It’s almost time to begin your ascent and prove yourself in Trial by Frost! We hope you had some time to rest after the end-of-year festivities, because now it’s time to get ready for the pre-releases!

Join a pre-release event at your local game store starting January 24 and meet with other Altered players to experience Trial by Frost before in a casual and festive atmosphere.

Reminder : hobby stores organizing pre-releases and only them are allowed to sell Trial by Frost products starting January 24.

For those not familiar yet with Altered pre-releases, your store will provide you with 7 booster packs for you to open and build a 30-card deck with. This is a format called Limited Sealed Deck. Unlike Constructed formats where you need to bring your own deck, everyone will discover their cards at the same time and try to build the best deck they can before facing one another!

In Limited formats, you are allowed to have up to 3 different factions in your deck and there are no limits to the number of cards or different rarities your deck can have so have fun exploring brand new synergies!

To help you on your way to the top, we’ve compiled below a list of tips to guide you through Limited deckbuilding.

For a pre-release deck, you will need to select up to 3 factions and a Hero among those three. There are two ways to make this choice:

• Either choose the Hero you like the most first, then look for cards that would work well with them and select your two additional factions accordingly.
• Or identify your most powerful or exciting cards you’d like to play. Cool Rare and Unique cards should definitely make your final deck! Then choose the Hero that will work best with those cards and stick to 3 factions maximum.

It is highly recommended you pick a Hero for your deck, but you can choose not to. As such, your deck should be 29 cards + 1 Hero most of the time.

Aiming for exactly 30 cards will provide you with the best deck, increasing the odds of drawing your key cards. You’re allowed to go over this number if you want, but remember that you can swap cards from your deck and your reserve between games if you want to try some new cards!

When building your deck, there is a balance to keep in mind between the different card types you have access to.

Your deck should mostly be composed of Characters, and you should focus on characters with solid statistics, as they will form your deck’s core. Ensure that at least 15 of them cost {3} or less so that you’ll have cards to play in the early game. Prioritize unconditional proactive effects over conditional abilities!

Spells and Gears can have cool effects, but be careful you will need Characters to make good use of your Gears ! Try to include at least 2 or 3 interactive Spells in your deck to deal with your opponent’s threats.

Permanents aren’t essential (depending on your Hero), but a few key picks can go a long way to further your strategy.

Pay attention to the costs of your cards ! Try to have a good spread of costs (especially Hand cost) with a big focus on {2} and {3} mana cards (around half of your deck), as they will be your most flexible cards. Including a few key {6}+ mana cards to close the game out can also be a good idea but keep them to a minimum.

Trial by Frost is all about the challenge of crossing a cold environment in the Tumult. You’ll face three key mechanics during your journey into the mountains.

Cards in Reserve can now be exhausted. An exhausted card cannot be played and loses its support ability. It’s basically neutralized for the day, until it readies the next morning. You might want to exhaust the opponent’s reserve to disrupt it, but you may also have access to cheaper resupply that will ask for you to wait a day until you can use the fresh card. Some spells with cooldown may allow you to play them twice, granted you first let them cool for a day.

Gears are a new Permanent subtype that can be played in your Expeditions. They go back to your Reserve as their Expedition moves forward and can be played again—why not in your other Expedition this time around? When you play them from your Reserve, like any other card, they gain Fleeting. Similar to landmarks, they provide a continuous advantage when in play, but require you to play Characters in their expedition to take advantage of them.

Some abilities will look at the Region Types your Expeditions are in, or may even change their type. Be careful where your Characters set foot!

Trial by Frost also features a cycle of Icebound Landmarks that will come with their own challenges and reward you with a mysterious Dragon Shade token.

Axiom
Assemble powerful Icebound Landmarks and free the Dragon Shade with Sierra or use the power of exhausted Resupply and optimize your Reserve with Subhash.

Bravos
Leverage Fleeting Characters to assemble huge statistics with Kojo and Basira.

Lyra
Take advantage of your Reserve and Favorable Region Types with Fen and Auraq.

Muna
Spread the Forest throughout the map and reap the rewards with Rin and Arjun.

Ordis
Hold your position and take your time setting up powerful late game plays with Sigismar and Gulrang.

Yzmir
Exhaust cards in your opponent’s and your own Reserve to assemble powerful synergies with Akesha and Afanas.

Pre-registration for pre-release events are already open so come and celebrate Trial by Frost with us starting January 24 and begin your ascent on January 31 for the official release of the set!

Join the adventure at #AlteredTBF and on the official Altered Discord server!