There has been much discussion about how we’re able to ensure two mirrored cards show up in the same booster together. The Collecting Reality Fracture article introduces the concept and I wanted to give a slightly more elaborate explanation here.
The solution to the problem wasn’t some new dangled printing technology, but rather using a tool that Magic has had access to for decades.
Magic boosters can have slots, that is a card that shows up in every booster usually with some theme, most often rarity. We can assign slots in a booster as long as every card in that slot comes from the same printed sheet. It’s how boosters can get a land card or a specific theme (such as every booster of Dominaria getting a legendary creature).
Printed card sheets are made up of many cards. The printer then cuts the sheet so each card is separate. When doing so, the cards in the sheet will always end up in the same order.
So, here was the clever idea I had. What if we made a sheet where the mirrored cards sat next to each other in the sheet? The first card is Card 1, version A (1A), and next card was Card 1, version B (1B), then Card 2, version A (2A), card 2, version B (2B) and so on.
The problem is while we control the order, we don’t control what two cards you get. You could get Card 1 version A (1A) and card 1 version B (1B) or you could get Card 1, version B (1B) and card 2, version A (2A). How could we guarantee you get a matching pair?
The answer was we give you three cards from the sheet. Since they are in order, two of the three have to match. So, if you get 1A, 1B, and 2A, you get a mirrored pair of Card 1. If you get 1B, 2A, and 2B, you get a mirrored pair of Card 2.
The clever solution was a very old school answer.
