PREPARE FOR BATTLE!
Lao_of_Gondor @ 9:54 pm EST

ATTENTION ALL LOTR TCG FANS, PLAYERS and COLLECTORS!

The official North American street release date for the Battle of Helm's Deep LOTR TCG expansion is MARCH 5TH!

Starter Decks and Booster Packs will be released at the same time, unlike previous expansions (which released the two products at different intervals). The release date for Europe and other international locations is not confirmed yet. But it will probably be a week or two after the North American release.

Decipher has CHANGED the configuration of the Starter Decks - for the better (in my humble opinion). They will no longer contain the three 'random' rares - which at many times did not coincide with the starter deck's "pre-built" strategy. Starter decks will now contain three 'fixed' rares that are ALTERNATE IMAGE versions of rares in the booster packs. These rares will now work with the deck design and greatly enhance the deck they are in. This also means that the set size is six cards larger! These six AI fixed rares are cards (5 R 123 through 5 R 128).

NOTE: For those of you who are unfamiliar with the LOTR TCG coding system as seen above, here's what it means:
The number 5 means that the card is of the 'fifth' set of released cards (Fellowship of the Ring: Set 1, Mines of Moria: Set 2 and so on. The R signifies rarity; in this case RARE (as opposed to C for Common and U for Uncommon). The last number is the order of the card as it appears in the set.

Most notably, Decipher is going to LOWER the cost of these new starter decks. Starting with Battle of Helm's Deep, starter decks will now have a MSRP of $9.99 USD. That is ONE DOLLAR LESS than previous starter decks! There is no information as of yet on if they are going to lower the price of booster packs.

All starter decks will still have two premium cards in them as well and will feature LEGOLAS and EOWYN as your choices of two different Starter Deck types.

And remember, The Battle of Helm's Deep PRE-RELEASE TOURNAMENT will be held at a participating retail store near you on the weekend of February 22-23. Please visit here for details on when and where this event will take place and how you can pre-register for your chance to get your hands on this newest expansion two weeks before the Official Release!

This pre-release event will be the ONLY chance you will have to collect the ALTERNATE IMAGE Trading Card of THEODEN, King of the Golden Hall, which you can view here

More to come...

Lao of Gondor