Fully custom decks. A rare beast indeed?

Sep 11, 2011
28
0
Florida, USA
xmetal.me
I just got back into cards (after recently discovering cardistry) and have picked up some nice decks in the last few weeks. I was looking through them all and it struck me that of the decks easily available these days, it seems like VERY few are actually full custom decks; that is not just the back, Ace of spades and a Joker.

I absolutely LOVE the Sentinels I just got as they are actually full custom. All the court cards are custom, pips are custom, numbers are custom. I think that is fantastic and really shows some love for the design of the cards. Now I love all the ones I've picked up so far (from Theory11, Ellusionist and elsewhere) but the Sentinels are the only ones that are full out custom.

Other than the Jaqk (which I see are on eBay) I really haven't come across many others that go all out. I know a few of the custom projects I've seen via Kickstarter are custom and I'm looking forward to jumping on those, but there aren't may more I can see that aren't "collector" grade. Any suggestions?

Decks are just so much fun to play with and look through, but want some more variety... :)
 
I believe Sentinels were the first fully custom deck to be mass produced in the magic community, and I have not seen any decks that follow suit(no pun intended). There are a few that come close however, such as Arcanes and Artifice. Even Smoke & Mirrors have some simplified court cards.

The issue with fully custom decks is that from a spectators point of view, they don't look like a normal deck of cards. This can lead to the assumption that they are a gimmicked or gaff deck even if they are not. So from a magicians point of view, custom cards are not really useable.
 
Sep 11, 2011
28
0
Florida, USA
xmetal.me
I never thought of it from that perspective. Do you really think your average joe would notice a deck design? What would the all blacks do then, as they sure look the wierdest of all? I guess I need to get a little more magic perspective. :) Still, as a piece of design art (I'm a creative director by trade) I really like to see decks with a bit more attention to detail and customizing.
 
I never thought of it from that perspective. Do you really think your average joe would notice a deck design? What would the all blacks do then, as they sure look the wierdest of all? I guess I need to get a little more magic perspective. :) Still, as a piece of design art (I'm a creative director by trade) I really like to see decks with a bit more attention to detail and customizing.

You're a creative director? That's sick, where at?. I am a recently graduated graphic designer from CCAD. Maybe you are familiar with the place since you're from Ohio. Anyway the answer to your question is yes, they do notice. People are used to standard bicycle cards with a red or blue back and when you change that they notice. I remember having a lot of trouble with the Ghost deck as people couldn't tell if it was a black or red card since the pips are all black.
 
Apr 2, 2011
44
1
Germany
The Artifice deck from E is completely custom too and the 125th anniversary edition from Bicycle as well. But I think this deck doesn't count, since its from Bicycle.
 
Sep 11, 2011
28
0
Florida, USA
xmetal.me
@yoourMOM Thanks for the tip. I found some Artifice on eBay and those do look nice, I'll have to pick one up.

@onimusha I'll have to remember to keep the dramatic black decks out for flourishing, but use something regular if I want to do a little magic. That does make sense, those dramatic decks look sweet but do take a moment to decipher if you haven't seen them before. I've never been to CCAD but I did go to OSU for a while in graphic design. I work here and here these days, but am located in Florida now. :)
 
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