The Fellowship of the Ring/Product
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The Fellowship of the Ring was primarily distributed in 4 different products:
- Fixed 60-card Starter Decks (with 2 starter-exclusive Premium cards and 3 random rare cards)
- Fixed 60-card Deluxe Starter Sets (with 3 random rares and other goodies)
- Random 11-card Booster Packs
- Semi-random 29-card Draft Packs
Foil cards were distributed randomly in booster packs, and were also distributed as Tournament Prize Support. Tengwar cards were distributed in The Fellowship of the Ring Anthology.
Starter Decks
There are two different standard Starter Deck products: the FOTR Aragorn Starter Deck featuring Aragorn, and the FOTR Gandalf Starter Deck featuring Gandalf[1]. You'll see a picture of Aragorn or Gandalf on the front of the corresponding tuck box.
Each starter deck has a fixed component of 60 cards, including:
- 1 Frodo companion card,
- 1 The One Ring card,
- 9 site cards,
- 2 copies of a special premium card as featured on the deck box (Aragorn or Gandalf)
- 47 mixed common and uncommon cards.
Along with a fixed component (which is made up of different cards for the two different decks), 3 random rare cards are added to each starter. This kept the product useful for new players and veterans alike, as well as being a means of keeping Sealed formats more interesting.
In addition, each starter came with a Premium card which was exclusive to that deck: Aragorn, King in Exile (1P365) or Gandalf, The Grey Wizard (1P364) . Neither of these cards were distributed through Booster Packs, except for the Foil versions which could be randomly inserted as an Uncommon. International versions of Starter Decks for a given language were not always printed, and in those languages the Premium cards would instead be inserted into the Uncommon card sheet and distributed in boosters as normal.
Also included is a Starter Rulebook, which acts as a reference and a guide teaching new players how to play the game. The rules included in the Starter Rulebook are altered from standard play, such as: the site path is shortened to use only 7 Sites, and players flip a coin to choose turn order instead of bidding burdens. For more information on these differences, see Starter_Decks#Starter_Rules_Differences
Individual Starter Decks retailed for $10.99. The Starter Deck Display box came with 6 of each starter deck for a total of 12 starter decks, and would retail for $131.88 (i.e. exactly 12 times as much as a starter). Starter deck boxes themselves came in cases of 12 per case.
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Click through to see the contents of the FOTR Aragorn Starter Deck
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Click through to see the contents of the FOTR Gandalf Starter Deck
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A starter deck display box
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Deluxe Starter Sets
While Starter Decks were introduced to both act as a low-cost trial product and a reliable source of rares, the Deluxe Starter Sets acted as an all-in-one entry point that would provide not only the various tokens that gameplay would require, but also an introduction into Booster Packs, which were the primary way of finding new cards. The storage box shouldn't be overlooked either, and as it came in 3 different varieties, there was still a reason for the diehard collector to purchase more than one. Notably, the Deluxe set came with neither of the Premium cards that were included in the two basic Starter Decks.
Contents:
- 60 Fixed Cards
- 3 Random Rare Cards
- 11 Card Booster Pack
- Starter Rulebook
- Collector's Card List
- Collectible Storage Box (1 of 3)
- 6 Coloured Glass Player Markers
- 25 Black Tokens (used for Twilight Tokens and Burdens)
- 10 Red Glass Tokens (used for Wounds)
Deluxe Starter Sets retailed for $20.00 USD each at the time of release (November 6th, 2001), and were sold individually.
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Click through to see the contents of the Deluxe Starter Set
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A sealed Deluxe Starter Box
( Shire variant) -
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The 3 FOTR variants (top) with the 3 TTT variants (bottom)
Booster Packs
Booster Packs are the primary intended way of collecting cards from a set. Every pack contains 11 cards: 1 Rare, 3 Uncommon, and 7 Common cards.
On average, one in six packs (~17%) will have a diffraction Foil card replacing one of the common cards. The drop rate was rolled once per rarity, meaning that a pack with 1, 2, or 3 foils is possible, as follows:
- 1 Common foil every 13 packs
- 1 Uncommon foil every 18 packs
- 1 Rare foil every 26 packs
Individual boosters retailed for $3.29. The Booster Pack Display Box came with 36 packs, and would retail for $118.44 (i.e. exactly 36 times as much as a single booster). Booster boxes themselves came in cases of 12 per case.
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A FOTR booster pack
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A scan of an opened FOTR booster display box
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A sealed FOTR booster display
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An opened booster display revealing its contents
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An unopened case of booster displays
Draft Packs
TODO
References
- ↑ Getting Started Article as preserved on the Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20041205042844/http://www.decipher.com/lordoftherings/expansions/fellowship/gettingstarted.html