King Block

Like The Two Towers a year earlier, The Return of the King was the beginning of a new format allowing only cards from that set. Cards from Siege of Gondor and Mount Doom were also allowed once those sets were released, but for the first time a set was released between those two which wasn't part of any block at all -- Reflections. In sets 7 and 8 only Sneaking! (7R73) could cancel skirmishes, a stark departure from previous blocks. Slunk Out of Sight (10U115) opened the door back up for Hobbits in set 10, although a rules change accompanied set 9 which made cancelling Ring-bearer skirmishes illegal in all formats even though the set itself is excluded from King Block.

Unlike Fellowship Block and Towers Block, King Block has not enjoyed the same level of community enthusiasm over the years. Partially due to the power creep of sets 8 and 10, there is little difference between the most-used power cards of King Block and Movie Block, but at least Movie permits for some wiggle room in variety. Between this and the lack of Reflections, there is often little draw to it over Movie.

Decklists for King Block can be found at this subforum of the Last Homely House.

Restricted list

Soon after Shadows was released and marked the beginning of a new block, Decipher revamped their Open format. Rather than cards being either banned or permitted, a new R-list was created for Open which restricted certain cards (loop-enablers or cards deemed too far above the power curve) to only one copy. This same R-list was enforced for Block tournaments as well, even though the interactions leading to the restriction could only occur from cards between blocks. Steadfast Champion (7U49) is on the list thanks to Treebeard, Keeper of the Watchwood (10R18) -- a card which, while from the block, can't be played in it (the only other Gandalf companion available is Gandalf).

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)