The entire T11/USPC partnership is beneficial to everyone involved, including the customers. Who DOESN'T want more deck variety, or to be able to buy great designs cheaply enough to make them practically disposable? Who thinks the new version of bicyclecards.com looks a good deal better than the old one (though it still lacks in information and functionality).
I'm just kind of shocked that the 800-pound gorilla of the market, Ellusionist, didn't cut such a deal before T11. I'd think they were a perfect fit - though they may have felt it was better to keep their designs exclusive to their company instead of letting USPC get a hold of them for reprints in their own brand name. So far, all the "USPC-ized" T11 decks have "Bicycle" in the name, while E stopped using the Bicycle brand name from Arcane going forward (just over a year ago, it would seem).
In time, it wouldn't surprise me to see some more phasing out of the numerous Bicycle "black" decks they made, since they're less popular now, and they'd keep the Masters (and perhaps the Series 1800, and maybe not the Shadow Masters) out of the basic utility of both deck lines. Red and Blue Rider backs haven't gone out of style for nearly 125 years now...
The partnership is not better for anyone except Theory11 and USPCC, actually. First of all, for us producers, the fact that our designs and products are essentially at the hands of a competitor is insane. This is basically a monopoly creating a trust. It's offensive that T11 has any sway at all with the company that I am a client of. Basically, a lot of their recent policies seem to reflect T11's agendas. Furthermore, custom deck makers are now competing directly with the USPCC itself, except instead of seeing the USPCC throw out gimmicky decks, they are having them designed by whoever T11 finds to make them, and T11 profits from the sales. Basically, our competition is branded as the official brand of USPCC, which leads many people to (falsely) think their cards are of sound quality. This is a total farce, since their designs are clearly rushed and lack major elements like theme relevance and depth. Since 100% of USPCC decks are of great handling quality, there really is no basis for the idea that T11 makes "better" decks.
Second of all, it's terrible for collectors. Two different editions of the same deck? Things are getting more complicated than they need to be very quickly.
I guess the plus side is there for flourishers who are strapped for cash, since it seems you will be able to pick up luxury decks at local stores for relatively cheap prices. However, I would argue that this is terrible for the card economy.
When you start creating luxury products for the masses, suddenly they are not luxury anymore. What happens next? Prices plummet, which is what we are seeing right now. Why shell out $40 for a "luxury" deck when you can get something that is just as good at your local supermarket? Demand drops, and the people that suffer are those of us that are actually invested in the card community.
Of course, the last part may be reading into the situation a bit much, but if anything is taken away from this post, it's the fact that the partnership is disgusting and the #1 reason I am looking to switch printers, and it's also going to be sad to see people using decks like the Steampunk in performances due to how easily it's found.
And yes, the Monachs and the Steampunks are abominations. One is over hyped, the other has nothing to do with its theme and is akin to calling your television a banana popsicle.
OK, you've shown how it can suck, I'll grant you that. But in the end, I think it was pretty much inevitable, and a sign that the bubble is getting closer and closer to bursting point. Imagine you're USPC - you offer to make custom decks for companies, they start getting incredibly artistic and creative with it compared to your own "vintage" and "colors" series, and you're seeing them get a larger and larger share of a market you want to be in. Partner with a custom deck company, any major in the field (like T11) with a raft of deck ideas, and suddenly you are getting a chunk of that share - which as you said, puts them directly in competition with their own customers.
I think, however, that T11 may be steering this in a direction that impacts competition less. Their first collaboration in playing cards, the Bike Guardians, were practically identical in every way except for the deck box and the ad cards. With the Steampunk deck, they're adding more differentiation between the "luxury" T11 model and the "standard" USPC release. The embossing is gone, sure, but so are the custom card colors - and it wouldn't surprise me to find they went for a lower grade of stock or finish as well. While T11 may be reaping benefits from the partnership, I think they're also trying to be careful not to kill the goose that's laying their golden eggs. They want a difference in quality to make their product special, better and worth extra.
If I had to guess, the alteration of the strategy likely came when T11 noticed a bit of a drop in Guardians sales after people discovered they could get the same deck, same quality for less as the USPC version. You want to sell a luxury product, you have to have luxury features that the standard model doesn't have, or else it, too, becomes a standard model, but with a higher price point - in other words, market suicide. (Maybe they though the fancy box was enough to make it worth more... Let's hope they learned that lesson!)
@ Aaron, brown_baggs - I talked briefly with Alex on the topic when he was in New York. I handed him a Gemaco deck that not only looked good but had decent handling to it as well - the1eyedjack sells it, it's the "House of Blues Atlantic City" uncanceled casino deck. Thing is, Gemaco is yet another subsidiary of USPC, so it would largely depend on just how independently USPC is letting them run their operations - are they basically free to do what they want, like Fournier, or are they in the process of being absorbed into the USPC Borg, like Hoyle and countless others?
Other than that, there's Cartamundi. I have yet to see a decent-handling paper Cartamundi deck - the Magic Castle decks are shockingly bad, obviously meant for tourist consumption. But their plastic Ace deck, standard model (jumbo index) sold at Barnes and Noble, has excellent handling properties, better than most plastic decks out there. The only deck I've seen even close to it in handling/performance made of plastic was the Karnival Death Heads, made by Fournier. (Though the Death Heads have a crappy, flimsy box for a deck that's supposedly nigh-indestructible.)
