(Editor's Note: We are unable to completely verify this print run, so use it at your own discretion. The actual list is located at the end of this article.)

I have confirmed the print order only on Magic Online, but since the commons runs are identical in physical and digital boosters, I assume the same holds true for uncommons. If you haven't already seen the commons run yet, I recommend that you go read Mike Stein's article on 8th Edition. As is the case with the commons, foil cards can replace any uncommon card, and do not appear to have any correlation with the card replaced. I have to give credit to Mr. Stein, because reading his article was one of two factors that led me to begin researching the uncommon sequences. The second factor was the unusual frequency with which I was required to choose between Pyrotechnics and Puppeteer in early draft picks.

The first interesting detail you will probably notice is that there is only one complete run for the uncommons, where each card appears a single time. Not only did this make the information ultimately much easier to compile, but it also makes the print order vastly more useful for mastering Limited formats. With only three uncommons in each booster, two print runs would mean that, with one uncommon missing, you would have to guess which of at least four possible cards might be missing from the booster. A single run means that in a booster with two non-foil uncommons left there are only three possible scenarios, and you will usually have a good idea what card is missing. An example of each scenario follows, each one from a different draft.

Scenario One: The remaining uncommons"sandwich" a non-foil missing card.

This is a third pick, and by looking up Phantom Warrior and Mind Slash in the print order you can see that a Hunted Wumpus (or random foil uncommon) is missing, making the Trained Armodon a poor choice. Also note from the commons runs that a Suntail Hawk appears to be missing as well, which makes you wonder what exactly is going on in this draft.

Scenario Two: The remaining uncommons are consecutive in the print order.

This is the second pick of the second pack, and the uncommon that is missing here was either on the left of Abyssal Specter (Lure) or on the right of Urza's Tower (Chastise). Here I determined correctly that the player to my left picked up a Chastise, since Chastise is the more likely first-pick, and since I was fairly thorough in cutting off Green** in the first pack. In this case, you may want to make a mental note so if you end up playing against this person, you should watch for open Chastise mana. Knowing some of your potential opponents' card choices can also be useful later on in the picks. I've been rewarded for picking up a late Steal Artifact when I've noticed a Fodder Cannon or Phyrexian Hulk missing from a pack.

Scenario Three: The missing uncommon was a random foil card*.

This is about the only kind of situation where you can assume that the player upstream from you picked a foil uncommon rather than the card suggested by the print order. Even the 'Timmiest' of drafters wouldn't have taken what would've been a Wooden Sphere from this pack - unless of course, it was very shiny.

As I suspected when I first began analyzing the uncommon runs, Pyrotechnics and Puppeteer do appear together. In fact, I found that more than any other combination of colors, Blue and Red often had pairs of powerful cards close together. Other examples of this include Lightning Blast/Air Elemental, Blaze/Fighting Drake (separated by Urza's Power Plant), and to a lesser extent, Guerrilla Tactics/Wall of Air.

I mention this specifically because of a recent draft walkthrough by Nick Eisel. Notice his first few picks: Fighting Drake, Lightning Blast, Nekrataal. In pack one (and into pack two), he struggles with putting together some powerful Blue and Red cards and ends up building a Black/Blue deck, relegating some high Red picks to the sideboard (where they probably belonged). Nick did go on to win the draft, but he might have had a smoother drafting experience with knowledge of some of the powerful pairs of uncommons as they fall together in the print order.

I don't intend to discount the Blue/Red archetype and I certainly don't doubt Eisel's drafting skills; just know that if you are on the receiving end of an Air Elemental or Puppeteer, your neighbor may be at least splashing red for Lightning Blast or Pyrotechnics.

Sealed Scenario

Knowing some of the more powerful groups of uncommons can be quite helpful in sealed events as well. If your opponent plays a Wall of Swords there is at least a 66% chance he opened a Lightning Blast. If he is only splashing Red in a mainly White/Blue deck, you might expect an Air Elemental. As I write this sentence, I just joined a Magic Online 8^th Edition league, and low and behold, look at what is gracing my table. I absolutely swear on your mother's grave I wrote the first three sentences of this paragraph before even joining the league.

