Ikoria Collation

Ikoria is a large set with 101 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, 15 mythic rares, three variations of each standard basic land, and 10 extra common lands that can replace basic lands in boosters. This is the normal size for a large set of this era (although extra common lands don't appear in every set). Foil cards are included in booster packs with advertised odds of 1 : 45 cards. The set was printed in English in the USA, Belgium, and Japan.

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

US 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 basic land and ad card. If there is a foil, it will displace a common and appear after the rare.

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. Cards that have showcase variants appear in B or C2 and the showcase variant replaces one of the three copies of the card on the sheet.

When a foil appears in a pack, it will displace a common card. Common foils (including basic lands and tap lands) displace A commons. Uncommon foils can appear in both C1 and C2 packs (probably at equal rates) and displace B commons. Rare foils displace C2 commons. Foil showcase cards displace C1 commons. (This is at least true for uncommon and rare foil showcase cards. I don't have data for other rarities yet.)

There are 126 cards that can appear in the common foil slot, so they don't all appear on the same sheet. From what I can tell, some tap lands and some basic lands are on the main sheet. I have some evidence that Island (264) is on a different sheet (but still appearing in this slot).

The data is consistent with a common foil rate of 1/6 and an uncommon foil rate of 1/12.

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. For cards that have showcase variants, one of the copies on the sheet is the showcase variant.

There are three rare runs. One run contains the normal version of every rare and mythic rare card (with mythic rares appearing half as often in the run). Another run contains every card that doesn't have an alternate version (neither a showcase version nor a borderless planeswalker). The third run contains the showcase variants and borderless planeswalkers. The first run appears 2/3 of the time. This strongly suggests that all rare cards are equally likely overall (with mythic rare cards half as likely) with showcase or borderless variants appearing 1/3 of the time for cards with those variants.

Cards in the land slot come from one sheet. Basic lands appear 1/2 of the time (or perhaps 61/121 of the time), each appearing 4 times on the sheet. Each of the tap lands appears 6 times on the sheet.

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. One of the three copies of Cavern Whisperer is the showcase version. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The C1 common run consists of 27 different cards each appearing twice plus Springjaw Trap, 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 Springjaw Trap, the short-printed common. It includes cards of all colors and colorless cards. For cards with showcase versions, one of the three copies is the showcase version. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Uncommon Runs

The A uncommon run consists of 40 different cards each appearing three times. For cards that have showcase variants, one of the copies on the sheet is the showcase variant. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The B uncommon run also consists of 40 different cards each appearing three times. For cards that have showcase variants, one of the copies on the sheet is the showcase variant. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Land Run

Each basic land appears 4 times and each tap land appears 6 times. One observed box had an extra copy of Plains (260) which I've omited, as it was skipped in two other boxes. The position of this extra land would be at the end of this listing.

Token Run

Most of the marketing cards in Ikoria have a token on the front face. In addition, there is a card that has an advertisement for MTG Arena on the front face. (The front has an ESRB rating and the back has PEGI, so I'm not aware of any region differences.) They are printed on an 11 × 11 sheet with different items appearing different numbers of times.

There are also punch cards that appear in 3 out of every 25 packs. These are printed on a different sheet.

Token Rarity
Narset of the Ancient Way Emblem × 1	Dinosaur Beast × 2	Feather × 2
Kraken × 2	Cat Bird × 3	Shark × 3
Cat × 5	Beast × 6	Companion × 7
Dinosaur × 10	Arena Ad Card × 20	Human Soldier × 20
Human Soldier × 20	Human Soldier × 20

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

Common Runs

The A common run consists of 60 different cards each appearing twice plus Springjaw Trap, the short-printed common. Other than Springjaw Trap, the cards appear in a repeating pattern of white, black, green, blue, red. I've chosen to put Sringjaw Trap at the end to emphasize the pattern.

The B common run consists of 40 different cards each appearing three times plus Springjaw Trap, the short-printed common. It includes cards of all colors and colorless cards. For cards that have a showcase variant, one of the three copies is the showcase version. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Japanese Pack Anatomy

The Japanese printing uses sequential collation with (probably) 112 card sheets (which seems to be the usual for Japan). The dimensions of the sheets are not known.

Packs are front-facing starting with the ad card and a basic land or common tap land, then the rare, 3 uncommons, and 10 commons. If there is a foil, it will appear between the land and the rare, displacing a common.

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 exact ratios may depend on the way foil collation works. The cards with showcase versions appear in run C where the showcase version takes up one of the card's three slots in the run.

Foils displace a common. As far as I've seen, there will still be at least 2 A commons, 3 B commons, and 3 C commons, and I have seen all three possibilities for common distribution given a foil.

There are two uncommon runs, A and B. The A run contains 43 distinct cards each repeated five times. The B and C run each contain 37 distinct cards each repeated three times. The cards with showcase versions appear in run B where the showcase version takes up one of the card's three slots in the run. Packs contain either two A cards followed by one B, or two B cards followed by one A. Mathematically, two A cards should appear 49/80 of the time.

There are four rare runs. One run contains 31 rare cards, one contains 12 rares and 7 mythic rares, and the other two runs contain the 10 rares and 8 mythic rares that have alternate versions (either showcase cards or borderless planeswalkers). One of these has the normal versions and one has the alternate versions. Mythic rares seem to appear half as often on the sheets (probably including the sheet with alternate versions). Empirically, these runs appear at about the proper rates such that each rare card is equally likely overall and each mythic rare card is half as likely. Also empirically, the alternate versions of cards are about half as likely as the normal versions (so the chance of a card being a variant version is about 1/3).

Basic lands and tap lands are printed on separate sheets. It's plausible that these are equally likely.

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 green. 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 white and blue. 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 black and red. For cards that have showcase variants, one of the copies on the sheet is the showcase variant. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Uncommon Runs

The A uncommon run consists of 43 different cards each appearing five times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The B uncommon run consists of 37 different cards each appearing three times. For cards that have showcase variants, one of the copies on the sheet is the showcase variant. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Land Runs

The basic land run contains contains each basic land variation seven times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The other land run contains contains each tap land ten times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Token Run

Most of the marketing cards in Ikoria have a token or emblem on the front face. In addition, there is a card that has an advertisement for MTG Arena on the front face. (The front has an ESRB rating and the back has PEGI, so I'm not aware of any region differences.) They are printed in a 112 card run with items appearing different numbers of times.

There are also punch cards that appear maybe between 1/8 and 1/9 of the time. These are printed on a different sheet.

Token Rarity
Feather × 1	Narset of the Ancient Way Emblem × 1	Dinosaur Beast × 2
Kraken × 2	Cat Bird × 3	Shark × 3
Beast × 5	Cat × 5	Companion × 5
Dinosaur × 10	Human Soldier × 18	Arena Ad Card × 19
Human Soldier × 19	Human Soldier × 19