Kickstarter: Steve Minty's Thorns and Roses Playing Cards Unlocks All Stretched Goals

Steve Minty launched Thorns and Roses Playing Cards on Kickstarter earlier this month and the project was quickly funded with all stretched goals now unlocked. Inspired by the works of William Shakespeare, Steve sought to approach this deck based on the themes prevalent in Shakespear's work: Life and Death. According to Steve on the project page,

The themes of life and death are represented with the motif of Thorns and Roses. Thorns embody the pain of loss and death found in these works, while the Roses the sweetness of love and life.

The decks feature four of Shakespeare's best-known works: Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, and King Lear. The Roses deck interprets these characters with an item of significance while the Thorns deck depicts their method of death. Both fully custom decks are beautifully illustrated and feature gorgeous ornate design adorned with metallic ink.

In addition to the standard decks, the Thorns and Roses Limited Edition decks will be available during the campaign. The limited edition decks feature double foiling on colored stock paper, a 1-inch diameter metal stamped seal, numbered sticker seal, and handcrafted edge gilding.

Available now on Kickstarter, pledge starts at $15 for a single deck.

Deck View: Arthurian (Excalibur Edition) Playing Cards

Kings. Love. Brotherhood.

From Kings Wild Project, the Arthurian playing cards is a gorgeous deck inspired by the legend of King Arthur. Rich characters and a wide range of lore in the legend provides an ideal foundation for a deck of playing cards.

A departure from Jackson Robinson's detailed line work, the unique art style is a reflection of the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is a beautiful hand drawn and written illuminated manuscript that tells the story of the four Gospels of the Bible. This book was written around the same time as the origins of the King Arthur story. This legend and art style are a perfect compliment to each other.

Fully custom, the deck is accentuated by meticulous and elegant details throughout. The tuck is housed in a premium grade tuck box printed on soft touch crimson red paper with gold foil design of Excalibur seated in the magical anvil. Printed by the Expert Playing Card Co.

Available now from KingsWildProject.com. For more cool decks, check out JP Games.

News: Art of Play Releases New Version of Bruce Lee Playing Cards

In 2013 Dan and Dave teamed up with Bruce Lee Enterprises to produce the commemorative Bruce Lee Playing Cards inspired by the martial arts master. The deck was quickly sold out!

The new version released by Art of Play yesterday (27th April) sports a sharper, cleaner look while maintaining the iconic yellow/black colorway from Bruce Lee’s tracksuit in “Game of Death”.

The faces now come with a bordered, minimal look and each features a philosophical quote from Bruce Lee’s teachings.

The deck is packaged inside a satin-finish tuck box printed inside and out. Sealed with the Jeet Kune Do emblem.

Printed by the U.S. Playing Card Company on D&D's trademark crushed stock. Available now from ArtofPlay.com for $15.

Images courtesy of Dan and Dave.

5 Things You Didn't Know About Ventus Playing Cards by LotusinHand

After months of generating excitement and hype on Instagram (@lotusinhand), Taiwan-based cardistry group, LotusinHand is set to release their first deck, Ventus Playing Cards on 29th April 2018 for pre-order.

The deck features a modern design with a dark blue/white colorway. The semi-borderless back design with a center vortex design accentuate the cards in cuts and spins, making flourishes hypnotizing. The face cards have been simplified and updated with the color palette of the deck. Here are 5 things you didn't know about Ventus Playing Cards:

1. The deck features colored stripes on the upper right and lower left corners of the faces.
This way when you do a fan with the faces you get three colored bans across the face of the fan.

2. The card backs have one of the most seamless semi-borderless design,
where the borders melt into the design and form a vortex.

3. Enhanced look.
The whole deck, from the back to the faces and even the ad cards are designed specifically to enhance the look of spins.

4. The deck will be printed in Taiwan 
with the factory's new softer and thinner Luxury stock and will also use their new finish, which when we last asked has no name yet. But it definitely leads to an improvement in terms of longevity of the deck when it comes to fans and spreads.

5. The designer.
The deck is designed by Red Dot Award-winning designer Bailiang (Instagram: @bailiang_huang), who drew inspiration from patterns of flowers when designing our deck's back design.


Ventus Playing Cards will be available for pre-order from lotusinhand.com on 29th April 2018.

Deal of the Week: 20% Off Storewide at PlayingCardDecks.com

To celebrate their one year anniversary, PlayingCardDecks.com is 20% off storewide with the following discount code on check out: HAPPY20. Check out their huge range of decks from rare decks to recent releases. Deal ends 30th April 2018.

