Collectible Card Games (or Trading Card Games) are really really scary things. People hand out large chunks of money to have more playing pieces for their games, thinking that by spending more money on the game, they will be inherently better than another player with less to spend on it. And depending on the game, this is true. Anyway, it seems that as a hobby, gaming has finally become marketable, to a degree, at least with the profit margins some games have seemingly realized.
Not that I'm necessarily any better, because I have spent a large chunk of money on one game, and smaller amounts on other games, but CCGs tend to worry me because they are fueled by competitive instincts, and make it easy to throw away money in the pursuit of beating yet another opponent. Not to mention the oddball crimes associated with them. Sure, you hear about little brats stealing each other's stuff, or stealing cards from (slightly) more reputable members of society, but every now and then, there are the bizarro happenings that just make you wonder if gamers aren't really the harmless people society generally believes them to be. The best example of this would be the reported mugging of someone in Madison, WI for his Magic: the Gathering cards. Sure, that's a little disturbing in and of itself. But the strangest part about this was that the robbery was performed at knife-point, not just with any old knife, but a freak-o Klingon knife, whatever they're called. And unfortunately, I don't have a citation to back this up, but I distinctly recall reading it in the paper. I'll keep looking. Heh.
Anyway, there are still a few good games out there, despite the general freakishness which surrounds CCGs in general. Not many, but a few.
Jyhad/V:tES is one of the most intricate and well-balanced games around. I have a page (and more) devoted to it.
Shadowfist is an excellent game based on Hong Kong action movies, Kung Fu movies of all stripes, and various other random sources.
While not technically a CCG, Let's Kill is probably the best serial-killer-themed game ever. Additionally, it has exceptionally humorous stick-figure art. How can you go wrong? Finally, it was created by a couple of friends of mine, making it all the more amusing to me to see the little in-jokes they placed in the game. Woo.
