S and Sandstorm sets. From the two packs opened, the PTO pulled a Dragonite EX Hole and Altaria Holo. Also, there was a non-holo rare in each booster. So, it appears Nintendo has listened to the concerns of collectors and stores that sell singles. They've "fixed" the rarity to match what they did in the original printing of R&S.

YES!!!!!!

Nice to hear that they made the rarity better this time around. I'm tempted to open some up and see what is in them, but Im going to wait till Saturday. Want to be surpised like everyone else. No fun opening your Chirsmas gifts early. ;) Plus I figure is there is any left after the tournament I have all Saturday night to open boosters :thumb:

[Prime]

Thanks the lord! Nintendo, if you are reading this, you have made a very good move in doing this.

[sneaselsrevenge]

Okay, I just got back from my local card shop where we're holding a Dragon Pre-release this Saturday. My PTO opened two boosters in order to give the players a preview of some of the cards they'll be using. Much to my surprise, the rarity scheme is MUCH BETTER than the R&S and Sandstorm sets. From the two packs opened, the PTO pulled a Dragonite EX Hole and Altaria Holo. Also, there was a non-holo rare in each booster. So, it appears Nintendo has listened to the concerns of collectors and stores that sell singles. They've "fixed" the rarity to match what they did in the original printing of R&S.

YES!!!!!!

PS. I DON'T think they now have a Holo/EX in every booster. I think my PTO just got lucky with the two boosters he selected. But, wouldn't that be interesting if they DID have a Holo/EX in every booster? Probably not though.

If I'm understasnding what youre' saying, Holos/EX's are more common than in Sandstorm. If that's the case, that sucks!! I enjoy pulling them as much as anybody, but that cheapens the values of the cards, and lessens the joy of pulling them because its nothing special.

[Pablo]

how can you say the rarity scheme changed, when you opened only 2 packs? you either were lucky, or it has changed, but you would have to open a whole box to confirm this, i mean i have opened 4 holos/ex out of 4 boosters before, from sandstorm, but thats just because I picked the boosters, we can only confirm this by opening an entire box.

[Kirblar]

In the originial printing scheme, EX holos took the place of normal rares, not holo ones. Is this the scheme that has been brought back?

[Tyranitar666]

I say this is a bad move. The game not only needs a solid player base and tournement structure, but collectability. This kills card value HORRIBLY. The value of EXs from R/S is HORRIBLE. Only Mewtwo is worth ANYTHING. Also, Nintendo will sell less because you get more rares...hurts sales in the long run. I think its a shame they are doing this. Yes, this helps those who have less money, but hurts the game in the long run I am afraid.

[SteveP]

I don't know the EX/Holo rarity scheme yet. I didn't see enough boosters. All I'm saying is that in the two boosters that I saw, one pack contained a Holo and a non-holo rare and the other pack contained an EX and a non-holo rare. So, I'm guessing that the Dragon rarity scheme is back to the same it was in the WOTC-produced e-card sets. IMO, that's new and improved (better than R&S and Sandstorm).

[pokeprofRaymond]

I say this is a bad move. The game not only needs a solid player base and tournement structure, but collectability. This kills card value HORRIBLY. The value of EXs from R/S is HORRIBLE. Only Mewtwo is worth ANYTHING. Also, Nintendo will sell less because you get more rares...hurts sales in the long run. I think its a shame they are doing this. Yes, this helps those who have less money, but hurts the game in the long run I am afraid.

If I could recall, SteveP observed that the rarity scheme has been changed for EX Dragons. Unlike before that you get two EX's in two straight boosters. So it is somewhat important to read previous posts before making an opinion. ;)

It is true (but not too all) that the rarity scheme of R/S is kinda weird. But still if there is an improvement observed in EX Dragons it seems Nintendo is getting the picture on how the cards in the boosters should be distributed and we as consumers are somewhat sensitive to these. :)

[mysterioustrainer]

Oh... *crosses legs*

I really want to get to Dale'z now. I wanna be there, I wanna judge, play, talk, and have fun... I wanna, wanna, wanna... I want Saturday morning to be here but it is only 11:49pm that is a stinking 29 hours and 41 minutes before I can head for Colorado Springs. I am ready ready ready.

