Standard

Standard format was officially defined with the release of The Two Towers, which introduced a new site path making itself partially incompatible with the earlier Fellowship Block cards. For the Movie Block era Standard included all printed cards, but once Black Rider was released in 2005, Decipher chose to introduce rotation, which was the process of "rotating out" the oldest set in favor of keeping the card population fresh. This concept of rotation was controversial (as were many of the changes done in Shadows), although in this case Decipher was not alone as rotation is a common factor of many TCGs.

Standard continued to be the primary official tournament format until the end of the game, at which point it consisted of sets 7-19 (as well as legal Promotional cards, such as reprints from those sets or the Weta Collection.

There exist several "historical" versions of Standard which consist of a snapshot of the format at that point in time, such as Towers Standard (sets 1-6).

X-List

The last Current Rulings Document defined the X-List for Standard Format as follows:

• All cards in sets 1-6, including Promotional cards originally printed in those sets
• Steadfast Champion (7U49)
• Aggression (8C1)
• Memories of Darkness (10U2)
• Galadriel, Lady Redeemed (10R11)
• Mordor Fiend (10C91)
• Final Account (11C31)
• Strange-looking Men (11R100)
• Demoralized (11U114)
• Orkish Smith (11C132)
• Courtyard Parapet (13U188)
• Madril, Defender of Osgiliath (15R64)

Historical X-List

Cards were added or removed from the X-List as needed, often removing cards once the combo or meta they were banned for no longer applied.

Card Name	Date Added	Date Removed	Notes
Elrond, Lord of Rivendell (1R40)	March 25, 2003	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Galadriel, Lady of Light (1R45)	March 25, 2003	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Ottar, Man of Laketown (1R80)	March 25, 2003	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
No Stranger to the Shadows (1U108)	March 25, 2003	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Savagery to Match Their Numbers (1R139)	March 25, 2003	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Úlairë Nertëa, Messenger of Dol Guldur (1U234)	March 25, 2003	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Forces of Mordor (1C248)	March 25, 2003	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Sting (1R313)	March 25, 2003	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Flaming Brand (2R32)	March 25, 2003	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Filibert Bolger, Wily Rascal (2C101)	March 25, 2003	May 4, 2004	Removed when it was ruled that Ringbearer skirmishes could not be cancelled
O Elbereth! Gilthoniel! (2R108)	March 25, 2003	May 4, 2004	Removed when it was ruled that Ringbearer skirmishes could not be cancelled
Aragorn, Heir to the White City (3R38)	March 25, 2003	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Horn of Boromir (3R42)	March 25, 2003	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Saruman, Keeper of Isengard (3R68)	March 25, 2003	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Uruk Regular (4C192)	March 25, 2003	January 12, 2004	Removed after Deep of Helm was no longer on the site path.
Relics of Moria (1R195)	January 12, 2004	March 25, 2005	Added to take some power away from Moria once RotK was released. Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
The Palantír of Orthanc (3R67)	January 12, 2004	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Frying Pan (3C108)	January 12, 2004	March 25, 2005	Added as a counter to removing Relics of MoriaRemoved when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Bill the Pony (3U106)	January 12, 2004	March 25, 2005	Removed when Fellowship Block Rotated out of Standard Format
Steadfast Champion (7U49)	July 6, 2004		Added due to interactions with Treebeard, Keeper of the Watchwood
Gondorian Captain (7C96)	July 6, 2004	November 10, 2004	Added due to interactions with Base of Mindolluin, removed when Shadows Sites became legal
Aggression (8C1)	July 6, 2004		Added due to being under-costed
Mordor Fiend (10C91)	July 15, 2004		Added the day after the set released, before he would have been legal to use in a deck.
Memories of Darkness (10U2)	August 3, 2004
Saruman's Snows (1C138)	Prior to November 3, 2004	March 25, 2005	Added prior to Shadows Release date before rotation was introduced
Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow (2R75)	Prior to November 3, 2004	March 25, 2005	Added prior to Shadows Release date before rotation was introduced
Sam, Son of Hamfast (1C311)	Prior to November 3, 2004	March 25, 2005	Added prior to Shadows Release date before rotation was introduced
A Talent for Not Being Seen (1U316)	Prior to November 3, 2004	March 25, 2005	Added prior to Shadows Release date before rotation was introduced
Gimli, Dwarf of the Mountain-race (2P121)	Prior to November 3, 2004	March 25, 2005	Added prior to Shadows Release date before rotation was introduced. Deemed to be abusive with the focus on site path introduced in Shadows
Galadriel, Lady of the Golden Wood (3R17)	Prior to November 3, 2004	March 25, 2005	Added prior to Shadows Release date before rotation was introduced. Granted easy site path manipulation without cultural enforcement
The Shire Countryside (3R113)	Prior to November 3, 2004	March 25, 2005	Added prior to Shadows Release date before rotation was introduced
Legolas, Dauntless Hunter (4R73)	Prior to November 3, 2004	June 9, 2006	Added prior to Shadows Release date before rotation was introduced. Abusive with the new unbound hobbits released in Shadows
Fortress Never Fallen (4U276)	Prior to November 3, 2004	June 9, 2006	Added prior to Shadows Release date before rotation was introduced
Get On and Get Away (4R304)	Prior to November 3, 2004	June 9, 2006	Added prior to Shadows Release date before rotation was introduced. Provided too much site path manipulation.
Galadriel, Lady Redeemed (10R11)	January 18, 2005
Final Account (11C31)	January 18, 2005
Demoralized (11U114)	Prior to May 22, 2006
Courtyard Parapet (13U188)	January 29, 2007
Madril, Defender of Osgiliath (15R64)	January 29, 2007
Strange-looking Men (11R100)	August 13, 2007
Orkish Smith (11C132)	August 13, 2007

Formats

Sets	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	10	9	11	12	13	14	15	17	18	16	19
Historical Decipher Formats	Fellowship Block			Towers Block			King Block				War of the Ring Block				Hunters Block
	Towers Standard
	King Standard
	Movie Block
				War of the Ring Standard
							Standard
	Expanded
	Open

Player's Council Formats (including PC Errata)	1	2	3	V1	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
	PC-Fellowship
	PC-Movie
	PC-Expanded

Unofficial Formats	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	10	9	11	12	13	14	15	17	18	16	19
	French									French
	Austrian (Movie)
								Austrian (Shadows)