Deck View: Haunted 8s Playing Cards

Spooky. Fun. Custom.

Ghouls, Goblins, Headless horsemen, Zombies, Scarecrows, Pumpkins, and more…! All packed into Kings Wild Project‘s Haunted 8’s Playing Cards. This spooky deck was originally released to Kings Wild Shorts subscribers in 2020.

Fully custom and hand-illustrated, fans of Kings Wild will certainly recognize some of the design elements from this deck. Jackson Robinson took his well-loved Crazy 8’s theme and completely redrew it into the Haunted 8s.

A fun-filled deck brimming with artistry and ingenuity for All Hallows’ Eve. The theme, colors, spooky characters, and design elements that make up Haunted 8s came together perfectly!

Legends of Elven Resistance Playing Cards

One of the most prominent playing card designers in the community, Nicolai Aaroe has designed countless great thematic playing cards. Now with another cool project on Kickstarter, Legends of Elven Resistance Playing Cards, a deck series based on the mythical race of elves.

The Legends of Elven Resistance has two different editions: Hiroyini and Glamhoth. Hiroyini will have a darker color palette, while Glamhoth will have a bright green colorway.

The tuck box for both editions will be done with premium matte special paper stock adorned with embossed filigree of gold foiling and interior artwork done in copper foiling. The limited decks will be numbered and its seal is placed on the bottom of the tuck box.

Inside, the Number cards featured customized pips in a standard layout. The Aces and the Courts are the main thing of the decks, featuring different sets of characters of elves and orcs.

Both Hiroyini and Glamhoth feature two different sets of artworks, as well as different color palettes – Hiroyini edition, will have muted monotone colors, while the Glamhoth edition will have full bright colors.

The card back design for both editions features a two-way design of elvish ornamentation in an eye-catching gold tone. While the Hiroyini edition has fancy filigree within a white border, the Glamhoth edition has a beautifully natural pattern on a full-bleed colored background – a tribute to the woodland of the kingdom of elves.

Both decks will be printed by Noir Arts Playing Cards with premium linen finish. Pledge starts at $12 on Kickstarter.

JUIC'd Playing Cards, Less Than 24 Hours Remaining on Kickstarter.

Howlin’ Jacks Breakfast Club Sessions is a series of three playful decks: TOAST’d, FROST’d and now… JUIC’d. Inspired by childhood breakfast cereals, this FULLY custom deck comes with sweet, lusciously-colorful court cards and refreshingly-original pips. Another incredible companion set to the Breakfast Club Session with an embossed tuck box! Available for another 24 hours on Kickstarter and pledge starts at $9.

12 Playing Cards Perfect for Halloween 2022

It’s that time of the year! We have painstakingly compiled the best playing cards for All Hallows’ Eve just for you… the 2022’s Kardify Top 12: Decks for Halloween! This year with enough glow-in-the-dark monsters, bones, skulls, quirky characters, and steampunk pirates to keep your spine tingling through the night. If you have one that we haven’t discovered, feel free to share your favorite spine-tinging deck in the comment section below.

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

Black Requiem Counterspell

From Stockholm17, the fully custom Black Requiem Counterspell features darkness and pain as a theme. The face cards come with gold and silver foil application and gold foil on the back design. As the illustrations for the Courts, Jokers, and Aces are very dark, the Black Requiem casts a counterspell using Magick sigils on those cards depicting the feeling. 

Play Dead V2

The stylish Play Dead V2 from Riffle Shuffle features mixes of bold line and shape patterns with the 3D forms, but this time with a teal-green colorway. Designed by Steven Harrison, the Skull theme pops with complementary colors and lines. 

Fulton’s October UV Glow

The fourth edition of Fulton’s October is a frightfully fun and whimsical deck featuring the illustrated artwork of Steven Noble. This edition comes with UV glow-inks that come to light up when exposed to a black light. These look absolutely unreal!

