Core Set 2020 Collation

Core Set 2020 is a core set with 101 normal commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, 15 mythic rares, four variations of each standard basic land, and 11 extra common lands that can replace basic lands in boosters. Besides the extra common lands, this is the normal size for a large set of this era. Foil cards are included in booster packs with advertised odds of 1 : 45 cards (which is a change from previous sets). The set was printed in English in the USA and Belgium.

Core Set 2020 was sold in 15 card booster packs (which contain an additional ad card). Booster boxes have 36 packs.

USA Pack Anatomy

The US printing uses sequential collation with C1/C2 common collation.

Packs have back-facing cards with common-uncommon-rare ordering followed by a land and ad card. If there is a foil, it will displace a common and appear after the rare. The card in the land slot may be a basic land or another common land.

Packs are evenly split between C1 commons and C2 commons. C1 packs will contain 2×A + 2×B + 6×C or 3×A + 2×B + 5×C. C2 packs will contains 4×A + 2×B + 4×C or 4×A + 3×B + 3×C or 4×A + 4×B + 2×C.

When a foil appears in a pack, it will displace a common card. Common foils (including common basic and non-basic lands) displace A or C1 commons. (They can displace A commons in both C1 and C2 packs.) Uncommon foils can appear in both C1 and C2 packs (probably at equal rates) and displace B commons. Rare foils displace C2 commons.

For the common foils, the non-basic lands are apparently printed on a different sheet even though they are collated in the same slot. (The non-basic lands don't appear in sequences that are consistent with the normal common foil sequences.) Mathematically, for the non-basic lands to be as likely as the other common foils, the should appear 1/12 of the time. This is consistent with the data I have seen (although the evidence isn't that strong).

The data is consistent with a common foil rate of 1/5 and an uncommon foil rate of 1/12. With a total foil rate of 1/3 (15/45), the makes the rare foil rate 1/20. This is harder to verify based on collation patterns, but empirically plausible.

There are two uncommon runs, A and B, each with 40 different cards appearing three times each. Half of packs have two A cards followed by a B, and half have one A card followed by two B cards.

The land slot will contain a basic land 13/24 of the time and a non-basic land the rest of the time.

Common Runs

The A common run consists of 33 different cards each appearing twice. These cards are white, blue, and red (appearing in that order). The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The B common run consists of 22 different cards each appearing three times. The cards alternate between black and green. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The C1 common run consists of 27 different cards each appearing twice plus Anvilwrought Raptor, the short-printed common. It includes cards of all colors and colorless cards. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The C2 common run consists of 18 different cards each appearing three times plus Anvilwrought Raptor, the short-printed common. It includes cards of all colors and colorless cards. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Uncommon Runs

The A uncommon run consists of 40 different cards each appearing three times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The B uncommon run also consists of 40 different cards each appearing three times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Token Run

All of the marketing cards in Core Set 2020 have a token or emblem on the front face. They are printed on an 11 × 11 sheet with different items appearing different numbers of times.

Token Rarity
Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer Emblem × 1	Elemental Bird × 3	Chandra, Awakened Inferno Emblem × 5
Demon × 6	Spirit × 6	Treasure × 7
Ajani's Pridemate × 8	Golem × 8	Elemental × 13
Zombie × 20	Soldier × 22	Wolf × 22

Foil Rare Sheet

There is a picture of the foil rare sheet available. [1] Each rare card appears twice, and each mythic rare card appears once.

Belgian Pack Anatomy

The Belgian printing uses sequential collation with simple two-run 101 common collation.

Packs are front-facing and have common-uncommon-rare ordering followed by a basic land and an ad card. There are 10 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare. If there is a foil card, it will appear after the land, displacing a common.

Each pack contains four cards from the A common run followed by six cards from the B run. Foils can displace a card from either run.

Common Runs

The A common run consists of 40 different cards each appearing three times plus Stone Golem, the short-printed common (which is different than the US short print). There are cards are mostly white and blue. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The B common run consists of 60 different cards each appearing twice plus Stone Golem, the short-printed common. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

[1] A picture of the US foil rare sheet is available with this eBay listing.