Antiquities is usually described as a 15-million-card set. The validated model closes at 15,100,800 and explains how 85 names, 100 art printings and 107 dataset rows fit without double counting.

Revised Serendib Efreet kept its blue identity but received a green frame and Ifh-Bíff Efreet artwork. Three other Revised cards show deliberate printed corrections.

Fifteen Arabian Nights commons exist with Light and Dark mana-symbol variants. The difference originated in one quadrant of the 121-position common sheet, creating physical versions with distinct frequencies.

Arabian Nights rarity cannot be read like a modern set. Its 78 cards came from only two 121-position sheets, and codes such as U2, U3, C1 and C11 record how many positions each card occupied.

Unlimited and Revised cards can both have white borders, no expansion symbol and no printed year. This guide explains six identification signals, starting with the beveled inner frame—the most reliable visual difference.

The Unlimited print run is usually described as 35 million cards. That figure is historically useful but rounded. By reconciling 121-card sheets, sealed-product composition and whole-package logistics, the MTGPrintRun model closes at 34,993,200 cards.

Magic: The Gathering launched in 1993 with two randomized products: 15-card booster packs and 60-card starter decks. Starter decks included two rares and a rulebook, but they were not modern preconstructed decks. Their different card mixes shaped both the first player experience and the factory production model behind Alpha and Beta.

Early Magic rarity came from physical print sheets, not only from labels printed on cards. Carta Mundi arranged Alpha and Beta cards on 11×11 sheets containing 121 positions. A card’s position count, sheet type and total sheet impressions determined how many copies entered booster packs and starter decks.

Alpha and Beta represent the first two printings of Magic: The Gathering Limited Edition. Alpha contains 295 cards, while Beta contains 302. The difference comes from two cards omitted from Alpha and five additional basic land artworks. Beta also corrected several errors and introduced the corner shape used by later Magic cards.

In August 1993, Wizards of the Coast printed the first Magic: The Gathering edition at the Carta Mundi factory in Belgium. This article reconstructs the full industrial story behind the Alpha print run: from the financial gamble of the initial order, through the rigid mathematics of the 11×11 print sheets, to the confirmed production figures released in 2021. The factory produced exactly 2,609,728 cards — 1,008 copies of each rare — packaged into 69,768 boosters and 26,100 starter decks. Alpha sold out in two weeks and launched the trading card game industry

For over three decades, Magic: The Gathering production figures have been shrouded in mystery and hearsay. MTG Print Run is a new project dedicated to reconstructing the game’s industrial history by reconciling primary factory records with advanced mathematical models. This article outlines our mission to provide the community with the first truly documented database of 1993 print runs and our commitment to data transparency in the vintage market.