Innistrad: Crimson Vow Collation

Crimson Vow is a large set with 100 commons (10 of which are double-faced), 83 uncommons (23 of which are double-faced), 64 rares (11 of which are double-faced), 20 mythic rares (5 of which are double-faced), and two variations of each standard basic land. These numbers are the same as the previous set, Midnight Hunt. Foil cards are included in booster packs with advertised rate of 33% of boosters. The set was printed in English in the USA, Belgium, and Japan.

Crimson Vow was sold in 15 card draft booster packs (which contain an additional ad card and double-faced card placeholder). Draft booster boxes have 36 packs.

US Pack Anatomy

The US printing uses sequential collation with non-standard common collation to account for the double-faced cards. (However, the collation scheme is different that the scheme used for Midnight Hunt.)

Packs are front-facing and have common-uncommon-rare ordering followed by a basic land, an ad card, and a placeholder card. There are 10 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare. If there is a foil, it will displace a common and appear after the basic land. The last common is always double-faced. (This will not be replaced by a foil.) Additionally, there will be either one double-faced uncommon or the rare will be double-faced.

There are three non-double-faced common runs. The A run contains 40 distinct cards each appearing three times, the B run contains 30 distinct cards each appearing four times, and the C run has 20 distinct cards each appearing six times. The commons with showcase versions appear in A and C with one third of the copies being the showcase version. The vast majority of packs contain have 4 A cards followed by 3 B and 2 C. There are also a small number of packs with 4 B cards which can appear alongside either 3 A cards or 1 C card. From the perspective of balancing the commons, such packs are only acceptable is B cards are more likely to be displaced by foils, and this does seem to be the case, although cards from any of the runs can be displaced by a foil. No packs with 4 B cards also contain a foil. (So, perhaps an equivalent formulation is that foils always displace B cards and packs that have 3 A or 1 C card with a foil are 4 B packs where the fourth B card has been displaced.)

Each pack has an additional double-faced common after the other commons. Because the double-faced common is never displaced, double-faced commons should be slightly more common that non-double-faced commons.

There are two non-double-faced uncommon runs. The A run contains 40 distinct cards each appearing three times. The B run contains 20 distinct cards. Packs contains 1-2 A uncommons followed by 0-2 B uncommons totalling 2-3 cards. (So, 0+1 and 2+2 are not possible, but other combinations are.) In cases where there are only two such cards, there will be a double-faced uncommon. (There rare will be double-faced exactly when the third uncommon is not.)

Mathematically, to ensure all uncommons are equally uncommon, a double-faced uncommon should appear 69/83 of the time. This number is plausible, but I doubt it. The rare should be double-faced 27/148 of the time (as in Zendikar Rising) to ensure all rares are equally likely, and this number is close to the 14/83 given by uncommon math. (In fact, it is much closer than if there were 20 double-faced uncommons as in Zendikar Rising.)

Common Runs

The A common run consists of 40 different cards each appearing three times. The cards are white, blue, and red. For cards with showcase versions, one of the three copies is the showcase version. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The B common run consists of 30 different cards each appearing four times. The cards are green and black. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The C common run consists of 20 different cards each appearing six times. For cards with showcase versions, two of the six copies are the showcase version. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The double-faced common run consists of ten different cards each appearing twelve times. 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 with showcase versions, one of the three copies is the showcase version. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The B uncommon run consists of 20 different cards each appearing three times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The double-faced uncommon run consists of 23 different cards each appearing three times. For cards with showcase versions, one of the three copies is the showcase version. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Token Run

Most of the marketing cards in this set 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. They are printed in a 121 card run with items appearing different numbers of times.

Token Rarity
Chandra, Dressed to Kill Emblem × 1	Dragon Illusion × 1	Slug × 1
Spirit Cleric × 1	Vampire × 1	Copy × 3
Human Soldier × 3	Spirit × 3	Vampire × 3
Zombie × 3	Human × 4	Treasure × 4
Wolf × 4	Boar × 6	Human × 8
Insect × 8	Spirit × 8	Wolf × 8
Zombie × 8	Arena Ad Card × 10	Blood × 15
Day // Night × 18

Belgian Pack Anatomy

The Belgian printing uses sequential collation with non-standard common collation to account for the double-faced cards.

Packs are front-facing and have common-uncommon-rare ordering followed by a basic land, an ad card, and a placeholder card. There are 10 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare. If there is a foil, it will displace a common and appear after the basic land. The last common is always double-faced. (This will not be replaced by a foil.) Additionally, there will be either one double-faced uncommon or the rare will be double-faced.

There are three non-double-faced common runs. Each of the A and C runs has 40 cards with each card appearing three times. The B run has 10 cards. Half of packs contain eight A cards followed by a B card. The other half contain a B card followed by eight C cards. Foils can replace cards from any of the runs. Showcase commons appear in runs A and C. For cards with a showcase version, one of the three copies is the showcase version.

Common Runs

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

The C common run consists of 40 different cards each appearing three times. For cards that have a showcase variants, one of the three copies are the showcase variant. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

Japanese Pack Anatomy

The Japanese printing uses sequential collation with 112 card sheets (which is the usual for Japan). Probably the sheets are 14 × 8.

Packs are front-facing starting with the placeholder card, the ad card and a basic land, then the rare, 3 uncommons, and 10 commons. If there is a foil, it will appear before the basic land, displacing a common. The first common is always double-faced. (This will not be replaced by a foil.)

There are 3 non-double-faced common runs: A, B, and C. A contains 16 distinct cards, and B and C each contain 37 distinct cards. Each pack gets 1 to 2 cards from A followed by 3 to 4 cards from B and 3 to 4 cards from C. This means packs are either 1-4-4, 2-3-4, or 2-4-3. The exact ratios may depend on the way foil collation works.

Commons with a showcase version appear in the B and C runs. These runs have three copies of each card, and when there is a showcase version, one of the three copies is the showcase version.

Foils displace a common. As far as I've seen, there will still be at least one A common, three B commons, and three C commons. I haven't seen foil packs with two A cards, but the other two combinations are possible.

Common Runs

The A common run consists of 16 different cards each appearing seven times. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The B common run consists of 37 different cards each appearing three times. For cards with a showcase version, one of the three copies is the showcase version. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.

The C common run consists of 37 different cards each appearing three times. For cards with a showcase version, one of the three copies is the showcase version. The choice of first card is mostly arbitrary.