Deck View: The Virts Spring/Summer 2015 Virtuoso Playing Cards

Cardistry. Contemporary. Stylish.

Developed around the visual nature of Cardistry, the popular Virtuoso deck features an unique design architecture that The Virts call Adaptive Aesthetics. The innovative back design gives the appearance of swirling shapes, changing colours, and connecting patterns to visually enhance every card flourish performance.

Completely custom-designed, the result is a deck of cards with unprecedented form and function - specifically for the art of card flourishing. The Spring/Summer 2015 (SS15) edition features a bold new colorway, the deck playfully plays homage to the colours of traditional playing cards by juxtaposing modern hues of red and blue on its back design. Starkly contrasted with shards of light grey, the geometric colour configuration produces more vibrant patterns than before. Simple yet visually expressive!

SS15 is crafted with the finest casino-grade materials and printed by the USPCC. Now available on JP Games.

Kickstarter: Buskers Playing Cards Funded In 4 Hours!

Mana Playing Card Company is back with a new campaign for Buskers Playing Cards, a beautiful and elegant deck inspired by street artists and magicians, an homage to the many talented street performers we so enjoy. If you think the community might react negatively to the relaunch from this company after the first one was cancelled, you’d be wrong. It took only 4 hours for the campaign to hit the CAD$15,000 goal!

The Buskers Original Vintage deck will be an unlimited release through the USPCC with their trademark Air Cushion Finish. It has a nostalgic design of old classic playing cards of the past. The court cards are hand illustrated featuring several different kinds of street artists and performers. The back design is intricate and simple at the same time.

Meanwhile, the Buskers Exclusive is a limited release of only 1000 decks will be produced by EPCC with their premium Master Finish. The Buskers Exclusive comes with a black tuck box embossed and foil stamped for that touch of luxury. The same borderless back design of the Vintage comes in black and silver metallic ink, while the faces have some special touches of exclusivity to stand out from its Vintage partner.

The campaign includes some attractive stretched goals and add-ons. Backers who pledge $15 will get their decks in September. There was a $13 early bird tier, but that’s long gone. Don't miss out!

Kickstarter: Delicious Playing Cards

If you've missed this, Delicious is a custom transformation playing card deck inspired by food and dining. Designed by Emmanuel Jose, Delicious is the fourth deck in a series of paper-cut playing cards: Curator, Clipped Wings, Sawdust.

Emmanuel is well known for his transformation decks, which incorporate the suits into a design… all painstakingly cut by hand. No digital software, or pen and ink. Emmanuel use just scissors and an X-acto knife to cut paper and create the images. Here's a look at the paper cutting technique for the Four of Hearts:

In his usual style, the theme is consistent across all cards, sticking to the black, white and red colours. The deck also features reversible triptych images, formed by the Spade and Heart court cards and The Critic's Supper hexaptych formed by the Club and Diamond courts, inspired by the famous Last Supper painting.

At the time of writing, the project is only 72% funded. Pledge starts from $15 and Delicious will be printed by the USPCC. Like all his other projects, the popular Uncut Sheet is available as an add-on.

Deck View: Black JAQK (Limited Edition) Playing Cards

Winery. Quality. Breathtaking. 

This beautiful, one-of-a-kind deck is based on artwork created by an award winning winery in Napa Valley and produced by the wizards at theory11. With no surprise, the first two editions of JAQK Cellars (red and blue) were sold out in less than 72 hours! The Black will be the third edition but unlike its predecessors, it features a brand new stock, feel and finish.

The Black JAQK features a gorgeous custom tuck case with imported French paper and metallic black foil. With 52 custom faces and 12 stunning, custom court cards, they combine distinctive design with the peerless quality of the United States Playing Card Company.

Beautiful as it is functional, the JAQK playing cards are a collector's item that will draw compliments every time the cards are cut. Available at JP Games.

Kickstarter: 7 Questions with James Milaras of the Joker and the Thief Playing Cards

After years of reviewing playing cards, the talented guys from Joker and the Thief have decided to create their own deck of cards. The need for the Joker and the Thief playing cards came from years of observing and handing hundreds of custom decks. James Milaras and Reuben Nutt believe that a certain balance need to be achieved in order to create a great deck.

The Joker and the Thief playing cards is an impressive deck! The design invite attention, while striking a balance between style and functionality.

The back design is not only intricately beautiful but aesthetically and sentimentally appealing. The themes and connotation from back design continue throughout, you may even start to see a story forming as you look through them. The Ace of Spades is unique, bold and iconic of this design. The court cards are all fully custom. The tuck is peppered with lavish touches, and adorned with silver foil, on a matte finished paper. It is embossed on all sides and has a foil stamped interior.

