I really like this box, it looks awesome and I'm a sucker for red/black decks. That being said, I really wasn't going to chime in, but there have been several unfair or unreasonable things said or implied in this thread that need to be challenged.
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Why do I feel like I've been teleported to another dimension? Where's Christopher and the other critical thinkers? Either a couple people I greatly respect have greatly surprised me with their behavior at the same time, in the same thread...or I'm going nuts.
Well, you know the old saying that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all? Yeah. Combine that with the fact that I know another voice of dissent was banned for loosing his opinion on this thread. Three guesses who, and the first two don't count.
I don't have enough invested in this to make a huge fuss. Austin already said things better than I could hope to, anyway. Excellent post - not only on this topic but on avoiding falling into the personality cult mentality that places like this encourage.
I support the idea of helping kids have creative outlets. However, I can't help but notice that this is a $10 deck of cards, and $1 goes to this charity. The Animal Kingdom cards donate $1 as well, but that's out of a $7 price. The Charity: Water deck donates 100% of proceeds. So, out of this $10 deck, $1 goes to charity and the other nine go to ... Whom? What justifies the increased price? I assume there's some kind of royalty deal but one of T11's selling points in my mind is that their decks are decently priced (for custom cards).
I understand that this is a project the team is invested in (emotionally and financially I'm sure) and I don't necessarily want to dump on their dreams. But I honestly was let down. I'm huge on the idea of letting the mind build the story because our imagination will usually do it better than anyone could do it for us. I just feel this was over hyped and under delivered. Like the horrible "Boo!" ending of Paranormal Activities.
Sure, there might be something more than 12 decks and a letter in this box but who cares? Those of us who are not part of the "If Theory11 did it, it must be gold!" mentality are not hooked. And heck, I am almost always a sucker for a good box. It's one of my things. I love boxes. But I'm not sold on a $150 box just to make a $12 donation to a charity. I'm not sold on the charity yet, honestly. Why did you guys focus so much on this box if the charity is the main point? Why not put out more information on how awesome the charity is?
At this point, I see page after page of hype about a box, and then to find out it's just filled with cards. You haven't filled me with mystery. You showed me what's in the box! There's no mystery if I know what's in the box! Then there's the vague hints, "That's not all!" Well, hook me. Give me something to think there's more than some expensive cards and a letter in this box.
I won't be surprised if I can't post after this goes up. Theory11 seems to be taking hints from the Cafe in regards to people who disagree.