Welcome back to the How to Play Magic series from Star City Games. If you need to catch up, you can read the previous article, about the Sealed Deck format, or start at the beginning with The Basics.
Today we’re going to cover how to tell the rarity of your Magic cards. Magic cards range in rarity from common and uncommon to rare and mythic rare. These are the four main rarities, though there are a handful of other types that show up from time to time.
Expansion Symbols
An easy way to tell a card’s rarity is by looking at the expansion symbol on any card printed from Exodus (June 1998) or later. If the symbol is black, the card is common. If it is silver, it is uncommon. If it is gold, it is rare. And finally, if it is orange and red, it is mythic rare.
For any card printed in Stronghold or earlier, you’ll need to look up the card’s rarity. You can see a card’s rarity on Star City Games by searching for the card and clicking on it.
If I crack open a recent booster pack, I can see all the commons by looking for the black expansion symbol. I have three uncommons, noted by the silver symbol, and one rare, noted by the gold symbol.
Now, if I have a couple of cards from Tempest, like Furnace of Rath and Dark Ritual, I’ll have to look them up. Let’s go to Star City Games and search for the cards. I can click on the versions of the cards from Tempest and see that Furnace of Rath is a rare and Dark Ritual is a common.
Mythic rares weren’t introduced to Magic until Shards of Alara (October 2008), so you’ll only find commons, uncommons, and rares in all sets from Eventide and earlier.
Promotional (“Promo”) Cards
Another category of rarity is promotional cards, also known as “promos.” Promos range from unique cards to alternate versions of already existing cards. Promos are usually obtained in ways other than opening packs. These include tournament entry or placement rewards, Buy-a-Box promos, book or comic promos, and Judge promos, to name a few.
Buy-a-Box promo cards are normally an alternate art version of a card you can get by buying a booster box of a set. For buying a box of Kaldheim, you could get an alternate art version of Realmwalker. If you bought a box of Dominaria, you’d receive a unique foil card that wasn’t in the set, Firesong and Sunspeaker.
Back in the day, you could get promo cards from Magic-related comics or books, like Mana Crypt or Arena. Players could also get special versions of cards for playing in or doing well in tournaments, like Mutavault. One example below is from the 2008 Magic Championships, and the other is from playing in a Grand Prix in 2018.
Judge promos are given to Judges as rewards for their work and contribution to the game, such as alternate art versions of Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite; Force of Will; and Sol Ring.
To summarize, to check the rarity of a card, simply look at its expansion symbol. If you’re ever unsure about the rarity of a card, don’t hesitate to look it up. Thanks for reading, and keep looking out for more How to Play articles from Star City Games.
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