Where are the swirls possible? - Team Rocket Returns and FireRed&LeafGreen

[bbobrob]

@xileets @SolemnStar In theory, the sheets for the reverses and the non-reverses should be the same, as there would be no reason to remake a printing layout just for reverse holos. There is a user here (@sturzflugbombardieru) who sometimes does this (actually insane) exact thing being discussed: theoretically mapping uncut sheets. They have a whole thread determining true rarity via sheet reconstruction/estimation. If I understand some of the theory right, they can also reconstruct common and uncommon sheets, due to the commons and uncommons always coming in certain predetermined “strings” (I’m sure most of us have seen that effect, where we seem to get the same commons in the exact same order—I think his reconstruction is based on this).

Their reconstruction for the EX TRR common sheet is as follows:

@sturzflugbombardieru

did look at the commons and uncommons for this set. I can’t be sure about the uncommons yet, but the reconstructed commons sheet looks as follows:

† Swinub, Houndour (Rear Kick), Wooper, Houndour (Dark Lift), Spinarak, Psyduck, Larvitar (Fury Attack), Zubat, Cubone, Magnemite, Sandshrew, Hoppip, Koffing, Magikarp, Rattata (Call for Family), Dratini (Dragon Song), Slowpoke, Mareep, Remoraid, Grimer, Rattata (Scramble), Marill, Drowzee, Sentret, Horsea, Voltorb, Ekans, Slugma, Onix, Sandshrew, Hoppip, Wooper, Psyduck, Grimer, Spinarak, Koffing, Dratini (Pound), Remoraid, Larvitar (Light Punch), Zubat, Cubone, Swinub, Larvitar (Fury Attack), Ekans, Slowpoke, Houndour (Rear Kick), Magikarp, Marill, Drowzee, Sentret, Ledyba, Rattata (Scramble), Horsea, Magnemite, Dratini (Dragon Song), Onix, Mareep, Voltorb, Slugma, Houndour (Dark Lift), Wooper, Marill, Sandshrew, Psyduck, Cubone, Zubat, Onix, Larvitar (Light Punch), Hoppip, Spinarak, Larvitar (Fury Attack), Rattata (Scramble), Dratini (Pound), Sentret, Koffing, Magnemite, Grimer, Remoraid, Ledyba, Magikarp, Swinub, Ekans, Rattata (Call for Family), Mareep, Slugma, Horsea, Voltorb, Slowpoke, Drowzee, Houndour (Rear Kick), Cubone, Houndour (Dark Lift), Rattata (Call for Family), Grimer, Mareep, Swinub, Koffing, Dratini (Dragon Song), Psyduck, Sandshrew, Larvitar (Light Punch), Sentret, Hoppip, Voltorb, Ledyba, Rattata (Scramble), Dratini (Pound), Wooper, Magnemite, Spinarak, Drowzee, Slowpoke, Magikarp, Slugma, Marill, Ekans, Zubat, Onix, Horsea, Remoraid, Ledyba †

As with previous sets, Pokémon with two versions tend to be the ones selected to appear fewer times on the sheet.

The reverses were likely printed on a 110 card sheet, as a model with 15 reverse commons printed on the sheet twice fits the data much better than a model using a 121 card sheet:

If we assume the 110-card sheet is correct (which they theorize), we could actually map out the sheet and see if those with swirls all line up with each other in the sheet reconstruction, knowing how the holo pattern works.

Unfortunately, they didn’t map out any common/uncommon sheets for EX FireRed/LeafGreen:

@sturzflugbombardieru

I did not look at the commons and uncommons.

As to the reverses, the data alligns pretty well with a 10x10 sheet being used, with 7 reverse commons being printed on the sheet twice:

Don’t know if this information overall is useful, as it looks like, from your data, most EX TRR commons can have swirls, which means the cosmos holo sheet was used in a number of different configurations, and the EX FireRed/LeafGreen reconstructed-sheet information is missing.

If I had a bunch of time on my hands, I’d maybe try my hand at understanding the theory for sheet reconstruction, but time is something I am very short of these days!