Towers Draft Pack

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An individual Towers Draft Pack

The Towers Draft Pack was a 29-card semi-random pack released in February 2003[1], right on the heels of Battle of Helm's Deep. Unlike Booster Packs, Draft Packs were mostly useful for the Booster Draft mode that they were built to enable, as their contents were too consistent to appeal to collectors.

The Towers Draft Pack was planned alongside the printing for The Two Towers, so unlike the Fellowship Draft Pack extra Uncut Sheets were produced during the initial Print Run, meaning that every Rare card was First Edition. The Commons and Uncommons were reprinted, however.

Individual draft packs retailed for $4.50. The Towers Draft Pack Display Box came with 12 packs, and would retail for $54 (i.e. exactly 12 times as much as a single pack).

Booster Draft[edit]

In Booster Draft, players would each open a single Draft Pack, whose contents would form the bulk of a deck. After inspecting the contents, players would then open standard booster packs from Towers Block and select one card to include in their deck, after which each pack would be passed to other players, everyone drafting in a circle. The cards selected would be combined with a skeleton of cards provided by the player (sites, Frodo, and the One Ring), and would form a deck that followed relaxed requirements appropriate for the limited scope of the mode.


Contents[edit]

Draft Packs were broken down as follows:

  • 14 Shadow cards from the Shadow Wheel
  • 7 Free Peoples cards from FP Wheel 1
  • 1 Rare card from The Two Towers
  • 7 Free Peoples cards from FP Wheel 2


"Wheels" were Decipher's method for keeping draft packs semi-random[2], without compromising the cohesion of the included cards. Each wheel was a (looping) list of cards, which was divided into thematic sections smaller than the selection included in the pack. By carefully choosing the sizes involved, each pack received roughly 1 complete run and part of another from a different theme, which provided a foundation for further drafting the deck while also providing enough flexibility to work with a number of strategies.

The Shadow Wheel was 30 cards, and the two Free Peoples Wheels were each 30 cards, meaning that a single Uncut Sheet was enough to print enough cards for a bit less than 5 draft packs, presumably with a black Spacer Card placed between the Free Peoples wheels.

Free Peoples Wheel 1[edit]

Unlike the Fellowship Draft Pack, there is no emphasis on Premium cards, which are completely absent in the Towers Draft Pack.

Free Peoples Wheel 2[edit]

Shadow Wheel[edit]

Unlike the Fellowship Draft Pack, there are only 4 Shadow runs of 15 cards each, meaning that it is possible to get a pack full of only 1 Culture. There are also no specific boundary cards used for crowd control. In addition, runs are palindromic, meaning that the runs are actually 7 card runs mirrored around a central card.

The runs are Raider, Isengard Site Control, Dunland, and Isengard Trackers.


Gallery[edit]


References[edit]

  1. ↑ DECIPHER ANNOUNCES NEXT STEP IN BOOSTER DRAFT FOR THE LORD OF THE RINGS™ TRADING CARD GAME , Wayback: http://web.archive.org/web/20040603060213/http://decipher.com/content/2003/02/021203boosterdraft.html
  2. ↑ New Draft Packs Make Great Booster Draft Base, Wayback: http://web.archive.org/web/20040410104907/http://www.decipher.com/lordoftherings/articles/2002/111302boosterdraftlischke.html



Card Product
Booster Packs
The Fellowship of the Ring • Mines of Moria • Realms of the Elf-lords
The Two Towers • Battle of Helm's Deep • Ents of Fangorn
Return of the King • Siege of Gondor • Mount Doom
Reflections
Shadows • Black Rider • Bloodlines
The Hunters • Rise of Saruman • Treachery & Deceit
Starter Decks The Fellowship of the Ring • Mines of Moria • Realms of the Elf-lords
The Two Towers • Battle of Helm's Deep • Ents of Fangorn
Return of the King • Siege of Gondor • Mount Doom
Shadows • Black Rider • Bloodlines
The Hunters • Rise of Saruman
Deluxe Starter Sets The Fellowship of the Ring • The Two Towers
Draft Packs Fellowship Draft Pack • Towers Draft Pack • Expanded Middle-earth

King Draft Pack • Hunters Draft Pack

Tengwar Anthologies The Fellowship of the Ring Anthology • The Two Towers Anthology • The Return of the King Anthology • The War of the Ring Anthology
Complete Packs The Nine Riders Collection • The Wraith Collection • Age's End
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