There has been great concern within the last few months regarding how a certain segment of cards in the Lord of the Rings TCG are adversely affecting the game. These cards promote a very limited approach towards deck designs while advancing only certain powerful deck archetypes. In the opinion of the DGMA – the Decipher Games Management Authority – without check or challenge, these cards will cause a significant increase in deck design stagnation as players continue to build decks guaranteed to win – and win only. The LotR gaming community as a whole will suffer an incredible rise in negative experiences and newer players will lose interest in a game that does not afford them the chance to compete on a fair and balanced playing field.
Quite simply put, these types of decks utilizing these specific cards are designed to win – period. There is nothing wrong with winning – especially at the tournament level. However, when a majority of the decks used in high-level tournament play share a large percentage of these “cards” in common – it is very clear that there is a card pool in this game which offers great strategic advantages, yet promotes a very one-dimensional train of thought, in a game which has so many untapped levels of strategy. The DGMA feels that this trend will negatively impact many future experiences in casual, league and tournament play. Therefore, they have created a new format of organized play: STANDARD FORMAT.
Standard Formant will join the “Open” and “Block” formats of play – with a very serious and noticeable change. Officially starting April 15th, 15 cards will be RESTRICTED within the Standard Format of play. Due to their cost versus application relationship to the game, these 15 cards have been carefully selected from the overall card pool as card “types” which promote a very one-sided approach to deck design. The reasons for RESTRICTING these cards are because they are TOO POWERFUL, UNBALANCED and TOO COST EFFECTIVE – negatively affecting the outcome of the game in general.
However, these cards are only RESTRICTED in Standard Play. They are still very legal and playable in OPEN and BLOCK Formats. They are not BANNED by any means. However, this new Standard Format does open the door to the possibility of “restricting” other cards in the future if they too cause a negative impact on the game.
For a complete review on why the Standard Format was created click HERE for the DGMA’s Official statement on this addition to the game.
For the Official Restricted List, please click HERE.
And of course, for the most recent rules, reviews and LotR Tournament Event information such as Premier Series Qualiiers (PSQ) and Territorials, please visit the Decipher Games Management Authority at www.dgma.com.
My fellow card gamers, please realize that in all games – especially trading card games – changes like this are in the best interest of the game – always. Healthy competition only thrives when balance in the system is stable and respected. Understand that before this new Standard Format was created, 15 cards upset this balance and summarily caused a very major shift in the perception of fairness and equality in the overall gaming community. Therefore, this questionable card pool has been placed in check in order to offer greater stability for a better and longer-lasting LotR TCG future Although we may not all agree with this change, let us all approach this new Standard Format with an open mind, and with support and justified criticism for the overall improvement of the game.
There has been great concern within the last few months regarding how a certain segment of cards in the Lord of the Rings TCG are adversly affecting the game. These cards promote a very limited approach towards deck designs while advancing only certain powerful deck archetypes. In the opinion of the DGMA – the Decipher Games Management Authority – without check or challenge, these cards will cause a significant increase in deck design stagnation as players continue to build decks guaranteed to win – and win only. The LotR gaming community as a whole will suffer an incredible rise in negative experiences and newer players will lose interest in a game that does not afford them the chance to compete on a fair and balanced playing field.
Quite simply put, these types of decks utilizing these specific cards are designed to win – period. There is nothing wrong with winning – especially at the tournament level. However, when a majority of the decks used in high-level tournament play share a large percentage of these “cards” in common – it is very clear that there is a card pool in this game which offers great strategic advantages, yet promotes a very one-dimensional train of thought, in a game which has so many untapped levels of strategy. The DGMA feels that this trend will negatively impact many future experiences in casual, league and tournament play. Therefore, they have created a new format of organized play: STANDARD FORMAT.
Standard Formant will join the “Open” and “Block” formats of play – with a very serious and noticeable change. Officially starting April 15th, 15 cards will be RESTRICTED within the Standard Format of play. Due to their cost versus application relationship to the game, these 15 cards have been carefully selected from the overall card pool as card “types” which promote a very one-sided approach to deck design. The reasons for RESTRICTING these cards are because they are TOO POWERFUL, UNBALANCED and TOO COST EFFECTIVE – negatively affecting the outcome of the game in general.
