First Look at ARK's The Illusionist & After Sound Playing Cards

The Illusionist & After Sound Playing Cards by ARK will be launching on Kickstarter tomorrow! This incredible-looking set continues ARK’s mission of continuous Exploration and infinite Innovation. Half a year in the making, these playing cards sets are hand-illustrated with meticulous and intricate details.

ARK Playing Cards have built a fantasy theater for magic with unprecedented structure and design for the Illusionist playing cards. Seven individual pieces of cardboard are hand-assembled to form this masterpiece. According to the ARK,

This Playing Card design was inspired by Ansiktet (‘The Face’ also released as ‘The Magician’), a 1958 Swedish film centered around a traveling magician. The movie technology during that time was not as advanced as we know it now. People were curious and in awe of the fantastic things happening around then.

The entire design concept adopts a classical and luxurious visual style to restore the classic and mysterious art form of Magic. As such, the tuck box shape is modeled after the magic theater from the last century. When the box is unfolded, a three-dimensional magic theater stage will appear before your eyes, with the magician standing center stage, performing the famous ‘Sawing a lady/person in half’ illusion.

When closed, the artwork on the tuck box depicts a Western-style detached building, the performance poster at the entrance of the theater, the Illusionist signboard that can be seen from afar, the figure of the magician in the skylight on the top floor, the splendor of the window sill… presented with these countless details, one cannot help but imagine the crowded scene at the entrance of the theater where celebrities in gorgeous evening wear gather one after another before the show.

The illustrations on the entire deck of cards are very intricate and littered with fine details. The four Aces depict commonly seen magic props. Each court card depicts a different genre of classical magic.

Twelve magicians perform with different magic props, including the linking rings, doves/rabbits, card manipulation, ball manipulation, and so on.

The “Illusionist” series will be released in limited-edition box sets, with a total of four editions: Classic Boxset (Limited to 1500), Black Gold Boxset (Limited to 800), Luxury Leather Boxset (Limited to 500) and Deluxe Walnut Boxset (Limited to 300).

The second set of playing cards in the campaign is created around the themed Peking Opera, a quintessential national culture of China. According to ARK,

Toward the fourth quarter of 2020, when the idea was just conceived, we were full of awe to create a series of playing cards with such a grand theme. After pouring over the materials countless times, we thought deeply about how we were going to present each and every detail. We worked hard on the design, hoping to better introduce and integrate the breadth and depth of this traditional Chinese culture into 56 playing cards.

The 3D theater has been shrunk down in size to a playing card tuck box. When the front is in its closed and folded state, the card box has the appearance of a theater. When unfolded, the inner three levels pop open horizontally revealing and astounding the viewer with detailed illustrations of a three-dimensional stage.

Inside, the playing card design incorporates traditional elements, mainly from the Peking Opera. Over 15 months of preparation have resulted in these exquisite and detailed hand-painted illustrations. The back design of the playing card is an extension of the Opera stage found on the tuck box. A classic scene from the play is being enacted here.

Each illustration on the card is exquisite, and it is modeled after the classical characters that often appear in traditional Peking Opera plays with incredible details. The series will be released in the form of limited edition box sets only, with a total of four versions: Classic Boxset (Limited to 1500), Dark Flare Boxset (Limited to 800), Luxury Leather Boxset (Limited to 500), and Deluxe Walnut Boxset (limited to 300)

Don’t miss out! Pledge starts at $35 on Kickstarter.

Deck View: Diamon Playing Cards Nº17: Royal Victory

Contrasting. Royal. Diamond.

The eye-catching Diamon Playing Cards Nº17: Royal Victory is 7th edition in the Diamon Playing Cards series by the Dutch Card House Company! With contrasting colors, this vivid deck is crafted for Cardistry and Card enthusiasts. Nº17 holds the same diamond pattern with two bright colors featuring a composition ranging from Teal to Petrol and from Magenta to old Pink and Purple hues.

The deck comes with a small border-bleeding diamond that folds over the edge of the back design and face cards, allowing for awesome spreads and fans! The pips are consistent with the Diamond pattern found on the back to create a harmonious deck of cards. Overall, Nº17 is fully custom, complete with custom-designed aces and court cards.

Printed by the USPCC and available now for dutchcardhousecompany.com for $14. Also, congratulations to our friends at Dutch Card House Co. for celebrating 5 years anniversary of the Diamon playing cards series! 

Medieval Castle Playing Cards, Printed on Sustainable Card Stock

The team at MPC continues to innovate with Castle Playing Cards, a beautifully illustrated limited edition deck printed on sustainable card stock made from grass and leafy parts of plants. Only 3 more days on Kickstarter, this fully custom deck features artwork depicting life in a medival castle. According to the Kickstarter campaign page,

We had many ideas for the court cards to show as may aspects of castle life in the medieval times as possible. They were sketched out at first before the chosen sketches go on into a more detailed drawing, some of which are shown below. Many did not make it into the deck. Many of the drawings took on a more violent theme but we chose to go in a softer direction after much thought. The outcome is that the deck feels a lot more appealing to play with.

