theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards
Steampunk Deck
- Thread starter DannyT
- Start date
Hey there!
I am a Steampunk enthusiast myself. I have not purchased the deck, but I think we're kind of missing the point of card making and design:
theory11 has put a MAJOR amount of effort into this deck, not to mention every single deck that has been released in the past. But no matter how much work and effort is put into a product, there will be naysayers. This is just a fact of life. While theory11 puts as much of the community's thoughts into the development of their products, no amount of care will please everyone. We are all different, and there is no way in the world that ANY company of ANY product can make the perfect "pinnacle". There's a reason the saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" has been around for so long. I personally think the deck is great from what I can tell, but everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I've learned that, with many things, diversity makes the world go round. I hope that we can learn a little something from this, but if not, well that's cool too. Thanks for reading.
John Heide
I am a Steampunk enthusiast myself. I have not purchased the deck, but I think we're kind of missing the point of card making and design:
theory11 has put a MAJOR amount of effort into this deck, not to mention every single deck that has been released in the past. But no matter how much work and effort is put into a product, there will be naysayers. This is just a fact of life. While theory11 puts as much of the community's thoughts into the development of their products, no amount of care will please everyone. We are all different, and there is no way in the world that ANY company of ANY product can make the perfect "pinnacle". There's a reason the saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" has been around for so long. I personally think the deck is great from what I can tell, but everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I've learned that, with many things, diversity makes the world go round. I hope that we can learn a little something from this, but if not, well that's cool too. Thanks for reading.
John Heide
Well it doesn't matter what they do, there will always be someone who will say "Well you didn't do this..." so for what it is, I'm pretty happy with it.
It seems the "shininess" aspect that some buyers were bringing-up kinda got lost as valid subject-matter. I honestly don't care if it's metallic foil that's used on the cards or metallic ink that's used on the cards. The point is that they are the same level of metallic as the box itself. If Metallic ink works better then use that. I'd like to feel like I'll get my finger stuck in a gear if I were to hold the card the wrong way. Shiny=metal and metal is what most gears are made of I don't really think this logic is super debatable. C'mon guys, blind me or something 
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Hey JB. I know this is an old thread but I’ve been browsing trying to find out about the variations in Steampunks. It appears as though USPCC’s directly distro’d Steampunk is more along the lines of your own. Is it safe to say the SP’s we’re finding at Walgreens (and other specialty stores that order through USPCC) are what T11 offers directly?Hey Danny! Thanks for the review and great feedback. Regarding the back design - I think it's fair to say that Steampunk pushes the envelope further than anything before in terms of realism and intricacy and depth on a playing card. This picture says it all - it looks like you can TOUCH those gears! While the box has some cool accents like the bronze paper and debossing, those things aren't physically possible on a playing card while maintaining the feel and finish we all expect. Sure, we could do it - but the deck would feel like sandpaper and fan like wood chips mixed with concrete.
So in the design process, we aim to push both formats to the max: a box with some incredible features and innovative printing techniques, and a card design that does much the same. It's impossible to print metallic foil on a playing card, though - as the linen finish and coatings would eat away the foil. If it was possible, we would have done it last year.
To give a bit of insight, we always start each design with the card back - not the box and not the Ace or Joker. The back is the most important thing to us - it's what actually sits in your hands, and it's what spectators will see the most. From there, we progress to the Ace of Spades, then the Joker, and then - finally - the box. For boxes, we take the existing back design art and try to figure out the most creative, innovative means to represent it. In the case of Steampunk (or DeckONE), that meant making the box look as real as possible, like a true hunk of metal.
The Steampunk bronze paper was milled from scratch specifically for this project. It didn't exist. When we first made it, we got very excited! We did something that had never been done before! Victory! Not so fast... we quickly found out that the ink wasn't sticking to the bronze paper we created.
So we had made a LOT of paper, and had no ability to print anything on it without it rubbing off. When all hope was lost - we kept going. We found an obscure company that made a special varnish coating, and we ordered six very expensive gallons of it. We tried applying that coating - and viola! - it worked! And it made the ink stick. It was a great challenge, but I could not be happier and more content with the result.
Also wanted to say thanks. I messaged you on IG a while ago when I noticed a couple Targets didn’t have T11 representation. Safe to say you fixed that and I haven’t seen a Target without your stock since! Congrats, man! Also, please tell Dan White to use Jimmys deck when he’s on LMAO
Have a photo of the specific Steampunk decks referenced? Hard to tell without a photo to confirm - but let us know!Hey JB. I know this is an old thread but I’ve been browsing trying to find out about the variations in Steampunks. It appears as though USPCC’s directly distro’d Steampunk is more along the lines of your own. Is it safe to say the SP’s we’re finding at Walgreens (and other specialty stores that order through USPCC) are what T11 offers directly?
Also wanted to say thanks. I messaged you on IG a while ago when I noticed a couple Targets didn’t have T11 representation. Safe to say you fixed that and I haven’t seen a Target without your stock since! Congrats, man! Also, please tell Dan White to use Jimmys deck when he’s on LMAO
Re: Target - yes! Thank you!