Top 12: Playing Cards of 2014

It's been an amazing year! As we near the end of what's been a busy and successful year for playing cards, we are going to take one last look back at 2014. Compiling the list has been a lot fun but hard work as there are just so many quality decks this year, making it difficult to narrow them down. If you think we left your favorite deck out, let us know in the comment section below. :)

12. LUXX

Earlier this year, a teaser image of LUXX was circulated to the customers of JP Playing Cards and what a buzz it has generated around the playing cards community! This privately funded deck of cards is created by Paul Middleton and designed by the talented Randy Butterfield. LUXX is elegant, intricate and beautiful whilst remaining practical and fun to use.

11. Origins: Grail Edition

Inspired by the elegance and charm of playing card history, designer and illustrator Rick Davidson has masterfully created Origins Playing Cards. All of the Grail cards are individually researched and custom designed. The amazing fine details on the backs features metallic gold ink. The tuck case is printed on high quality stock, fully embossed and the box details is embellished with gloss gold foil, giving it a touch of elegance and sophistication.

10. Aquila Limited Edition

A collaboration between Three of Clubs and Kardify Projects, Aquila Limited Edition Playing Cards are meticulously designed by Indonesian graphic artist, Ade Suryana. This stunning deck is inspired by the Garuda Wisnu Kencana in Bali, Indonesia. Featuring fully custom back design, eye-catching Ace of Spades, diptych Jokers and stunning courts. The tuck looks incredible with elegant gold foil plus embossing on imported paper giving it a very luxurious feel.

9. Requiem

One of our most anticipated 2014 project, Requiem Playing Cards is a stunning deck created by Lorenzo Gaggiotti. This unique deck is 100% custom and features darkness and pain as a theme. The suits are made out of broken Hearts, Clubs with thorns, cracked Diamonds and dry leaves as Spades. Pips are unique and the gold metallic ink on this blood red deck gives it a touch of class.

8. Seven Seas

First amazing playing card project by Brain Vessel Creative! What a great experience! The Seven Seas Playing Cards is a customized nautical themed deck with beautifully illustrated images of pirates, ghost ships, sea creatures and life on the high seas. The deck is about the dichotomy of a life at sea.

7. Hive

The Limited Edition Hive Playing Card is designed and illustrated by Brendan Hong and independently produced by Kings Wild Project. Inspired by classic playing card art, this fully customized 54 card deck that comes with its own unique court cards to customized back design to Bee inspired Ace of spades. The deck comes in matching set of blue and red back design.

6. Sherlock Holmes: Baker Street Edition

Created by Kings Wild Project, the Sherlock Holmes Playing Cards: Baker Street Edition is the flagship deck of the entire Sherlock Holmes Series. The Baker Street Edition features an intricate back design that includes iconic elements from many of the beloved stories. The court cards for the Baker Street Edition are inspired by the original late 19th & 20th century engravings and illustrations that were released with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels and short stories. The tuck case features premium paper stock with embossing and Gold foiling and is printed both on the inside and out.

5. Zenith

Zenith is the first deck in the Encarded Signature Series masterfully designed by Paul Carpenter. This impressive deck was self-funded with a very limited release of only 1000 numbered decks. Needless to say they sold out relatively quickly and have found their way onto the Sought After and Must Have lists of many collectors and enthusiast. Housed in a special sideways opening tuck box made of elegant, thick matte black paper, Zenith is adorned with amazingly detailed and vibrant holographic silver foil and sealed with a sequentially numbered seal under the cellophane.

4. RUN: Bankroll Edition

Produced by Jason Brumbalow and Murphy's Magic the Limited RUN series captures detail, stunning looks and an attitude. Beautiful presentation with the outer shell case and just as impressive tuck box makes the RUN a unique concept that is garnering much attention. The deck is 100% Custom from every aspect in and out. Familiar yet different court cards tie the custom Jokers, Ace of Spades and stylized pips together.

3. Independence

This one came as a surprise in 2014. Created by Kings Wild Project, the Independence playing card series is inspired by the American Revolution, featuring both a Continentals Deck and a British (Crown) deck. The courts, back design, diptych joker and Ace of Spaces are fully customized. The tuckcase is created to Kings Wild standards with embossing, custom numbered seals, artwork and foiling both inside and outside the tuckcase.

