This is getting way to complicated.
I really feel bad for you, creation by committee is so difficult.
I have to say you are handling it in stride.

That being said
I don't like the wrap around text, it makes it look to jumbled
I think you should stay with the quote that just runs through the entire back
or go back up to the earlier designs with the quote running down the side and instead of the circular pip design use your new pip design.

This quote lay out  with the pip layout in the next picture  ( just my opinion, pushing you closer to insanity)

They did release some decks in the US.
I believe it was 288 and you were able to order a max of 12.
They sold them on Aug 4th if you emailed your order to them.

Apparently they sold out in about 10 minutes.

So this experiment wouldn't really lead to anything. Just different opinions from different people. It's a good idea but anyways, in 15 minutes, I doubt the deck would be broken down.

15minutes ... 15 minutes, that random number I pulled out of my ass as an example is all that you grasped from my post.

Wow
The point is really lost on this crowd.

I suppose i will stop trying to be helpful and or informative.

Ok

Here is the experiment that can be conducted to end this argument

This will cost a bit of money. But it can easily be made a blinded experiment so that the opinion will be based solely on the handling and feel and have no bias by opinions towards if one "believes" a deck with higher ink ratio performs worse or not. it can also easily be made double blinded (which is the experiment I will describe below)

this is the preparation
deck creation
you will need to create a deck in limited number. You can go with the Bicycle site that lets you create small runs or if you wish to save money go with Brahma or some other small company.
To eliminate the possibility that difference in handling might be due to different runs of paper stock or formulations of finish the deck will be half of the cards with a high ratio of ink to stock and half with a low ratio of ink to stock. Best would be 28 cards on each uncut sheet be all black and 28 be all white. this gives the greatest difference in ratio, It will also guarantee that the stock is exactly the same and that the finish is exactly the same for each deck. I am not an expert handler or flourisher, so if it is the case that you need a full deck to accurately test flourishes and what not you simply combine the whites to whites from two decks and the blacks to blacks from the same deck (this will insure that the two full decks are still equal in all ways but ink ratio)
before the experiment the decks should all be boxed up in identical boxes and placed in 2 deck sets. 50% of the boxes will have black decks on top and 50% will have white decks on top.
Blind creation
you will need to create that a test subject can not see into. It should have enough room so they can move their hands and arms about easily inside. and probably a dark cloth covering the front. Of course a simple blind fold would do as well, but being blind folded is sometimes disturbing to the test subject.
test subject
it would be best to get a sample size of >100 if possible I would not go less than 50 though just for accuracy of the statistics.
the persons back ground is not important, but at the same time it would not hurt the truth of the results by biasing the sample population to those who are familiar with handling and the feel of cards. using experienced flourishers actually may be helpful so the cards can be put to the full test. This part is certainly up for debate because some would say for a true test you need a fully deverse sample and others would say for a true test you need to fully utilize the cards.

Double blind experiment
A group of the boxed deck sets are given to each experimenter.
The experimenter places the top deck in the box in front of the test subject (or just hands it to them if they are blind folded.
the experimenter will not know which deck they gave to the test subject first until the test subject opens it.
the test subject will then use this deck for a designated time period (lets say 15 minutes) and then place it back in the box.
the experimenter will then provide the test subject with the bottom deck and the test subject will then use that deck for the same period of time.
The test subject will then ask which deck they felt performed/handled better, and will record the result.
Because the experimenter did not know which deck he gave the test subject first he is in a blind and is therefore unbiased (can't show there bias)
Because the test subject can not see the deck they are performing with he is blind and is therefore unbiased.

If this experiment is continued with a large enough sample a statistically significant result can be shown that will guide with fact which, if any, is better.

A result of more choosing the low ink ratio would show that High ink ratio does indeed make the handling worse
A result of people choosing relatively equally would show that there is indeed no effect from the ink ratio to handling
A result of more people choosing the high ink ratio would show that high ink ratio actually makes cards handle better.


It was mentioned above by someone else who I can not remember, that there is the placebo effect around decks. there are in fact many placebo a effects around branded items.
If someone has heard a bad review of a deck by someone they respect, they tend to like that deck, and vice versus. If they have had a deck handle badly from a company in the past they will tend to find that all their decks handle poorly, and vice versus. If they have had a deck with high ratio of ink to card stock perform great in the past they will tend to find that they feel all decks with high ink perform well, and vice versus. If they like a particular finish, dislike a card stock, were beaten with a brick of Arrcos as a child these will all affect they way they perceive a deck handling.

Until this experiment or one similar to this is done any information about ink to card stock ratio will be just opinion. Even if this information comes from a large company (though they might have a closer to real answer because they will draw from a larger sample)

Opinions are like orgasms.... I don't care if you have one 

OK, I'll ask - what the heck is a "sumo deck"?  Never heard of it.

A "sumo" deck is a deck of cards that I picked up at a Sumo tournament in Nagoya. It has each of the ozeki class and Yokozuna class fighters on the faces. This deck is special to me because I picked it up at the last Sumo tournament I attended which also happened to be the last Nagoya tournament Asashoryu competed at. Asashoryu for those who don't know is probably the greatest Yokozuna fighter of all time. He is unfortunately Mongolian and therefore was not liked by the Japanese, the Japanese looked for everyway they could get him out of the sport and finally after a Charity soccer match, a scandal over a suit and a bar brawl they successfully forced him into retirement. If he had not retired there is no way he wouldn't have beaten every record Japan had. He still had another 2 or 3 good fighting years in him and he was only a couple of tournaments from holding teh record.

