The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Collation

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is a premier set with 101 commons (5 of which are double-faced), 92 uncommons (12 of which are double-faced), 64 rares (11 of which are double-faced), 22 mythic rares (7 of which are double-faced), three variations of each standard basic land, and 7 extra common cave lands that can replace basic lands in boosters.

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan was sold in 15 card draft booster packs (which contain an additional ad card or double-faced placeholder card). Draft booster boxes have 36 packs. Draft boosters in English are printed in the USA, Japan, and Belgium. Foil cards are included in draft booster packs with advertised odds of 1 : 45 cards.

US Pack Anatomy

The US printing uses sequential collation.

Packs are front-facing and have 9 non-double-faced commons followed by a double-faced common or uncommon, 3 non-double-faced uncommons, a rare a basic land or cave, and an ad card.If there is a foil card, it will appear after the rare, displacing a common.

There are two non-double-faced common runs: A and B. A has 60 distinct cards and B has 36 distinct cards. Each pack has 5-6 cards from A followed by 3-4 from B. Thus, normal packs are 5+4 or 6+3 and foil packs are 5+3.

Common Runs

The A common run consists of 60 different cards each appearing twice. The cards appear in a repeating pattern of white, red, green, black, blue. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary. (Due to the lack of full-box openings and repetitiveness of the data, there is some uncertainty in this data.)

Japanese Pack Anatomy

The Japanese printing uses sequential collation probably with 112 card sheets (which is the usual for Japan).

Packs are front-facing starting with the ad card or placeholder card, the basic land or common land, then a rare, 3 non-double-faced uncommons, a double-faced common or uncommon, and 9 non-double-faced commons. If there is a foil, it will between the land and the rare, displacing a common. Basic lands are always full-art (the non-full-art basic lands do not appear).

There are 3 non-double-faced common runs: A, B, and C. A has 22 distinct cards, B has 37 distinct cards, and C has 37 distinct cards. Each pack gets 1 to 2 (almost always 2) cards from A followed by 3 to 4 cards from B and 3 to 4 cards from C. I've only seen one 1 A pack which was 1+3+4 (with a foil). All combinations of 2 A packs are possible. The exact ratios may depend on the way foil collation works.

There are 3 non-double-faced uncommon runs: A, B, and C. A has 6 distinct cards, B has 37 distinct cards, and C has 37 distinct cards. Packs have 0 to 1 cards from A followed by 1 to 2 cards from B and 1 to 2 cards from C. Mathematically, A cards should appear in 9/40 of packs to ensure all uncommons appear equally often. Cards with a showcase or borderless treatment appear in C with 1/3 of the copies being the alternate treatment.

The double-faced common and uncommon cards appear in the same run in which individual common cards appear twice as often as individual uncommon cards. Thus, in total, commons appear 5/12 of the time. The expected number of an individual double-faced uncommon per pack is then 1/22 which is slightly higher than the expected 3/80 of a non-double-faced uncommon. The same is true for commons (also though numbers are closer).

The common lands and basics are in the same run. Each full-art basic appears 3/5 as many times as an individual one of the caves.

Common Runs

The A common run consists of 22 different cards each appearing five times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The B common run consists of 37 different cards each appearing three times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The C common run consists of 37 different cards each appearing three times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Uncommon Runs

The B uncommon run consists of 37 different cards each appearing three times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The C uncommon run consists of 37 different cards each appearing three times. For cards with a showcase or borderless treatment, one of the three copies is in that treatment. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Double-faced Run

The double-faced common and uncommon run consists of 5 common cards each appearing ten times and 12 uncommon cards each appearing five times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Land Run

The land run consists of 5 full-art basic lands each appearing six times and 7 common cave lands each appearing ten times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.