Guardians, My review

The Dark Angel

forum moderator / t11
Sep 1, 2007
2,003
18
32
Denver, Colorado
Guardians, My review (Now with visual aide)

The official spam:

It has arrived. A deck whose design itself stems from the foundation of Bicycle's classic Rider Back design, only rejuvenated in a more redefined, intricate, industrial, modern design. This is what the classic Bicycle Angels look like. On steroids. Never before has a deck of this quality and level of intricacy been produced. Never before has this much attention to detail been manifested through a pack of playing cards.

The Feel:
To me, this feel like your regular deck of Bicycle cards, but not quite as smooth compared to your standard rider back. The roughness is not an issue, they will fan and riffle just fine. In my opinion they work better than a regular deck while doing a Ribbon Spread, so for my that is a bonus. The box says that they are Air Cushion finish.

EDIT: I went back and played with these cards some more and noticed that the roughness is a little bothersome to me, as it just seems to get in the way, but I will leave everyone else up to their own judgements on the roughness issue.
7/10


The Handle:
I pretty much answered this in the above post, but in my opinion, they handle just fine.
9/10


The Look:
Easily the best part about them, the Bicycle Guardians are without a doubt, some of the best looking cads I have ever seen in my entire liftetime.
I won't describe them to you, since most of you will probably know what they look like, but let me say that they look even better in person!
They are essentially the same as a regular Bike deck, but on steroids.
The red in the Hearts and Diamonds is a shade or two darker, almost a blood red.
All of the face cards have some metallic gray coloring in them, and of course the Ace of Spades is that amazing looking feathered wing look.
The box looks the same as it does in the promotional pictures, and the bottom has the Theory 11 emblem.
Apart from the standard 52 card deck, it also includes 2 Jokers (Very cool looking) an advertisement card for T11, and a double backed card.
10/10

Overall, these are easily my favorite playing cards, ones which I will cherish and enjoy for years to come.
If I have one complaint about the deck however, is that there isn't an alternate color scheme at this point in time. There's no white or red or blue Guardian decks available at this time, so doing a color change with this deck is pretty much impossible.
If you are looking for an AMAZING looking, and feeling deck, then screw the Ghost deck, screw the Viper and screw the Black Tiger, go for the Guardians.

EDIT: Make that two complaints. The lack of an alternate color scheme and the roughness, however I have found that it makes it easier for me to perform the Biddle Trick. Other than that, they are perfect.

Q: Are the backs of them one way?
A: No, they aren't. (Meaning that if you change the direction of them, they will look the same on the back.)

Overall score:
9/10

Below is the link for a quick little video that I threw together just to let everyone have an idea of what the cards look like, and what is included in the deck.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=x4etbvNyWTk
 
Last edited by a moderator:

The Dark Angel

forum moderator / t11
Sep 1, 2007
2,003
18
32
Denver, Colorado
they are one way look at the pistons =)

Oh, I see what you are talking about. The dark gray ones on the side?
I don't consider subtle differences in the cards like this to be one way.
Now, if there was only one angel, smack dab in the center, not symmetrical at all, I would consider THAT symmetrical.
 
Sep 1, 2007
17
0
Isn't one way back better for us, so that we can perform bonus effect with it

i should be ordering t11 by tonight and receive them next week...

I'm in Malaysia so i am mentally prepared for whatever consequences can happen to my cards due to the humid weather...
 
Sep 1, 2007
12
0
Hong Kong
The Feel:
To me, this feel like your regular deck of Bicycle cards, but not quite as smooth compared to your standard rider back. The roughness is not an issue, they will fan and riffle just fine. In my opinion they work better than a regular deck while doing a Ribbon Spread, so for my that is a bonus. The box says that they are Air Cushion finish.

EDIT: I went back and played with these cards some more and noticed that the roughness is a little bothersome to me, as it just seems to get in the way, but I will leave everyone else up to their own judgements on the roughness issue.
7/10

Is the slightly rough feel similar to E's 1800 deck?

I've handled 1800 before and felt a bit roughness unlike regular rider back bike.
 
Sep 1, 2007
586
0
Cornwall
i dont own any guardian decks...and probably wont buy any in the near future
but by looking at that vid
i thought of a easy and semi lame trick with the theory 11 card

have you force a jack for instance
then say you found their card, but its the ad card for theory 11(11...jack get it?)

then shapeshifter so it changes back to the jack...


meh lol
 
Sep 1, 2007
1,005
3
if it is not a PERFECT match, then it's got a one-way design. any subtle difference, intentional or not, will make them one-way readers. for example many many many masters decks I've bought from "E" were cut/printed incorrectly and there's more white border on one side of the rider back graphic than the other side. this makes them a one-way design (and a pain in the ass for T & R effects)

you really want one-ways to be subtle. the best in my opinon are like Texan Palmettos where the one-way design goes right out to the border, that way you can use them as "edge readers" for various effects.
 
guys these feel much much better then 1800's it hink the uneven ink was the problem with those....*shutter* i wanted to like those cards real bad but was dissappointed. these are my total favorate. standard stock that i love ( i don;t like the thick "casino" stock) and nice dependable bike finish.
 
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