However, these cards are only RESTRICTED in Standard Play. They are still very legal and playable in OPEN and BLOCK Formats. They are not BANNED by any means. However, this new Standard Format does open the door to the possibility of “restricting” other cards in the future if they too cause a negative impact on the game.
For a complete review on why the Standard Format was created click HERE for the DGMA’s Official statement on this addition to the game.
For the Official Restricted List, please click HERE.
And of course, for the most recent rules, reviews and LotR Tournament Event information such as Premier Series Qualiiers (PSQ) and Territorials, please visit the Decipher Games Management Authority at www.dgma.com.
My fellow card gamers, please realize that in all games – especially trading card games – changes like this are in the best interest of the game – always. Healthy competition only thrives when balance in the system is stable and respected. However, before this new Standar Format was created, 15 cards upset this balance and therefore have been placed in check to stabilize the balance for a better and longer-lasting LotR TCG future. Although we may not all agree with this change, let us all approach this new Standard Format with an open mind with support and justified criticism for the overall improvement of the game.
There has been great concern within the last few months regarding how a certain segment of cards in the Lord of the Rings TCG are adversly affecting the game. These cards promote a very limited approach towards deck designs while advancing only certain powerful deck archetypes. In the opinion of the DGMA – the Decipher Games Management Authority – without check or challenge, these cards will cause a significant increase in deck design stagnation as players continue to build decks guaranteed to win – and win only. The LotR gaming community as a whole will suffer an incredible rise in negative experiences and newer players will lose interest in a game that does not afford them the chance to compete on a fair and balanced playing field.
Quite simply put, these types of decks utilizing these specific cards are designed to win – period. There is nothing wrong with winning – especially at the tournament level. However, when a majority of the decks used in high-level tournament play share a large percentage of these “cards” in common – it is very clear that there is a card pool in this game which offers great strategic advantages, yet promotes a very one-dimensional train of thought, in a game which has so many untapped levels of strategy. The DGMA feels that this trend will negatively impact many future experiences in casual, league and tournament play. Therefore, they have created a new format of organized play: STANDARD FORMAT.
Standard Formant will join the “Open” and “Block” formats of play – with a very serious and noticeable change. Officially starting April 15th, 15 cards will be RESTRICTED within the Standard Format of play. Due to their cost versus application relationship to the game, these 15 cards have been carefully selected from the overall card pool as card “types” which promote a very one-sided approach to deck design. The reasons for RESTRICTING these cards are because they are TOO POWERFUL, UNBALANCED and TOO COST EFFECTIVE – negatively affecting the outcome of the game in general.
However, these cards are only RESTRICTED in Standard Play. They are still very legal and playable in OPEN and BLOCK Formats. They are not BANNED by any means. However, this new Standard Format does open the door to the possibility of “restricting” other cards in the future if they too cause a negative impact on the game.
For a complete review on why the Standard Format was created click HERE for the DGMA’s Official statement on this addition to the game.
For the Official Restricted List, please click HERE.
And of course, for the most recent rules, reviews and LotR Tournament Event information such as Premier Series Qualiiers (PSQ) and Territorials, please visit the Decipher Games Management Authority at www.dgma.com.
My fellow card gamers, please realize that in all games – especially trading card games – changes like this are in the best interest of the game – always. Healthy competition only thrives when balance in the system is stable and respected. However, before this new Standar Format was created, 15 cards upset this balance and therefore have been placed in check to stabilize the balance for a better and longer-lasting LotR TCG future. Although we may not all agree with this change, let us all approach this new Standard Format with an open mind with support and justified criticism for the overall improvement of the game.
“The Nine have left Minas Morgul. They travel in search of The One Ring. They are tireless – they will never stop searching until they find it… “
Hey gang…Lao of Gondor here. It is with great excitement and enthusiasm to announce that THE FIERCE BLACK RIDER TOUR has officially begun! On March 23rd, the Nine Black Riders thundered out from the gates of Minas Norfolk, in the Black Lands of Virginia. Well, not really…but it is really hot there in the summertime – and you should see the size of the mosquitoes! Talk about fell beasts! Yet I digress…The Black Riders will be fierce, relentless, steely and their resolution will be swift…for they are bent on one single purpose: To visit a store near you!
