The Order of the Magi Deck

[Don Boyer]

I wrote this in the NDR - check it out:

In other news, there's a new commercial project on the horizon.  Connor Pritchard, an author and TV producer, got the idea to create a deck based on ideas derived from a book called "The Mystic Test Book", which appears to be a divination (possibly mentalism) book connecting cards with astrology.  After authoring his own book from those ideas, called "The Order of the Magi", he hired Alex Beltechi to create the deck, and lo and behold, the Order of the Magi deck was born - it's still in development, and I have no release date on it yet.  Credit to Loop Cuts for passing the tip to me.

http://alexbeltechi.com/620/1171438/portfolio/order-of-the-magi

For me, there's two things that turn me off on this deck - and I like the overall style.  One is the short image space on all the cards - there's like a quarter-inch or more of empty space at the top and bottom, meaning a card player would need a larger fan to see all the indices.  The other is the cookie-cutter work on the courts - every single Jack is identical to the rest, as are the Queens and Kings.  This has an opportunity to be an epic-looking deck, but those two points to me drag the design down.

In case the name Alex Beltechi doesn't ring a bell, he designed the Bicycle Steam Punk deck for T11/USPC.

[sway]

Those courts look like some greek pottery to me.



Btw, the difference between the Jacks seem to be in that constellation-like pattern printed over them.

[Don Boyer]

Those courts look like some greek pottery to me.



Btw, the difference between the Jacks seem to be in that constellation-like pattern printed over them.

The Queens have constellations on their pips in hand.  Just noticed.  Doesn't make the design any less cookie-cutter - every other aspect of them is the same, other than color differences between red and black cards.  I'd wager the Kings have constellations, with all twelve courts representing each of the twelve Zodiac constellations.

[flyers3003]

Kind of like this, but for the reasons already mentioned as well as the not so subtle one-way back, I think I would have to pass if/when available.

[magimago]

i m with you on this one. The inital idea and design is very appealing, but the indizes-placement and identical characterdesign is a dealbreaker. With a few extrawork, this would be an easy fix.

at least the courtcards could have some colordifferences, so one can tell them appart more easy.

[The Quadfather]

I quite like the look of the tuck, courts and jokers. But the indices make them look a little off centre. I have too many projects backed at the moment, but it might be something i look at in the future if the numbers become more appealing.

[amosyzk]

The empty spaces on the cards really makes the deck look really weird. However, I do like the overall design of the cards.