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How to Read Pokémon Card Rarity… From C, U, and R to AR, SAR, UR, and MUR

Alphabet letters for Korean and Japanese versions, symbols for English version… Rarity inclusions vary by expansion

김태희 기자 · Published Oct 27, 2026, 01:01 KST · 3 min read
Photo: 포켓몬코리아

At the bottom of a Pokémon Trading Card Game card, the rarity is printed. The Korean and Japanese versions use alphabet letters such as C, U, R, AR, and SAR next to the collection number, while the English version uses symbols. Here is a summary of the details confirmed through the official website and official card search.

Location and Meaning of Rarity Marks

Pokémon Korea's "How to Play" (놀이방법) page explains the bottom of the card in order of regulation mark, series mark, rarity mark, and collection number. The rarity mark is described as "a mark indicating how rare this card is" and appears on cards from expansion packs. The collection number indicates the total number of cards in the product and which number the card is.

The rarity filter on the Japanese official card search includes C, U, R, RR, RRR, AR, SR, SAR, UR, MUR, MA, BWR, S, SSR, HR, CHR, CSR, and TR. The notation used varies by series, so not all of them appear in every expansion. The Japanese official site introduced AR (Art Rare) and SAR (Special Art Rare) as new rarities on the "VSTAR Universe" page, and used the name SR (Super Rare) on the "Mega Brave" and "Mega Symphonia" pages. For the remaining abbreviations whose full meanings could not be verified in official text, the meanings are not described.

Rarity Inclusions Vary by Expansion

The Korean official card search shows the collection number and rarity for each card. Three Korean expansion packs were queried up to their final numbers to count the number of cards.

| Expansion | Release Date | Number | Included Rarities (Cards) | |---|---|---|---| | Battle Partners | 2025-03-21 | ~132/100 | C 48 · U 34 · R 10 · RR 8 · AR 12 · SR 11 · SAR 6 · UR 3 | | Black Bolt | 2025-08-01 | ~174/086 | C 39 · U 31 · R 10 · RR 6 · AR 72 · SR 8 · SAR 7 · BWR 1 | | Ninja Spinner | 2026-05-01 | ~120/083 | C 38 · U 29 · R 8 · RR 8 · AR 12 · SR 18 · SAR 6 · MUR 1 |

In all three expansion packs, numbers at or below the denominator were C, U, R, and RR, while numbers exceeding the denominator were AR or higher. In "Ninja Spinner", numbers 084–095 are AR, 096–113 are SR, 114–119 are SAR, and number 120 is MUR. The highest rarity tier differed as UR, BWR, and MUR respectively, and "Black Bolt" contained 72 AR cards alone. Looking up the 120 cards of the Japanese version of "Ninja Spinner" on the Japanese official card search shows that the card counts by rarity are identical to the Korean version. The Korean product information does not list the insertion ratios by rarity.

Symbols and English Names in the English Version

English cards do not have alphabetic letter codes. Looking at card images from "Mega Evolution" on the official English site, card No. 1 (Common) has a black circle next to the number, while card No. 178 (Special Illustration Rare) has two stars. The English card database lists rarities using English names such as Common, Uncommon, Rare, Double Rare, Illustration Rare, Ultra Rare, Special Illustration Rare, and Mega Hyper Rare.

The naming system is also different. Mega Lucario ex was released as RR, SR, SAR, and MUR in the Japanese "Mega Brave", and as Double Rare, Ultra Rare, Special Illustration Rare, and Mega Hyper Rare in the English "Mega Evolution". Directly translating English names into Korean standard abbreviations can lead to discrepancies.

Sources

This article was written with the help of AI based on public sources. Responsible: 김태희 기자 AI principles →

This article was machine-translated from Korean with AI. Original →

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