Company Topics?

[Don Boyer]

I was thinking about how we have company-oriented sticky topics in the magic/cardistry board.  It would be nice to have sticky topics here about the "major players" in the custom card business, where you can talk about the company in general rather than talking about a new deck release.  People can vent against, praise or anything in between about the company, the employees there, the policies they have or don't have - that sort of stuff.

What do you people think of this idea?  What companies would you want to see on the list?

My short list:
Ellusionist
Theory11
David Blaine
Dan and Dave
The Blue Crown and HOPC (Blue Crown won't see many new deck releases other than magic decks, gaffs, etc. - all that's going to largely occur on HOPC, though they will always carry the Crown Decks when they're in stock)
Big Blind Media/Karnival Cards
Circle City Cards

Can you guys think of any other "major player" companies out there?  I'm not talking about just anyone making cards - I'm talking about companies that are setting up for the long haul to make playing cards or are already established in the community.  For example, while Encarded sounds like a great choice, they've only had one deck released so far.  Maybe a few decks down the line (like where CCCC is right now), they could be considered "major players"...

I'd love to hear other people's opinions on this.

[phantom1412]

Maybe USPCC's deck topic?

[loldudex2]

How about BeDeceived? They are still young but with the quality products he has been releasing lately, I feel he may become big someday.

[NathanCanadas]

Maybe Erik Mana? I don't know his company name (is it Verve Playing Cards?), but it seems like he'll stick around for a while, with the Mana deck, the upcoming Oracle edition/v2, and the Elan Rouge deck...

[LeonJL]

What about card-shark? they have phoenix back and apocalypse deck..

[Don Boyer]

Maybe USPCC's deck topic?

Naturally!  Surprised it didn't occur to me.

How about BeDeceived? They are still young but with the quality products he has been releasing lately, I feel he may become big someday.

Still only one deck on the market, one forthcoming.  Perhaps after four?

Maybe Erik Mana? I don't know his company name (is it Verve Playing Cards?), but it seems like he'll stick around for a while, with the Mana deck, the upcoming Oracle edition/v2, and the Elan Rouge deck...

Exact same thing as BeDeceived.

What about card-shark? they have phoenix back and apocalypse deck..

Don't get me wrong, I love Card-Shark.  But except for the plain Phoenix backs, pretty much every deck they released was some kind of magic deck - Double Decker, Marked, etc.  Apocalypse is also a marked deck.  I'm thinking this should be more for companies that make unadulterated playing cards, except perhaps something like a hidden one-way mark or a card reveal.  Conceivably, it would be decks you could use as easily to play a legit game of poker as well as perform with.


I would count Offason for the Anglo decks, but practically no one talks about them here and it would be a really dead topic.  We want topics that people have something to say about.

[Paul Carpenter]

Don, what do you really think people will use these topics for? If it's to interact with the company, talk about the products, post reviews or their impressions, then it would seem that more important than the numbers of decks a company releases is whether they are current and active and have products that folks would actually want to discuss. It will probably be 2+ years before I'd have 4 decks on the market, but I'm sure that people wouldn't mind chatting about the ones that I have created and that are out in the market now. Just a thought.

[NathanCanadas]

Don, what do you really think people will use these topics for? If it's to interact with the company, talk about the products, post reviews or their impressions, then it would seem that more important than the numbers of decks a company releases is whether they are current and active and have products that folks would actually want to discuss. It will probably be 2+ years before I'd have 4 decks on the market, but I'm sure that people wouldn't mind chatting about the ones that I have created and that are out in the market now. Just a thought.

I agree. I believe there has been more discussion on Tendril/Aurum/Encarded than there has been on all of E's decks combined. Plus, even if we count Encarded, and other similar cases, we should only have 4 or 5 more topics. And I don't think it's fair to judge Card-shark by the variants they've put out. Sure, most of their decks are similar, but they've released and printed many decks, so they should be included.

[LeonJL]

I actually wouldn't mind if Encarded is included in the list as well. I'm happy with Tendril and am following the progress of Aurum very closely so there's bound to be something to discuss.

As for Card-Shark, I guess you're right, excluding all their decks that are altered in some sort, Phoenix is technically their only deck right now that's considered normal.

[Billywiz]

How about De'vo's Handlordz.

[Don Boyer]

Don, what do you really think people will use these topics for? If it's to interact with the company, talk about the products, post reviews or their impressions, then it would seem that more important than the numbers of decks a company releases is whether they are current and active and have products that folks would actually want to discuss. It will probably be 2+ years before I'd have 4 decks on the market, but I'm sure that people wouldn't mind chatting about the ones that I have created and that are out in the market now. Just a thought.

I would have sworn I replied to this yesterday or the day before...

You raise an excellent point.  Adjusting the criteria would be in order.  Companies that are being actively commented on and perhaps even have official company reps on the board would be a good requisite for companies that haven't had as many releases yet.

I agree. I believe there has been more discussion on Tendril/Aurum/Encarded than there has been on all of E's decks combined. Plus, even if we count Encarded, and other similar cases, we should only have 4 or 5 more topics. And I don't think it's fair to judge Card-shark by the variants they've put out. Sure, most of their decks are similar, but they've released and printed many decks, so they should be included.

Nathan - with the exception of the red and blue Phoenix Backs, EVERY DECK they've released was in some way a trick deck, thus making it count more as a magic trick than a deck of standard cards you can play with.  Top that with the fact that they're hardly ever discussed here, and it wouldn't be a good choice for a sticky topic.  Even the recent Apocalypse deck was a trick deck - aside from a Joker reveal and extra cards that can be worked into a routine, there's also the fact that it's marked.  It uses a more complex symbol marking system than on most of their previous decks, but it's marked nonetheless.

How about De'vo's Handlordz.

I guess we could put them up - there's been a good deal of releases, though we don't talk about them anywhere near as much as about other companies.

So far, though, everyone remember this is hypothetical.  I can't make any sticky topics there.  I was trying to gauge whether people felt a need for it or not.  I could request them, but it would still require someone else's approval.