Top 12: Playing Cards of 2019

Another record year for playing cards! What an incredible year it has been! Looking back, one thing is certain: we are incredibly fortunate to be part of such an inspired community of artists, designers, cardists, magicians and collectors! We have had a huge selection of decks released and delivered this year. To celebrate, we've compiled 12 of our favorite decks for 2019 right here. We realized that the benchmark is increasing each year with designers and producers putting out stunning decks, trying new innovation and design styles. So, if you think we've missed your favorite deck, let us know in the comment section below. :) You can also download the PDF on our Patron page.

Note that the selection expressed in this top 12 are solely those of the author and the list is in no particular order.

Crayon

Designer Jackson Robinson released the Crayon deck, a nostalgic deck that looks just like your fave childhood crayons! A Super Duper Polka Dotted Gilded Edition Crayons features the limited edition red tuck case but with vibrant color splash paint and stickers scattered throughout the tuck... externally AND internally. No two tucks are the same. Inside, the deck is fully custom and features fractured holographic gilding, which gives this deck a vibrant and fun vibe!

NPCCD 2019

This year’s 2019 National Playing Card Collection (NPCCD) was inspired by the beauty of Morocco. The country is commonly known for its mesmerizing architecture and its labyrinth-esque marketplaces- the two aspects of the culture that designer Alex Chin wanted to imbue into this series when designing it. This year’s theme was to encapsulate this culture into this year’s 2019 NPCCD Palace Edition.

Fontaine Futures

Zach Mueller unveiled the Fontaine Future at Cardistry-Con Portland featuring a new product offering not seen in the playing cards industry. The decks are packed in a sealed anti-static shielding plastic pouch, giving it a futuristic look. Six different decks are on offer for the "blind packs": Glitch (1 of 1000), Polka (1 of 1500), 500 (1 of 500), Window (1 of 2000), Floral (1 of 2500) and Parrot (1 of 2000).

Six Strings

Six Strings is a collaboration between Kardify and Murphy's Magic inspired by the most majestic and fascinating musical instrument- the guitar. This limited edition deck is designed by Ade Suryana. You will love the fully custom design featuring gorgeous reimagined courts, visually appealing pips and suits, bold Ace of Spades, and an intricate card back design. All packaged in a beautifully crafted letter-pressed tuck case by Clove St Press.

Nutcracker

A fully custom deck crafted from the ground up and designed to communicate the joy, wonder, and imagination of Christmas. The artwork is hand-illustrated by Jackson Robinson, from the card backs, Ace of Spades to the whimsical royals and jokers. What makes this deck incredible is the limited card stock with gold foil on both sides printed on top! The white borders are double priced so it would look like hot press foil with zero impressions on the cards from the foiling.

Messymod

Art of Play's minimalist, delightful and weird deck of playing cards conceived by the Los Angeles based creative team, TRÜF born from their love of geometry, pattern, white space, Bauhaus, and Miró and mashed it all into a style called Messy Modernism – “messymod” for short. The deck features a completely custom design in typical Messymod fashion. What we love about this deck is that each card has its own presence and personality, making it an ideal piece of artwork that can stand on its own.

Luminosity

From Blackink Playing Cards, Luminosity Playing Cards are inspired by Norse Mythology depicting the age-old conflict between good and evil. Not only is it functional, but the fully custom deck has unique characters with their own story. The face cards include Silver Metallic ink accents which give it a touch of elegance. The Tuck Case designs are unique and printed on matte grey card stock adorned with elegant copper hot foil stamping and embossed.

Standards

Produced by Art of Play in collaboration with Kevin Cantrell Studio, Standards playing cards are crafted with meticulous attention to detail inspired by nineteenth-century British opulence, an era of elegance unsurpassed. Stredefineedefines luxury at the card table with fully custom artwork from the bold Ace of Spades, intricate card backs, to the gorgeous courts and ornate jokers.

Star Wars

A last-minute addition to the list. Theory11 released the deck in conjunction with the release of JJ Abram's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. 2 decks are on offer, The Light Side and The Dark Side. The Light side tuck box features a striking blue foil on black tuck while the Dark Side, stunning red foil on black tuck. Both decks will feature iconic design elements from the Star Wars universe. From the window of the Millenium Falcon, Kylo Ren, Luke Skywalker's lightsaber and X-Wings to R2D2, Star Destroyers, and TIE Fighters.

