Art of Play's Mindfulness Playing Cards

Happy New Year! Calm your mind and lift your spirits with this two-deck set of illustrated playing cards by Art of Play. The intricate graphics reward purposeful observation while the warm colors inspire an optimistic sense of play. 

Designed by Muti in South Africa, each suit of Mindfulness playing cards explores heady themes like balance, discovery, tranquility, and ego. 

You can journey into the self in quiet contemplation or gather with friends to play a spirited game that requires 108 cards—canasta, anyone? The two-deck set comes in a custom storage box with a magnetic closure.  

Printed by The U.S. Playing Card Co. and available now from artofplay.com for $18.

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Kardify's Deck of the Year 2021

 

Our annual Top12 has finally wrapped up, celebrating the past year in the playing card industry and looking ahead to the year to come. This year, there were plenty of cool collabs and incredible decks to keep the community excited and engaged. The biggest recognition this year is our inaugural 'Deck of the Year', and a dozen decks competed for it... see our Top12 article for the full list. 

This year, the 52 Plus Joker 2021 club deck took home the top prize! 

Created by Stockholm17 (Lorenzo Gaggiotti) and printed by the Expert Playing Card Company this stunning deck is sold exclusively to members of 52 Plus Joker. This limited edition deck is a fantastic representation of the world’s greatest playing card collector’s club.

The deck features a meticulously crafted tuck with two-piece tuck construction. The tuck box features a special Spade die-cut on the front. Gold hot foil on the tuck and a numbered custom-shaped label make this deck look incredible!

Inside, the deck comes with Stockholm17's fully customized courts and jokers. Stunning gold cold foil has been used on both sides of the cards, making them look incredible.

Congratulations to the team at 52 Plus Joker, Stockholm17, and Expert Playing Cards Co. for the stunning deck!

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Watch: Avengers Playing Cards on Kardify Spotlight

The Kardify 'spotlight' video series aims to give you the rundown on some of our favorite and unique decks of playing cards around. We aim to publish the 1-minute spotlight video every 3 weeks on our new Youtube channel (YouTube: kardify).

For this week, we have Theory11's incredible Avengers Playing Cards inspired by Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga. Find out more in the video below and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE (YouTube: kardify)!

Venn, a Momentum and Assembly Collab Deck!

What a fascinating deck! Venn is the first collaboration deck from Momentum and Assembly. Designed with both Cardists and Magicians in mind, Venn sports a classic arrangement of spots and court cards on the faces, with a colorway designed to match the red/blue-dominant back design. 

As the name suggests, the deck design incorporates overlapping shapes to generate eye-catching visuals that will be make card flourishes look outstanding in cuts and spins. 

 
Each deck is printed on premium crushed stock by the USPCC, and only 2500 of this edition will be available for sale. Orders of 6 decks and above come with a custom half-brick box. Available now on momentum.cards for $10.

  

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Christmas Edition Orbits Released!

Just in time for the festive season, the Christmas Orbits are now AVAILABLE for sale! This will be the first official Christmas deck from the Orbit team and there will be more 🎄 Christmas editions as time moves forward. 

This special release is inspired by the spirit of Christmas with the tuck box, card backs, Ace of Spades and Royals updated with items synonymous with the festive season. 

The orbit decks sports a prominent central O symbol, which boldly defines the Orbit brand decks. In this edition, a picturesque night sky with stars of a mountain has been added to the card backs. 

Printed by the USPCC and available NOW from orbit.af for $15. Total print run of 10,000 decks.



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Genesys, The Most Ambitious Odyssey Deck Now on Kickstarter

Feel The Universe Card Co. in collaboration with TCC Playing Card Co. launched on Kickstarter, the most ambitious Odyssey Playing Cards ever! For this campaign, there are 3 different Odyssey editions- Black & Silver, White & Gold, and Holo Edition. 

 

Odyssey Genesys is inspired by high minimal shapes with futuristic design elements. The luxury is presented with impressive materials and tonalities like gold, silver, and holographic. According to the campaign page,

This is not just a foiled deck of cards... this is again a totally different way to Feel The Universe but keep the essence of our brand.