Clearly, I should abandon this game and make my living as a fortune teller***. Notice with the print run in hand, I can organize my fifteen uncommons into the way they must have been grouped in the boosters, even though Magic Online just spits out all the cards as if they came from one package. Other sealed lessons we can learn from this group of cards are to play around a Blaze if Elite Javelineer hits the table, and to expect Slay in the sideboard of a deck running Wing Snare in the main.

Knowing at least the important parts of the uncommon print run can make a big difference in finding your colors early in the draft, since that's where most of the early picks will come from. For every Shock in the common slot, there's a Lightning Blast, a Pyrotechnics, and a Blaze at uncommon. Along with the common runs, knowing the ordering system for thirteen out of the fourteen relevant cards in a booster pack (assuming your neighbor has already picked one) starts to make traditional drafting feel a lot more like Rochester.

Here is the 8th Edition Uncommon Print run
Demolish
Thieving Magpie
Fecundity
Zombify
Elfhame Palace
Circle of Protection: Blue
Viashino Sandstalker
Steal Artifact
Spitting Spider
Iron Star
Mind Sludge
Circle of Protection: Green
Lesser Gargadon
Rewind
Fyndhorn Elder
Salt Marsh
Soul Feast
Ardent Militia
Pyroclasm
Curiosity
Elvish Lyrist
Ivory Cup
Sever Soul
Seasoned Marshall
Hulking Cyclops
Wrath of Marit Lage
Urza's Mine
Llanowar Behemoth
Megrim
Wall of Swords
Lightning Blast
Air Elemental
Throne of Bone
Wing Snare
Slay
Elite Javelineer
Blaze
Urza's Power Plant
Fighting Drake
Stream of Life
Swarm of Rats
Circle of Protection: Red
Ogre Taskmaster
Rod of Ruin
Merchant Scroll
Foratog
Execute
Staunch Defenders
Coastal Tower
Sudden Impact
Confiscate
Choke
Deathgazer
Circle of Protection: White
Fodder Cannon
Flashfires
Spiketail Hatchling
Revive
Carrion Wall
Patagia Golem
Sanctimony
Dwarven Demolition Team
Concentrate
Elvish Scrapper
Bog Wraith
Star Compass
Karma
Wall of Stone
Treasure Trove
Yavimaya Enchantress
Shivan Oasis
Ambition's Cost
Sword Dancer
Boil
Invisibility
Phyrexian Hulk
Living Terrain
Diabolic Tutor
Peach Garden Oath
Pyrotechnics
Puppeteer
Spellbook
Blanchwood Armor
Nekrataal
Circle of Protection: Black
Enrage
Crystal Rod
Phantom Warrior
Hunted Wumpus
Mind Slash
Spirit Link
Goblin Glider
Urborg Volcano
Hibernation
Creeping Mold
Primeval Shambler
Angel of Mercy
Wooden Sphere
Guerrilla Tactics
Wall of Air
Spreading Algae
Gluttonous Zombie
Rain of Blades
Wall of Spears
Orcish Artillery
Telepathy
Lure
Abyssal Specter
Urza's Tower
Chastise (loop to Demolish)
 

Warren Wood
bottlegnome@yahoo.com
bottlegnome on Magic Online

*Unlike other screenshots in this article, this one was altered to match the scenario. The real screenshot had the Wooden Sphere still in the pack with the rare missing. I draft more than most, but not enough to wait for that scenario.

**If you want to know, my first five picks were Might of Oaks, Giant Spider, Nantuko Disciple, Rushwood Dryad, Call of the Wild, Naturalize. I went on to win that draft, less from a result of knowing the print runs than from my being a lucky scrub.

***Giving up Magic to make a living doing something else is clearly a useless thing for me to say, since I have never earned a cent playing this game - quite the opposite, in fact.