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Booster, display and box: the pack types explained

Almost every card product sits in the same chain: a case contains several displays, a display contains the packs, and the pack contains the cards. Everything else is a variant: ready-made decks, boxes with extra material and retail packaging that mixes packs with accessories. Here are the formats you will come across, with the counts actually printed on the packaging.

Quick facts

The chain	Case → display → pack → card
Display and booster box	The same thing, two names
Case	Wholesale unit, not a retail product
Always compare	Price per pack, not per box
Language mark	Part of the product's identity, not a detail

The hierarchy

Case	Wholesale carton with several displays. A purchasing unit, not a retail product. The number varies by game.
Display, booster box	The box with the packs. What a shop buys and a collector opens. The same thing, two names.
Pack, booster	The individual pack with randomised cards.

It is worth keeping in mind that a display and a booster box are the same thing: the price difference between two listings is often just because one counts in packs and the other in boxes.

The counts

Cards per pack and packs per display differ between games, and those are the two numbers you need to be able to compare two products at all.

Pokémon, English	10 cards per pack, 36 packs per display
Pokémon, Japanese	5 cards per pack, 30 packs per display
Pokémon half display	18 packs
Magic play booster	14 cards per pack, 30 packs per display, 36 in some sets
Magic collector booster	15 cards per pack, 12 packs per display
Yu-Gi-Oh!	9 cards per pack, 24 packs per display
One Piece	12 cards per pack, 24 packs per display
Disney Lorcana	12 cards per pack, 24 packs per display
Digimon	12 cards per pack
Star Wars: Unlimited	16 cards per pack

Pokémon's formats

Besides single booster packs there is the booster bundle with six packs in a small box, and displays in full or half size. The Elite Trainer Box is a box with packs and what you need around the game: deck protectors for a full deck, energy cards, dice, a player's guide to the set, a code card for Pokémon's digital game and usually a full art promo card. The box has dividers and becomes storage for the cards afterwards. The number of packs and the accessories differ between releases, so read the box instead of guessing. The Pokémon Center version is sold through Pokémon's own shop, with different artwork and more packs.

Tin and mega tin are metal tins with packs and a special card, mini tin a smaller tin with two packs and an art card. Collection box and premium collection are boxes built around a figure, with ultra premium being the most expensive tier. Build and battle box contains four packs and a ready-made deck core and is made to be played straight away. Blister and checklane are hanging packs with one to four packs and a promo card. Battle deck and league battle deck are ready-made sixty-card decks, Trainer's Toolkit is a box with support cards and energy for deck builders, and the advent calendar has twenty-five doors with packs and small items.

Magic's formats

Wizards changed the booster structure in 2024, so older sets have the old structure. Play booster is the fourteen-card pack that replaced both draft booster and set booster. Collector booster is the premium pack with guaranteed foils in a smaller display, and jumpstart booster contains twenty cards that already make up half a playable deck.

Bundle contains nine play boosters, lands, a storage box and a die, and was previously called fat pack. Commander deck is a ready-made hundred-card deck and starter kit two ready-made decks for learning the game. Prerelease pack contains six packs and a date-stamped promo card. On top of that there is draft night with material for a whole draft evening, scene box built around a theme, and Secret Lair, sold directly in limited quantities.

The other games

Yu-Gi-Oh! is sold as core booster, structure deck, starter deck, mega tin, tuckbox and reprint series. One Piece as booster pack, starter deck, double pack set, premium booster and extra booster. Lorcana as booster pack, starter deck, Illumineer's Trove and gift set. Digimon as booster pack, starter deck and advanced deck set.

Sports cards have their own set of formats split into two channels. That difference is covered in the guide on hobby or retail, and the series in the guide to the manufacturers.

Words that mean different things in different games

Bundle is nine packs and accessories in Magic, six packs in Pokémon, and in sports cards just a package with several items. Fat pack is Magic's old name for bundle, but in sports cards a retail format with many base cards. Starter is a ready-made deck in some games and a beginner's pack in others. Case is always a wholesale carton and never a product for an individual collector. And display and booster box are, as mentioned, the same thing.

The language marks

EN stands for English, DE German, FR French, IT Italian, ES or SP Spanish, PT Portuguese, JP Japanese, KOR Korean and CN Chinese. The language is part of the product's identity, so the same set in two languages is two different products with different prices. More on that in the guide on English or Japanese cards.

How to compare two products

Read the number of packs on the packaging. Never guess.
Divide the price by the number of packs.
Check the number of cards per pack. A Japanese Pokémon pack has half as many cards as an English one, so the price per pack can be badly misleading.
Factor in what comes with it, but only what you actually need. Deck protectors in an Elite Trainer Box are worth something only if you would have bought them anyway.
Only then compare. A more expensive box is often cheaper per pack.

If you want to know what gives the most cards for the money, the price per pack is not enough: divide the full price by the number of cards, that is packs times cards per pack. That is where a Japanese Pokémon pack falls behind, and it is also why a display almost always beats single packs even when it looks expensive.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a display and a booster box? None, they are two names for the same thing.
How many packs in a case? It varies by game and product. The number is printed on the carton.
Why does Magic have two kinds of booster? Play booster is standard, collector booster is premium with guaranteed foils.
What is a half display? A halved box, 18 packs instead of 36.
Does a tin count as a display? No, a tin contains a few packs and a promo card.