The fully custom decks feature the iconic diagonal stripe line on the tuck case and card backs. The new diagonal line looks bold and futuristic in tier respective foil colorway. The courts have been updated and they look impressive. 

Combining futuristic touches with the minimal design, metallic plates conforms to the armor and weapons of the royals. The classic ace design has also been updated with Genesys aesthetics. 

  

Genesys has maybe the most impressive case design ever created for an Odyssey deck. The elegant tuck case showcases a Gold and Silver foil combo on black and white matte paper, making the tuck a piece of art on its own. Simple but sophisticated. 

Printed by TCC PLAYING CARDS Company and available now on Kickstarter for $16. Add-ons such as the limited edition (of 500) gilded Prime500 collector set, uncut sheets, and trainers are available during the campaign. Don't miss out!

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Top 12 Playing Cards of 2021

What a year for playing cards! We are incredibly fortunate to be part of such an inspired community of artists, designers, cardists, magicians, and collectors! We've compiled our favorite decks for 2021 right here. This will be the third of four articles counting down to our Deck of the Year reveal next week.

Top 5 Cardistry Decks

Top 5 Collector Playing Cards

Top 12 Playing Cards of 2021

Deck of the Year 2021

If you think we've missed your favorite deck, let us know in the comment section below. Note that the selection expressed in this top 5 are solely those of the author and the list is in no particular order.

Kingdom & Kinghood

The KINGDOM & KINGHOOD decks are based on the royal theme of the Middle Ages and its illustrations are drawn from the luxurious style of the Renaissance period. Throughout history, the royal element has always been the most luxurious and noble symbol. The decks are fully custom, from the Aces, Jokers, and the Court Cards. The illustrations are drawn using the classic Sgraffito painted technique. Each illustration was first drawn and colored carefully on the paper and then using high-precision scanning transferred into digital images, the whole process over 3 months to complete. 

Harry Potter

Theory11's stunning decks showcase all of your favorite Harry Potter characters in four spellbinding color editions, representing the four houses. Theory11 features completely custom artwork in every aspect of the design, with the Aces, Jokers, box design, and court cards inspired directly by fan-favorite characters and events in the Wizarding World.  

Wayfarers 

Joker and the Thief's Wayfarer embodies the spirit of travel and adventure with a bold, and commanding design. Inside, the Wayfarers courts are gorgeous and fit the overall theme beautifully. Each suit of the Wayfarer’s court cards represents nature’s elements, with each royal having dominion over that aspect of reality. Packaged in an incredibly luxurious tuck box, Wayfarers showcase an incredible bronze embossed foil with white pigment foil impressed into the premium black paper stock. 

Black Market

This Thirdway Industries' Black Market can only be purchased with a password. The deck is the official deck of a fictional secret trade society, whose target is to make a lot of money selling extraordinary items to members. Beautiful artwork, incredible details, and a cool narrative! Like all Thirdway decks, there are secrets to discover! 

Blue Jay 

Blue Jay Playing Cards is the second installment in Meadowlark's custom playing card series. This beautiful deck is designed in collaboration with Elettra Deganello. Fully custom, the back design took some of the core features from the Meadowlark Deck and redesigned it to maintain its uniqueness. The Dentistry sub-theme was also incorporated in a fun yet sophisticated way. For the face cards, the Blue Jay was drawn in a fashion to be cohesive with the rest of the deck including the court cards, Aces, and Jokers. 

Pioneers

The Pioneers deck by Ellusionist is a celebration of exploration, scientific discovery, and innocent curiosity from a bygone era. These beautiful decks are fully custom, inside and out... from the distinctive deck seal to the impeccable pips. Every detail and line on the tuck, backs, aces, and jokers was painstakingly hand-drawn by renowned playing card artist Oban Jones.

Alice in Wonderland

Take a trip down the Rabbit Hole in Wonderland with Alice and the wildly unusual and whimsical characters of the beloved story, 'Alice in Wonderland'. Each card in Kings Wild's Alice playing cards is meticulously designed in exquisite detail by Jackson Robinson. With intricate borders and colors throughout the deck.