The court cards showcase Lords, Knights, Servants, and Entertainers. Castles were often owned by royal families and extremely wealthy people. They were usually dressed glamorously whether there is an occasion or not. This is how they distinguish themselves from the other occupants of the castle who are generally soldiers and servants. The men dressed in clothes made out of velvet, damask, or silk. The trimmings of their dress is usually made from fur. The women on the other hand wore tunics made from expensive materials that were usually dragged on the floor.

As such, the Kings are adorned with eye-catching jewelry and protected by heavily armed soldiers. The surrounding of the castle is also heavily protected with foot soldiers and men mounted on horses ready to protect their king and queen.

Meanwhile, the queen of diamonds card shows a typical day in the castle where subjects come to pledge fealty and allegiance to their Lord who is dressed in flamboyant attire.

There are so many details on this deck. The artifacts that the royals are holding are based on research, for example, the King of diamonds is holding an orb, a type of globus which in medieval times was a typical object to have with them when sitting on the throne.

The one-way back design features a white border design with 2 castles facing each other in the middle of the card showing the castle before and after a battle where one is destroyed and the other in its former glory.

To align with MPC’s aim of reducing their carbon footprint and using more environmentally friendly paper stock, this deck is printed on new card stock, E27 Eco-Herbage. There are made from grass and the leafy part of plants. The paper contains a natural brown tint to it with clearly visible fibers. The tuck box is also created from the same sustainable card stock material.

The limited-edition Castle Playing Cards is now available on Kickstarter for $15. Limited production of 2500.

Serrano Chillies Picante Edition Playing Cards

Spice up your card collection with Chillies Playing Cards. Designed by Stephen O’Neill, the Chilles Playing Cards series celebrates Mexican design and Maya culture. The Chillies Picante is the latest addition to the series with two different editions: Serrano Chillies and Bubblegum Chillies.

Serrano Chillies come with a black stock tuck, spot UV and red foil highlights, while Bubblegum Chillies come with an eye-catching tuck with a fresh clean look with the quirky bubblegum color palette.

The cold foil pattern is applied to the card back and the red/bubblegum colours are printed over the top of the foil. This process allows for a vast array of colours.

The fully custom deck features a mirrored card back in a repeated chilli pattern and enhanced standard court cards with an added twist of spice. 

The eye-catching Ace of Spades showcases two Chillies shaped into the spade and engulfed in flames and taste testers Jokers of the Maya Chilli harvest until they weren’t. The deck is packaged in a classic tuck box with hidden influences from Mexican Design and Maya Culture. 

Pledge starts at $20 on Kickstarter. The decks will be printed by Cartamundi with Premium B9 Finish.

Theory11 Releases Dune Playing Cards

Dune Playing Cards are now available on Theory11. The deck looks incredible! The front of the tuck box is designed in the form of a stillsuit, weathered by the harsh elements of Arrakis. They come with stunning gold foil accents, sculpted embossing, and debossing that give the box a hardened, tactile sensation.

Designed by Mattson Creative, the deck feature completely custom artwork, with Aces, Jokers, box design, and court cards inspired directly by fan-favorite characters and events in the critically-acclaimed film. 

The cards themselves are made in the USA, printed on FSC-certified paper derived from sustainable forests, vegetable-based inks, and starch-based laminates. Available now for $9.95 on theory11.com.

The Successor Playing Cards Smashes its Kickstarter Funding Goal in 5 Minutes

We’ve seen no shortage of Kickstarter success stories over the past weeks, but it’s always amazing to hear about playing cards that are somehow able to meet their funding goals in short periods of time, and the Successor playing cards by The Gentleman Wake (TGW) is no exception.

The Kickstarter project went live yesterday, and within just five minutes, it met its funding goal of $99,750. Not only that, but it also completely smashed that goal and is sitting at $243,000+ worth of pledges at the time of writing.

Designed in collaboration with Kevin Cantrell, The Successor Playing Cards evokes art from the 15th-century cathedrals, canvases, and manuscripts. All of the aspects from the pips to the courts are customized, featuring artworks that combine ancient historical illustration with the classical design of a deck of playing cards.

All of the Aces featured massive pips with ornate designs. The numbered cards featured pips with golden details within, arranged with smaller icons in-between spaces. The court cards are illustrated close to the classical courts yet based on historical references to the medieval times.

Both Jokers featured well-done illustrations of historical figures in a royal kingdom: The Annoiter, the priest who will coronate the royal, and the Anointed, the royal who will be crowned on the throne. The series tells a story of a tale of trials and betrayal of royal succession.

