(Posting this here because it's prerelease based)

So, over the course of a few prereleases I've seen varying numbers of DFCs in pools, and have opened varying numbers myself, getting 2 or 3 (normal, rare, and a foil)

Is there any official word on what to expect from these packs? It's hard to judge whether the guy with 8 werewolves is lucky or a cheat like this!

On average, a pack contains 1.125 DFC. This is more than in ISD.

The varying number is due to Rare/Mythic DFCs having a 1/8th chance to replace another common in any pack.

In fact, with the potential for a fool DFC the as fan is probably slightly higher. I opened a booster with a commone, rare, and foil common DFC today.

How about 0 DFC? I've heard about those packs.

I've had 6 and 7 uncommon packs opened by people I know.

Sean

It's hard to know what's a collation error and what's just us not knowing how exactly DFC placement works…

I've seen a pack with 3 Uncommon DFCs and 2 other Uncommons (none foil).

If it's at all useful, I'm opening the three boxes next weekend. Is there enough interest in this data that I should keep track of each pack's contents regarding rarities, DFCs, and foils?

Originally posted by Daniel Lee:

If it's at all useful, I'm opening the three boxes next weekend. Is there enough interest in this data that I should keep track of each pack's contents regarding rarities, DFCs, and foils?

It'd be helpful seeing as there's no sign of official word on what can be in a pack. Guess we have to do this the ol' fashioned way. :P

I helped sort about five cases worth of product at my LGS.
Here's what I saw:
Each pack will contain 8 non-DFC commons, 3 non-DFC uncommons, 1 non-DFC
rare, 1 C/U DFC, 1 token or emblem (I saw no double-ad cards.)
There are three other slots in the pack. They contain the following
(non-DFC common OR DFC mythic/rare), (non-DFC common OR any foil), and
(checklist card or basic land).
I didn't see any multifoil packs or any packs that fell outside of this
formula.

So from Charlotte's data, it looks like the stranger packs we saw were just that - strange packs with collation errors.

How confident does one need to be in this formula before considering packs that fall outside it to be non-standard and in need of replacement in events?

(The pack I described above was opened by a player at a prerelease. It being a prerelease and me having no idea what correct pack contents options were, I thanked him for bringing it to my attention & told him to just keep it and continue. But that doesn't seem like an acceptable option when a player opens a pack like that in a Comp REL draft…)

I fear you're overthinking things.

Originally posted by MTR 7.4 Abnormal Product:

Neither Wizards of the Coast nor the Tournament Organizer guarantee any specific distribution of card rarities or frequency in a particular booster pack or tournament pack. If a player receives an unconventional distribution of rarities or frequencies in a particular booster pack or tournament pack, he or she must call a judge. The final decision to replace or allow the atypical product is at the discretion of the Head Judge and the Tournament Organizer.

(My emphasis)

We don't need to precisely enumerate all of the variations on “very low-frequency things that might happen in a booster”. If it happens, the HJ and TO can apply their discretion, taking into the account of the degree of abnormality (an uncommon replacing a common being at the low end, and an entire pack of mythics being at the high end), the type of tournament, and in general what would be best for the specific situation.