Royales

From Kings & Crooks comes a fully custom-designed deck of cards inspired by an unforgettable night of glitz, glamour, and fortune at an iconic, fictional casino. The luxurious deck is fit for the elite high-roller tables of vintage-era Monte Carlo, an intoxicating place of grandeur that attracts the beautiful, billionaires, and the crème de la crème of high society. Elegantly playful but ultra-sophisticated, the Royales celebrate a fine line between modern-minimal and old-world-classic style. 

52 Plus Joker Club Deck 2021

This limited edition deck is a fantastic representation of the world’s greatest playing card collector’s club, 52 Plus Joker. Designed by Stockholm17, the deck features a meticulously crafted tuck with two-piece tuck construction. You will notice a special Spade die-cut on the front of the tuck. Gold hot foil on the tuck and a numbered custom-shaped label make this deck look incredible! Inside, the deck comes with fully customized courts and jokers. Gold cold foil has been used on both sides of the cards, making them look absolutely stunning!

Atlantis

Atlantis Playing Cards is a gorgeous deck by Riffle Shuffle inspired by the mysterious and majestic lost city of Atlantis. Insides, the intricate card backs are divided into symmetrical sectors. They are presided over by two big triangles featuring the head of Zeus surrounded by heavenly light shining upon the rest of the scene. The custom court cards offer us a rare look into what the people of Atlantis might have looked like. The royals are dressed in sophisticated, richly decorated clothes in blue and gold. The bold Ace of Spades sports a blue and silver colorway consistent with the color palette of the deck.

Marvelous Hummingbird

The Marvelous decks are inspired by the marvelous Hummingbird feathers. The deck is conceptualized by Kellar O'Neil and masterfully created by designer Chris Tipton. The tuck box of the deck is extremely striking with sculpted embossing, and multiple holographic foils beautifully mimicking the iridescence of the hummingbird feathers. Inside, the borderless card backs feature holographic foil feathers and face cards come in a recognizable classic style but refined and customized for the theme and feature highlights of holographic foil as well. 

Republic

UUSI's REPUBLIC Playing Cards is a custom playing card deck based on Finnish/Nordic folk art and design. The deck sports a predominant beige/black colorway with a seamless pattern inspired by traditional Finnish design on the card back. The court cards, Ace of Spades and Jokers are fully custom yet at the same time very familiar and immediately recognizable. 

Honorable mention:  Gourmet by Alba Zapata, Wizard of Oz by Kings Wild Project, Avengers by Theory11, Pinocchio Vermillion by Elletra Deganello, Fulton's Day of the Dead by Fulton's Playing Cards, Galaxia by Thirdway Industries, Fontaine Fever Dreams by Fontaine Cards, ARW V2 by Luke Wadey, The Grand by Riffle Shuffle, Room 237 by Penguin Magic, Butterfly Seasons by Butterfly, The Cut by Kings Wild Project and Lepidopterist Patina by Art of Play.

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: Butterfly (Autumn Edition) Playing Cards

Beautiful. Fall. Colors.

The beautiful Butterfly (Autumn Edition) Playing Cards are conceptualized by Ondrej Psenicka and beautifully designed by Swedish graphic designer and magician Stefan Eriksson. The Autumn edition was launched on the first day of autumn 2021 featuring a beautiful card back in aesthetically pleasing seasonal colors. The colors of the design elements pop against the black-bordered backs and mirrored butterfly logo. Simple yet effective! The colors are reminiscent of the colorful wings of butterflies. 

The face cards have standard US faces with custom colors that match the back design. The gorgeous colored Ace of Spades is custom along with two butterfly silhouette jokers. Printed by Cartamundi on Slimline stock with B9 finish. 

The Butterfly Autumn and Winter Edition decks are now available from butterflyplayingcards.com for $23 each. 

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Ellusionist's Cohorts Available in GREEN!

Merry Christmas all! What better way to celebrate than to feature a classy green/red colorway deck. Ellusionist's popular Cohort Playing Cards series is now available in GREEN. Like the previous Cohorts, the new addition will be printed on Cartamundi's luxury E7 stock, they feel as good as they perform. 

