$10,000 is a lot for non-USPC, seems like a pass for me and a fail anyway.

My "favorite" parts are the backwards "Q" values found on the Queens of Spades and Hearts...

He takes an old set of court card faces, slaps bizarre patterns on the clothing and makes these THICK, BLACK LINES along the sides that print into the bleed...  The Jokers are direct rip-offs of the Joker King on Bicycle Jokers.

I just get the distinct feeling that he's trying to make his cards "different" solely for the sake of being different.  I do not find them attractive in the least.  It probably doesn't help that I was never a big fan of "Pop Art".

And can someone tell me why the King of Spades looks like he's wearing a baby carrier with a small dog in it?  Oh, wait a sec...  I got a closer look at the KS page for this deck.  It's just an artist's special, with all sorts of things hidden in the fabric of the court cards, like trucks, parking lots, dolphins, a stubbed cigarette butt, etc.  Still not a fan of the art, but hey, that's just me - I'm sure plenty of other people can appreciate the artist's concept and the work that went into his design.

I thought the designs looked bizarre at first too, but when I looked through the Kickstarter page I realised he must've spent a lot of time drawing in all the things that fit his Californian theme, so I don't think he's merely making his cards different for the sake of being different. I like that cut-and-paste zine aesthetic, especially with the limited color palette, but as you said this will not appeal to everyone. It's fine, some people didn't like Jackson's beautiful Fed 52 series.

I did offer him some points about making his deck more functional and appealing to cardists and collectors - I hope he takes some of them into consideration.

Are all the paper products and inks produced locally?

I doubt he is the CA warrior that your post makes you sound like you think he is. He is probably just trying to support local business in his area, I doubt he is extreme enough in his beliefs that he won't wipe his ass if the paper isn't made from the redwoods or won't use windows because Microsoft's headquarters is in Washington. Some people can believe in something halfway and have it still be a noble belief; everyone that agrees with a cause doesn't have to die for it. I admire that the wants to keep it local, I don't think it matters that the machines the local printer uses were probably not manufactured in California.

]You know, my bad, not the right area to be posting something like this.  I agree, he can "keep it local" if he likes, certainly up to him.  People should support what they like, however they like, as long as they don't harm anyone else.  I wish him luck, but I won't be backing (and not for the local sourced reasons... I actually just don't really care for the design).

True, it's a very (maybe too much so?) different design, I am curious to see if this reaches it's funding goal.
I wonder if people look at KS card projects, decide they will do one, and think that they can charge the same amount per deck using a no name printer as the successful USPCC campaigns.

Also, I apologize for harping on your post, wasn't meaning to be antagonizing, I was just playing devils advocate, I appreciate you not taking it the wrong way.