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THE BORG ARE COMING TO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Star Trek™ CCG Expansion to Feature Everyone's Favorite Villains

(NORFOLK, VA., July 23, 2001) – The crew of the Starship Voyager triumphed over the evil Borg one last time before finally making it home in the Star Trek: Voyager series finale in May.

But on Sept. 19, the Borg will rise again – and this time it will be Star Trek CCG fans who are embroiled in new battles with the collective everyone loves to loathe.

The Borg, Star Trek CCG's new expansion set, will offer players the most Borg cards (more than two dozen) available in any expansion set since the infamous drones were first introduced to the Star Trek CCG universe in the 1997 First Contact expansion set. That set sold out, leaving new players without the Borg affiliation, until now.

With all of the enemies Star Trek heroes have encountered over the past 35 years, what is it about the Borg that has captured fans' imagination? One of Star Trek's prominent behind-the-scenes figures was quoted trying to explain the Borg fascination in the Star Trek guide, "Captains' Logs Supplemental".

"The Borg have had humanity or humanoid origins and are now assimilated into this machine culture," said Herman Zimmerman, production designer for Star Trek series and movies, including "First Contact," the movie in which the Borg were first featured prominently after being used sparingly on the series Next Generation. "In a way, they are more scary than something that tears you apart, because they don't tear you apart. They make you over into something you don't want to be. To me, that's much scarier than just being killed. That's the kind of nightmarish bad guys we are creating."

The Borg expansion will include 131 cards – 50 rares, 40 uncommons, and 40 commons, 1 ultra-rare– sold in 11-card booster packs. Each booster pack will contain one rare; one ultra-rare will be found on average among every 121 boosters.

Decipher will sponsor two special Borg pre-release tournaments at DragonCon in Atlanta in September. These pre-release events will be held from 12 p.m.-4 p.m. on Sept. 1 and on Sept. 3. The entry fee will be $20 per person.

With this latest Star Trek expansion, there are three ways to play one set of cards. The Borg set continues all of the new play formats introduced in the recent Voyager expansion: it will be playable in the Voyager Warp Speed format, Voyager Constructed format, and complete environment format. Voyager-logo cards will always support the two new formats introduced last set, and The Borg has 131 of those cards.

The Borg will also add to the game the Hirogen affiliation, a Voyager fan favorite race of brutal hunters. "Players have always wanted an easy way to achieve points through battle alone," says Decipher game designer Evan Lorentz. "The Hirogen are it."

Also, there will also be many strong "former Borg drones" that other decks can use, and new cards to further the Kazon and Vidiian affiliations introduced in Voyager. The rules on Borg gameplay are being streamlined in several areas, making it even easier for new players to get started.

"Whether you've been playing the Star Trek CCG since the beginning or just started with the Voyager set, there's something here for you," says designer Lorentz. "Borg and Hirogen, Alpha Quadrant and Delta Quadrant, standard play and Warp Speed.."

In other words … RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!™

For more information, contact Carla Atkinson at (757) 664-1133/carlaa@decipher.com or Monica Jones at (757) 664-1148/monicaj@decipher.com.

Both veteran and novice Star Trek players should be gearing up for DecipherCon 2001's World Championships on November 15-18 in Virginia Beach, which will offer an unprecedented, $50,000 prize purse. Championships will be held for the Star Trek™CCG, Star Wars™CCG, Young Jedi™ CCG and Jedi Knights™ TCG and each of the four champions will take home a grand prize of $10,000. Best of all, ANYONE can walk away a champion! No pre-qualification in earlier tournaments is necessary: Everyone is eligible to play in the first-day qualifying rounds of the championship.

For the latest Star Trek news and information, visit the official Internet home of Star Trek at www.startrek.com.

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Founded in 1983, Decipher Inc. is a worldwide leader in the collectible card game industry. Decipher is dedicated to The Art of Great Games®. The company's product lines include the Star Trek™ Customizable Card Game, Star Wars™ Customizable Card Game, Young Jedi™ Collectible Card Game, Jedi Knights™ Trading Card Game, and Lord of the Rings™ Trading Card Game –scheduled to release holiday 2001. In addition, Decipher's Games Studio produces leading party, card and board games such as How To Host A Murder®, How To Host A Teen Mystery™, Boy Crazy!™, Girl Power!™, Pente®, Scratchees™and more. In 2001, Decipher acquired the staff and assets of FANtastic media, becoming the operator of the Official Star Trek Fan Club. Visit www.decipher.com for additional product and tournament information, news, contests, and interactive features.

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