The FIERCE Black Rider tour was created so that you and your community will have the opportunity to meet with one of Nine Decipher LOTR TCG representatives. This type of personal interaction will grant many of you: the players, retailers and shopkeepers – the ability to get to know more about Decipher and what plans the LOTR TCG holds for the future.
Each Black Rider will be on hand to conduct tournaments, demonstrations and events which will increase interest and visibility for your store and local playing community. They will also be able to field your questions and concerns regarding the state of the game, where it will be heading and what you can expect for the next expansions.
Each Black Rider will host a BOUNTY TOURNAMENT. This will be a Booster Draft event which will give you the chance to collect new cards and experience the fastest growing and most challenging style of organized tournament play.
Here is more information straight from Decipher about the details of the Black Rider Tour. Believe me…you don’t want to miss your chance to challenge a Black Rider – do you?
FROM DECIPHER:
BOUNTY TOURNAMENT– An event you don’t want to miss when the Black Rider comes to your town! Play in a booster draft bounty tournament during the Fierce. Tour, and you may be able to win extra prizes!
When a Black Rider plays in a bounty tournament, you will have the opportunity to win big prizes by beating him during that tournament. Also provided for the winner of each tournament will be cool Fierce. T-shirts with the Black Rider card on the back! Booster Draft “Bounty” tournaments will be organized in advance with participating retailers and posted on www.decipher.com. Plus, the Black Riders will be giving away thousands of exclusive promotional cards: an ALTERNATE IMAGE FOIL version of a year-four preview card – BLACK RIDER. While this card will not be tournament legal until its actual release, it is sure to see plenty of activity in casual-play and non-sanctioned tournament decks!
The focus of our Fierce. Black Rider Tour will be on major metropolitan cities within North America and Europe. We are already taking requests from retailers for visits all over the globe for the first leg of the Fierce. Black Rider Tour this spring. Of course, we will not be able to visit every retail location, but our focus on major cities will help us to go where the populations are the heaviest.
For more information on when and where a Black Rider will visit a store and town near you, click HERE to view the schedule of the FIRST LEG of the Black Rider Tour.
And now, it is time for all of you to meet the Black Riders…
Joe Alread Joe is a part of the Trading Card Game Studio at Decipher. He is a key designer for The Lord of the Rings TCG. Joe has a long history with Decipher as a championship-caliber player of the Star Wars™ CCG and as a Product Champion in the late 90s. You’ll have to bring your A-game if you plan on taking a bounty from Joe!
Dan Bojanowski Our very own Coordinator of the DGMA, Dan is no stranger to tournaments. Lucky for you, his lofty position in the world of tournaments won’t help a bit when he has a bounty on his head! Lucky for Decipher, Dan is an icy-cold gunslinger. You might be less ashamed if you simply conceded your tournament game to him before it starts…
Kyle Heuer Kyle is the Promotions Coordinator for Decipher’s Marketing Group. You are currently seeing his handiwork if you are subscribed to the Battle of Helm’s Deep mailing list! If you’re not subscribed, then believe me, you’re missing out! Kyle is also a veteran of the “bounty tournament” format. If you don’t believe it, ask him about So Cal! By the way, this whole bounty idea is Kyle’s brainchild…make him pay for it!
Joeri Hoste Joeri is one of the European Marketing Coordinators for Decipher. If you live in Europe and play Decipher’s games, then you have probably had contact with him. Joeri’s multi-lingual skills have brought Decipher closer than ever to its European playing community! That means you shouldn’t expect your country’s international editions of The Lord of the Rings TCG to faze him a bit when trying to collect a bounty on him!
Kevin Reitzel Kevin is a longtime friend of Decipher, being that he was one of our early Product Champions for the Star Trek™ CCG, way back in 1997! It is no surprise that he heads up the entire Product Champion program for Decipher. Bring a beat-down for Kevin, or bring a Product Champion application, but don’t bring both!
Mike Reynolds Mike is truly a veteran of The Lord of the Rings property. Decipher was lucky enough to acquire him as a designer for The Lord of the Rings TCG. His previous experience is on the old LotR game – Middle-earth: The Wizards. Mike has been integral on the development of the booster draft format for The Lord of the Rings TCG. Word is that Mike’s pretty good at the game too. You’d better be honing your booster draft skills if you want to collect a bounty on Mike!