Discover more deals, coupon codes and offer on tuckcase.com

Card Flash: Aphelion by Parama Playing Cards

Currently being fulfilled by Gambler's Warehouse, Aphelion Playing Cards is an elegant deck created for the collectors and magicians in mind by Raffaele Ianzano and Paolo Tisato of Parama Playing Cards.

The semi-custom deck features a gorgeous back design, beautiful Ace of Spades and two unique jokers.

The court cards are standard with updated color palette to match the overall theme of the deck. For a touch of elegance, both face and card backs have been printed with Pantone metallic gold ink.

The tuck box is beautiful! The exterior is embossed and accented with stunning gold foil and the interior is printed with an elegant repeating pattern design.

For me, Aphelion Playing Cards turned out better than expected. Gorgeous design and a functional deck for magic or game nights. Congratulations to the team at Parama Playing Cards for an incredible first deck. Printed by Legends Playing Card Co with classic finish. Available from Parama Playing Cards now.

[post_ad]

Detailed Look At Masquerade Playing Cards

The Special Limited Edition Masquerade Playing Cards is part of Brain Vessel Creative's Artist Series Playing Cards featuring the artwork of Canadian artist Denyse Klette, currently seeking funds on Kickstarter. The special edition has an exclusively printed tuck and is limited to 200 decks available within the Kickstarter campaign. The full run of this tuck was 1000 of which, 800 decks were reserved for the JDRF-Central PA Chapter, a prestigious Gala that benefits individuals with Type-1 Diabetes held in Hershey, PA on April 14th, 2018. Now on Kickstarter, pledge starts at $15. Don't miss out!

Watch: Bicycle Autobike No.1 on Kardify Spotlight

We've partnered up with Omar Chavez (Instagram: @thegentlemanwake) on a series of 'spotlight' videos to give you the rundown on some of the latest and unique decks of playing cards around. We aim to publish the 1-minute spotlight video weekly on social media (Facebook: Kardify) and in addition, a link to @thegentlemanwake's full video if you want to have a more comprehensive look at a particular deck.

This week, we have Bicycle's reproduction of an early card back design called AutoBike No. 1 to celebrate 130 years of playing card history. The original deck was printed from 1902 to 1906 and produced only in red and blue colors. Find out more about the deck in the video below brought to you by a special guest. If you like the video, don't forget to SUBSCRIBE (YouTube: TheGentlemanWake)!

Kickstarter: EPHEMERID Playing Cards by Mr. Cup

EPHEMERID is a unique deck of playing cards currently seeking funds on Kickstarter by French designer and blogger Fabien Barral (Instagram: @iammrcup). The deck is based on Mr. Cup's collection of Ephemera over the years. According to Mr. Cup on the campaign page,

I get the idea of the EPHEMERID playing cards: each card comes with a unique design based of my thousands of hand-letters, invoices, bills, tickets, and photos!

The deck features 52 cards and 2 jokers- all fully custom and totally unique! Each suit have their own contrasting colors on the cards. Spades are black on white background, clubs are inverted with white on black background, hearts are red on white and diamonds with a white on a striking red background.

You can easily identify the cards with indices located on all four corners of the face cards. Also, each card will include a word of wisdom to inspire you every day of the year!

Staying true to the French habit of associating courts with historic or mythical personages, the King of Spades is David, Queen of Diamonds is Rachel and the Jack of Clubs is Lancelot! Mr. Cup will be designing the cards as the campaign progresses. The creative process will be shared on Instagram via image post and stories.

Two decks are available on Kickstarter. The Standard Edition with a 4-color tuck box and custom seal and the Deluxe Edition with a letterpressed tuck box adorned with stunning Black, White and Gold hot stamped foil on dark paper. Pledge starts at €10 on Kickstarter!

News: Private Reserve of Jetsetter Premier Edition Playing Cards in Jet Black Available Now

The Jetsetter series continues with the Premier Edition in Jet Black (Private Reserve). From Paul Ruccio, the Jetsetter series are inspired by casino and airline decks of the past, Jetsetter Playing Cards has produced the Premier Edition as a vintage and classy deck with modern appeal. The clean and simple design is fancied by aviation, travel, and playing card enthusiasts from around the globe.

The deck showcase re-colored standard faces that pay homage to various airline or aviation color schemes with a classic and casino inspired back design. The Jet Black edition has been updated with a black colorway on card backs, Ace of Spades and the court cards.