So any way, that is what the "Sumo" deck is. Probably handles worth shit but it's sentimental is huge

I once had a deck that, when I bit into it, I found half a worm inside. It was weird because I cut it up looking for the other half but couldn't find it.
I mean how does half a worm get into a deck of cards?

The outside was all shiny and didn't have any tears or dents at all

Kings:
Elvis Presley
Michael Jackson
Freddie Mercury
Gene Simmons
Mick Jagger
Curt Cobain
(Yes, I know I have six. i haven't decided which to use yet)

I can Narrow that down for you right now.
You should dump Michael Jackson and Curt Cobain.
I have nothing against either, but they defined a different genre of music (pop and grunge)

Maybe drop Madonna, for the same reason. You could Go with Debbie Harry (Blondie) or Wendy O Williams (Plasmatics) with the Mohawk of course

And I personally would love to see Jerry Garcia as a Joker.

I would pay your legal bills if you could make this deck well.

edit: and Hendrix as the Ace of Spades

You say you collect many things, as do I. What are some of the other things you collect?

My collections run from the mundane/ common;
Records
Mugs
Shot glasses
Dead Shows
Board games
Autographs
Hats

Some are collections from my childhood that I just haven't gotten rid of but haven't worked on in years
Comics
Key chains
Scout Patches

Some came with the marriage (or were at least things I wouldn't have dare collected while I was single, but now that I have a wife can say they are hers)
Teddy bears (unusual ones, Star Trek, Pict,Teddy scares, about 30 different Gloomy bears)
Hello Kitty ( ones from specific locations we have visited, places in Asia, especially Japan will release a special Hello Kitty that is themed for the location)

Some may be considered a bit unusual
SciFi toys and Items from the 40s to the 70s
McCoy smiley face pottery
Anime statues

Some may even be considered rare or bizarre
Goshuin (Buddhist temple stamps)
Gas Masks

really this is the bulk but I am sure if I stopped and thought I could name a bunch more

Also you said you have around 250 decks. Out of those decks, which are your favorites, and what are you looking forward too in terms of playing cards?

My favorite decks are
The Tendril deck
sumo deck
Big Lebowski Deck
The one or 2 1940's Aristocrat decks I have left from my Grand parents

I am looking forward to the day my internet goes down, so I can stop buying decks.
Actually the new sneak peak by 4PM designs of the Cthulhu deck looked great
It is probably the next deck I am really excited about.
that and one a friend of mine is working on and I have been asked not to talk about. (ohh, I sound all mysterious now)

I guess for me, it really depends on what you mean by "specialty" deck.

I would say it was , for me, back in 84' I got an Olympic deck set, At the time I thought the mascot was awesome (let's here it for forcing nationalism down children's throats) and I was asking for anything that had the stupid eagle on it.So when I saw this set of cards in a special collectors box, I just had to have it. Much like every other piece of that short lived obsession, I didn't really "have to have it" for that long and sold it in a garage sale a couple years later.

my first "specialty" deck, along the lines that seem to be going on in this thread, was the Tendril deck.
It was truly the most unique and colorful (without being gaudy) deck I had seen at that time, and the tentacle theme reminded me of both my love for the Cthulhu mythos and my time spent in Japan (don't think about that last part too hard.)

As I have said before, missing that deck on kickstarter was an entrance way into the true card collecting community (not the farce of my old collection)
Be it a curse (to my bank account for sure) or a blessing (I would be stretching if I came up with something here)

Y'd the original propaganda deck go a wall anyways?

I really have absolutely no idea what that post means

I personally am a big fan of the Propaganda deck, but I will admit it is purely due to the design.
Gas masks being one of the many things I collect, I am a fan of anything that ties my collections together.
So I pick these up whenever I can find them under $9.00, to use at our card nights.

Though I like these, I certainly would like to see them reprinted with a different finish.
I use these often during our card nights. We break a new deck open each week and I probably choose these about 1 every other month.
I think everyone would let me choose them more often if they were cheaper and they handled better.
My group finds that they have a bit of a sticky feel coming out of the box and that doesn't seem to go away as they break in.
The cards are also a bit stiffer than we are use to playing with.
As I am not a flourisher don't know, perhaps these are attributes that are looked for in a deck.

But despite my critical review of the deck I am looking forward to a V2 and will buy a couple bricks if they handle the same or not

(disclaimer - I bought 2 sets of these.... it's called OCD look it up)

I think if they wanted to stick with with the theme They should have them as a set for $20.12.

$12 a deck is overpriced for such a plain deck without custom fronts.

by only printing 1200 of each box they successfully made their 3600 print run seem that much more rare.

But either way I am a sucker for sets (I.E I bought 3 sets of seasons + a signed set + the limited boxed set) and would have probably paid $20.12 a deck, although I would have only bought one set.

I don't however buy the argument most decks sell for $10 this is ONLY $2.00 more... $2.00 adds up, fast.

I am now done with my rambling

(actually it's CDO because the letters are in order. LIKE THEY SHOULD BE)
 

Randy
I love this deck

And I think it has been amazing watching the slow reveal. I have complemented you on your salesmanship before.

But now that I see the HOPC logo I have a great fear.

Will these be as unreasonably priced as the Olympic decks?

Don't get me wrong, like the olympic decks, I will still buy them. But I was hoping for a brick, if these are >$10 a pop it looks like it would only be 2 of each for me again