Deck Review - Fantastique Playing Cards by Dan & Dave

[john]

Box: The face of the box says "Fantastique Playing Cards," along with a tophat, infront of that tophat are some very marti gras type images,  such as feathers, sparkles, beads, and a juggling jester riding a unicycle, which is all done in black. The back of the box is simply the back design. The sides of the box say, "The D&D Playing Card Co." and the reverse says, "Illustrated by Sveta Dorosheva". The top of the box simply says, "Playing Cards". The bottom has the copyright information along with the Dan and Dave logo.

Cards: This deck comes with 52 regular playing cards, 2 jokers, and 2 blank face cards, along with a custom Ace of Spades. I don't have the deck on me so i will post a picture of the ace. The face cards are standard USPCC face cards but with silver metallic ink on the red cards, black ink on the black cards, and the court cards have black and silver metallic ink on them. The cards are in DIRE NEED OF COLOR THOUGH, there are 2 colors on this deck, metallic silver, and black. The jokers i shall post pictures of them because i do not have the deck in hand and can't describe them.

Feature: This deck has a picture book feature*if you dont know what that is google it*, each back isn't different, actually 2 cards have the same back, ex. the 2 blank face cards have the same back. The feature itself is a women being pulled in half.

Finish: This deck has the magic finish, which is the "best" USPCC has to offer. *I thank a friend for this info*

Stock: Thin stock, it uses 325 stock which is slightly disappointing because i enjoy thicker stocks, but regardless it is good for springs and dribbles. *also thanking a friend for this info*

Price: Priced the same as any other D&D deck at 5.95 a deck.

Where to buy: Dananddave.com

Amount Printed: about the same as the V6 *i thank the same friend for this as the other info*

Final Opinion: It is a nice deck, it begs for color but it handles very well for a good price, 3/5

*all pictures will be post within 24 hours*

[austin]

I love this deck, I can't wait to handle it. But I wouldn't rate it by a number as Curt has made a several points in the past of rating a deck by a number, because a deck has ups and downs, there is not a deck that is exactly perfect for everyone.  This deck should be pretty good though.

[Curt]

Thanks for the review,

I am extremely excited to receive my decks in the mail, even more so now because of your review. It is kind of interesting to have 2 blank cards in the deck, could be used for something interesting. Really looking forward to seeing how the metallic ink looks on the card and have a better look at the detail in person. Ill give the deck a score once I receive it and can get my closer look.

Thanks for your awesome reviews, Looking forward to the pictures.

[john]

Thanks for the review,

I am extremely excited to receive my decks in the mail, even more so now because of your review. It is kind of interesting to have 2 blank cards in the deck, could be used for something interesting. Really looking forward to seeing how the metallic ink looks on the card and have a better look at the detail in person. Ill give the deck a score once I receive it and can get my closer look.

Thanks for your awesome reviews, Looking forward to the pictures.

If you have the gargoyles by Lance T. Miller they are similar to that, they just aren't as shiny.

[6insider9]

Very good and fair review!

[Evan]

I can't wait for mine to come! Also, I just can't stand reading all that! Thats why I do video reviews...

[phantom1412]

They didn't ship mine yet. T_T

[Paul Carpenter]

If you hadn't seen it, I have a brief overview and some pics here. I love this deck.

http://xmetal.me/design-art-in-cards

[phantom1412]

If you hadn't seen it, I have a brief overview and some pics here. I love this deck.

http://xmetal.me/design-art-in-cards

You make me want it to come here a lot faster. T_T

[john]

Reply from Dan regarding the fantastique deck:

"Hello John,

Like 99% of all playing cards off the USPCC line the finish is indeed Magic. They rarely every use the Web for anything more then 2 colors.

We use the same stock (paper) for all our playing cards, which we'd like to keep secret.

We never disclose the amount of cards printed. With that said, we printed much less then the v6's.

Cheers,
Dan"

[CBJ]

Box: The face of the box says "Fantastique Playing Cards," along with a tophat, infront of that tophat are some very marti gras type images,  such as feathers, sparkles, beads, and a juggling jester riding a unicycle, which is all done in black. The back of the box is simply the back design. The sides of the box say, "The D&D Playing Card Co." and the reverse says, "Illustrated by Sveta Dorosheva". The top of the box simply says, "Playing Cards". The bottom has the copyright information along with the Dan and Dave logo.

Cards: This deck comes with 52 regular playing cards, 2 jokers, and 2 blank face cards, along with a custom Ace of Spades. I don't have the deck on me so i will post a picture of the ace. The face cards are standard USPCC face cards but with silver metallic ink on the red cards, black ink on the black cards, and the court cards have black and silver metallic ink on them. The cards are in DIRE NEED OF COLOR THOUGH, there are 2 colors on this deck, metallic silver, and black. The jokers i shall post pictures of them because i do not have the deck in hand and can't describe them.

Finish: This deck has the magic finish, which is the "best" USPCC has to offer. *I thank a friend for this info*

Stock: Thin stock, it uses 325 stock which is slightly disappointing because i enjoy thicker stocks, but regardless it is good for springs and dribbles. *also thanking a friend for this info*

Price: Priced the same as any other D&D deck at 5.95 a deck.

Where to buy: Dananddave.com

Amount Printed: about the same as the V6 *i thank the same friend for this as the other info*

Final Opinion: It is a nice deck, it begs for color but it handles very well for a good price, 3/5

*all pictures will be post within 24 hours*

Not even a mention of the picture book feature?

I can't wait to flip through these cards and watch the magic happen.

CBJ

[john]

Not even a mention of the picture book feature?

I can't wait to flip through these cards and watch the magic happen.

CBJ

I thought i added it, ill do it now just for you CBJ.