We reached out to James and we had a chat about Joker & the Thief, the inspiration behind their branded deck and the support from the playing card community.

Can you tell us about yourselves and what do you guys do at Joker & the Thief?
We are both young Cardists, Students, Photographers and Videographers from Australia. Our roles at Joker and the Thief are shared. Reuben will do the actual editing of the films we produce, whereas I will write the scripts and offer suggestions on how to give the film those extra aesthetic touches. We both manage social media, and we both share the filming and photography aspects. When it comes down to it, we tend to bounce a lot of ideas off each other. I tend to come up with a lot of the creative ideas, and Reuben has the ability to make them a reality.

Can you describe the Joker & the Thief deck and why you are passionate about it?
The Joker and the Thief deck represents our brand. The design depicts various symbolic images that tie into a larger metaphors - metaphors of life, mortality, thievery, lies, deceit, power, struggle, hurt, love. This connotation evokes this great sense of volume and depth. The Joker and the Thief playing cards is also a project that we are both really proud of. We have always wanted to do a deck of cards and we have finally created something that we see as truly unique and individualistic. We wanted to make sure that we do it properly, so that people would enjoy it. To us, these cards are fairly special.

When did you first start thinking about using Kickstarter for the project? What made you decide to take the plunge?
Our first thoughts about Kickstarter occurred as soon as the design process started. We knew we wanted a platform to successfully launch our own brand and we knew Kickstarter could provide us with the opportunity to get our work into your hands. Its something that we are striving to see happen.

Talk to us a bit about going from the first draft to the final version. How did you get to this finished product and how did you get feedback? 
The first draft was rather rudimentary, but it rapidly developed into what we have now. Our artist was fantastic. We had our initial sketches and ideas and from there the process was essentially back and forth. It was easy, and we experienced no hiccups along the way. Sure there was a lot of refining but when you have a great team behind you that process is easy. As far as external feedback was concerned, images never really left Joker and the Thief. We most definitely asked close card friend, as well as our close circle of friends and family. The response had been fantastic, and as far as we were concerned if the people we had shown enjoyed the design, we knew others would too.

We first noticed the Joker & the Thief on your Instagram page. What do you think of the playing card community in terms of the feedback and support that you’ve been getting so far?
The Instagram community and the rest of the card community is just a spectacularly awesome bunch of people. We are extremely happy with the response that we have received on all social media, and would like to thank everyone who has been helping us and commenting the design so far. Everyone has been tremendous. So, people of the card community, thank you very much.

With all the projects competing for funding, why should potential backers choose the Joker & the Thief deck?
Since we started reviewing playing cards we can easily say that we are fans of intricate designs. Theory11 has been absolutely fantastic at achieving this and over the years we have witnessed their creations come to fruition. We wanted to something like that ourselves. The design trend of simplistic decks has saturated the market recently and with our cards we wanted to reintroduce the concept of thoroughly thought out and intricate designs.

And while we are fans of cards like Fontaines, Saturns and The Virts, we wanted something truly unique, something really different - something with a back design that is different yet tells a story. We wanted something with completely custom courts cards and pips, a unique ace of spades and pair of jokers. What we wanted is something that has a synthesised meaning and a whole lot of character. We feel that we have achieved this and we cannot wait for you guys to have these cards in your hands. So when the Kickstarter goes live, make sure to pick yourself up a few.

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks?
Our favourite cards are based off their handling. Reuben is a huge fan of the original Smoke and Mirrors Denim, as well as Bicycle Fan Backs and Tally Ho Circle Backs. My favourite cards would have to be Smoke and Mirrors V6, Vintage Plaid and Magic Con 2012. All fantastic feeling cards.

Thank you for your time, James and all the best! If you like what you’ve read here and want to support this stunning deck, you can find it on Kickstarter Here!


Pledge starts from USD$13 and will be printed by the Expert Playing Card Co on their highly acclaimed Classic stock and finish . Also, add-ons such as Uncut Sheets, Cuardistry Tutorials, posters, and custom skateboard decks are available.

Analytics: Kickstarter February 2015

Due to the increased interest in crowd-funded playing card projects 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.

Fantastic month with the momentum carrying over from January. The number of successful projects are in line with expectations with an increase in projects being funded. The chart below shows how 2015 is tracking against the numbers from 2014 as (new) benchmark.

Playing Card Projects 

The number of unsuccessful projects jumped to 21% this month while the percentage of successful projects trended upward to 26% for February.

Here is what February look like in numbers:

Projects launched were quite well distributed over the month with the majority concentrated mid- end month. Graph below:

Here's a look at how projects performed over the month. Generally, percentages for successful, unsuccessfully and cancelled projects have increased from last month.

