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.