Master mentalist Kellar O’Neil comes with the idea of creating the most beautiful playing cards in the world for magicians, cardists, game enthusiasts and collectors. Partnering up with Chris Tipton, he established Marvelous Decks.
Since its creation, they have produced wonderful decks, like Hummingbird Feathers – decks based on the beautiful feathers of a hummingbird; and Twenty Twenty – decks that told the story of the global pandemic. Now, Marvelous Decks is presenting their best project yet, brought to by Widakk Design and Dalibass Design, House of Whispers Playing Cards.
Known as the Invisible Ink Collective, House of Whispers Playing Cards features the idea of a royal household that keeps the secrets of the “Owl Master” that have been locked behind the golden gates of the manor for centuries. It is an imaginable mansion where it features decorative rooms with magical secrets that can be heard with a gentle whisper just like the flight of an owl.
The card back design features the artwork of a heavily detailed mansion room, complete with windows, arches, and filigrees. You can spot the initials emblem with a crown on top right away on both sides, complete with a banner that spells the name. There are two owls, each one is peached onto the banner. The House of Whispers deck features violet color with metallic rose gold cold foil, while The Great Hall deck features black color with metallic gold cold foil.
All of the Aces feature intricate works of a vintage cabinet showcasing the enlarged pips, with the Ace of Spades being the most detailed of them – a magnificent cabinet that features a lot of owls. The number cards have a standard design, with a single pip for each card will have a keyhole.
The Jokers feature identical illustrations of a dancing jester holding a large key in front of a hall of windows. The courts feature two-way illustrations of royal members of the mansion, done in Widdak style, framed inside the intricate border. This border, along with the details of the Jokers will be foiled: rose gold foil for The House of Whispers Deck, and gold foil for The Great Hall Deck.
The tuck box for the decks in this collection is fashioned as drawer boxes! So, the outside of the tuck is a slipped-off sleeve, producing the inside drawer that stores the cards. The House of Whispers outer sleeve features the intricate cabinet showing the title of the deck and two owls on the front, while the back side shows an intricate framework centring the initials emblem. It is made with black paper stock with white, copper, and silver hot foil.
The Great Hall outer sleeve features a minimalistic yet clean design – the front side shows the title of the deck, the back shows the initials emblem. It is made with white paper stock with gold foil. The inside box, which is the drawer box, features a beautiful repeating pattern with the emblem on the bottom side. There is a “door” box flap with 3D sculpted embossed owl – it has a pull tab that allows you to open and close the box, like opening and closing the door of the mansion. The House of Whispers drawer box features a black and silver colorway, while The Great Hall features a brown and gold.
There will be two extra variants for this collection, one is the “Colors of Light” – featuring a borderless design of a colorful palette representing the essence of the Stained Glass Window and the artwork details will be done in metallic turquoise foil. Every edition will have the Gilded variant of it – only a very limited amount made.
There are two editions are available during the Kickstarter campaign: The House of Whispers and The Great Hall. Cards will be printed by Cartamundi, while the Tuckboxes are printed by Fresh Impressions Studio. Pledge starts at $28 for a choice between the House of Whispers Deck or The Great Hall Deck on Kickstarter.
