Guide to early EX Series pull rates

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So I’ve received multiple messages from people asking questions about EX Series pull rates, and so I figured it might be useful to make a guide. There’s no central resource on early EX Series pull rates so this is hopefully what this will end up being. All of these numbers are based on extensive research, second hand reports, and data I’ve personally collected. I already have all of these numbers in a spreadsheet, so I may as well share them publicly. If anyone takes issue with any of the numbers I report here, please post in the thread and I would be more than happy to discuss.

EX Ruby & Sapphire:

Commons:

  • 168 commons per box
  • 4.2 of each common per box

Uncommons:

  • 72 uncommons per box
  • 2.1 of each uncommon per box

Rares:

  • 36 rares per box
  • 2.8 of each rare per box

Holo Rares:

  • 6 holo rares per box (though much of the early RS print run had a pull rate of closer to 2-3 holo rares per box)
  • .4 of each holo rare per box

exs:

  • 6 exs per box (though much of the early RS print run had a pull rate of closer to 9-10 exs per box)
  • .8 of each ex per box

EX Sandstorm:

Commons:

  • 168 commons per box
  • 5.1 of each common per box

Uncommons:

  • 72 uncommons per box
  • 2.2 of each uncommon per box

Rares:

  • 36 rares per box
  • 2.8 of each rare per box

Holo Rares:

  • 6 holo rares per box
  • .4 of each holo rare per box

exs:

  • 6 exs per box
  • .9 of each ex per box

EX Dragon:

Commons:

  • 168 commons per box
  • 5.1 of each common per box

Uncommons:

  • 72 uncommons per box
  • 2.2 of each uncommon per box

Rares:

  • 36 rares per box
  • 3.6 of each rare per box

Holo Rares:

  • 5 holo rares per box
  • .4 of each holo rare per box

exs:

  • 6 exs per box
  • .7 of each ex per box

Secret Rares:

  • 1 secret rare per box
  • .3 of each secret rare per box

EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua:

Commons:

  • 180 commons per box
  • 5.6 of each common per box

Uncommons:

  • 72 uncommons per box
  • 2.3 of each uncommon per box

Rares:

  • 24 rares per box
  • 2.2 of each rare per box

Holo Rares:

  • 8.7 holo rares per box
  • .7 of each holo rare per box

exs:* 3 exs per box

  • .4 of each ex per box

Secret Rares:* .3 secret rares per box

  • .3 of each secret rare per box

EX Hidden Legends:

Commons:* 180 commons per box

  • 5.6 of each common per box

Uncommons:* 72 uncommons per box

  • 2.2 of each uncommon per box

Rares:* 24 rares per box

  • 2 of each rare per box

Holo Rares:* 9 holo rares per box

  • .6 of each holo rare per box

exs:

  • 3 exs per box
  • .3 of each ex per box

EX FireRed & LeafGreen:

Commons:* 180 commons per box

  • 5 of each common per box

Uncommons:

  • 72 uncommons per box
  • 2 of each uncommon per box

Rares:* 24 rares per box

  • 1.7 of each rare pe box

Holo Rares:

  • 8 holo rares per box
  • .5 of each holo rare per box

exs (does not include secret rare bird trio):* 3 exs per box

  • .3 of each ex per box

Secret Rares:* 1 secret rares per box

  • .3 of each secret rare per box

EX Team Rocket Returns:

Commons:* 180 commons per box

  • 5.6 of each common per box

Uncommons:* 72 uncommons per box

  • 2.1 of each uncommon per box

Rares:* 24 rares per box

  • 1.7 of each rare per box

Holo Rares:* 8.2 holo rares per box

  • .6 of each each holo rare per box

exs:* 3 exs per box

  • .3 of each ex per box

Gold Stars:* .5 gold stars per box

  • .2 of each gold star per box

Secret Rares:* .3 secret rares per box

  • .3 of each secret rare per box

EX Deoxys:

Commons:* 180 commons per box

  • 5.6 of each common per box

Uncommons:* 72 uncommons per box

  • 2.1 of each uncommon per box

Rares:* 24 rares per box

  • 1.7 of each rare per box

Holo Rares:* 8.5 holo rares per box

  • .6 of each holo rare per box

exs:* 3 exs per box

  • .3 of each ex per box

Gold Stars:* .5 gold stars per box

  • .2 of each gold star per box

Hopefully this is helpful to people. This is a very barebones summary of the data I have. I also the identical sort of data for all WotC sets and for the remainder of the EX Series, but there’s only so much that can go in one thread :blush:. Please let me know if you disagree with any of the information included in this post. It’s very possible I’m incorrect about minor details, although I do believe that my estimates are pretty exact.

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Great stuff. Do you know what the stats are for Dragon Frontiers?

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Thanks! And yes:

Commons:* 180 commons per box

  • 6 of each common per box

Uncommons:* 72 uncommons per box

  • 2.3 of each uncommon per box

Rares:* 24 rares per box

  • 1.5 of each rare per box

Holo Rares:* 8.5 holo rares per box

  • .7 of each holo rare per box

exs:* 3 ex per box

  • .3 of each ex per box

Gold Stars:* .5 gold stars per box

  • .3 of each gold star per box
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So basically it would cost you about $75,000 to try and pull a Gold Star Charizard currently with those odds. And then add the odds to get a top tier grade and cost/time of grading. smpratte may say, “You’re gonna have a bad time.”