Marcus Sheppard Marcus is the other part of our two-headed marketing monster in Europe. He works with Joeri Hoste to make sure that all of the parts of the marketing machine are working smoothly in the United Kingdom and on the European continent. If you’re a Product Champion who is slacking off on your duties, expect a call from Marcus. If you’re a Product Champion who is doing his job well, expect a call from Marcus. If you’re planning on winning a bounty game against Marcus, expect to make other plans!
Sean Smallman Way back in the day, Sean developed and maintained our tournament reporting system. Sean even goes back so far that he was a playtester for the Star Wars CCG before its launch in December 1995! Sean now heads up our International Distributor Marketing programs, and manages the Star Trek™ brand. There is documented proof that Sean is a lunch-time-playin’, pick-up-game-winnin’ The Lord of the Rings TCG player. There’s no doubt that Sean is going to be a tough bounty to capture!
Kendrick Summers Decipher’s Marketing Manager and Brand Manager for The Lord of the Rings, Kendrick might be best known for his role as Decipher’s very own Gold Leader. Rumor has it that he used to fly around the world in first class, just trying to play Decipher’s games in the most exotic of locations! You can be sure that on this tour, Kendrick will be flying in prop-commuters and driving ultra sub-compact rental cars to get to your neck of the woods! It’s been said that he has a killer Lightfootedness deck with an Uruk Shaman shadow strategy that is out of this world! Look out! Actually, Kendrick expects to be giving away LOTS of bounty display boxes on his leg of the Fierce. tour, so break your plans for that week and show up at his tournaments!
For complete scheduling information regarding the Fierce Black Rider Tour, please visit the Tour Calendar HERE.
If you wish to follow the daily events of the Black Rider Tour and experience the excitement of the Bounty Tournaments in other areas of the US or Europe, then please click HERE.
If you wish to have a Black Rider visit your area, or if you need more information regarding the tour, please contact DECIPHER for the most current scheduling information regarding this promotion.
They Will Never Stop Hunting You! Actually in this case, I think the Black Riders are the Hunted! Have fun at the Bounty Tournaments.
Greetings everyone! Leo here, live from Los Angeles the day after The Two Towers: One Party-party! And what a party it was! The Hollywood Athletic Club was stuffed with folks from all over the world celebrating the succes of The Two Towers at the Oscars this year an the athmosphere was great!
From what I have gathered from all the other TORn staffers who are here in LA the party went down without any problems and pretty much everyone seemed to be having a good time. The Athletic Club was divided into various sections which were all named after locations from Middle-earth. Meduseld was the main hall in which Master Of Cermonies Quickbeam (complete with fiery hair and all!) was entertaining the crowd and keeping them informed about all the stuff going down in other rooms. The Oscars could be seen on screens all across the Club and during the commercial breaks Quickbeam went on stage, did his thing and did it very good as well!
The various other rooms such as Mordor, Fangorn Forest, Helms Deep and the Black Gates were occupied with random other important stuff such as food (you can’t forget about the food during a party like this!), the TORn store, the raffle and silent auction room (we’ve been raffling off stuff that was truely amazing) and of course the live music from Vit Sit something (I’m sorry guys, I’m doing all of this from memory, I’ll get it right next time) and Emerald Rose later that night!
So let’s get down to the really juicy stuff; who were there?? Apparently our party was the One Party on the top of everyone’s list this year, and we got a group of VIP’s that any party would be jealous of! Not two metion the fact that we got two Oscars present at the party!
