So, I ordered this deck for my girlfriend and I'd like to review it and I also took a few pictures for you guys to have a look at!
I ordered 2 decks, and they come with 2 jokers, an ad card and also a double backer which is always useful (although I've never used a double backer in my tricks EVER)
So, here goes my first review! (Hope you guys like it)
Looks:Firstly, I'd like the take a moment to appreciate the work put into this deck, I think Curtis Kulig did great with the design and custom cards of this deck.
The tuck box is plain white, with the custom Ace of Hearts design on the front and on the back is just the back design. I like the seal as it is just a red heart on a fancy border zig zag pattern, on the sides there are words to do with love and cards such as love, bluff, trick, deal, shuffle and on top of the box it has 2 hand drawn looking hearts.
The jokers fit well with the theme of the deck (red and romantic) and they are 2 way backs too which I personally like. The ad card is average, not much to say about it, and the double backer is just the same as the back design. The suits and pips are exactly the same except for the Ace of Spades and Hearts, all other courts and spots are the same except for the colouring on the court cards, they have an extra splash of red on all of them to add to the theme!
The back design just says 'love' in fancy writing all over the cards, however the backs are two way (as far as I can see) which I prefer as well like the jokers. The Ace of Hearts is a big hand-drawn red heart with 'Ace of love' handwritten below it - which I like as it fits with the cheesy theme of the deck. The Ace of Spades is hand-drawn too with various versions of 'love me' inside of it, and below it says 'Designed by Curtis Kulig', In my opinion for fans and cuts the backs are not too exciting, they serve mostly for the novelty of a Valentine's gift, but I do believe that you could use this deck for a lot of 'love' themed tricks - perhaps 'Do as I do', for example. I believe they could have done more with the customization, such as having consistent custom heart pips throughout the whole deck, or doing the other aces instead of just two - in my opinion it's one, all, or nothing!
Overall for looks I'd give this deck a
6.5/10Handling and feel:Out of the box it is extremely slippy, as most decks are, I remember I tried to giant fan it 10 minutes after opening them and all the cards just slid along each other and fell on the floor! I have broken in my deck already after several hours of use and I can already feel the stock is a bit thinner and flimsier than usual, however it is not extremely thin and flimsy! They fan better than average (which is average for custom decks from USPCC these days) and they farrow well too. They shuffle, lepaul spread, spring and dribble fine although due to the thinness they lack that little bit of 'snap'. Overall I think this is a deck for collectors and magicians/cardists/people interested in cards who have partners (or buy it as a present for yourself if you'd like!
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Overall for the handling and feel I give it a
7/10 as it's not bad in any case, but just not outstanding compared to other decks out there.
Overall it gets a 7/10; I bumped it from 6.75 as it makes a great Valentine's gift!
Below are pictures of the two custom Aces, back designs, and several flourishes. (Some photos weren't focused too well, sorry guys!)
P.S Yes in the first picture there is a gym ball in the background.
P.P.S I shut my finger in a car door which is why it is super nasty.
P.P.P.S I apologize for my face.