Ascension

There's something special about Steve Minty decks, and his latest deck is no different. Ascension Playing cards are epically designed and illustrated as an homage to his beloved TV series while giving it a spin in his style and interpretation. The deck features fully custom artwork from the gorgeous Aces to the pips, indices, and courts featuring characters from the series. 

Chronos

Lotrek first announced Chronos Playing Cards during the 2019 52 Plus Joker Annual Convention. As the name suggests, the theme of the beautiful deck is time. The deck is fully custom from the pips, jokers to the court cards and Ace of Spades. All this while keeping the traditional elements of playing cards in place. The tuck box is stunning and the card backs are printed with gold foil.

Betrayers

All four decks are gorgeous! Betrayers Lucis, Tenebra and Veritas, in particular, are vibrant, colorful and thought-provoking, which add to the appeal and character of the decks. Giovanni Meroni loves to add small custom details to his artworks, so there is a lot to discover. What makes Betrayers different is flat design style and bold color schemes giving the illusion of 3D. Fans of Giovanni will notice that the artwork of Betrayers is a departure from his usual style.


Honorable mention:  Parlour by The Gentleman Wake, Butterfly by Ondrej Psenicka, Vittoria by Nicolai Aaroe, Silk by Lotrek, Equinox 2019 by Kings Wild,  FLUX by Lotus in Hand, Valley Forge by Kings Wild, Seafarers by J&T Playing Cards, Playing Arts ZERO by Playing Arts, Mono-Xero by Luke Wadey Design, Bitcoin by Patrick Kun and Andrei Jikh, Jerry's Nugget Reprint by Expert Playing Card Co., Coffee by Edo Huang, Tavern on the Green by Theory11, Ladybug by PlayingCardDecks and Tom's Town by Art of Play.

The selection expressed in this top12 is solely those of the author. 

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Top12 Playing Cards 2019: Download FREE PDF Magazine

We have had a huge selection of decks released and delivered this year. To celebrate, we've compiled 12 of our favorite decks for 2019. Here's an EXCLUSIVE preview of our selection available as a PDF download on Patreon. Download it for FREE before we post the full list on kardify.com tomorrow.

We want to thank all our AWESOME Patrons for making the Kardify Mag possible! :D

Note that the selection expressed in this top 12 are solely those of the author and the list is in no particular order.

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Deck View: Verana Virtues Playing Cards

Beautiful. Floral. Summer.

This beautiful deck will be the final deck featured on our Deck View this decade. The Verana Virtues Playing Cards are meticulously designed by Alex Chin of Seasons Playing Cards and is part of the Apothecary 2 collection. The deck is based on the idea of capturing these invisible concepts like a feeling, or an idea, and then transforming them into very real items.

The deck is fully custom and crafted from the ground-up. The court cards gorgeous with pleasant light and shade effects, which gives it a sense of depth. The back design composition has been implemented with a summer theme and incorporates a full bloom floral designed. Beautiful!

Verana Virtues is printed by the United States Playing Card Company on linen (Aristocrat) stock and coated with a premium magic finish. The deck packaged in a sculpted embossed tuck printed on exquisite linen-textured stock.

Available on seasonsplayingcards.com for $15.95.

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How To Claim Your FREE FW17 Virtuoso Deck!

To celebrate the season of giving, the guys at The Virts are giving you an awesome Cardistry gift... one deck of the popular FW17 Virtuoso Playing Cards. The FW17 Virtuoso deck is the last deck of Virtuoso’s Phase One. The team set aside the remaining decks for months to celebrate the journey with a final release.

​For the next 48 hours, instead of $14, you'll pay absolutely nothing for your first deck. You'll only need to pay for shipping. After you add your gift deck to your cart, you can also buy more decks and Cardistry tutorials as add-ons. That being said, you DO NOT have to buy anything if you don’t want to. You can simply claim your gift deck and walk away. Also, order 12 decks or more, and you also get free shipping for your entire order! Head to thevirts.com to claim your FREE deck.