Funding

An incredible total of $786k was raised by all projects in February, up $108k from January.

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

Chris Ovdiyenko's Arcana is the most funded this month at $191k and become the second most funded Playing Cards project of all time. Congrats!

The average 2015 funding goal of successful project remained stable at around the $11k mark, still above 2014's number of $9.9k. We maintain that the average funding goal to stabilise around the $10k mark.

Backers 

This month, approximately 16.4k backers were recorded across all projects. The average pledge per backer for successful projects ended at $54.45,  an increase from January's average. This is predominantly driven by Arcana with backers pledging an average of $59.70 on the project.

Line chart below is a month-on-month comparison for 2015 with the 2014 average spent curve used as benchmark.

Top 5 funded Projects by backer numbers below:

Launched Projects 

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

Surprise hit Leonardo Playing Cards and No.17 leads the pack! As expected, momentum continue to build from last month and with 18 projects funded and 24 projects launched, it is looking like a busy one!


Data provider:

Collections: Contraband by Theory 11

As someone who appreciates the work that goes into a deck and sometimes winces at the price tag attached to some of the most "Elite" decks out there, I have to give credit where credit is due. Theory 11 has tapped into a nice "Middle Ground" for those who like to collect but aren't ready to spend $20.00 a deck. The formula of a nicely designed tuck has started to creep inside the pack to the cards themselves. They aren't creating anything ground breaking or anything, but it's an above average option for aficionado's.

Their latest release, Contraband, has a lot to offer at a pretty good price. Contraband's ornate tuck design is embossed and foil accented, fulfill the "Eye Candy" part of the equation, taking design elements into the tuck is just an added bonus. The intricacy and line work continue on the back of the tuck which mirrors the back design with a worldly map of sorts that draws your attention but doesn't come across as cluttered. The face cards are pretty much standard except for a "Faded" look to the spots and this effect carries over to the custom court cards. The courts themselves are a bit hit or miss for me, they work, but I'm not crazy about that faded effect or the frame, which reduced the image size on the card. Of course these aren't deal breakers and we all have our own tastes. The two identical Jokers have a bit of a nautical look to them with the exploded "Compass" and underlying map. The usual embellishment's reserved for the Ace of Spades is spread across all four A's in this deck and is a nice touch.

The deck handles really well for those who "use" their cards and the addition of the gold metallic inks accenting the courts and back design give the deck a nice balance and look. Contraband is a nice package at a nice price and you won't feel bad cracking open the custom seal and enjoying the deck inside.

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 Anthony's (Sparkz) collection please visit sparkzcollector.com 

News: The Virts goes viral with "Air Time" Trailer

With more than 550k views in just 4 days, The Virts Spring/Summer 2015 (SS15) launch trailer, Air Time has gone viral. The stylish trailer has the online community buzzing, from the popular reddit, 9gag to Gizmodo. The trailer features members of The Virts performing cardistry moves in their iconic sleek style while highlighting the new Virts SS15 deck.

It’s so subtle, yet so effective! But why tell you about it when you can just watch it.

Brilliant!

 

Dan and Dave: Antler Playing Cards

Born from the wild forests, rolling hills, and snow-capped mountains of Northern California, the Antler Playing Cards showcase the majestic beauty of the great outdoors. Designed by Tom Lane, Antler Playing Cards is Dan and Dave's first playing card deck following the very successful Smoke & Mirror series, and they shed light on D&D's endless commitment to producing the finest playing cards in the world.

The Antler deck is offered in two editions, Standard and Limited, each available in Hunter Green or Deep Maroon, as well as a two-deck Collector’s Set featuring a custom leather case. Each Limited Edition deck is hand-wrapped in parchment paper before boxing and is sealed within by a perforated stamp for easy opening.

Everything was hand illustrated in the style of early 20th century playing cards. The back design and Ace of Spades both feature a male deer wreathed in ornate flourishes.

Printed by USPCC and available from DanandDave.com.

Deck View: Regal Red (Prototype) Playing Cards

Classic. Sophisticated. Grandeur.

John Powell has once again teamed up with Gambler's Warehouse to bring you this incredible deck, inspired by tradition and classic grandeur. Regal Playing cards combines robust design elements with a fresh take on classical styling and will is available in four editions: red, purple, blue, or green.

Regal Playing Cards features 56 playing cards with fully custom Face cards, Courts, Jokers and Tuck. Regal will be printed by Expert Playing Card Company (EPCC). Currently funding on Kickstarter, pledge starts from $13.

Revealed: LUXX: Shadow Edition Playing Cards Part I

JP Playing Cards has announced that a new version of LUXX will be available for pre-order in the spring of 2015. This is a follow-up to the popular first version from last year that generated quite a buzz and received rave reviews from the playing card community.