 
The vintage casino-style Green Cohorts have a very detailed and intricate classic design but with modern simplicity. From the classic semi-custom court cards to the nostalgic thin-border back design, Cohorts were engineered to look unassuming on the card table or in the hands of a card mechanic. 

 
Hidden within the lines of the intricate back design are markings undetectable to the untrained eye. Once you find out, it is easily readable by any magician, card mechanic or mentalist out there. 

 
The tuck box has a very simplistic yet classic look that compliments the back design very well. Each deck comes with 52 cards, 2 jokers, 1 alternate color double-backer, and a duplicate Queen of spades. Available NOW on ellusionist.com for $9.95.

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Holographic Split Spades Artist Proof Sold Out in 2 Minutes

The iconic David Blaine Split Spade Deck is a stunning deck of cards originally designed by Mark Stutzman for David's personal use. The OG deck was released 15 years ago and is now incredibly hard to find. 

The artist proof Pearl and Onyx Holographic were released yesterday on RED BLACK and they were sold out in under 2 minutes. Only 500 of each edition were made available in this drop resulting in this 1st edition being an instant collectible.

The Split Spade represents David Blaine's logo and is featured in an intricate bold back design. The Pearl edition features an off-white colorway while Onyx features a contrasting black colorway. Both showcase the stunning holographic print on the tuck and card backs.

These individually numbered decks pilot first-of-a-kind techniques and original features. As exquisite prototypes for future development, these Artist Proofs aren’t intended as ‘workers’. Printed by Legends Playing Card Co. Did you manage to snag a set?

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Top 5 Collector Playing Cards of 2021

What a year for playing cards! We are incredibly fortunate to be part of such an inspired community of artists, designers, cardists, magicians, and collectors! We've compiled our favorite decks for 2021 right here. This will be the second of four articles counting down to our Deck of the Year reveal next week.

Top 5 Cardistry Decks

Top 5 Collector Playing Cards

Top 12 Playing Cards of 2021

Deck of the Year 2021

If you think we've missed your favorite deck, let us know in the comment section below. Note that the selection expressed in this top 5 are solely those of the author and the list is in no particular order.

Alice in Wonderland

Take a trip down the Rabbit Hole in Wonderland with Alice and the wildly unusual and whimsical characters of the beloved story, 'Alice in Wonderland'. Each card in Kings Wild's Alice playing cards is meticulously designed in exquisite detail by Jackson Robinson. With intricate borders and colors throughout the deck.

Royales

From Kings & Crooks comes a fully custom-designed deck of cards inspired by an unforgettable night of glitz, glamour, and fortune at an iconic, fictional casino. The luxurious deck is fit for the elite high-roller tables of vintage-era Monte Carlo, an intoxicating place of grandeur that attracts the beautiful, billionaires, and the crème de la crème of high society. Elegantly playful but ultra-sophisticated, the Royales celebrate a fine line between modern-minimal and old-world-classic style. 

Harry Potter

Theory11's stunning decks showcase all of your favorite Harry Potter characters in four spellbinding color editions, representing the four houses. Theory11 features completely custom artwork in every aspect of the design, with the Aces, Jokers, box design, and court cards inspired directly by fan-favorite characters and events in the Wizarding World.  

52 Plus Joker Club Deck 2021

This limited edition deck is a fantastic representation of the world’s greatest playing card collector’s club, 52 Plus Joker. Designed by Stockholm17, the deck features a meticulously crafted tuck with two-piece tuck construction. You will notice a special Spade die-cut on the front of the tuck. Gold hot foil on the tuck and a numbered custom-shaped label make this deck look incredible! Inside, the deck comes with fully customized courts and jokers. Gold cold foil has been used on both sides of the cards, making them look absolutely stunning!

Black Market

This Thirdway Industries' Black Market can only be purchased with a password. The deck is the official deck of a fictional secret trade society, whose target is to make a lot of money selling extraordinary items to members. Beautiful artwork, incredible details, and cool narrative! Like all Thirdway decks, there are secrets to discover!
 

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