The FW17 Virtuoso deck sports a black and green, and also "pays homage to the Launch Edition Virtuoso deck in more ways than one." Taking Adaptive Aesthetics to the next level, the deck features a brand new multi-faceted design forming a fluid yet rhythmic patterns in spreads and displays... and paints the air with incredibly expressive movements across countless other moves from cuts to cascades. Check out the viral trailer below:



Article originally published on cardistrybeast.com.

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Oxygen Playing Cards on Kickstarter

Oxygen is the second deck in the Elemental Playing Cards lineup following the success of the Hydrogen Deck. The deck is an homage to the simple beauty of the periodic table — and a nod towards the many ways it mirrors a deck of playing cards. According to designer Nick Nisco,

I’m really excited to release the second deck in the Elemental Playing Card lineup because it starts to show the vision I had for the series and what is possible with the collection.

The deck will be printed by the United States Playing Card Company on premium Bee stock and include the use of a metallic blue ink which is meant to represent the element in its liquid form.

The custom back design has been designed in a traditional poker style with a border showcasing the molecular bonding of oxygen. A portion of Bohr’s atomic model is also present with the words “Just Breathe” written in the electron cloud. Nick continued,

This has two purposes. One, to introduce a human element into the deck, and two, as a reminder to relax, take a few seconds and enjoy the moment. Mindful breathing has been known to help us refocus, release stress & tension, reduce anxiety, and increase creativity. Every single one of these is a benefit when it comes to using cards to perform magic or cardistry, as well as during different types of gameplay.

Meanwhile, the Ace of Spades has been customized to show off various important information for the element and the royals have been customized to include details that reflect the element oxygen and how it is used in different ways. The red color on the royal's garment has been enhanced with metallic blue ink.

The deck is enclosed in a custom tuck case designed so that when it is placed next to future element releases they can be “bonded” to create various molecules. The back of the tuck case showcases the element’s information as it would be found on the periodic table of elements.

Available NOW on Kickstarter. Pledge starts at $13 for a single deck.

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Cardistry: BCA HALO Released!

Best Cardist Alive has just released the BCA HALO on Christmas day. The deck features a striking all-black design featuring the HALO silhouette made out of the BCA crown with the comet tail (similar to the BCA Superstars design). The design element is prominently featured on the tuck and the mirrored card backs with a blue/red/white colorway.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BCA (@bestcardistalive) on Dec 23, 2019 at 12:18pm PST

The face cards are pretty much standard but updated colorway to ensure consistency with the overall color palette of the deck. The Ace of Spades and Jokers are custom. HALO is printed by the USPCC and available on bestcardistalive.com for $10 per deck at launch, $12 per deck after the first 48 hours. Only 2500 printed.

Article originally published on cardistrybeast.com.

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Season's Greetings 2019

Fantastic new designs, new collabs, and new packaging ideas! ANOTHER incredible year! We at Kardify would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for the friendship and support you have given us. Also, we are thankful to our AWESOME Patrons and the many contributors, sponsors, advertisers, who share their enthusiasm and vision with us. To the producers, designers, and artists, who took their time for interviews and sharing their talent...

Thank you!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! :)

Kings Wild's Nutcracker Artist Proof Deck Released!

Since Christmas is just around the corner (can you believe it?) we wanted to share this exquisite Christmas themed deck by Kings Wild Project.

This Nutcracker Playing Cards is a fully custom deck crafted from the ground up and is designed to communicate the joy, wonder, and imagination of Christmas. The artwork is hand-illustrated by Jackson Robinson, from the card backs, Ace of Spades to the whimsical royals and jokers.

What makes this deck incredible is the limited card stock with gold foil on both sides printed on top! According to Jackson,

I double printed the white borders so it would look like hot press foil with zero impressions on the cards from the foiling.

From our knowledge, no one has every actually printed on white borders. So we are looking forward to this... especially with the perfect registration.

The deck will be printed by the Expert Playing Card Co. and the tucks will be printed by Clove St Press. At the moment, the Artist Proof of Nutcracker Playing Cards is available for non-Kings Wild Shorts subscribers for $30 on kingswildproject.com.

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Black Hole Playing Cards by Riffle Shuffle

Another intriguing deck from Riffle Shuffle. This time, exploring the deepest depths of space. Rumors of a strange phenomenon at the edge of a black hole have brought travels from far and wide to seek adventure and discover the truth. Steven Harrison, the designer of Play Dead Playing Cards, channeled this adventurous fantasy when he designed the Blackhole playing cards.