LUXX v2 will feature black/gold foil and black/silver foils, the main colour being black to fit the ‘Shadow Edition’ theme. When asked what motivated him to create the new version, Pauls' response was simple.

It was always our aim from day one with v1 to produce a luxury deck for the long term, which can be continuously stocked in our store. Before we released LUXX it was impossible to know exactly how popular the design would be, but since the release beat all expectations we had for the deck - giving us the confidence to release a bigger print run v2 which can be reprinted should there be sufficient demand to do so. We’d considered reprinting the original colours without one or two features but decided , with the help of some valuable feedback from customers and others in the industry that new colour ways would be better.

Stay tuned for the second part on the design and price of the LUXX: Shadow Edition, coming soon!

To find out more about LUXX: Shadow Edition Playing Cards, visit JP Playing Cards - one of the fastest growing collectible playing card stores in the World.

Collections: Black Reserve Note by Kings Wild Project

The follow up to the Origianl Federal 52 campaign was the Federal 52 Part II. The campaing consited of a total of 6 decks. The Silver Certificate, The White Reserve Note and the Black Reserve Note (each available in a branded and un-branded version). The Black Reserve Note shares many of the features as the rest of the decks in the series, but the Un-Branded version is still highly saught after and demands quite the premium in the secondary market, sometimes in the range of $300.00.

The Black Reserve Note, like the other decks, was available in a Bicycle Branded version as well as a non-branded version. The un-branded version does have the desitiontion of a two panel Diptych of George Washington crossing the Delaware as well as the black card backs (The Branded version houses the same deck as the White Reserve Note). Print runs for the Black Reserve Note were drasticly reduced from it's companion decks. Only 1550 Branded version were produced and the un-branded had a print run of only 1000. Just as the other decks in this series the deck features a numbered Holographic Seal.

Just an amazing deck and easy to see why it's still on so many collector lists. Not easily found, but well worth the hunt. The stunning embossing along with a hint of bright red foil just sets this deck apart, as well as Jackson Robinson's signature style for this series and the fully foiled tuck interior makes this an amazing center piece to any collection.  

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.

First Look: British Monarchy Playing Cards by LUX Playing Cards

[Update] The British Monarchy Playing Cards are now LIVE on Kickstarter!

Coming soon... an elegantly crafted deck by LUX Playing Cards, the British Monarchy Playing Cards. This deck is created by Bryan Sloan, the man who brought you the gorgeous Aves playing cards. Some images of the British Monarchy playing cards have been teased on their Instagram account over the past month. But what is not known, is that the deck will be Tally-Ho branded!

When asked what motivated him to create the Tally-Ho British Monarchy deck, Bryan said,

My wife and I traveled from Texas to visit my brother who is completing a PhD at St. Andrews in Scotland. So in addition to Scotland, we visited England and Ireland, and were blown away with the history of everywhere we travelled. Seeing so many historical sites is quite moving. When you go to The Tower of London to see where Anne Boleyn was beheaded, and so many other prisoners were kept, you feel like you are experiencing history. When you touch the walls at Edinburgh Castle, you know that other royalty of ages past have done the same. I wanted to bring that same emotion to these playing cards, and I knew the only way to do that was through a Tally-Ho deck, and the art had to accurately reflect this. 

The art are original and historically accurate, based upon famous British Monarchy from centuries past. Staying to tradition with the elegant Tally-Ho brand, the card back is extravagantly detailed. The back illustrates the Crown, and alludes to the War of the Roses in England. The portraits themselves of the royalty cards are intricate, while keeping the cards playable.

The tuck case features some of the most well-known features that people are already familiar with on a Tally-Ho tuck while integrating the new black and gold colors as well as the card back design. The tuck case will also feature the special raised, textured finish that was used on Aves playing cards, giving it a luxurious feel.

On the Tally-Ho theme, Bryan explained,

We wanted to ensure that this Tally-Ho British Monarchy deck is original, yet stays true to Tally-Ho themes of the past, namely the fan backs and circle backs. The Crown as the central feature on the back of this British Monarchy deck corresponds to the central figures found on both Tally-Ho fan backs and circle backs. The roses here also allude to the flowers found there as well. In addition, we added a crossing feature on the ends of the British Monarchy cards, most notably found on the circle backs. With rich flourishes to the British Monarchy card back, everything pays tribute to previous Tally-Ho decks. 

The Tally-Ho British Monarch deck launches March 18, 2015, at 9am central time on Kickstarter.

Kardify would like to thank Bryan Sloan and LUX Playing Cards for the opportunity to share these exclusive images. To keep up to date on the British Monarchy deck, follow the LUX Playing Cards on their Facebook page.