In preparation for a SR5 Roll20+Google Hangout game I'm running and playing in I started dissecting character creation...

Magic A, Metatype B - I can create an Ork Magician with Magic 6 & Edge 4
Magic B, Metatype A - I can create an Ork Magician with Magic 6 & Edge 5

??? Should not these be equal ???

Yes I get less Spells and Magical Skills to start with Magic B, but it hardly seems like a hit to take Magic B.

[edit] I need to double check my math but it seems like the loss in karma is around 10 if you wanted to go with Magic B but have Magic A stats (assuming you want Edge of 5 to)

Don't forget the fewer spells & lower magical skills with Magic B vs. Magic A.

Let's see:

Option 1:
Metatype B, Magic A:
Starting stats:
Ork
Magic 6
Edge 1
2 Rating 5 magical skills
10 Spells
4 points to spend on special attributes

Option 2:
Metatype A, Magic B:
Starting Stats:
Ork
Magic 4
Edge 1
2 rating 4 magical skills
7 spells
7 points to spend on special attributes

Assuming you max magic, and put the rest into edge, you end up with:
Option 1: Magic 6, Edge 5
Option 2: Magic 6, Edge 6

So the difference from 1 to 2 is this:
Same Magic
1 more Edge
3 less spells starting
Important skills each 1 point less.

Is 1 edge worth losing all that? I'm not sure that it is.

Obviously a min/maxer is going to pick magic A but I'm surprise the difference is 10 karma.

Yes... Yes it is... if you want to have a high Edge... Not my personal preference, but there are those who will always make that decision.

Also remember if your Metatype is A, and your Magic is B(or vice versa), your Attributes, Skills, and Resources will be lower.

So let's take the example where they pick Ork, then Magic. They start with less spells and 2 rating 4 magical skills instead. That's more skill points needed to pick them up to 6(which, say, you want to play a pro spellcaster; Spellcasting and Counterspelling of 6 are quite nice.

In the Race A example, 4 Skill Points will be needed to jack them up to 6, and you're at best getting 28 Skill Points. You'll maybe have less Bonus Karma to spend as well if you want a few more skills. In this case, Attributes and Resources are going to be D and E. Now Ork Mages can surprisingly get by with a low Attribute priority and still be quite sturdy. If you choose D for skills, thats 4 of your 22 skill points to raise those to 6.

In the Race B example, you only need 2 of your max 28 Skill Points to cap them off at 6, plus you probably have more Bonus Karma to spend on other stuff(with 10 spells, you probably won't need to buy too many more.) , though your Edge will be a little lower(though still very very solid.) So yeah, Magic A is still overall the strongest choice, though Race A, Magic B is by no means bad.

This is an interesting minmax exercise.

To raise Edge from 5 to 6 costs 30 Karma.

The alternative costs:

The spells cost 15 Karma plus the nuyen for the formula (1,500 - 6,000).

Raising two skills from 4 to 5 costs 20 Karma (for a total of 35, 5 more than the first option) or two skill points at chargen.

With skills at priority C or D, the number of skill points is 28 and 22, respectively. To minmax skills with either, you get 6, 6, 6, 6, 4 and 6, 6, 6, 4, respectively. You can then stick those four skill points into the two magical skills to make all of your skills rating 6. I'm not saying I would recommend actually doing that, but it's one way to squeeze 24 Karma or more (44 - 20) out of chargen.

Oh good call on the formula costs, i think i forgot to factor that in.