From the top of my head I’ve seen cast-members John Rhys-Davies, Craig Parker (Haldir), Bruce Hopkins (Gamling), Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Sean Astin and Andy Serkis. The crew from The Two Towers also had a very strong representation with Barrie Osborne leading the pack, followed by the Oscar-winning SFX team with Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and miniatures-god Alex Funke and the Sound Editing guys Ethan van der Rhyn and Michael Hopkins who also brought their Oscars. Also present but sadly enough without an Oscar were the Art Direction guys Dan Hennah, Grant Major and the amazing Alan Lee and the guys from the Sound team Mike Hedges, Hammond Peek, Chris Boyes and Michael Semanick who were all great fun the hang around with! To top it all off we also had Jean-Claude van Damme present! Okay yeah I guess you didn’t expect that either…
All in all it was a great night, everyone seemed to be having a great time, especially Bruce Hopkins and Craig Parker who mingled with the fans for a good while. The absolute highlight of the night was when everyone was up on stage; Sean Astin was talking to the crowd and introducing everyone. Peter Jackson got on the phone from New Zealand telling everyone how sorry he was that he couldn’t make it this year and that he hoped everyone had a great time. If someone happens to have a fairly good transcript of the stuff PJ was saying on the phone email it to leo@theonering.net so I can get it online for everyone to enjoy! Barrie Osborne was handed the Golden Gandalf which is TORn’s equivalent of an Oscar and he really, really loved it (you can come pick one up next year PJ!) and Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd joked around with the crowd for a while.
That’s pretty much the stuff I can think of right now, more reports and of course pictures (ach… hissss.. picturesessss) will undoubtedly find their way online in the next few days so be sure to keep your eyes open for that. For now this is all from LA, untill the next writing,
Greetings everyone! Leo here, live from Los Angeles the day after The Two Towers: One Party-party! And what a party it was! The Hollywood Athletic Club was stuffed with folks from all over the world celebrating the succes of The Two Towers at the Oscars this year an the athmosphere was great!
From what I have gathered from all the other TORn staffers who are here in LA the party went down without any problems and pretty much everyone seemed to be having a good time. The Athletic Club was divided into various sections which were all named after locations from Middle-earth. Meduseld was the main hall in which Master Of Cermonies Quickbeam (complete with fiery hair and all!) was entertaining the crowd and keeping them informed about all the stuff going down in other rooms. The Oscars could be seen on screens all across the Club and during the commercial breaks Quickbeam went on stage, did his thing and did it very good as well!
The various other rooms such as Mordor, Fangorn Forest, Helms Deep and the Black Gates were occupied with random other important stuff such as food (you can’t forget about the food during a party like this!), the TORn store, the raffle and silent auction room (we’ve been raffling off stuff that was truely amazing) and of course the live music from Vit Sit something (I’m sorry guys, I’m doing all of this from memory, I’ll get it right next time) and Emerald Rose later that night!
So let’s get down to the really juicy stuff; who were there?? Apparently our party was the One Party on the top of everyone’s list this year, and we got a group of VIP’s that any party would be jealous of! Not two metion the fact that we got two Oscars present at the party!
From the top of my head I’ve seen cast-members John Rhys-Davies, Craig Parker (Haldir), Bruce Hopkins (Gamling), Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Sean Astin and Andy Serkis. The crew from The Two Towers also had a very strong representation with Barrie Osborne leading the pack, followed by the Oscar-winning SFX team with Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and miniatures-god Alex Funke and the Sound Editing guys Ethan van der Rhyn and Michael Hopkins who also brought their Oscars. Also present but sadly enough without an Oscar were the Art Direction guys Dan Hennah, Grant Major and the amazing Alan Lee and the guys from the Sound team Mike Hedges, Hammond Peek, Chris Boyes and Michael Semanick who were all great fun the hang around with! To top it all off we also had Jean-Claude van Damme present! Okay yeah I guess you didn’t expect that either…
All in all it was a great night, everyone seemed to be having a great time, especially Bruce Hopkins and Craig Parker who mingled with the fans for a good while. The absolute highlight of the night was when everyone was up on stage; Sean Astin was talking to the crowd and introducing everyone. Peter Jackson got on the phone from New Zealand telling everyone how sorry he was that he couldn’t make it this year and that he hoped everyone had a great time. If someone happens to have a fairly good transcript of the stuff PJ was saying on the phone email it to leo@theonering.net so I can get it online for everyone to enjoy! Barrie Osborne was handed the Golden Gandalf which is TORn’s equivalent of an Oscar and he really, really loved it (you can come pick one up next year PJ!) and Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd joked around with the crowd for a while.
That’s pretty much the stuff I can think of right now, more reports and of course pictures (ach… hissss.. picturesessss) will undoubtedly find their way online in the next few days so be sure to keep your eyes open for that. For now this is all from LA, untill the next writing,