Psychonauts

From Joker and the Thief, Psychonauts Playing Cards explore reality beyond the perception of the five senses! This unique deck features custom art in reference to real-world influential spiritual figures hand illustrated by Pedro Oyarbide.

Bicycle Circus

A fully custom Bicycle-branded playing cards by PlayingCardDecks inspired by childhood memories of attending the circus! The custom court cards represent circus characters, from the ringmaster, juggler, and acrobats to the strongman and tightrope walker. The retro feel of the deck adds to the charm!

Arcane Tales

Arcane Tales by the Italian designer Giovanni Meroni is the second deck of the Tales series inspired by Fairy Tales, Fables, and Fantasy Books. The decks offer a vast array of characters of the most popular fairy tales, from witches, elves, to giants and orcs. Definitely a fun deck for Halloween!

666

Produced by Riffle Shuffle the deck is inspired by mysterious occult practices. The overall design looks deceptively simplistic at first glance. However, hold the tuck box to the light to reveal intricate details that were hiding in the shadows. Fully custom artwork insides with stunning metallic inks.

Shamanic Journey

The unique Shamanic Journey playing cards by 3rd Dominion features unique tuck boxes with ornaments that are filled with hidden abstract images of lizards and birds, as well as invisible, UV-glow images of wolf, shamans, and skeletons. Inside, the deck is fully custom with hand-illustrated court cards, jokers, bold Ace of Spades, and detailed card backs.

Campy Creatures

The Campy Creature Deadluxe Playing Cards are designed by Keymaster Games featuring twelve unique hand illustrations of notorious B-movie horror monsters including The Blob, The Invisible Man, The Man-Eating Plant, The Swamp Creature, and many more.

Beowulf

Beowulf playing cards inspired by the longest epic poem with the characters represented on the face cards in unique carving-styled artwork by Jackson Robinson. The deck is kept in a tuck case designed to resemble an ancient book, including life-like features to resemble canvas and leather design-work, and finished with realistic wear-n-tear details. 

Vengeance of Witches

By Nicolai Aaroe, Vengeance of Witches is a 17th-century witchcraft playing cards, manufactured with deluxe features in two limited editions. The artwork on the full bleed card backs features intricate artwork printed with metallic copper inks and blood red accents in Pantone. The face cards are hand-illustrated and feature archetypes inspired by the 17th-century witch-hunts.

Noctober

Two years in the making, House of Playing Cards, Noctober deck features a cut-out Jack-O-Lantern tuck design and an eye-catching neon orange colorway with black borders to bring that Halloween vibe to the deck. The coolest feature of using neon colors in playing cards is the magnificent glow when shined under a black light!

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

Here's What We Know About Thirdway Industries' Devotion Playing Cards

Thirdway Industries has just released its second Patreon yearly reward, Devotion Playing Cards. The deck has been shrouded in secrecy, here’s what we know so far:

1. Thirdway Industries Patrons are encouraged to share images of the Devotion card backs and tuck box on socials. NOT images of Devotion face cards, especially not the courts.

2. Devotion is NOT available for sale, even for Patrons.

3. Court cards are 100% new and not standard.

4. Devotion is gilded, it has a premium tuck box and comes with hot foil on the back.

5. A Devotion is made for Patrons. Basically, the lore is about 4 different ways to worship the same Monotheistic Deity. 

If you are not a Patron, the only way to get Devotion now is to subscribe with a “Sword” yearly membership on TWI Patreon. This costs a total of $ 324/year ($30/month x12, with 10% off). This grants 2022 yearly rewards, Devotion and Eva, plus all the monthly decks of 2022 Q4 and 2023 Q1, Q2, Q3 (the total is from 7 to 13 decks).

Genoese Tarot Playing Cards by Elettra Deganello

Designed by Elettra Deganello, the Genoese Tarot is a deck of playing cards crafted for card games that were still played in several European countries. The card design combines the elegance of the traditional Genoese 40-card deck with the iconic vivid imagery of the French Marseilles tarot. This deck will have a total of 88 cards: 56 suit cards, 21 trumps, 1 fool, 2 jokers, and 8 extra cards. Everything will be fully customized with Elettra’s artwork.

