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Article:  The Raritiness Of It All

By Edo (hrzic@hawaii.edu)


I don't believe that "raritiness" is a word.  But this near-
nonsense word serves as a good enough title.  Here's a short quip
that you've probably heard in your Pokemon travels:
  
  Person 1: "What is the rarity of my Charizard?"
  Person 2: "It's ultra-rare."

One-hundred and ten percent false.  Aside from the special white-
symbol cards, ALL cards have the same inherent rarity.  It means
that you have the same chance to get a card in a pack as you
would in any other pack.
  But what about the lack of cards available, namely Charizard,
Blastoise and Venusaur?  Well, my friends, a poster on the
PokeGym message board put it in the right terms:  "artificial
rarity".
  Artificial rarity?  What the heck is that?  Well, it's when
people receive a particular card, but don't with to part with it
at all.  If they don't part with it, it doesn't move in
circulation through traders, dealers and sellers.  And if it
doesn't move within the circulation, then it seems that it is
less frequent than the cards that are.

  "Then why didn't I get a Charizard in my box of cards?  It has
  to be ultra rare."

  "Then why did I only get one Charizard in my box of cards?  It
  has to be ultra-rare."

Well, it all depends on the luck of packaging.  By that same
token, take a look at some of the cards that I got in my first
box of cards:

  - Three Zapdos
  - One Chansey
  - One Clefairy
  - One Charizard
  - One Blastoise
  - One Venusaur

  and, among others,

  - One Bulbasaur

Yes, one BULBASAUR.  A COMMON card.  With the previous two quotes
above, Bulbasaur must be an ultra-rare.  I have to purchase the
Brushfire deck in order to complete my collection of four of
them.  I didn't get a Magneton (I had to trade for that one), and
I pulled a Gyrados out of a later pack.  I STILL keep pulling
Zapdos, for some idiotic reason.
  So, next time that you don't keep pulling the foil that you
want or need, just remember that it depends on what's in the
box -- but you still have the chance to get any one foil as you
would any other foil.
  DISCLAIMER:  Of course, this doesn't apply to the cards that
are specifically marked "Ultra-Rare" (with a white star), but you
already knew that, now didn't yo?

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Fin.