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Exciting News for Lord of the Rings TCG:
Eternal As An Elf

Decipher announced plans today for the long-term future of The Lord of the Rings™ Trading Card Game. In addition to the first nine sets announced before the game launched in November 2001, nine new expansion sets and collector's products are being added to the list through 2007.

"If you're already playing Lord of the Rings TCG, I have to say 'you haven't seen anything thus far.' If you have yet to pick up this incredible game, now is the time," said Decipher Chairman & CEO Warren Holland. "Personally, I am enormously excited about the direction the designers are taking the game this year and beyond. I think our customers are going to be thrilled with our long-term commitment to LOTR TCG."

With The Return of the King™ film opening in theaters this Christmas season, the game's current announced schedule runs through the Mount Doom expansion in July 2004. Decipher revealed that beginning in November 2004, the game's next nine expansions are scheduled to be:

November 2004 – Shadows
March 2005 – Black Rider
July 2005 – Bloodlines
November 2005 – The Hunters
March 2006 – Rise of Saruman
July 2006 – Treachery and Deceit
November 2006 – The Great Eye
March 2007 – Shelob's Lair
July 2007 – Age's End

The next three years of The Lord of the Rings TCG will include gameplay innovations, new entry points, and new material. Since Decipher has the rights to the three books of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, characters, places, and events depicted in the books but not shown in the films will be introduced. Favorites such as Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, Glorfindel, Radagast the Brown, and the Barrow-wights will be among the first to join the rest of Middle-earth in the award-winning TCG.

Among the innovations and new gameplay to be introduced starting with the Shadows expansion will be a new adventure path. The new nine-site path will start in The Shire and take your fellowship all the way to Mount Doom. This new adventure path will represent the breadth of Middle-earth that has been shown through the three films, and set the stage for exciting new strategies and gameplay.

Decipher is also pleased to announce the first in a series of anthologies based on The Lord of the Rings TCG for each block. The highlight of The Fellowship of the Ring™ Anthology will be 18 cards from the Fellowship block reprinted in the Elvish Tengwar alphabet. These 18 cards, hand-lettered by noted New Zealand artist Daniel Reeve, are sure to be a collector's delight. Reeve, the official calligrapher and cartographer of The Lord of the Rings movies, has beautifully rendered the same Tengwar symbols used in the films and seen on such works as the inscription on The One Ring and the pages of The Book of Mazarbul.

In addition to the 18 Tengwar cards, the Fellowship Anthology will contain a Fellowship block starter, two boosters of each Fellowship block set, a Fellowship Draft Pack and a comprehensive card list of the first three sets. All will be contained in a sturdy card box that holds over 600 cards. The Fellowship Anthology will be available in late July.

Spread the word... The Lord of the Rings TCG is here to stay!

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Tim Ellington
Decipher TCG Studio

May 20, 2003