There are a total of 6 editions in the series: 2 standard editions and 4 exclusive limited editions. There are two different card back designs within the series: one featured an hourglass on the center (the first four editions), while the other featured an ambigram of “Successor” on the center (the last two editions). The center element is surrounded by an intricate framework decorated with royal crowns, filigrees, and most importantly, TGW’s mascot the rhinoceros beetle.

The standard editions are “Regal Red” and “Royal Blue”, featuring red and blue main colors with Pantone metallic ink on the details. The first two exclusive editions are “Imperial Black” and “White Monarch”, featuring black and white main color with gold cold foiling on the details – the cards for “White Monarch” will be gilded with gold foil.

The last two exclusive editions are “Dynastinae Rex” and “Dynastinae Prism”, featuring green and purple main colors with gold and holographic cold foiling on the details respectively – the cards for “Rex” will be gilded with gold foil, while cards for “Prism” will be gilded with holographic foil. The cards will be produced by Cartamundi on B9 Slimline stock with a linen finish.

The tuck box for the decks in the series is heavily customized with intricate artworks with many levels of finishes. They are done with premium quality matte stock with 5 layers of metallic foiling complete with 3D strategic embossing. The tuck box for “Rex” featured gold and black holographic foiling while the tuck box for “Prism” featured purple and holographic foiling. For both “White Monarch” and “Dynastinae Prism”, the tuck box has a sleeve made of matte stock with a zinc-alloy metal cast sculpture attached to it – gold sculpture for “White Monarch” and silver sculpture for “Dynastinae Prism”. All of the tuck boxes are done by Studio Pression from France.

To sum up the collection, the series is completed with a custom-made storage box to contain all of the available editions. This box is made of piano-black lacquered wood with laser-etched gold foil inlays along with a gold-plated zinc-alloy metallic sculpture lid. The box is fashioned to look like the king’s royal sarcophagus.

Pledge starts from $19 for a single deck of standard edition to up to $400 to get a complete set on Kickstarter. Funding ends on June 24, 2022.

The Successor Playing Cards Launches TODAY!

TODAY IS THE DAY! After two long years, The Gentleman Wake will finally launch The Successor playing cards. The decks are designed by Kevin Cantrell Studio evoking art from 15th-century cathedrals, canvases, and manuscripts! The Successor depicts the trials and triumphs of a line of royal succession. 

Printed by Cartamundi with exquisite handling and linen finish, adorned with Pantone inks and, cold foil. The decks are packaged within premium tuck boxes emblazoned with as many as five foil layers, with sculptural embossing and, in some instances, beautifully ornate metal sculptures affixed to outer tuck box sleeves.

The deck will launch today (24th May) on Kickstarter 12pm Eastern. 

Kickstarter: Ocean Kingdom Playing Cards

Hong Kong-based designer Amelia Chan has a fascination with mythology. She is currently exploring the folklores of mermaids, aquatic creatures with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish (merman is the male counterpart of a mermaid). Ocean Kingdom Playing Cards explore these folklores and tell the story of mermaids.

The cards would have customized illustrations on both the faces and the backs. The artwork has a mythical aquatic life under the sea: mermaids, mermen, and sea creatures. For the royals, the Jacks represent the princes or brave warriors, the Queens represent the princesses, while the Kings represent the ruler of the ocean kingdoms brandishing a trident.

All of the Aces featured a sea creature each in a power pip. The back design features an assortment of shells and sea waves – you can also notice the mermaids swimming in the arrangement.

Two editions are available during the Kickstarter campaign: the foil edition and the UV edition. The foil edition featured a bright color scheme in aquatic colors of teal, pink, and white. Completing this edition is the silver cold foil – a silver metallic foil that sheens rainbow when viewed at an angle.

The UV edition featured a darker color scheme in black, teal, orange, and purple. The inks for this edition are UV reactive, which will glow under blacklight. Both editions will have matte laminated tuck case, individually shrink-wrapped in cellophane.

Pledge starts at $16 for the Foil deck OR $24 for the UV deck (comes with UV flashlight) on Kickstarter.

Deck View: Mono - heXa Playing Cards

Dynamic. Vibrant. Hexagon

The fourth deck in the Mono collection, heXa sports a vibrant neon purple color scheme teamed with the unmistakable pattern work of the Mono decks creating a hexagonal theme.

Designer Luke Wadey wanted to create a real sense of energy in the design and crafted it with the cardist in mind, whilst still keeping a 2-way back design and remaining playable and usable for all.

The face cards use border details mainly for aesthetics in fans and spreads, the lines form a strong color block when stacked. Each suit comes with a slightly different variation.

The deck will be printed by USPCC on crushed, premium bee stock, and traditionally cut. Available for £10 on lukewadey.co.uk.

