oh man, i used to be so incredibly addicted to this game. i don't remember what the official count was - some ungodly number like 11,000 cards or something. i sold them all (for a lot less than i should have) before i went off to university all those years ago.
i wish i still had them - some of the full sets and rare cards i had would fetch more than a few buck today
i liked Icy Manipulator myself. i had a whole deck that had cards designed to tap opponent cards, while at the same time to generate hordes of 1/1 token creatures. it was brutally efficient, and very hard to beat.