[MrLukeCarroll]

Now I'm even more excited for mine to come in the mail (Damn slow shipping time to Aus)

[Kanped]

Now I'm even more excited for mine to come in the mail (Damn slow shipping time to Aus)

Race you?  I'm in Ireland

[phantom1412]

Reply from Dan regarding the fantastique deck:

"Hello John,

Like 99% of all playing cards off the USPCC line the finish is indeed Magic. They rarely every use the Web for anything more then 2 colors.

We use the same stock (paper) for all our playing cards, which we'd like to keep secret.

We never disclose the amount of cards printed. With that said, we printed much less then the v6's.

Cheers,
Dan"

Then why people are saying that magic con handle badly.

[MrLukeCarroll]

Race you?  I'm in Ireland

The race is on

[Siegismyname]

Lee Asher tweeted this "@BuckTwins The Fantastiques are so fun! I wonder how many other of your tuck boxes have this hidden bar code? http://t.co/Wwd4hxce" Check out the link. I cannot seem to upload pics from my iPhone. Can anyone help?

[phantom1412]

Lee Asher tweeted this "@BuckTwins The Fantastiques are so fun! I wonder how many other of your tuck boxes have this hidden bar code? http://t.co/Wwd4hxce" Check out the link. I cannot seem to upload pics from my iPhone. Can anyone help?

Here you are.

[Paul Carpenter]

Interesting, my box has that barcode as well. What an odd place to put one!

[Siegismyname]

So the barcode is in between the glue part of the box or in side the box?

[Kanped]

OK, I'm doing this live while typing.  Just got my package in today.  Opening the package...

2 decks and an invoice.  Discard invoice for now.  Back design is very intricate and small; lots of fun little designs to discover.  First thing that strikes me is the 3d illusion from the black and white squares that form the background of the design; I'll not go into too much detail about the other little goodies but suffice to say it's a very busy back.

With the cellophane off, the black ink reflects back the light, it's really striking but only where there are large blocks of it.  the business of the back design and the sparse amount of actual ink there is obvious and because of this it loses some impact IMO but it's not really about impact; in a way, it should be subtle because you'll discover more and more little things over time.

Minuscule seal of some sort under the flap.  I'll need to use a magnifying glass to get a good look at some point.  After removing the cards, I can see something written on a little black tab on the inside of the box at the bottom.  I don't want to destroy the tuck box to see what it is.

First card I see (the joker) is well illustrated and good fun but as a whole seems a little bare, being white all around with the illustration in the middle.  A hint of a border would have been good here, I think.  The other joker reminds me of the 'extra joker' you see in some decks but obviously has been more thoroughly designed than that.

The stock seems a little thicker than the S&Ms but I could be wrong.  The finish is slidey; these fan pretty well and look good doing it.

Ace of spades is cool and having an index means that it doesn't seem bare like the jokers.  The court cards are colourless but I kinda like it; it fits with the rest of the deck, if they're a little understated.    The red pip cards use a lighter, metallic grey shade and while faded, they're easy to read.  it works particularly well with the court cards because bits of them are still printed with the full black ink and it gives more depth and variety to the image to have both; they're pretty nice.

There's 2 blank face cards here, too.  I don't really understand why they provide 2 of the same gaff card rather than even a double backer (or, you know, something useful) but I guess people will be able to get use out of them.  I can use them for 3 card monte, anyway so that's pretty cool.

The 'party piece' of the deck, the little animation, is really something cool.  Never seen it before and it's great fun, really great; meticulously designed with lots going on.  It also does make this a marked deck of sorts and depending on what you want to know about the card, not that hard to use.  You can take a pretty good guess as to what suit the card is from the back design, for example but you might end up guessing a high diamond and getting a low club for example.  You can spot the blank cards and jokers from a mile away; they're not part of the animation and obviously don't fit with the others.  Could be useful.  It would be possible to memorize the subtle difference and learn the back to every card in the deck but why on earth you would want to spend time doing that is beyond me.

The spread beautifully; one of the best in my collection (or maybe I'm just getting better but they glide on the felt great and stick together just right; pretty damn good).

Overall, I'd say this this is a very fun deck; more novelty than design but that does lead me to a less than perfect conclusion.  You see, the design is in grayscale but is meant to be fun.  I get that they're going for that old flip-book theatre style and it does play quite well but the novelty impairs the overall elegance of the deck; I think the lack of colour could be justified by a deck that was dignified and impeccably 'tasteful' but for something that was obviously meant to be for fun, I feel that colour would have added to the overall fell rather than retracted from it.

Overall, I'm going to give this deck a 78%.  I'm not using the videogame 70-95% scale here; I'm taking 50% score as a standard bike deck and the Trace decks get a score of 'thrown as hard as possible in the designer's face'%.

[loldudex2]

I'm going to order some now. What do you think would be worth more in the future, a sealed deck in Cellophane, or an open deck with the Buck's signatures

[john]

I'm going to order some now. What do you think would be worth more in the future, a sealed deck in Cellophane, or an open deck with the Buck's signatures

Sealed, if the deck doesn't have a seal then opening the cello ruins the value.

[loldudex2]

Sealed, if the deck doesn't have a seal then opening the cello ruins the value.

Even if the Buck's sign it?

[Curt]

I'm going to order some now. What do you think would be worth more in the future, a sealed deck in Cellophane, or an open deck with the Buck's signatures

Its really nothing special to have a deck signed by the Bucks, I mean, they will sign every order if you ask them to, and they give out free autographs on their site. Autographs are most valuable when the person doing the signing does not do it very often, making the signature rare.

My suggestion to you, if you are really struggling with the decision, why not just get two? one sealed and one signed.