The court cards feature beautifully drawn two-way courts, complete with iconographies and visuals based on historical references. Each court will have an index as well as the name of the card in Italian. For this tarot deck, the courts include an extra figure: the Cavalier (or knight), a character figure with a horse, is added to all four suits and ranks between the Jack and the Queen.

The Number and Aces are based on traditional French playing cards with a clean minimalistic design. Two of the cards have a special design. The Seven of Diamonds has a subtle ornament on the center pip which referenced the card that plays a special role in a trick-taking card game.

The Ace of Hearts features a linework art of a historical allegory of Genoa, a griffin prevailing over an eagle and a fox. The Jokers feature an illustration of Janus, the two-faced Roman god as well as the ancient symbol of Genoa.

The Trump cards are the main distinguishing feature of the tarot deck. Both Fool and the rest of the Trumps feature beautifully detailed two-way artworks that have subtle differences between the two sides. You can see how these illustrations resembled the iconic Marseilles Tarot. These cards will have a big number index along with their Italian name.

The extra cards in the deck are 6 game cards, an extra third Joker, and an extra trump card. These game cards are “cheat sheets” to help you remember the rules of some of your favorite card games. The third Joker is used as an acknowledgment card. The extra Trump card is called “butterfinger”, described as a wild card in case the deck is missing a Trump card.

The back design is inspired by the traditional Genoese laggioin, the colorful ornamental glazed tiles that decorate the staircases and interiors of many local palaces – these are inspired by traditional Iberian and Islamic art.

It is a symmetrical geometric pattern with flowers and diamonds. The color of the back is green with hints of gold and white. The gold color on both faces and back will be printed with metallic ink. The cards will be produced by Cartamundi on a superluxe board with standard varnish.

There are two editions of the deck: Standard and Deluxe. The Standard Edition will have cards tucked inside a classic box that mirrors the card back design. The Deluxe Edition will have cards gilded with gold foil and tucked inside a specially-produced tuck box with a detailed illustration of 15th century Genoa cityscape done in bronze and gold hot foil. Both tucks will be produced by Boschiero & Newton.

Pledge starts at $22 for a single Standard Genoese Tarot on Kickstarter. Don’t miss out!

First Look at Vermillion Bird and Black Tortoise Playing Cards

After the huge success of the Azure Dragon, the team from ARK playing cards has released the equally stunning follow-up, the VERMILION BIRD and BLACK TORTOISE playing cards.

Both decks draw inspiration from one of the mythical guardians of the East. Taking shape in a uniquely designed tuck box, which magically doubles as storage and display of art.

The Vermillion Bird and Black Tortoise are two of the Four Devine Beasts with a long history in China, and it is also the most representative theme of Eastern culture. The design of the decks pays tribute to and reproduces the classic image of the mythical beasts.

From the tuck box to the playing cards, and other design elements of the beasts and the Warriors on the court cards. 

The court cards portray generals and officers of different military ranks, wielding traditional Chinese weapons: Spades- Spear, Lance, Sword, Diamonds- Halberd, Bow, Axe, Clubs- Warhammer, Glaive, Trident, and Hearts: Dagger-axe, Dual Swords, Crescent Blade.

The design of the Aces is an extension of the vines and frame patterns on the back design and combines delicate armor and weapons according to the color and shape of the suits. The Joker takes the Chinese Yin Yang Tai Chi model, combining the shapes of the sun and moon with armor-like designs.

3 versions are available for both editions, Classic Collector’s Box Set (Limited to 1000), Black Gold Box Set (Limited to 500), and Walnut Box Set (Limited to 300).

Pre-orders are available at tccplayingcard.com on 24 October and a collector set starts at $59. Also, more incredible images are on the online store. Check it out!

Deck View: Priory (Primary Edition) Playing Cards

Colors. Bold. Visual.