Available Now: Stratosphere Meteorite Edition

Legends Playing Card co. has just released a new edition to the Stratosphere series. This deck continues Legends’ tradition of constant experimentation and innovation, Stratosphere Meteorite features an all-new holographic full foil that reflects and shimmers from any angle.

According to the product landing page,

We use an ultra-thin mylar, or full foil, laminated to both sides of art paper. Like Pokemon cards, both feature overprinting at different opacities to block out the shiny effects in the artwork. The only difference is these spring, fan, and handle like a normal deck of playing cards! A designers dream, and totally out of this world technology for future playing card decks.

The card backs come with a new shard-like holographic full foil, and the faces are standard silver holographic. The deck features fully custom artwork, from the card backs, courts to the Ace of Spades and Jokers.

The card faces have no expense spared, with silver full foil, each space man / astronaut / cosmonaut feature shiny visors and accents.

The cards feel soft and supple, they aren’t thick or bulky like other double-sided full-full foil decks. They are nearly identical in thickness to Legends’ Classic Finish card stock.

Limited to 800 decks printed by Legends Playing Card Co. Price starts at $14.20 on legendsplayingcards.com and will increase as quantity decreases. Both previous editions are sold out!

Bicycle NEON Rider Back Playing Cards- 3 More Days on Kickstarter

Three days remaining on Kickstarter, the Bicycle® NEON Rider Back Playing Cards features vibrant colors that glow under UV blacklight. Produced by Daniel of card-addiction.com, these limited edition deck series are inspired by the iconic Bicycle® Rider Backs.

The deck comes with an EPIC twist… they will be printed with Pantone Neon ink that looks incredibly vibrant under natural light & Glows in UV-Blacklight.

The fully custom courts resemble the classics but in a whole new and unique way! The royals feature tremendous detail, with the pip theme embedded in the artwork & background design while matching the color theme.

The queens all hold different objects symbolizing different aspects of the court, from the scepters, to the daggers, to the goblets, to the classic flowers. The longer you look the more details are revealed.

Also, the deck comes with enhanced Jokers, slight pip alterations, vibrant colored backs, and the Stay Addicted Ace of Spades.

Bicycle® NEON Rider Back Playing Cards will be printed by USPCC on the Signature Rider Back Card stock with Classic Air-Cushion Finish. Pledge starts at $15 on Kickstarter.

Less than 3 Hours Remaining, The Lord of the Rings Playing Cards

More than 7,900 people have backed Kings Wild‘s The Fellowship of the Ring deck of luxury playing cards and it’s now 3174% above it’s initial funding goal of $20,000 on Kickstarter

Experience the wonders of Middle-earth again with this beautifully crafted deck by Jackson Robinson. Every aspect of this deck of cards is uniquely illustrated and designed with as much detail as possible to create a deck of cards that will be loved by Tolkien fans all over the world.

Each of the characters from The Fellowship of the Ring deck is pulled from the text and brought to life in a new and fresh way.

A pledge of $12 will get you a single standard edition deck, while the highest tier of $575 or more buys the “Gandalf Collector’s Set,” which includes 12 standard decks, two Gilded Edition decks, and two Legacy Edition decks.

Don’t miss out!

Now on Patreon! Kardify Magazine Issue #60

NOW available on Patreon… Kardify Magazine issue 60! Patrons who pledged $3 or more will be able to download the latest issue from our Patreon page. This issue compiles selected articles published from mid-April to mid-May. 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 tiers include monthly desktop and smartphone wallpapers, a 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 bring new quality content to you. Our aim is to support designers by backing crowdfunded 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:  

+ Bicycle Grasshopper: Seventh deck in the series by PCD. Check out this FULLY custom deck with artwork by Artur Rajch and prominently features a striking green colorway. Check it out…

+ Iron Man MK1: Officially licensed, this eye-catching deck takes you into the journey of Tony Stark and the classic arc reactor reminding us of the beginning of Iron Man’s journey.

+ Fontaine Fantasies: The biggest release by Fontaine Cards yet! Find out more about this new release which is a follow-up to the Fontaine Futures and Fever Dreams.

+ Star Wars Gold Foil Edition: Theory11’s special edition deck now comes adorned with stunning gold foil on the tuck box. 

+ Solving the Hidden Puzzle on the Neil Patrick Harris Deck: Watch Chris Ramsay go down the rabbit hole to uncover the secret behind the Neil Patrick Harris Playing Cards.

+ The Magicians: Find out more about this unique deck and card game dedicated to the world of the conjuring arts designed for both magicians and collectors.

+ Far-O’s: The creative team at Organic Playing Cards has released their newest line: The Far-Os Playing Cards! Check it out!

+ Grid Series 4: The elegant deck picks up from Luke Wadey‘s popular GS3, bringing an all-new design and neon green aesthetic.

… and more! 54 pages of articles and deck images. Enjoy!