Like previous versions, the synthetic tuck box features clear UV spot varnish and silver foil accents. So not only does it look good, it is durable enough to bring it along on your travels. The Jetsetter Premier Edition Playing Cards in Jet Black (Private Reserve) is available now at jetsetterplayingcards.com for $15.99.

Deck View: Cadenza (Red Edition) Playing Cards

Magic. Floral. Marked.

Cadenza is a deck designed by Hong Kong magician NKW with the working magicians in mind. The deck features a classic, timeless floral back design. Hidden in the vintage floral back design are several powerful features that allow you to perform miracles. Cadenza comes with 3 different marking systems, each with its own features and functions.

In terms of design, the deck is pretty much standard to maintain familiarity with the exception of the custom ace of spades and jokers. The tuck that houses the cards is elegant and printed on durable synthetic paper, which is waterproof and tear-proof.



Printed by Legends Playing Card Co. on diamond finish, the deck comes in Mnemonica order out of the box. Also when you purchase the deck, you gain access to the e-book that explains all the marking systems, the gaff cards and the tricks you can do with it, for free.

Available at JP Games or from Legends Playing Card Co.

News: Adam Borderline Releases 'Untitled' Playing Cards for Pre-Order

Adam Borderline continues to surprise. The trending photographer, well-known for his liquid card photography is set to release his first deck of playing cards based on abstract art.

'Untitled' playing cards represent the fluid nature of our art. A distinct color palette, within different shapes, leads you into the abstract world. Adam told Kardify,

I’ve always had a fascination with abstract art, it’s raw and unconventional. I really wanted to portray that in this deck. ‘Untitled’ playing cards offer a freedom from constraint, pursue your creativity.

The deck features custom one-way abstract art design card back, custom Jokers and Ace of Spades. The pips of the spades have been updated with the art design. The courts are standard but have been recolored to match the overall color palette of the deck.

Printed by the United States Playing Card Co, 'Untitled' playing cards will be available for pre-order on 22nd April 2018, 9am PST.

News: HOPC Releases NOC Out in New Red/Gold Colorway!

Alex Pandrea has just released the limited NOC Out Red and Gold edition. Previously, the deck was reserved for only a select few... until now.

The NOC Out Red and Gold edition features everything you know and love about the NOC Outs... but with stunning deep RED and GOLD to display a classy and elegant deep red deck of cards. Like other NOCs before this, the design is simple but effectively implemented.

Printed by the USPCC and available now from House of Playing Cards for $8! Awesome value for a deck that is suitable for any occasion.

Deal of the Week: 50% Off MetalLuxe Bundle from Bicycle Cards

50% off the MetalLuxe Bundle exclusively from The United States Playing Card Company. The stunning MetalLuxe technology gives these cards ideal flexibility and durability equal to a standard Rider Back card. Stamped with real metal to achieve a dazzling shine, each MetalLuxe card showcases brilliant luminescence and color.

Printed on premium cardstock, this deck features the brand’s classic Air-Cushion finish. The half-price MetalLuxe Bundle includes Bicycle Crimson Luxe Playing Cards and Bicycle Cobalt Luxe Playing Cards. Check it out at bicyclecards.com

Discover more deals, coupon codes and offer on tuckcase.com

Kickstarter: The Planets- Earth Playing Cards by Vanda Playing Cards

Recently launched on Kickstarter by Vanda Playing Cards, the Planets is a collection of decks representing the planets in the solar system, starting closest to the sun, Mercury and moving outwards into the surrounding universe. The third deck of The Planets series is our home planet Earth, featuring standard human courts.

Like the two previous decks in the series, Earth features the gorgeous artwork of Srdjan Vidakovic, a graphic designer better known as Widakk from Novi Sad, Serbia and is the most luxurious Vanda deck series to date.

The deck is fully custom, from the striking card backs to the gorgeous Ace of Spades and retro hand-illustrated human court cards and joker.

Two editions are on offer during the campaign: Standard Edition with a stunning embossed black tuck box with holographic green and white foil and the Limited Edition with an embossed dark blue tuck box with holographic silver and gold foil sealed with a numbered metallic perforated seal- only 500 will be available!

The tuck boxes will have interior foil and printed by Clove St. Press, producers of gorgeous letterpress printing. The decks will be printed by the United States Playing Card Company. Pledge starts at $10 and the uncut sheet will be available as an add-on. Check it out on Kickstarter!