Method of building a deck of collectible cards

A method of controlling the composition of a playing deck, comprising:

• collecting a plurality of cards in a reservoir deck, wherein each of the cards in the reservoir deck is assigned to one of a plurality of card classes, wherein each card includes a card class identifier that identifies a specific card class in which the card is included, wherein each card displays thereon a card identifier identifying the card among the plurality of cards, and wherein at least some of the cards include thereon a stacking indicator that indicates whether the card is stackable, such that, if stackable, two or more like stackable cards may be included in a playing deck;
• and
• selecting from the reservoir deck a playing deck comprising a defined number of cards from a defined number of card classes selected from the reservoir deck by the card player, wherein each card class is represented by an equal number of cards.

A collection of collectible playing cards for use by a card player against one or more opponent players, the collection comprising:

• a reservoir deck that includes a defined number of cards from a defined number of card classes, wherein each card class is represented by at least one card in the reservoir deck, and wherein each card includes a class identifier that identifies the class in which the card is included, such that a playing deck may be created from the reservoir deck by selecting a equal number of cards from each card class.