I fully understand where your coming from. With the huge influx of fully customized decks, it is now quite unacceptable to change the AoS, Jokers and Back design anymore. I totally agree that with the huge amount of custom decks coming out, we really do have to be picky on what we buy.
However, I'll like to point out the decreasing quality that Dan and Dave's decks are coming out with. The Fulton Clip Joints were the first D&D deck that I got. To be frank, I was really excited on the decks as there was countless of good reviews on the previous Fantastique decks and the Smoke and Mirrors. However, I quickly realized that the FCJ were one of worst decks I handled. After getting the FCJ, I got the v5 and v6 to see how they felt and they felt leaps and bounds better than them. I don't know about the Chinatown deck, cause I didn't see the need to get such another deck.
Which brings to my final point, Mr Boyer, I totally agree with the lack of originality that D&D have . However, being mainly a flourisher, my only hope is that the magic con decks and v7 can bring back the awesome quality that the buck twins were renowned for, with paying the huge price tag that the old S&M have. Fully custom decks would be a plus, but judging from D&D, I don't really think it suits their style. I don't really know how to explain it , but I could never really imagine the bucks playing around with like, The Vortex Deck for example.
LOL, okay this is not really a response to Mr Don Boyer's post, but just a piece of my mind that I had been keeping for a long time. I'm
Just hoping that D&D comes out with a good quality deck again, whether it is fully custom or not
There have indeed been complaints here and there about quality. Many think that the FCJ deck is one of their worst in terms of quality. But on the whole, they're decent in the quality department - you'd never confuse the handling of a D&D deck with a pack of worn Rider Backs or a 99-cent store deck.
I'm not even talking about full customization. S&M v1-3 were all black/white pairs, varying but similar back designs. S&M v4-6 - for #4, they made an elegant simple design, then proceeded in 5 & 6 to make the EXACT same design, swapping a single color for another one. That's not a new version, that's a new color, period. Any real designer could have come up with that in a handful of minutes - they could have released all three colors at once and called them v4 green, blue and red. The gods only know what they're planning for v7.
The Chinatown deck? Get a Vintage Plaid, strip away the background color and make one little color change, and you have the faces of the Chinatown deck. I'm not demanding full custom, but a little more originality. And that whole thing about taking photos that make the deck look red when it's really sort of orange-y, that took some serious balls.
There's no denying that Fantastique was original - but while it was their deck, it was a third-party artist that designed it for them. Tungstene was also very original - and completely not made by them at all, just imported by them from France.
but the v5 and v6 and plaid and fantastiqe and all that handle perfect because there dan and dave decks the clip joints and chinatown handle diffrent and worse because there brad fultons cards with his say of finish or stock everything that dan and dave make just them two is perfect quality always the plaids handle like a dream theres been no drop in quality for me you can rely on all there decks when its just them who made them
for me even if they bring out a lot of things there quality is always there and whatever there aiming for they do it well take the plaid with the old poker style swamp theme they did it perfect the box the cards the discoloured white the brighter reds the unique ad cards as well as everything else they have done fantastiqe with the animation on the back and the beautiful silver metallic ink
Hello? Brad Fulton is the creative director at D&D, has been for over a year now. Nothing new hits the virtual store shelves that hasn't had his imprimatur. He's also been working with the Bucks since 2003. He worked on the Trilogy, the Uzumaki book and that really wide Sybil In Motion photo. There is no project the Bucks work on that doesn't have his involvement - there are no decks that were made just by the Bucks alone, not for over a year and probably longer.
You liked the Vintage Plaid so much - read what I said above about how the Chinatown deck practically has identical faces. Also read what I said about the Fantastique deck - their best deck since Halloween (the only one to sell out since Halloween that's their own) and it was created by another designer, not in-house.
Let's just say that it contradicts what the Bucks supposedly said on their Twitter about their site selling them.
i dont think they said they will selling them at their website. that's why i asked
Guys, honestly? Dan and Dave can say one thing now, something completely different after the convention. So what? I can practically guarantee that if the convention ends with hundreds or even dozens of leftover decks, they're not going to have a bonfire with them and roast weenies on a stick in the warm glow! One way or another, they'll be sold. It's simply a matter of whether there will be leftovers or if they'll sell out at the con before all the attendees get a crack at them. I doubt they'd want the bad PR of leaving a bunch of attendees paying top dollar for their tickets to get left deckless and out in the cold - so I really doubt they're printing only enough to cover the believed number of attendees based on ticket sales. USPC can't even offer that precise a count when making a deck - they write it into their contracts that you can end up with +/-10% of your ordered quantity and that you only pay for decks actually printed.
You can debate that until you're blue in the face, but you'll only be running around in circles until some time after the convention ends.
At worst, rather than selling the decks individually, they may use them to spike interested in either the Deck of the Month Club, their next Variety Box or both. I could see it in a Variety Box, easily - a single gem wedged between eleven so-so or mediocre decks, forcing you to buy them all if you want just the one. The did it with the earlier Magic Con deck, remember?