Fully custom, the deck follows the journey of an astronaut through the vertigo of black holes and cosmic card suits flying through space in vivid colors.

The vortex and astronaut design have been used througout, from the Ace of Spades, courts to the jokers. The black/white/yellow colorway makes this deck visually appealing.

The deck is packaged in a custom tuck box with a wraparound design of vertigo and astronaut design. Blackhole Playing Cards will be printed by United States Playing Card Co with Premium Bee Casino Stock. And it's Crushed. Limited Edition of 5000.

Available now from RiffleShuffle for $7.95.

Deck View: Deck the Halls (White Christmas Edition) Playing Cards

Sweater. Embroidery. Holiday.

Deck the Halls: White Christmas Edition Playing Cards are designed to look like a sweater. The deck was initially released as part of Kings Wild Shorts December deck last year. Fully hand-illustrated by Jackson Robinson, the courts, face cards, Ace of Spades, and card backs feature embroidery artwork with three color threads. Definitely a unique deck for the holiday season and will surely put a smile on someone's face.

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Cardistry: Guerilla Echo Playing Cards by LotusinHand

Taiwanese cardistry group, LotusinHand has released a new colorway for Echo Playing Cards, the Cardistry-Con 2019 Deck of the Year Award winner.

The new Echo Playing Cards now comes in green colorway and the team at LotusinHand is calling it Guerilla Echo Playing Cards.

The deck features a modern design with a green/white colorway. The 'bullseye' design is prominent on the card backs and the face cards with inverse colors that give it a striking and eye-catching look to card flourished especially isoloation, cuts and spins.

Check out the performance video buy Duy below:



Guerilla Echo Playing Cards costs $15.95 on lotusinhand.com. Only 444 decks were available for sale during the initial release.

This story first appeared in cardistrybeast.com and is republished with permission.

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5 Things You Should Know About Theory11's Star Wars Playing Cards

Theory11 continues to tease its latest collab deck on their social media account- Star Wars Playing Cards. After some research and analysis, here are 5 things you should know about the new decks.

1.  Star Wars Universe
As suspected from the teaser image, the deck will NOT be based on JJ Abram's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker but the original Star Wars Trilogy. On the product page, looks like Rey and Kylo Ren are included as royals and the card backs include the First Order crest, so making this not only related to the original trilogy as initially stated but the Star Wars universe. This is obvious from the red foil seal depicting the classic Imperial crest from the original trilogy instead of the First Order.

2. Two Decks
There will be 2 decks on offer- The Light Side and The Dark Side. The Sight side tuck box features a striking blue foil on black tuck while the Dark Side, stunning red foil on black tuck.

3. Design Elements
Both decks will feature iconic design elements from the Star Wars universe. From the window of the Millenium Falcon, Luke Skywalker's lightsaber and X-Wings to R2D2, Star Destroyers, and TIE Fighters.

4. Foil Seal
Both tuck boxes are kept secure with a foil seal. Red foil with the Imperial crest for the Dark Side and Blue foil depicting the Rebel Alliance crest for the Light Side.

5. Pricing
From their previous releases, Theory11 will continue to make this deck affordable with the usual price of $9.95. You can purchase them as a set or individually.

Star Wars Playing Cards will be available on Theory11.com today (Friday 20 December) at 3pm ET.

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Here's Your Chance to WIN a Fontaine Future Blind Pack!

We've partnered up with fiftytwo.shop to give you a chance to WIN a Fontaine Futures Blind Pack! These were first released at Cardistry-Con 2019 and each pack contains 1 of 6 possible decks which are all extremely limited. Fontaine Futures have been increasing in price ever since in the secondary market.

Head over to our Instagram account (@kardify) and for a chance to WIN! Contest closes 21st December.

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A post shared by kardify.com (@kardify) on Dec 19, 2019 at 6:39am PST

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We Just Dropped Kardify Magazine Issue 31 on Patreon

We just published issue #31 of Kardify Magazine on Patreon for our Patrons who pledged $3 or more on our Patreon page, compiling selected articles published from mid-November to mid-December. Deck images, articles and news to keep you informed and up-to-date with the latest playing card news, releases and previews. If you love playing cards, you will love Kardify Magazine! 

