Collecting them was a blast - and a major pain. It was not easy getting them in Germany and I don't remember exactly, but I think I missed the start of them and only stumbled per accident over them, seeing a pack in a store. Then I had the only real collecting frenzy I ever had: making my father deviate from our route to visit some stores that had them, buying whole boxes with 16 starter decks or 32 booster packs, making detailed lists how many and which cards I owned, phoning everywhere I knew and ask about the cards (I didn't use the internet at that time). My father was very supporting in that, I have to say. I remember, he was doing some business in the States and looked for some cards for me and brought packs back. And then, we had went to New York for a vacation, he ordered two whole boxes (or even more?) for me and had them delivered to our hotel. It was great, entering in the room and having all those cards.
With over 2000 cards, I stumbled over the CIC and found the card list and saw that I still missed some cards (the Sorthak and a battle damage card for the Kilrathi). Thanks to the CIC, I made contact with some people who were willing to trade cards, so that I could finally complete my collection. Though I remember I was a rather annoying trade partner because I whined a lot about each card I had to give away. Mpanty even wanted to stop the transaction because he thought I would die of grief
. But in exchange for the cards I sent him, he sent me FC, so that was a good deal.
I was very proud when I finally had all the cards. Except the promo cards of course, of whose existence I didn't know anything before coming here. And to think that a single email would have been enough.