 2. Ornate - Obsidian Edition

One word: Stunning! This Limited Obsidian Edition decks are part of the White Ornate series. Meticulously designed by Randy Butterfield and produced by HOPC, this beautiful deck exudes elegance. The tuck box is truly mesmerizing, crafted from a deep matte black vellum paper. The design has been carefully stamped in Black and Gold foil, giving the box a shimmer and shine. As a bonus, the inside of the tuck is coated in a solid wall of gold foil.

1. 52 Plus Joker: The Club Deck

Designed by Jackson Robinson, the Club Deck was offered exclusively to attendees of this years 52 Plus Joker Convention being held in Charleston, South Carolina. This ultra-rare deck is just amazing, a bright white two piece "Slip Case" accented by silver foil houses the just as spectacular cards featuring a mirrored and foiled back design of the "52" script. The deck also features a custom Ace of Spades, beautifully rich custom court cards and two custom Jokers depicting the 52 Plus Joker Logo. The Club Deck also features a custom numbered seal.

Honorable mention: Pagan by UUSI, Gatorback (Green) by David Blaine, Tally-Ho by Kings Wild, 100 Years' War by SPAAAADE&Co, the Flight Deck by Paul Roman Martinez, Whispering Imps: Black Edition by Chris Chelko, and Voltige by Dan & Dave.

Deck View: The Science Deck

Chemistry. Physics. Biology. Technology

Created by Rosy Palamara, the Science Deck is a custom deck of playing cards inspired by it’s four main fields of study. It features important elements and discoveries in science as well as important scientists presented in a sleek blueprint format.

The artistic design on a subtle grey background provides readability and adds to the pleasing aesthetics of deck. Each of the suits represent a different field of science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Technology), the numerical cards features an important discovery or invention in science and the courts have been composed to represent important scientists each within their speciality of field.

The Science Deck is printed by the USPCC and available at sciencedeck.co. For a limited time, use the code KARDIFY during check-out to get 15% off.

Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Beau Challis of Vox Playing Cards

Photo credit to @playingcardart

Conceived by Beau Challis and designed by Lotrek, Vox Playing Cards are inspired by sound wave visualization. Vox, Latin for voice, is the general running theme for this eye-catching deck.

The unique back design looks really simple from a distance, but intricate wave-like pattern reveals itself on close up. Also, the backs will be printed in metallic silver inks and the tuck box with silver foil. Pretty cool! The courts are custom with some subtle changes made to the faces, patterns, lines and colours still preserving the element of the traditional court cards.

We caught up with Beau to chat about his creative background, inspiration behind Vox playing cards, the design process with Lotrek and thoughts about the growth of crowd-funded playing cards.  

Can you tell us about yourself and what is your creative background?
I am 18 years old and from the UK. I guess my creative background goes back to when I was a young child. I would always want to design and make new things even down to Lego - I don't think I ever followed the instructions to anything! I would always be drawing a design for this car, house or gun etc.

As I grew older my academic side became I guess more important, and I took subjects like history, geography, French at school and just let my creative side go onto hold. However, discovering the world of magic and custom decks re-lit the fire for me and well, here we are :)

This is your first Kickstarter Project. Why Kickstarter?
I went for Kickstarter just because more people use it. I know my goal is pretty high, so I need maximum exposure. :)

Can you describe the Vox Playing Cards and why you’re passionate about it?
A deck of cards can become a very personal thing, especially after the amount of time and effort that been put in to get it to the final product. The Vox playing cards is a little piece of me, my ideas and designs. Also, because its taken so long, I have had far too long to think about it... haha! If I do manage to reach the goal, to know so many people beloved in the idea I had will feel incredible.

Could you walk us through your “Creative” process and do you and Lotrek have a routine when designing the deck?
Me and Lotrek started off out of sync I think, but as our friendship grew, we began to understand each other better and near the end we could talk about and share ideas perfectly - I would send him my drawings with annotations, and lists of ideas and he would be completely in sync with me, coming back with what I had imagined or better. Lotrek has been brilliant at getting my ideas into the real thing and I could never thank him enough.

What role did you play in the art direction and how did you get feedback?
I guess I directed most of the art, although Lotrek did play a huge part. His opinions and ideas were always great and very helpful - especially as he has a lot more experience than me! As for feedback, my 2 friends Daniel Hybrids and Nick Stumphauzer played a big part too, always helping me out... and then of course there is the community - I would share idea on Instagram, youtube etc and everyone was really helpful with feedback.