Priory playing cards by Encarded features bold colors and modern sweeping lines. Inspired by a small fresco motif found in a French church built in the 13th century, the deck is truly eye-catching. The repeated and rotated combination creates a visual riot of movement that draws the eye back and forth across the design.

The faces are fully custom, with unique pips and a modern typeface, while the courts feature a bold “reversed” look with intense pinks, reds, and blacks. The Primary Edition is numbered 1-1500 and sealed with a custom holographic seal. The tuck box is printed on a heavy-duty gloss white cardstock with embossing and full coverage inks that highlight the bold, primary colors of the Priory.

Priory is printed by Expert Playing Cards with their Stud finish and a very snappy, thin stock. Sold out on encarded.com

Palmistry Playing Cards by Chamber of Wonder

Chamber of Wonder headed by Canadian magician and videographer Tom Hsiung has released its third deck on Kickstarter, Palmistry Playing Cards based on the art of Palmistry, the ability to read palms.

Designed by Daphna Sebane, the deck has two editions: Golden Ivory and Silver Sable. The tuck box for both editions are made with a premium matte finish paper with embossed artwork and shiny pearl foils.

The artwork on the box features an imitation of an advertisement piece that you would see outside the fortune teller’s office.

There is an interior artwork showing more advertisements for Palmistry Art. The Golden Ivory will feature a brighter color scheme with hints of gold, while The Silver Sable will feature a darker color scheme with hints of silver. 

The card back design features an intricately detailed framework made of filigree and symbols. The center frame features a double hand with palm lines holding a rose flower.

The Aces are customized with an artwork of a hand with palm lines holding its respective suit. The Number cards featured pips with inner artwork done in metallic ink based on each edition. The Courts are illustrated based on the classic design, beautifully matching the theme of the deck.

Printed by Taiwan Playing Card Company with their Legendary Luxury Finish. Pledge starts at $12 for a single deck or $24 for the set on Kickstarter.

Less Than 3 Days Remaining on Kickstarter, Chancers Playing Cards

Produced by Card Inn (Instagram: @thecardinn) and designed by @47kills, Chancers Playing Cards is the representation of taking risks in life to gain your reward. The deck has hit 193% of its funding goal on Kickstarter with less than 3 days to go!

The deck is fully custom features truly unique court cards and comes with two editions, Standard black edition, and matte red edition. The two Good Pals mascots, Skel & Eton, are prominently featured throughout the deck. 

The back design was inspired by classics such as Keepers and Bicycle decks. The intricate designs will appeal to collectors and those with an appreciation for playing card design. Also, the design is casino-themed which matches the theme of risk, gambling, and trying to gain an advantage.

The courts are fully custom and continue the Good Pals theme of skeleton artwork. Each suit features new Skeletal characters with their own custom robes. Look closely, and you will also find that the suit is carefully interwoven into the crowns + garments of the courts. 

All aces have an enlarged pip to signify their importance, however, the Ace of Spades takes center stage with a custom design featuring our Skeletal Pals.

The standard edition has an ornate design on the face, sides, and back of the tuck featuring the card back design. The red edition tuck box features minor design changes and upgrades such as a matte tuck.

Printed by USPCC and pledge starts at $13 on Kickstarter.

All The Decks Spotted at the Inaugural CardCon

Have a look at the decks spotted at the first-ever CardCon at Irvine, CA! This exclusive experience by Bicycle is dedicated to celebrating a collective love of cards. From the NFT Booth, the Bicycle NFT Playing Cards (finally!):

Emcee Chris Ramsay officially revealed the first-ever CardCon deck.

Also the announcement of the new and extraordinary Peacock deck with cold foil technology. 

Chris “Orbit” Brown revealed the new Tally-Ho x Orbit deck (blue and red) (Images by @socal.playing.cards). 

David Blaine revealed the Bicycle Gatorback Holo Metalluxe (Images by @socal.playing.cards).

Also spotted is the Bicycle Iridescent Prototype deck (Images by @gavinwongmagic).