(Message ryand:208)
Date:    Tue, 22 Sep 1998 12:29:48 PDT
To:      "l5rinfo" <l5rinfo@frpg.com>
From:    "Ryan S. Dancey" <RyanD@frpg.com>
Subject: Update to last Collation report

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X-ListMember: andy@cowell.org [l5rinfo@frpg.com]

Here's some more information on the ongoing Hidden Emperor collation
analysis.

The booster displays look pretty good.  On average, I have been able to pull
3 complete sets of cards from the boosters, and all but one or two cards of
a 4th set from the displays.  I have opened Episodes 4, 5 and 6.  The
problem I encountered with my test display of 4 (that of not getting the
final rare until I was nearly 2/3rds of the way through the box) has not
been repeated.  I opened another display of 4 and had a complete set by
booster #27.

The combos, on the other hand, continue to be a real struggle, and I am not
satisifed with how they are currently collated at all.  After opening
several combos, I have not yet assembled a single complete set, though I
have only been one card short out of each combo, and two cards short of a
second set.  I >did< have the correct number of rares and uncommons, so I
should be able to trade for the cards I did not get "naturally".

One thing I noticed just today - though something in the back of my mind has
been nagging me for weeks - is that the cards >inside the boosters< are
stacked differently from the combos to the boosters.  This difference may
account for those reports of "no rares" that we've seen.  In the booster
displays, the rares and uncommons are the cards at the "bottom" of the
booster, oposite the finseal (the bottom card is touching the front of the
booster pack wrapper.) In the cards in the combos, the exact opposite is
true - the first three cards you see when the finseal is opened are the
rares and the uncommons.

Another thing to note about the HE 4-6 run:  There are 32 uncommons in each
set (instead of 30 as in HE/1-3), and there are only 18 commons. (still 50
total cards).  The fate-backed stronghold cards don't appear in HE/4-6.

So my advice to people purchasing cards from HE/4-6 is this:  buy about 16
boosters from any source.  Open them, and figure out how many unique
rares/uncommons you have.  If you can, trade duplicates with a friend.
Then, buy the bulk of the rest of your boosters from a booster display, not
a combo display.  Even if your only source is a combo display, you'll be ok
in the end, because we'll make the rares/uncommons available for Koku
through Taka, so as long as you've got 20 koku (which you'll have), you
should be able to get the "missing" rare that you may find yourself missing.

Ryan


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