What are your thoughts about the continuous strong growth of playing card projects?
Its brilliant! As a collector I love the increase, its just great to see more people out there, getting interested in cards , magic and cardistry! It looks like 2015 is going to be a very good year indeed! :)

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks?
My favorite decks of cards are the D&D Smoke and Mirror series. Particularly the original Eco and Denim decks and the Private Reserve. For me, that series of cards did everything right - each deck was more than just a colour change and really offered something new. Dan and Dave really know how to nail it! :)

Thank you for your time and all the best, Beau! At the time of writing, VOX Playing Cards is only 15% funded. If want to support Vox you can find it on Kickstarter here. 

Vox Playing Cards will be printed by Legends Playing Card Company on their Legendary Sharps finish. Pledge starts from £6 (~USD$10). Additional pledge tier such as uncut sheet, impossible bottle and skateboard wall art are available for this project.

Collections: Federal 52 by Kings Wild Project

If there is one deck that truly made the custom playing card market explode it's the Federal 52 by Jackson Robinson & Kings Wild Project. The "Fed" took the community by storm and it wasn't only an amazing Kickstarter campaign, it also opened the Kickstarter floodgates for every aspiring card designer since. Aside from it's record breaking financial success of the campaign, it also set the standard for custom deck design to this day.

The concept of currency on a playing card isn't new by any means, but it was never presented in such a creatively intricate and beautifully detailed package as the Federal 52 did. The deck is 100% custom, every aspect of the cards has been touched and the theme carries itself from the back design, Ace of Spades, custom jokers, face cards and historical courts perfectly.

The Federal 52 was the "Game Changer" it did everything right with a custom deck of cards. Not impossible to find in the market, but well worth the premium when you do. If your any kind of collector you need to add this deck, if not the entire series to your collection....you won't be disappointed.

*Federal 52 was also available in an unbranded version

The Collection segment is produced by Anthony Ingrassia of Kardify. No part of this article, images or video can be reproduced without written permission from the author and Kardify.com.

EXCLUSIVE: 52 Plus Joker Gold Edition

[Update] 52 PLUS JOKER GOLD EDITION AVAILABLE NOW FROM CONJURING ARTS RESEARCH CENTER

The wait is over, the beautifully designed companion to the 52 Plus Joker Club deck is finally here....the Gold Edition. Unlike the Club Edition which is only available to Club members, the Gold Edition is available to everyone!

Designed by Jackson Robinson and printed by the Expert Playing Card Company on their Master Finish, this deck features Expert's exclusive sideways tuck made of EPCC's new exclusive synthetic material. Very supple, waterproof and wears like iron! 

Jackson Robinson's back design is produced with metallic gold ink and stunning gold foil on each card. The gold foil design carries over to the back of the tuck box as well making it truly eye-catching. The deck also features Jackson Robinson's beautiful new Custom Court design!

For those who act early, for 1 WEEK ONLY you'll be able to take advantage of a great Introductory Offer!!

  - $14.95 per Deck
  - $39.99 for 3 Decks Postpaid in the US
  - $148.92 for a Brick (12 Decks) Postpaid in the US

You can't beat the savings by getting on board early and while they last!

The 52 Plus Joker Gold Edition is truly unique and inspiring and won't last long.

Once the introductory offer expires on this deck, it will be offered at its regular retail price

  - $19.95 per Deck
  - $54.95 for 3 Decks Postpaid in the US
  - $199.00 for a Brick (12 Decks) Postpaid in the US

So mark your calendars and don't miss out on this amazing deck at an amazing price!

Analytics: Kickstarter November 2014

With the increased interest in crowd-funded playing card projects particularly on Kickstarter, we are publishing a monthly tracking report as part of our popular Analytics series. The goal is to give an analytical insight into the month-on-month performance of projects and how these numbers are tracking cumulatively year-to-date.

As the year draws to a close, the year-to-date (YTD) numbers continue to surpass 2013 numbers. The chart below describes how 2014 is tracking against the numbers from 2013 as benchmark.

Playing Card Projects 

The number of unsuccessful projects fell 1% to 15% this month while the percentage of successful projects ended at 35% for November.

