Odyssey Collation

Odyssey is a large set with 110 commons, 110 uncommons, 110 rares, and four variations of each standard basic land. This is the normal size for a large set of this era. Foil cards are included in booster packs with advertised odds of 1 : 100 cards. The set was printed in English in the USA and Belgium.

Odyssey was sold in 15 card booster packs. Booster boxes have 36 packs.

Pack Anatomy

The US printing uses sequential collation with 10 × 11 sheets. Packs are back-facing with commons, then uncommons, and the rare last. If a foil card appears, it will appear at the end of a pack, but displace a card of the same rarity. Foil basic lands will also displace a common, (but basic lands otherwise do not appear in booster packs).

Tournament packs have 30 basic lands, 3 rares, 10 uncommons, 32 commons (in this order). Observed decks are front-facing with lands followed by rares, uncommons, and commons. There is a survey insert and a rules insert splitting the commons roughly into two parts. (This is related to the common print runs as described below.) Packs have an outer seal, but no inner seal.

If a foil card appears, it will be in front of the lands, displacing a card of the same rarity. (Here, foil basic lands displace basic lands, not commons.) It may only be possible to get a single foil per pack (although this is hard to confirm).

There are four common runs. Two, A and B, have 25 cards (each twice) and two, C and D, have 30 cards (again, each twice). Each booster pack contains 5 commons from A and B followed by 6 from C and D; or they can be reversed with 6 from C and D followed by 5 from A and B. (In a box, all the packs will be the same way.) The A and B commons can be in A-B order or B-A order. Either way, the split will be either 2-3, 3-2, or 4-1. Most packs are 3-2. (I haven't seen 4-1 packs for this set, but they exist for similarly structured sets.) The C and D commons can also be in either order independently of the ordering of A and B. Their split will be 3-3, or 4-2. Most packs are 3-3. All four possible ordering of A vs B and C vs D appear 1/4 of the time (and all will appear in the same box). Foil commons displace the last common in the pack (which can be A, B, C, or D). Foil basic lands displace the last common in the first half of the pack.

In tournament packs, commons appear in A-B-C-D order. The inserts are between the B and C. This split between A-B and C-D will be either 14-18 or 16-16. In the A and B section, the split will be 7-7 (for 14) or 8-8 (for 16). The A and B commons can appear in either order, and the split will 9-9 (for 18) or 8-8 (for 16). Foils can probably replace cards from any run.

Symmetry between the runs is apparently broken by the fixed order in tournament packs. (Note that this was apparently not the case in Invasion.)

Common Runs

Run A contains 25 cards each twice. It is probably printed on the same sheet as either C or D. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Run B also contains 25 cards each twice. It is probably printed on the same sheet as either C or D. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Run C contains 30 cards each twice. It is probably printed on the same sheet as either A or B. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Run D contains 30 cards each twice. It is probably printed on the same sheet as either A or B. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Belgian Pack Anatomy

The Belgian printing uses striped collation with 10 × 11 sheets. Packs are back-facing and contain 3 uncommons, 1 rare, and 11 commons (in that order). Foil cards are inserted only between stripes (in other words, after a card on the left side of the sheet before moving all the way back to the right), displacing a card of the same rarity. It is possible to get multiple foil cards in the same pack. Foil basic lands can appear instead of a foil common. Non-foil basic lands do not appear in booster packs.

Tournament packs have 3 rares, 10 uncommons, 32 commons, and 30 basic lands in addition to a rulebook. Observed packs are front-facing with lands followed by rares, uncommons, and commons. In the English pack I've observed, the rules insert is between the lands and the rares with the survey between the rares and uncommons. In the Japanese packs I've observed, there is no survey insert, and the rules insert is between the rares and uncommons. Packs have both an inner and outer seal.

Foil cards in tournament packs behave in the same way as foils in booster packs, except foil basic lands appear in the lands instead of in the commons.

Common Sheet

There is a single sheet that prints each common once. The choice of top row is mostly arbitrary.

Uncommon Sheet

There is a single sheet that prints each uncommon once. The choice of top row is mostly arbitrary.