Panini Z: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Play Cards

So the Dragonball Z collectible card game is back, and despite my best intentions, I got sucked back in. For those who are aware that I enjoy the Retro format of the DBZ game, that may be a little confusing; after all, if I already like the game, why not play the new one? I have a checkered past with "Collectible" Games, having flirted with Pokemon CCG, Magic: The Gathering, Heroclix and others. Unlike my beloved miniatures and role-playing games, the blind packaging and secondary market always seems, to me, to lead to the person who has spend the most money on the game being the winner. That's why I like Retro DBZ, the cards are cheap, proxies are legal and there's little-to-no metagaming. 

So what's my beef then? Not much really, just the usual lack of disposable income. That said, Panini have cleverly stacked the booster boxes so that a deck can be built from just boosters; so one box later and here I am. So I pull out and sort all my cards and it looks like I can build either a Trunks or Captain Ginyu deck. Damn. I already have both a Trunks and Ginyu Force deck in Retro. Ginyu is the deck of choice at the moment, so being a rebel, I have to play Trunks. 

Perhaps some small explanation is in order. Back in the days when I played Pokemon, I was aware of the accepted "Meta", the handful of deck builds that one "had" to play in order to win. My attitude to the concept has always been "fuck that"; why go with the illusion of choice when I could have actual choice? When Reshiram and Zekrom were all the rage in Pokemon, I was running Victini and completely blindsiding my opponents. Ok, so I only won around 50% of the time, but I'm also that sucker that plays for fun more than the joy that comes with winning a game for children. For those in the know, I'm running Trunks Orange. Yeah, that's right, Trunks Orange. And I'm winning games too, how'd ya like them zenzus? 

At the end of the day, I'd still rather play Retro. The game is just more fun and less swingy. Plus I can run things like Ginyu Force with Saibermen and Spirit Bomb. On the plus side, with more people playing the game, I can sucker a few into Retro, maybe I should make that Mr Popo deck...