Long story short, I bought some Alliances boosters and when they came in the packs were really loose. It's an older set, but I think the packing should still be tight, correct? I only came away with 11 uncommons and 4 rares (over 5 packs) which makes it seem even more likely, but idk what wizards quality control was like back then. I got the packs through Troll and Toad (mixed reviews, but a decent amount of positive, so I thought I would take the chance). If the boosters are fair, no complaints, that's the way of boosters, but these don't seem legit.
The set's rarity breakdown is: 55 commons (40@C2, 10@C3, 5@U6), 43 uncommon (40@U2, 3@R6), 46 rares (46@R2). It was perfectly possible to get an uncommon in your rare slot back then, since the sheets were laid out differently with commons on the uncommon sheet(U6) and Uncommons on the rare sheet(r6). Loose packs are a sign that the pack was searched, you could with those older packs slide the cards down from the top 1 at a time and know what was in the pack before opening since the package is slightly translucent.
That's fair on the searching and rares, but then shouldn't there be 16 uncommons and 4 rares in that case? That still leaves 5 cards of uncommon+ missing from packs. While getting a uncommon instead of a rare is understandable, missing that many seems unlikely.
It sounds like 1 of your Uncommons was from the Rare sheet and 5 of your Commons were from the Uncommon sheet.
Also, I don't remember Alliances packs being searchable. I'm pretty sure that the boxes can be mapped, but I don't remember being able to see through the packaging like you could with packs like ABU and Revised.
Is that likely though? Or is it more likely that they're repacks? I'm not that guy who complains about rolling the dice and losing - it's all part of the game - as long as the dice aren't loaded. I'm trying to find out whether these packs are legit or not, as I've never bought repacks before so I don't know what to look for. The website didn't advertise these as repacks (if they had, I would have avoided), so I'm trying to figure out how to tell if they're repacks or not. Evidence so far:
1) loose packaging - loose enough I could hold the pack by the wrapper on the front
2) Packaging was harder to open than normal - I don't know if this applies, but compared to modern packs they were much harder to open
3) The thing with the rares and uncommons - were it just one rare missing, or one uncommon etc... it would be understandable, but 1 rare and 4 uncommons seems like a stretch.
The first packs I ever opened were Invasion, and I've never had a problem like this, so I just want to know from people more familiar with those older sets if these are things that were common back in the day, or if it looks like I got scammed.
edit: watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5EKHBFJB9w and the wrapping on the packs still seems pretty tight. Should have taken a video myself of the loose wrapping.
I got a Whirling Catapult that I counted as a uncommon (assuming it was printed on the rare sheet by your question). If you have information on sheets, I can check my commons myself and see if I have enough that were printed on uncommon sheets to make up for the missing uncommons.
Thoughts on that and how to proceed?
Also, I don't remember Alliances packs being searchable. I'm pretty sure that the boxes can be mapped, but I don't remember being able to see through the packaging like you could with packs like ABU and Revised.
1) loose packaging - loose enough I could hold the pack by the wrapper on the front
2) Packaging was harder to open than normal - I don't know if this applies, but compared to modern packs they were much harder to open
3) The thing with the rares and uncommons - were it just one rare missing, or one uncommon etc... it would be understandable, but 1 rare and 4 uncommons seems like a stretch.
The first packs I ever opened were Invasion, and I've never had a problem like this, so I just want to know from people more familiar with those older sets if these are things that were common back in the day, or if it looks like I got scammed.
edit: watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5EKHBFJB9w and the wrapping on the packs still seems pretty tight. Should have taken a video myself of the loose wrapping.
Did you open Sol Grail, Urza's Engine, or Whirling Catapult? If so, did you count it as a rare or an uncommon?
Reprisal
False Demise
Feast or Famine
Gorilla Shaman
Deadly Insect
As mentioned already, the 3 uncommons that appeared on the rare sheet were:
Sol Grail
Urza's Engine
Whirling Catapult