Also, don't forget to check out our other cool reward tiers on Patreon! The new tiers include monthly desktop and smartphone wallpapers, mystery deck shipped to you every 4 months of ongoing contribution, social media shout-outs, and multiple sponsorship tiers! Check it out!

Funds received from the magazine will help us keep the site running and growing, and bringing new quality content to you. Our aim is to support designers by backing on crowd-funded projects and supporting magic and playing cards retailers with their new releases. If you want to support us, please head over to our Patreon page. If you have an idea for an article you would like us to pursue, do get in contact with us. We hope you enjoy the read. In this issue:

+ Holiday Mystery Decks: Art of Play’s gift-wrapped Mystery Decks! These will make you feel like a kid on Christmas morning.

+ Black Reserve Note Green Edition: Kings Wild’s Black Friday release, the follow-up to the stunning Black Reserve note in striking Green colorway.

+ 1st V3: Chris Ramsay’s highly anticipated release. The new addition to the series is simply... beautiful!

+ Derren Brown: Check out Theory11's new deck in collaboration with the popular UK Mentalist.

+ Slicers: The latest release from the cool guys at Organic Playing Cards. Check it out!

+ The Good Co Fontaines: Have a look at the new Fontaine released in New York in collab with The Good Company, a clothing retailer.

+ Joker & the Thief: Find out more about the 5th and final edition of Joker and the Thief’s popular, OG Joker and the Thief design now funding on Kickstarter.

+ His & Hers:  The mischievous team at Whispering Imps have collaborated with the beautiful Miss Mosh to produce a unique, modern spin on the classic pin-up decks from the 1940s & ‘50s.

… and more! 56 pages of articles and deck images. Enjoy!

Theory11 Just Announced The Single Largest Collab In Their 12-Year History

[Updated] Find more information and images here!

Get ready! Theory11 has just announced the single largest collab in their 12-year history on their social media account. From the teaser image, it looks like it will be in conjunction with the release of JJ Abram's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by theory11 (@theory11) on Dec 18, 2019 at 11:33am PST

However, the deck may not be related to the latest Star Wars movie. The teaser image of the red foil stamp on the black tuck box depicts the classic Imperial crest from the original trilogy instead of the First Order. We will update the page with more images and information once we learn more.

[Updated] Find more information and images here!

The deck is scheduled for release this Friday at 3pm ET.

What are your thoughts? Comment below.

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Kickstarter: CHARMERS Playing Cards by Lortrek

Lotrek has a knack for creating beautiful, functional deck of playing cards. His latest deck is no different. CHARMERS Playing Cards is a collab between award-winning designer Lotrek and South Carolina based magician Kellar O'Neil. A truly uniquely elegant deck of playing cards, evoking the art, luxury, and taste of the Victorian Era.

Designed from the ground up, the deck is ideal for magicians, playing card collectors and enthusiasts alike. According to the campaign page,

We believe that an "all-purpose" deck meant to be used by magicians and players with different tastes should have instantly recognizable courts. Everything in the deck is custom and the courts are Lotrek's interpretation of the traditional ones with an "old times" twist to match the vintage feel of the deck.

Inside the court cards feature gold cold foil and metallic inks in a combination devised by Lotrek so that the sheen will be somewhat toned down in order to match the "old times" feel of the deck. To give it a visual boost, the figure cards include luxurious gold cold foil.

The mesmerizing card backs are printed with a combination of cold foil, 2 Pantone colors and metallic inks, showcasing an elegant, classic design. The design of the backs has been carried over to the eye-catching Ace of Spades. Love how the design elements came together on this one!

The tuck cases will be printed in Greece by OathPlayingCards. Two different editions are on offer during the campaign- Green Edition and Purple Edition. Both feature gold foil black ink on colored stock (green and purple) and very deep embossing.

CHARMERS are printed by Cartamundi in Belgium on their proprietary Slimline stock with True Linen B9 finish. Pledge starts at $17 on Kickstarter!

Also, the RED CHARMERS will be included as a gift for the brick reward tier! Lotrek will print these in his facilities in Greece and only 250 Charmers will be produced. These will be printed on German 310gsm casino grade stock, will have a very shiny metallic gold and new varnish, Maestro V2! The deck signed and numbered, will be added for free to ALL Brick tiers

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