Ultimate Masters Collation

Ultimate Masters is a large set with 101 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, and 20 mythic rares. Compared to normal large sets of this era, there are five extra mythic rare cards. Every pack contains a foil card. The set was printed in Japan.

Ultimate Masters was sold in 15 card booster packs (which contain an additional ad card). Booster boxes have 24 packs.

Pack Anatomy

Ultimate Masters uses sequential collation with (probably) 112 card sheets (which seems to be the usual for Japan). The dimensions of the sheets are not known. The runs are configured differently than what may be familiar from sets printed in the USA or Belgium.

Packs are front-facing starting with the ad card, then the foil card, then the rare, 3 uncommons, and 10 commons.

There are 3 common runs: A, B, and C. A contains 27 distinct cards, and B and C each contain 37 distinct cards. Each pack gets 2 to 3 cards from A followed by 3 to 4 cards from B and 3 to 4 cards from C. This means packs are either 2-4-4, 3-3-4, or 3-4-3. The ratios can be calculated mathematically (assuming commons from each run are equally common). The result is that these three pack types occur in a 33 : 34 : 34 ratio.

There are two uncommon runs: A and B. A contains 24 distinct cards, and B contains 56 distinct cards. Packs can either contain one A card followed by two B cards, or no A cards and three B cards. The ratio of these pack types can also be calculated mathematically (assuming uncommons from each run are equally common). The result is that the odds are 9 : 1 in favor of getting an A card.

There are two rare runs. One contains 20 cards each three times for a 60 card run, and the other contains 33 cards each twice for a 66 card run. (I'm not sure how this makes sense with 112 card sheets.) The mythic rares are printed separately. (The classic solution of printing mythic rares half as often on the same sheet as rares wouldn't work anyway with the extra mythics in this set.) Mythic rares replace rare cards about 1/8 of the time. This means the chance of getting a particular mythic is about 1/160 as compared to the 1/120 or 1/121 from normal set.

The chances of getting a foil of a particular rarity are not known exactly, but empirically, I observed 549 commons, 161 uncommons, 52 rares, and 6 mythic rares over 32 boxes.

Common Runs

The A common run consists of 27 different cards each appearing four times (which would leave 4 fillers on a 112 card sheet). The cards are mostly blue. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The B common run consists of 37 different cards each appearing three times (which would leave 1 filler on a 112 card sheet). The cards are mostly black and green. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The C common run consists of 37 different cards each appearing three times (which would leave 1 filler on a 112 card sheet). The cards are mostly white and red. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Uncommon Runs

The A uncommon run consists of 24 different cards each appearing four times (which would leave 16 fillers on a 112 card sheet which could just be two rows if the width is 8 cards). The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The B uncommon run consists of 56 different cards each appearing twice (which would fill up a 112 card sheet). The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Token Run

All of the marketing cards in Ultimate Masters have a token on the front face. There is a 112 card sequence with different tokens appearing different numbers of times.

Token Rarity
Marit Lage × 2	Drake × 4	Faerie Rogue × 4
Soldier × 4	Spirit × 4	Wurm × 4
Citizen × 6	Elemental × 6	Spirit × 6
Elemental × 8	Elemental × 8	Homunculus × 8
Ooze × 8	Spark Elemental × 8	Spider × 8
Zombie × 24