Well it is good that the booster packs are back to a more normal state. Lately Sandstorm has been a pain to collect holos to. Hey Steve, I am bring "THE TRADE BOX" for after the tournament so hopefully we can get some more trading done.

[NoPoke]

oh No! more stats required

HeHe

[JohnnyBlaze]

Steve thanks for the info. Does anyone know if there will be Pre-release cards again? Gotta love the Pre-release cards.

[soslowpoke]

I'd like to refer to an old diagram I made about booster placement in boxes

top
X X
0 0
0 0
X X
0 0
0 0
X X
0 0
0 0
X X
0 0
0 0
bottom

X = holofoil

[irwinmalek]

Sorry, but as I'm understanding this, you're saying that it is "now" possible to get a holo and a normal rare in each pack. Well, wasn't that possible in Sandstorm, or did I miss something?

In Sandstorm, you could also get a rare and an EX or a rare and a foil...

[SteveP]

JohnnyBlaze, see the other topic about the Dragon Pre-release card. Yes, these will be one.

[mtjimmer]

2 packs are not enough to guess a rarity scheme. Honest.

As an aside, anyone *truly* interested in pursuing a job in the gaming, ought to have a solid grasp of statistics. What's the chance that 2 packs represents the population of boosters?

And as an official party-killer, I *would* ask that PTOs don't open too many packs for the public before the event they host. Just out of politeness.

[SwampertEX]

I pulled a R/S pack not too long ago, and it contained a Holo, Rare, and Reverse Holo of the same card!!! (The rare was a different version of the card, but still) THAT IS BROKEN!!!

[Orange Soda]

Broken? No. Lucky? Yes. I had an Expedition booster once that contained both Holo and Non-Holo Dragonite. Not really any big deal.

[Pablo]

2 packs are not enough to guess a rarity scheme. Honest.

As an aside, anyone *truly* interested in pursuing a job in the gaming, ought to have a solid grasp of statistics. What's the chance that 2 packs represents the population of boosters?

And as an official party-killer, I *would* ask that PTOs don't open too many packs for the public before the event they host. Just out of politeness.

see, no one paid attention to my post. Until you open a WHOLE BOX, you wont be able to know what's up with the rarity sorting thingy, and soslowpokes diagram clearly shows what happened with the 2 boosters, and why you got 2 holos.

[Water Pokemon Master]

I'd like to refer to an old diagram I made about booster placement in boxes

top
X X
0 0
0 0
X X
0 0
0 0
X X
0 0
0 0
X X
0 0
0 0
bottom

X = holofoil
So does this mean that if we were to go to Target and see a brand new box that we should get the 3rd and 4th packs, 9th and 10th packs, and so on and we would get a holo in each one?

[RainbowRichards]

Well, it seems that the Xs are supposed to represent boosters which will have holos - but I can't quite figure out where the other missing boosters went. I mean, a box has 36 packs, but there aren't that many Xs and Os...only 8 Xs, and there will be 12 boosters with holofoil cards on average in a full display.

[SteveP]

After opening a couple booster boxes of Dragon, here's the statistics:

In the Dragon set, there are:

15 Holofoils
9 EX Foils
10 Rares
33 Uncommons
33 Commons

The odds of pulling the rarities are:

HF - 1/6 boosters
EX - 1/6 boosters
R - 1/1 booster
U - 2/1 booster
C - 14/3 boosters

And, the probabilities of pulling a particular card in a booster are (by rarity):

HF - 1/90 boosters
EX - 1/54 boosters
R - 1/10 boosters
U - 1/16.5 boosters
C - 1/7.1 boosters

As you can see, there's still a problem with uncommons being more rare than non-holo rares. Plus, even though HF/EX now replace commons instead of rares (an improvement IMO), this set is actually now harder to complete than both R&S (second printing) and Sandstorm.

So, I don't know what to think anymore. Maybe the Dragon set ISN'T new and improved. JMO.

[Pablo]

i didnt improve, nor deimprove (cant remember the word right now, too early to think ;)), it basically stayed the same and i guess this is enough proof that PUI wasnt really paying attention to our concerns as collectors.