Sidetrack - The Lord of the Rings Deck-Building Game

Welcome to the first Sidetrack entry.  These are meant to be opportunities for me to discuss things not related to The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game.  For this first entry, I chose to stay close to the card game.  I'd like to talk about The Lord of the Rings Deck-Building Game.

Cryptozoic has put out a wide variety of deck-building games: Street Fighter, Naruto, DC Comics, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings.  All of these are essentially the same.  All are based on the Cerberus engine, which is a fancy word for "Theme Glue".  Regardless of the theme, you basically have a hand of cards, all of which are used to either gain power (the currency of the game), hurt your opponents, or do some shenanigans.  I first played the the DC version and was not a fan.  I did not understand why I was Nightwing, but was collecting different colored power rings, or how I spent punches to buy a kick.  With that said, I actually like the Lord of the Rings version.

Why?  Maybe it's bias towards LOTR, though I am a fan  of DC Comics.  Maybe it's a bias towards DC to the point that I can't get over the abstraction.  Regardless, I enjoy it, to the point of buying all three versions, sleeving it, and even buying a custom insert so I could hold them all in one box.

What do you think? Have you played any of Cryptozoic's games, and which is your favorite?

Keep Running!