Radiance pack odds, products and the Ultimate Rare
· 4 min read · by Daniel
Riot published what is in a Radiance booster pack and how rare the new Ultimate Rare is. The numbers, every product, and what they mean if you are buying a box.
Riot has now published what is actually inside a Radiance booster pack, including the odds on the new Ultimate Rare. If you are deciding between a booster box, a Showdown Deck or just a handful of packs on release day, this is the post I wanted to read.
Radiance releases on 23 October. Everything below comes from Riot's Radiance overview.
What is in a pack
Each Radiance booster holds:
| Slot | What you get |
|---|---|
| 7 cards | Commons |
| 3 cards | Uncommons |
| 1 card | Foil, any rarity from Common to Epic |
| 1 card | Rare or Epic |
| 1 card | Rare, Epic, Alt Art, Special Alt, Overnumbered or Ultimate Rare |
| 1 card | Token, Rune or Alt Art Rune |
| 1 insert | Information card, not a game card |
The slot that matters is the sixth one. That single slot is where every chase card in the set lives, which means one pack gives you exactly one chance at one.
A Booster Display is 24 packs, so a box is 24 rolls of that slot.
The Ultimate Rare, and the number that should calm you down
Radiance introduces a new Ultimate Rare, and Riot has been unusually direct about it. In their words it is their rarest Ultimate Rare yet, meaningfully harder to find than the Baron, appearing in roughly 0.025% of packs.
Work that through. 0.025% is one pack in four thousand. At 24 packs per display, that is about one display in 167.
Riot also says plainly that there is no guarantee of one in any pack, box or case. There is no pity timer, no one-per-case rule.
I want to be blunt about what that means, because the hype around a new top rarity makes people do silly things: you are not going to open one. Nobody buys a box and gets an Ultimate Rare. If pulling one is your plan for getting it, the plan is a lottery ticket. Buy a box because you want 24 packs of Radiance and the Showcase cards you will realistically find in them. If you specifically want the Ultimate Rare, the honest route is to buy the single later, and let someone else absorb the odds.
Radiance also has the set's first Showcase Battlefield, and that is an Ultimate Rare too.
Every product
- Booster packs and Booster Displays. 24 packs per display. On the Riot store, the Vendetta display was $119.99 or €127.99, and retailers are listing Radiance at the same price.
- Showdown Decks: Seraphine vs. Evelynn. Two decks built to be played against each other, out of the box.
- Seraphine and Evelynn preconstructed decks, sold separately as well.
- The Vault. A storage box with six boosters, foil tokens and 36 runes.
- Pre-Rift kits, used at the launch events: five boosters plus nine seeded packs.
The champions
Confirmed so far: Seraphine (Starry-Eyed Songstress), Evelynn (Agony's Embrace), Orianna, Ekko, Ziggs, Jarvan and Heimerdinger.
Two of those are worth a note for collectors. Seraphine is the card Keria picked for the T1 Worlds Champion collection, and it becomes tournament legal when Radiance lands. Heimerdinger is also getting a Champion Deck in Legacy in January, so he is about to be very available.
The dates around it
- Previews run until 9 October.
- Pre-Rift events, 16 to 22 October, at local stores. Five boosters and nine seeded packs per kit, so ask your store what their seating looks like.
- Release, 23 October.
- Summoner Skirmish events on 9 November and 14 December. These are the last ones: Skirmish is being retired after Radiance.
What I am buying
One display through the Riot store drawing if I am picked, because at store price it is the cheapest way to open 24 packs. A Showdown Deck regardless, because two ready-to-play decks is the easiest way to get somebody new into the game.
And no, I am not chasing the Ultimate Rare. One in four thousand packs is not a shopping plan.
Every Radiance card will be on RiftPocket once the list is out, with artwork and, once copies start selling, prices, the same as every other set. If you want to see what the chase cards from the current sets settled at, the most valuable Riftbound cards page is the fastest way to calibrate your expectations.