North Las Vegas, NV (May 19, 2009) – Do you want to stand in the grand arena? Do you have what it takes? Are your blades keen and deadly? Do your spells have the ferocity of an archmage? The gladiators think not. The Upper Deck Company is pleased to announce that its next World of Warcraft® Trading Card Game expansion, Arena Grand Melee, launches worldwide today. However, Arena Grand Melee provides unique content from the World of Warcraft MMO’s popular Arena gameplay, which opens up an entirely new dimension for TCG players.

Landing on store shelves this week, Arena Grand Melee adds all-new content including a new twist on standard play. For example, if “For the Fallen!” is flipped, players can act out their weapon strikes to draw additional cards. Or when “Steamwheedle Casino” is flipped, all players set their hands aside and play a quick game of Black Jack using their WoW TCG cards, with the winner receiving an extra card. Players each bring a deck from their own World of Warcraft® TCG collection and use a shared stack of Grand Melee cards to recreate the chaos that happens when battling in the arena! Arena Grand Melee also boasts two new exclusive heroes and ability cards for all nine classes featuring new “preparation” abilities that can be played for free.

What’s more, there are two versions to collect: Horde and Alliance sets feature different hero cards and unique Grand Melee cards, as well as a unique mini-pet card. Each set includes a total of 80 cards: 19 tournament game cards, 60 Grand Melee cards and one mini-pet card.

“Grand Arena Melee is a lot of fun in a two-player setting, but is best played with three or more players battling for supremacy,” said Dan Bojanowski, Upper Deck’s WoW TCG brand manager.

Stand in the grand arena today. Players can compete in robust World of Warcraft® TCG Organized Play programs around the globe including Darkmoon Faires, Sneak Preview events and Release Celebrations. For more information on Arena Grand Melee and other Upper Deck World of Warcraft® TCG products, visit www.WoWTCG.com.