Here is what November looks like in numbers:

Majority of the projects were launched in mid-November, before the Thanksgiving long weekend. Graph below:

Here's a look at how projects performed over the month. Generally, the percentage of successful projects decreased while the number of unsuccessful projects remained stable at 15%. Meanwhile, live projects were up from last month.

Funding

A total of $555k was raised by all projects in November, down $149k from October.

Here is a look at the top 5 most funded playing cards:

As expected, Ussi's Classic deck lead the chart by a huge margin. The project reached its $30k funding goal in just 6 hours. Also, the average spent per backer for Uusi Classic is an amazing $55! The top 5 successful playing cards projects for the month contributed 39% to the overall funding of successful projects!

For the first time this year, the average YTD funding goal of successful project has dropped below $10k.

Backers 

This month, approximately 14.2k backers were recorded across all projects. The average pledge per backer for successful projects increased slightly to $39.76.

Line chart below is a month-on-month comparison for 2014 with the 2013 curve used as benchmark. As expected, slightly higher than the previous month as the holiday spending season begins.

Top 5 funded Projects by backer numbers below:

Launched Projects 

Here are the top 10 most funded projects launched in November:

The momentum carried into the last half of this year have no signs of slowing down as successful projects continue to surpass those of last year. Also, the number of new playing card projects continue to increase in a trend most likely to continue next year.


Data provider:

Season's Greeting 2014

Special thanks to the super talented Magician, Cardist and Magician Edo Huang for his wonderful work of art! ... made specially for us here at Kardify for the Holiday season.

This year has been incredible! We at Kardify (Anthony Ingrassia and Ivan Choe) would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for all the support you have given us and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! :)

Here's to an awesome 2015!

 

Deck View: Bicycle Espionage Playing Cards

Spies. Villains. Agents.

The Bicycle Espionage playing cards was launched late 2013 for members of Bicycle's Club 808. This deck is a tribute to the entire spy genre over the last 50 years. This is evident from the tuck which is all one color except for a slight variant in the embossed details. The minimal, clean design of the tuck makes it look classified.

The face cards are completely custom. From the pips to custom back design and of course the eye catching courts. The court are an amalgamation of every genre of undercover agent; you’ll see everyone from a tuxedoed gentleman, to a ninja woman, to a mad scientist in the employ of an agent. The card backs are black with an 80% gray overlay, making them subtle and stylish nods to secrecy.

For more cool playing cards, check out JP Games.

Kickstarter: Explore Playing Cards Relaunch

Harris Soetikno launched Explore Playing Cards earlier this year, and unfortunately the project did not reach the funding goal. After months of enhancing and tweaking the deck, Explore Playing Cards is now available on Kickstarter.

For the relaunch, the funding goal has been lowered to AUD$10k (~USD$8.2k) and like the first project, will feature 52 popular cities and holiday destinations around the world. Also, each suit features different types of cities to explore (Spades – Modern Architecture, Hearts – Romantic Cities, Clubs – Historic Sites and Cultural Cities, Diamonds – Popular Cities).

All card illustrations are now completed with fresh Joker design and brand new colour theme for tuckcase and card back based on many constructive feedback received from backers and followers.

Explore will be printed by USPCC. Add-ons such as uncut sheets, 18"x24" poster, and Token will be available. Pledge starts from USD$10. Don't miss out!

Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Asad Chaudhry of the Foundations of Card Magic

What is the best way to approach magic? What are the most important things to learn? In what order should I learn them in? Currently funding on Kickstarter, the Foundations of Card Magic will answer those questions with structured video course on powerful AND practical card magic.

Created by Asad Chaudhry of 52kards, the goal of Foundations of Card Magic is to make the course approachable for complete beginner, and at the same time provide a lot of value for experienced magicians. As there are a lot of materials to cover (from basic card handling to techniques, flourishes and routines), the instructions will be thorough, yet concise. The video will be shot with multiple angles and have slow motion footage when relevant. This will all be compiled into a DVD..

We had a quick chat with Asad on his background in Magic, 52kards, using Kickstarter, the idea behind the Foundations of Card Magic and his thoughts on the community support he's been getting.

