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==Set details== ''Arabian Nights'' was printed on [[print sheet|sheets]] of 121 cards. The set's [[rarity]] breakdown is: 27 commons (1@C1, 1@C11, 9@C5, 16@C4) and 51 uncommons (1@U4, 17@U3, 33@U2).<ref>{{DailyRef|arabian-rarities-2002-08-07|Arabian rarities|[[Magic Arcana]]|August 07, 2002}}</ref> Because of the relative number of uncommons to commons in a pack, C1 and U3 cards are of equal rarity, despite being printed on different sheets. Due to production difficulties,<ref name="Nightmare">[http://howell.seattle.wa.us/games/mtg/arabiannightmare.html David Howell: Arabian Nightmare]</ref> 15 common cards have light or dark variants (see Misprints section below).<ref name="1999 rulings summary">Stephen D'Angelo (February 2, 1999) "[[Card Rulings Summary (02/17/99)|Card Rulings Summary]]". Usenet.</ref> Most collectors consider these variants to be distinct cards, and therefore a full set to be 93 cards. If the light and dark variants are treated as distinct, there are 42 commons (1@C11, 3@C5, 9@C4, 11@C3, 8@C2, 10@C1). The U2 are considered the "rares" of the set.<ref>{{DailyRef|versus-b-2002-08-08|(a) versus (b)|[[Magic Arcana]]|August 8, 2002}}</ref> ''Arabian Nights'' was designed by [[Richard Garfield]] <ref>{{DailyRef|making-arabian-nights-2002-08-05|The Making of ''Arabian Nights''|[[Richard Garfield]]|August 05, 2002}}</ref> and co-developed by [[Joel Mick]] and [[Skaff Elias]].<ref>{{DailyRef|latest-developments/better-late-never-2002-08-09|Better Late Than Never|[[Skaff Elias]]|August 09, 2002}}</ref> ''Arabian Nights'' is the first set to use an [[expansion symbol]]: a scimitar, meant to evoke the Arabian setting of the expansion.<ref name="Nightmare"/><ref>{{DailyRef|ask-wizards-october-2006-2006-10-02|Ask Wizards|[[Brady Dommermuth]]|October 31, 2006}}</ref> The ''Arabian Nights'' lands have a sand-colored text box, which was reused in ''[[Fourth Edition]]'' and ''[[Chronicles]]''. Multiple cards in this set use accent marks, or diacritics, in their names. These accents are not printed in the [[Name|card title]] because the card title font did not support them, but can be found in the [[text box]]. ===Marketing=== [[File:Magic card back 2.jpg|thumb|right|The rejected card back for ''Arabian Nights'']] Wizards announced the print run to be 5 million cards.<ref>{{WebRef|url=https://archive.org/details/the-duelist-a-special-preview-edition/|title="An Expansion Timeline"|author=[[John Tynes]]|date=April 1995|work=The Duelist: A Special Preview Edition|publisher=[[Wizards of the Coast]]|}}</ref><ref>{{WebRef|url=https://archive.org/details/TheDuelistPresentstheCompleteMagicCardList/|title="The Duelist Presents: the Complete Magic Card List"|author=[[Wizards of the Coast]]|date=December 1995|work=The Duelist #8|publisher=[[Wizards of the Coast]]|}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia">[[Beth Moursund]] (2002). ''[[The Complete Encyclopedia of Magic: The Gathering]]'', Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN-10 1-56025-443-2.</ref> Cards were available from late December 1993 until late January 1994. They were sold in [[booster pack]]s of eight cards which included six [[common]]s and two [[uncommon]]s. Booster boxes contained 60 booster packs.<ref name="Product">{{DailyRef|arcana/arabian-nights-product-images-2002-08-06|''Arabian Nights'' product images|[[Magic Arcana]]|August 06, 2002}}</ref> ''Arabian Nights'' booster boxes are now extremely rare and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The summer after the release, while ''[[The Dark]]'' debuted, ''Arabian Nights'' booster packs were already selling for five dollars compared to the original price of only $1.50. As the first ''[[Magic]]'' expansion, ''Arabian Nights'' was originally intended to be released as a stand-alone product. As a result, the set was nearly printed with a yellow-on-pink [[card back]], instead of the blue-on-brown used in all cards known today, to distinguish it from "The Gathering", which was originally the name of ''[[Alpha]]''.<ref>{{DailyRef|arcana/almost-different-back-2002-08-05|The almost different back|[[Magic Arcana]]|August 05, 2002}}</ref> In addition, [[basic land]]s were to be included. Although four of them were later removed, a lone [[Mountain]] was accidentally left on the common sheet.<ref name="Nightmare"/><ref>{{DailyRef|25-random-things-about-magic-2009-02-16|25 Random Things About Magic|[[Mark Rosewater]]|February 16, 2009}}</ref> Note that the proposed new card back appeared on the [[booster box]], indicating that it was indeed a last-minute decision to print the set using standard ''Magic'' backs.<ref name="Nightmare"/><ref name="Product"/> In December 2003, an unopened βcaseβ of 10 booster boxes of ''Arabian Nights'' was auctioned for $95,000.<ref>{{DailyRef|latest-developments/classic-developments-2003-12-19|Classic Developments|[[Randy Buehler]]|December 19, 2003}}</ref>
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