Bad decks?

[Jrishton]

I've had some incredible decks from T11... And some awful ones. I ordered the Sentinels and I was completely unimpressed by their lack of shine and appeal, unlike what I saw in the video. The more I used them however, the more I fell in love with the handling and ease of the deck, and now it's one of my favorites. I can say the opposite however, with the archangels and the monarchs... I love the design, the looks... But the more I used the monarchs, the more they clumped, and within a week they were trash. My Archangels came out of the box beautiful, but the handling has been terrible from the start. I wanted to like them s much, but I just can't. A friend of mine had the same problems. The reviews I read however, say they handle wonderfully. Are there just bad batches? If I reorder some, will I get better quality decks possibly? Anyone else have this issue?

 

[Clark]

I can't speak for the Monarchs however I completely understand where you're coming from with the Archangels.

I ordered a couple of decks when they were first released and, at first, I was impressed with how well they handled. After a couple of weeks of fairly consistent use they were starting to clump quite badly. To begin with I thought this may be due to the fact that I had taken them abroad with me, so the change in climate and pressure probably messed with them. Recently however I've bought another few decks and they really aren't keeping well, often clumping after only a week of use.

I have no idea why this might be happening and I still maintain that the archangels are the best looking cards I've seen, but I really don't rate them much when it comes to longevity.

 

[Parker Nolan]

I haven't yet purchased any decks from here, but the reason you read such good reviews is because the buyers write them within the first three days they get them. They have not had the deck long enough to have problems with it, so they write great reviews. I am not saying the Archangels or Monarchs are bad cards (as I do not own them), but this is what happens with every product sold online (premature reviews, not bad quality)

 

[Jrishton]

Haha, that's why I don't watch reviews on youtube of people opening the cards. You can't tell right out of the box.. And I feel like theory 11 is biased as far as reviews go, because I've written bad reviews that haven't been published. But I just gotta know if these decks are all bad or just have bad batches

 

[KonTW]

I have to agree with you - the Monarchs start clumping very fast - but I still love them

 

[HeavyMetalMagician]

They're clumping because you either have sweaty hands, very warm hands, or you just use them too much. Most decks will clump within a week or so now depending on how much you use them. When it's cold they tend to fan nicely though. And I myself love the archangels, they lasted a while for me.

 

[krab]

This is why i use bikes. I got through a brick a week between hours of practice, gaffs, signed cards, torn cards, spills at tables, sticky hands and the Houston humidity. Sure other decks look nice but you can't get them at Walgreen or Target in a pinch. Not saying I don't have some of these decks in my collection, I just don't perform with them.

 

[Jacob Mathias]

I can speak for monarchs, and at first I got them and really did not think that they were as good as they were supposed to be, but after a while, they got broken in and are one of my favorite decks now.

 

[Andrei]

I've never had a bad batch personally but I know it can vary depending on where you live. In my case, here in Las Vegas, it's a desert so the cards can sit without warping at all. In contrast, I remember my trip to Florida didn't go so well where the postman left my package outside for a few hours and since the weather was so humid, the cards instantly clumped up and got puffy. It depends on a lot of factors that are outside of theory11's control but I can definitely attest that they leave our factory in pristine condition.

That said, the cards are printed with the best quality specs on the same press that makes cards for leading casinos - the highest quality standards attainable. At the end of the day, they are just paper and no matter what kind of finish and magical coatings we apply, they will accordingly be vulnerable to climate, humidity, dirt, and oils. My advice: make sure you always handle the deck with clean hands, and keep it stored in a cool, safe, dry environment whenever possible.

As far as reviews go, "these cards suck so much, they clump" isn't really an in-depth review. Definitely need to provide a bit more feedback so we can better understand the situation and reach out to help. I've personally approved several negative reviews just recently. Our team is instructed to publish every in-depth review we get. We look forward to constructive criticism as it makes us work harder to improve the quality of the cards. Definitely guilty of being biased toward positive reviews but who isn't? It makes our day to hear you guys enjoying the cards! Please let us know if anything!

 

[KonTW]

Thanks for the input Andrei!

I personally love the Monarchs - they are my absolute favourite deck - but I still have
the feeling that they start clumping much faster than normal Bicycles or such.

I always have my hands cleaned before I handle a deck of Cards and I'm mostly in the same area, so
that the temperature is pretty much changeless...I don't really understand this...

However, there's nothing to prevent me from buying and loving the Monarchs

 

[Darianb99]

I bought a deck of Guardians and a simalar thing happened. After about a week they barley fanned. I then got a new one and they have been fine since

 

[VagueTheory]

I bought a deck of Monarchs a while back and found them to clump really quickly as well, but I have REALLY sweaty hands.

However, I've found that old Ohio decks don't clump as easily for me (they may be disgustingly wet after an hour or so of me handling them, which THEN they become unfannable/unspreadable). I have old Ohio decks of Tally Hos and new Kentucky decks as well. The Kentucky ones do in fact clump quicker, so to me, I'm convinced that something different in the printing process is the reason.

That's just me though.