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This is awesome. I’m always looking to learn more about aspects of the ex era so I really appreciate this thank you and great work. Do you plan to post the data for the rest of the sets?

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Thanks! And I’ll probably post it eventually. It’s just time-consuming to format it :blush:. If you have a specific question about another set, I’m happy to answer it to the best of my ability, though.

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Awesome, no problem. I wouldn’t mind seeing the Power Keepers pull rate if you get the chance to post it.

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Basically 1 gold star per 2 boxes - do y’know whether this differs from the Japanese print runs? I think I’ve heard 1 gold star in 1-2 boxes for Japanese.

Interestingly, the holo pull rates are similar to the ex pull rates for Ruby & Sapphire, Sandstorm, and Dragon. The growth in prices of the holos probably will never match ex-es due to ‘perceived value’, but it’s good news for people who are looking for undervalued cards.

Thank you for this! The ex-series doesn’t get enough love @zorloth

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@zorloth, do you have this for power keepers?

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I don’t know this, unfortunately :slightly_frowning_face:.

Yup! The holo and ex pull rates are the same for Ruby and Sandstorm but the holo pull rate is actually less than the ex pull rate in Dragon. The reason for this is that the secret rare displaces a holo pull. And because there are more holos (12-14) than exs (7-9) in Ruby/Sapphire/Sandstorm, any given holo is at least twice as rare as any given ex. So that means that the number of EX Dragon Absol holos in existence is less than half the number of EX Dragon Latias exs in existence, for example. Highly counterintuitive, but interesting nonetheless!

Also interesting is that uncommons are technically rarer than rares for those early sets, too :blush:. Rarity was a mess for the first few sets haha

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Thank you for sharing @zorloth, rarity in this era gives me headache. Having a spreadsheet like this is super helpful.
I’d be interested as well to know the pull rates for the later sets. EX Emerald is one of the sets where the holos intrigue me the most.

Also it would be interesting to add to the thread an estimate about the sets scarcity. For example holos are tougher to pull in ex ruby than in ex deoxys, however ex ruby was most likely printed more than ex deoxys.

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Fantastic work, well done man. What a valuable resource.

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No problem :blush:. EX Emerald is an interesting set in general. The avg. number of a given holo you pull per box is higher in Emerald than in any of the other 15 EX Series sets. So Emerald holos being very inexpensive makes sense to me, although this has seemingly changed recently with a few of them.

I have strong opinions about the relative print run sizes of the EX Series sets, but whenever I mention print runs people seem to get mad lol. The issue with print runs is that they’re not knowable. We can’t say definitively, for instance, that EX Deoxys had a smaller print run than EX Power Keepers. Regardless, I am personally convinced beyond any semblance of doubt that this is the case. Anyway, what I will say on this is that the print runs appear to have been generally smaller during the early-mid EX Series (the sets up through 2005) than during the late EX Series (the 2006-2007 sets). But there some apparent exceptions to this. For instance, I think that it would be pretty uncontroversial to say that starting with Hidden Legends, the print runs experienced a notable bump. And that FRLG had by far the largest print run of the first half of the EX Series. But the print run comparisons get more complicated when we start making closer comparisons (i.e., Deoxys vs Emerald).

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Some fascinating FRLG data:

Flareon01 box 1: 3 Regular EX + 1 Shard Bird EX
Flareon01 box 2: 3 Regular EX + 1 Shard Bird EX
ThePokemonKid100 box: 3 Regular EX + 1 Shard Bird EX
UnlistedLeaf box: 3 Regular EX + 1 Shard Bird EX
PokeCollection box: 3 Regular EX + 1 Shard Bird EX
PokeRev box: 3 Regular EX + 1 Shard Bird EX
Empoleon717 box: 3 Regular EX + 1 Shard Bird EX
Byser box: 3 Regular EX + 1 Shard Bird EX
JokingGengar box: 3 Regular EX + 1 Shard Bird EX
GsKillz 818 box: 3 Regular EX + 1 Shard Bird EX
PokemonCanadians box: 4 Regular EX + 2 Shard Bird EX (double articuno AND a Zord, craziest box ever)
OmniPoke box: 4 Regular EX + 1 Shard Bird EX
Randolph box: 0 Regular EX + 2 Shard Bird EX

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Yup! 3 regular exs + 1 bird is what normally happens. Randolph’s box was bizarre. His was the only box to have less than 3 regular exs. So to have literally zero is just extraordinarily weird.

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Yeah, you could tell he regretted opening it, the repressed angst was intense.

I didn’t pull a secret rare in my Dragon box, unfortunately, most seem to pull one.

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Hey! Here is a thread from a bit back talking about print sizes. I hope this helps! :blush:

www.elitefourum.com/t/ex-series-print-sizes/28824/1

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Thanks for the clarification. Certainly we have no way to know for sure the accurate numbers. However you get my idea that the pull rate by itself is a bit “incomplete” information and should be adjusted in one’s mind with an idea of how rare the whole set is. For example what you’ve just stated about the print runs definitely helps me to better understand the prices I see online.

I’ve noticed as well some holos in EX Emerald seem to be worth a “decent” amount of money, which I found a bit surprising. The fact that there aren’t gold stars in that set and that the print run was definitely among the smallest probably still leaves some room for those holos to grow.

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Definitely very helpful, thanks for adding this resource to the thread.

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No problem. I had a good time looking through that thread last week and when you mentioned print runs I was like where is that thread? haha. Glad it helps

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