In 2021, Lorenzo Gaggiotti released an archaeo-fantasy project based on the age of sails, the Eye of the Ocean – a story of discovering the mythical sailing island. It is not just a deck of playing cards that were offered, but also a novel telling its story along with an interactive puzzle. It was one of our Top12 decks of the year and also received the Diamond Award from 52+Joker in 2022. And now, the second and last part of the project is currently live on Kickstarter.
In the Eye of the Ocean Part 2 Playing Cards, the journey will take place on the mythical sailing island itself, exploring all the mysteries around the place. There are three main editions for this project: Gibborim, Malakim, and Nephilim.
There is a very limited edition, Windwatcher, which can only be obtained on higher tiers. Additionally, there is the mini version of Windwatcher which is available to everyone. All of the decks share the same faces, while the back designs vary in colors and graphics.
The tuck box for the decks features exquisite premium matte stock with multi-layers of metallic foiling and embossing, as well as many die-cut windows to see the cards in. The box has an elongated flap that extends fully on the back side of the box – it opens up like an envelope. The interior side of the box will have a full graphic artwork, with each edition having a different artwork. The tuck boxes are produced by Boschiero & Newton.
The back design features an artwork of interlocking geometrical shapes with runes and symbols all around it. The background features a building on a mythical island, with different buildings shown in their respective editions.
The Aces features illustrations of floating temples of the island in the shape of each respective pips. The court cards show rich detailed characters complete with vibrant colors.
The four Jokers depict story parts of the project, such as the schematics of the mysteries of the Eye of the Ocean. The card’s face background has a map portion on it, so when it is arranged carefully, it will form a large map of the mythical island.
In addition to the playing cards, there is also the novel. It will be a hardcover book with gilded pages that tell the story of the Eye of the Ocean from start to finish. There is also the card guard, designed to look like the face of a stone golem, and there’s the puzzle device which is needed to solve the puzzle built-in to the project.
All of the cards will be printed by WJPC. Pledge starts from $19 for either Gibborim or Malakim Playing Cards OR $24 for Nephilim Playing Cards on Kickstarter.
