Great article and it's interesting to see the roads that a magician walks. Obviously the road to their success and future isn't always so straight and simple.

I'm going to say it's confirmed that the new Madison Dealers V2 are Black and Red: http://www.madisonplayingcards.com/ though E's site doesn't have them yet. I guess later this week, maybe?  If you click on the two V2 decks, both are unlimited. So two colours, but at least it's not buy a brick to get one LE colour. I'd say that's a smart move on their part and I could see picking up a few reds. It is a nice shade.

I can't,  either.  Well,  I'm waiting till I have some extra cash to buy another set of Fed 52 which I can open. I have two LE Unbranded Black Reserve Notes that I got on eBay because I didn't get a chance to get them on Kickstarter and I so badly wanted them (and they're going for crazy high prices thanks to that PunkRock seller who pre-sold one of them for $200 and set the precedent for the rest of the eBay sellers). I cannot bring myself to open a deck because of how much it cost.

For the LE Unbranded Reserve Note, I'd suggest picking up the uncut sheet. It's 50$ plus shipping, but way less than what it'd cost you to get another LE Unbranded Black Reserve Note though the closest thing to the LE Unbranded tuckcase would be the Black Bicycled Branded Reserve note and that's pretty costly now ...

Haha, you're right...I did not look closely at that at all.  I think I need a new pair of glasses.

I spent a New Year's Eve impressing drunk friends with the Dealers so it's the only reason I still remember the marking so well ...

alcohol + new year's eve + friends + card reading = 

The sad thing, I will admit now, is if the regular bordered Dealers are blue or a nice colour, I will probably get a few decks.

I believe it's the Nine of Clubs, if it's the same marking system.

I can't fault E for using what works. So I wonder what colour the deck will be and what colour the LE deck will be?

First as you can see by the pictures, a card was glued on top of he box as shown by the stamp being covered. Now I assume the hotel did this as a way to show the card backs but I am not sure

I have never heard of redi slip finish but it made me smile hehe.

Is the card glued to the box the actual back design of the cards inside the deck? Or just an ad card? Honestly, either way it looks really beautiful

Is the finish smooth? And honestly, the "redi slip" finish is probably the best finish name ever. I wonder if it's copyrighted or not. Would be great to see a modern deck just claim that regardless of it being air-cushion or smooth.

Queen of Hearts!

I'm very excited for this.    I haven't handled cards from EPCC,  so I  can't say anything in regards to quality (anyways,  it looks like EPCC is well liked based on the responses,  so no problems there)  but I'm sure the card designs will be awesome as always,  so I'm very much looking forward to this. 

You can still pick up the Exquisite deck from CARC which is an EPCC deck. Handles great.

But excellent news, Paul. I guess the only thing is to wait and make sure to at least buy a deck.

I actually did a really something like this, but way way way less complex for an art project once. Styrofoam plates and double sided foam tape. Hopefully, it's was a ton of fun getting that slinky feel with bigger objects.

does anybody now when the gator backs are going to come out ?

I honestly don't believe anyone but maybe David Blaine knows. I'd imagine if there was a locked in release date, he's advertise already.

So I have a question for you all.  I just saw on Max Playing Cards blog that the sticker pledge at $30ish dollar is actually a secret pledge for the sticker and 4 decks and maybe an extra 2 black decks. Meaning it is a great bargain for a potential of 6 decks. My question is the following: is this allowed on Kickstarter? IS there a false expectation created here and it is up to the creator to decide if he will send decks or not? I am not saying in anyway that the creator is trying to pull a fast one but I can just see the new trend starting on kickstarter. Pledge $30 and you might get 20 decks or then again you might not

This is the article I am referring to

Regarding the pledges, you can choose among many of them, but there is one specially interesting, the H.O.P.E. sticker one. Although you are supposedly to get just one sticker in this level ($37), there is a cool gift hidden on it. Every of the (up to) 620 backers will receive two extra decks of each branded/unbranded model. That’s four decks plus the sticker but, if the project reaches the stretch goal, two extra black decks will be added to the reward. Black decks? Have you said black decks? Didn’t you mention there are only two decks in the campaign? Well, I said this project is full of secrets so you have to read everything carefully.

Of course, you have to trust on the creator to pledge for that hidden reward because the info you have read has been directly provided by Brian and the play rules include not to reveal this in the campaign website but only outside the campaign, so pledge at your own risk.

I know that lost leaders have been around forever, but this is an odd one. Since it's not explicitly stated on the Kickstarter page, in theory, all the backers have to get is the HOPE sticker. That's all the info listed for that specific reward tier on all of that campaign's Kickstarter page. I'm not discrediting the creator and saying, he won't go ahead with that promise, but it lies in a very grey area. If other creators would do any lost leaders tiers, I'd honestly prefer those super deal tiers like Jackson did for Sherlock and Shane did for Call of Cthulhu. At least it's a guarantee promise even if not a lot people will miss out.

Quote from: Don Boyer on January 08, 2014, 11:32:24 PM

I'm tired of typographical decks and I'm tired of faux aging.  How does faux aging fit this deck's theme at all, other than "hey, this looks cool, let's toss it in as well?"

Not to change topics, just a newb question. What is a "typographical deck"?

A "typographical deck" is just any deck of cards where the graphics are based almost all of it, if not all of it, on type (ie. letters, different fonts, etc). The "Type Deck" is another example of a typographical deck.