Would you believe that my impetus to first play Magic:The Gathering was in fourth grade to try and fit in more at school.
Wow, what a sorry child I was.
Seriously though, the game helped me finally make some friends at my new school, as I had been the butt of most bullying since my third-grade mid-year transfer in from Switzerland. Magic helped me forge a few rudimentary relationships, although the only person out of that group Im still in semi-regular contact with is Peter Cavaliere.
Probably about in sixth grade, I realized the economy of these trading card games was akin to the structure of how a drug dealer stays in business. Once you get people hooked, theyre always going to be coming back for more. Furthermore, as a life-long player of computer games, I wonderred why I should beholden to buying expansion pack after expansion pack in the hopes that I might find a card or two that would improve my deck when it could all be digitized and customized?
So I gave it up.
But its not just Magic. I think I have a block in my head against games like Magic that depend on which player has the better deck. I briefly played the Star Wars CCG, and Ive played a few videogames that use a card-based system, like Star Chamber. My problem is Im no good at customization. I just want to take the cards I start out with and use them, withouth aving to worry about upgrading my deck or abandoning it for something more powerful. In a game dependant on tactics, it wouldnt matter who had the better cards, it would be about who could utilize their decks better, who had the better tactics. Sadly tactics do nto matter in these games as much as strategy, so I suppose thats why I fail at them.
Anyone else have a special relationship with small squarish pieces of cardboard? No, I don't mean Bazooka Joe gum.
Pokemon cards.
Considering I'm one of the main organisers in the state, I guess that's a given. The thing I hate is that I'm supposed to be the leader/organiser, therefor, you think I would be awesome, right?
Wrong my fuzzy friends. Due to the fact I can't afford to buy cards that often, I am often overwhelmed by young kids weilding 4 Flygon EXs that their mummies brought them on Ebay. Le sigh.
My Kabutops EX (No longer legal for tournament play, sadly) is still know around the circles as the proverbial deck to beat though, which does make me happy. 
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Sailor Moon CCG, which no one ever plays. But I have nearly every card.
No one should be surprised.
*huggles her collection* :3
I have about 3000 pokmon cards neatly stored away somewhere. Haven't brought any in a few years, but I still keep them.
I started off with Pokemon cards.
Ah, the good ol' days, where I could scab a Charizard to use for my deck in exchange for a Squirtle. Now of this new crap which is going around.
Dragon Ball Z, I played that too for a while, got all the way to GT. Me and my mates were playing, competed in one competition.
Finally, played Yu-Gi-Oh. Had a ROM of it lying around. I'm so cheap.
Now, I'm seriously considering taking up either Magic or Warcraft.
Used to collect Pokemon cards... When they rereleased the originals, I got a Charizard. I was happy. I don't think I've actually played a full card game though =
I also still have some baseball cards. Tons of Kirby Puckett cards.
Star Wars CCG, back when it was made by Deicpher. (So totally different than the garbage Wizards makes/made.) Also checked into the Star Trek CCG, Pokemon for a while, and several others before finally hanging it up several years ago.
I almost came back for WARS when it was announced, but then they canceled it almost immediately =(
i've got a magic the gathering deck gathering dust somewhere that a freind gave to me years ago. i'm betting he used all the cards he didn't want, as i never once won a game with it.
(it didn't help that i wasn't too great at playing the game to begin with. >>)
top trumps seem to have re-gained popularity recently, the judge from a comic-shop-owning freind's sales. he loved it when pokemon had a revival the other year. 
I remember I used to have a Pokemon deck that was just a Mewtwo and like 50 purple mana.
Good times. Good times.
I don't think I've ever been a huge fan of collecting cards. My money always went to video games.
I remember when the Pokemon card craze was going on...man that was good fun...but I never got into it. Too costly for me.
Poke'mon TCG, then YuGiOh TCG, and now Magic. I played the Shaman King TCG, but that didn't even get to the second pack, and wasn't that great.
So, yes. Seems I can't go on without some form of a card game to keep me going.
~Nytloc Penumbral Lightkeeper
The Pokemon TGC was my first foray into the card-playing scene. For a bit, I dabbled in the DBZ CCG, then Yugioh, but neither of them really caught on for me.
I still have all my cards though. I've almost completed a few of the Pokemon series.
I have those Star Wars CCG decipher cards too. I almost have the entire Empire strikes back collection. I was nuts over the hoth cards in middle school. lol, i still dont know how to play the stupid game.
MtG is what I play now (though not very often). I still have a huge box of Pokemon cards sitting in the basement somewhere. I think I spent, what, almost $600 on that fad? If I had known that they would be worthless now, I would have saved up for a Playstation (back when it was "cutting edge").
Fad? Worthless?
Oh yes. I forgot that Pokemon died out years ago. That pesky Diamond and Pearl thing must have been a rumour. Also, check your cards. Some of the older cards are worth tons, especially if they are in good condition.
Indeed Gyser... Only fads presell 1/2 million copies... and only a fad sells 1mil carts in less than the first week of release.
Fads tend to sell a lot.
I think you should clarify the "10 years later" part of that whole "selling a million copies in a week" thing.
