First of all, let me once again both thank and apologize to Jonathan Bayme. A while back, a thread was started soliciting reviews for these cards. Mr. Bayme posted in that thread promising that the cards were amazing, and I posted saying, "No offense, dude, but that's kind of like Brad Christian posting a review of the Shadow Masters." I meant my post as a joke, but Mr. Bayme replied in short order, explaining that this company prides itself on honesty and that a lot of work went into the creation of the new Guardians. Then, he did something remarkably generous: he sent me a free deck of 2nd ed Guardians, right off his own desk, so I could feel the quality and decide how honest he'd been. I didn't mean my comment as anything but a joke, but I admit it was a bit rude and uncalled for, and I'd like to sincerely thank Mr. Bayme for turning the other cheek in such a generous fashion.
So, as promised, here is my review of the 2nd edition Guardian deck. For the most part, I'll be comparing them to E custom decks because that's what I know.
The first thing I noticed when I excitedly dug these things out of the packing peanuts was that the box had a small crease on one corner. I'm not sure if that happened during shipping or while they were sitting on Mr. Bayme's desk, but it didn't affect the cards at all, so it's not a big deal.
After I picked through the sticker and got the cards in my hands, the first thing I tried was a few fans (duh). This deck fans very well, and the finish seemed a little slicker than the UV 500. Normally I would expect this to cause major card-spilling during fans, but I have yet to have cards go shooting out of this deck like they did the first few times I fanned a deck of Tigers. The finish on this deck is amazing.
The next thing I tried out was springing and a few faro shuffles. The edges were a little rough for faroing right out of the box, but a few quick rubs with my thumb took care of the problem. With both springing and faroing, I immediately noticed one thing: dang, these cards are stiff! I laid them next to a deck of masters, and I'm pretty sure the Guardians are slightly thicker. This didn't hurt the handling, though. If anything, it improved it. Card-springs were nice and crisp, and the cards straightened right back out. Stock gets an A+.
A few days later, these cards have broken in better than anything I've ever used and are still handling like a dream. They have yet to do a "split fan" on me (you know, that thing where two cards want to fan more than the rest, regardless of what you do). Even Masters have done that to me soon after opening them. They also haven't clumped once, so whatever you guys did to prevent that seems to have worked.
I daresay that as far as sheer quality of the cards goes, the Guardians have beaten every E deck I've ever used. They handle better and seem as if they'll last longer than any E deck.
Aesthetically, though, this deck didn't quite do it for me. The muted colors make the cards seem a bit dull to me, and the angels seemed a bit mis-matched with the rest of the back. Still, I'll probably use this deck till it falls apart (which will take forever) if for no other reason than that it handles like the best dream you've ever had (no examples, please). If future decks share the same stock and finish and catch my eye a little better, I'll definitely pick them up and might even consider switching over, especially if they release a regular red- or blue-backed deck. I'm not sure if they can do that considering that E has already done it with the Masters, but if they did I'd never buy Masters again, because T11's stock seems better.
So, as promised, here is my review of the 2nd edition Guardian deck. For the most part, I'll be comparing them to E custom decks because that's what I know.
The first thing I noticed when I excitedly dug these things out of the packing peanuts was that the box had a small crease on one corner. I'm not sure if that happened during shipping or while they were sitting on Mr. Bayme's desk, but it didn't affect the cards at all, so it's not a big deal.
After I picked through the sticker and got the cards in my hands, the first thing I tried was a few fans (duh). This deck fans very well, and the finish seemed a little slicker than the UV 500. Normally I would expect this to cause major card-spilling during fans, but I have yet to have cards go shooting out of this deck like they did the first few times I fanned a deck of Tigers. The finish on this deck is amazing.
The next thing I tried out was springing and a few faro shuffles. The edges were a little rough for faroing right out of the box, but a few quick rubs with my thumb took care of the problem. With both springing and faroing, I immediately noticed one thing: dang, these cards are stiff! I laid them next to a deck of masters, and I'm pretty sure the Guardians are slightly thicker. This didn't hurt the handling, though. If anything, it improved it. Card-springs were nice and crisp, and the cards straightened right back out. Stock gets an A+.
A few days later, these cards have broken in better than anything I've ever used and are still handling like a dream. They have yet to do a "split fan" on me (you know, that thing where two cards want to fan more than the rest, regardless of what you do). Even Masters have done that to me soon after opening them. They also haven't clumped once, so whatever you guys did to prevent that seems to have worked.
I daresay that as far as sheer quality of the cards goes, the Guardians have beaten every E deck I've ever used. They handle better and seem as if they'll last longer than any E deck.
Aesthetically, though, this deck didn't quite do it for me. The muted colors make the cards seem a bit dull to me, and the angels seemed a bit mis-matched with the rest of the back. Still, I'll probably use this deck till it falls apart (which will take forever) if for no other reason than that it handles like the best dream you've ever had (no examples, please). If future decks share the same stock and finish and catch my eye a little better, I'll definitely pick them up and might even consider switching over, especially if they release a regular red- or blue-backed deck. I'm not sure if they can do that considering that E has already done it with the Masters, but if they did I'd never buy Masters again, because T11's stock seems better.
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