Can you tell us about yourself and what is your background in Magic?
Sure, I’m a 26 year old guy living in San Jose, California. I started learning about magic almost 13 years ago after seeing a friend do a back palm card vanish at school. It quickly became an obsession and I started spending hours every day reading magic books and practicing. My focus has always been close-up sleight of hand magic with playing cards, but I also dabble a bit with rings and coins. I ended up going to school for electrical engineering and spent a few years working in the industry before quitting my job earlier this year to work on 52Kards full time.

Can you tell us quickly about 52Kards and how it came about?
The Youtube channel actually came first. I had amassed quite a large collection of tutorials on card magic, and it was becoming difficult to organize them in a clean way. I built the website and developed a very user friendly video library to allow visitors to find exactly the type of video(s} they are looking for. You can see it in action over at 52Kards.

Later on I added the deck store, the community section, the blog, etc; but the videos have always been the core of 52Kards.

From running a vibrant site for a community of aspiring card magicians to starting your own Kickstarter project. When did you first start thinking about using Kickstarter? What made you decide to take the plunge?
The Foundations of Card Magic has been in the back of my mind for quite some time now. Using Kickstarter to launch it was a no-brainer for me. I love the Kickstarter community and am thrilled to see so many amazing projects being funded by ordinary people. Over the last couple of years I have gathered large following of magicians and playing card enthusiasts, and I have never sold anything to my audience before; so it just made a lot of sense to crowd fund the project.

Can you describe the Foundations of Card Magic project and why you are passionate about it?
The Foundations of Card Magic is a culmination of the strongest and most practical card magic I have come across thus far. It will consist of the material that I feel is the most important for students of this craft to learn. I get messages every day from students asking questions like “what is the best way to approach magic? What are the most important things to learn? In what order should I learn them in?” Magic has been such a blessing in my life and I’m excited to share it with others who are eager to learn.

From the project page, what are a few of your favorite reward levels and why? 
The $25 is the most popular. You get a digital download of the DVD and you get invited to a private Facebook Group for magicians called “The Inner Circle”. My favorite is probably the $50, where you get everything I just mentioned, plus I ship you a signed deck of cards from my personal collection (shipping fee is on the house).

The project is currently 4x above the initial funding goal. What do you think of the playing card community in terms of the feedback and support that you’ve been getting?
The feedback I have received from the project has been incredible. I wasn’t expecting to hit the funding goal so fast and so many times over. I think there is a lot of overlap between the magic community and playing card community, but I think most of the people backing this project are probably magicians first, and card collectors second. Most of us magicians completely geek out over custom decks though :P

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks? 
Here’s a few that come to mind. Not in any particular order... Split Spades, Monarchs, Empire, Aurum, Classic Bikes are good and JAQK Cellars.

Awesome project Asad! At the time of writing, the project is 500% funded with 23 days to go.


Don't miss out! Pledge now to get the digital download or physical copy of the DVD. Backers will also receive a life time membership to the 52Kards Inner Circle group.

Collections: Zenith by Encarded

The one thing you can always count on from Paul Carpenter of Encarded is a unique design concept. Paul Carpenter always seems to find a way to take design concepts, shapes and patterns to a whole new level, and Zenith is no different. 

The Zenith deck was self funded by Encarded and was a very limited release of only 1000 numbered decks. Needless to say they sold out relatively quickly and have found their way onto the "Sought After" and "Must Have" lists of many collectors and enthusiast.

The deck is completely custom, starting with the rainbow reflective tuck case design wrapped around a side opening Tuck case. The tuck itself has a bit of a heavier feel to it than most tucks and photos just don't do the "Reflective" creativity justice. The deck also comes with a custom Ace of Spades, custom Jokers and courts that continue the "Spherical" design and theme of the deck. The back design in basic black and white has a hypnotic look to it and produces a truly stunning and intricate fan. Zenith definitely earns a spot on my "Must Have" list, if you missed out on the release of Zenith, the deck can still be found with a little searching, but does command a bit of a premium. There are a handful of designers out there who continue to ride the edge of creativity with each new release, and Paul Carpenter and Encarded are one of them. They never seem to settle for the same old, same old and are always looking for new and interesting ways to share their vision.

Highly recommended!

  

The Collection segment is produced by Anthony Ingrassia of Kardify. No part of this article, images or video can be reproduced without written permission from the author and Kardify.com. To see more of  Sparkz- Anthony's collection please visit anthonysparkz.blogspot.com