Designer Series Battle 1: Encarded Aurum vs Theory11 Artisan

[john]

Back story on Aurum by Paul Carpenter

Years ago, I had the good fortune to find myself in Venice with my wife on our honeymoon. Upon arriving in that truly unique city, I was struck by the history, architecture, melding of cultures and intensely visual environment. While I'd been to Italy before, Venice is a place that seems to exist outside of time. It is a place that steadfastly remains "it's own" and has innumerable facets and details that are like no other place I've ever been.

When I started thinking about my second deck of cards, I had a vision to produce a high-end, luxurious item. A deck that incorporated ideas that hadn't been tried before, and as with all my projects it would be a deck that was completely usable and a carefully designed "whole." Tying those concepts together with my love of Venice become the goal, and after nearly six months of design work, trial and error Aurum was born.

Aurum, which means 'gold' in Latin, is a deck tries to combine a number of opposites. At a quick glance, or from a distance the deck looks somewhat plain. The box appears mostly solid, with hints of gold. The cards, while they do feature an intricate medallion on the back, also look relatively plain. However, all of that simplicity is quickly dispelled when you take the cards and bring them close. Then you see that the back design you thought was solid is actually filled with an intricate metallic purple "thread." The faces, which you thought were just off-white, also have the intricate thread. The court figures, which appeared to be normal Bicycle courts, are all redrawn, purposefully imperfect, with many subtle asymmetries.

The box has shimmering gold foil that wraps around the sides of the box and also has beautiful embossing which, on the satiny purple paper, almost resembles leather. And then on the back of the box, you find the custom die cut which gives you a peek inside to a golden ad card. No other custom deck on the market has pursued the idea of piercing through the box to connect the cards to the viewer even in a sealed package. With the amount of work it took to design, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't see it again from anyone else.

I also made sure that Aurum was printed on the finest paper available, with the best finish so that they would be a pleasure to use. All of these elements work together to create a deck which I hope people find beautiful, classy, elegant, intricate and usable.

I strove to make something as unique as the place which inspired it and even though I created it, I still find myself studying that fine line on the card back and wondering where it will lead...

The Battle

Aurum from Encarded vs Artisan from T11. Which one do you think is better?


Still at http://encarded.com/! Now with a lower price!

[MrMollusk]

Aurum.

Absolutely.
No.
Question.

Thin borders, insanely intricate design, awesome court cards, custom pips, laser cut box, and smooth as silk handling?
All the yes. The Artisan is nice, but no where near Aurum nice.

[Patrick Varnavas]

Well, these two decks are probably the best examples of the "luxury" theme. However, I feel like they represent that theme in very different ways. The Artisans emanate the "Rich" feel, they seem like a luxury item. The Artisan box is probably the better of the two, Simon did an incredible job. Both back designs need further examination before you can really appreciate the amount of detail involved in the artwork. The Artisans remind me almost of a really fancy cigar box, which again leads back to the theme of "Rich". On the other end of things though, Aurums don't emanate the "rich" feel to me. They look almost regal, truly wealthy. The biggest feature that says "Royalty" to me, is the generous use of the color purple and how it works with the gold. Purple is often associated with royalty because of the cost and rarity of purple ink back then. Only kings could afford to own the color purple, which makes this deck fit for a king. While the Aurum deck is fit for a king, the Artisan deck is fit for a CEO. There is a difference between "Rich" and "Wealthy". So, with all of that in mind, I have to give things to Aurum. You just can't be wealthier than the King. And also, who doesn't love this. Like come on, seriously? Look at that. Aurum wins this one for me.


 

[Don Boyer]

I'm with Patrick on the "wealthy vs. royal" comparison.  The Artisans are great but the Aurum is better, though I wasn't as big a fan of the colors for the pips - I felt they were too close to each other.  The level of subtle detail on the Aurum is unmatched, to my knowledge.

[Rob Wright]

Paul may be the King of subtle detail. Aurum for me.

[RobotsEatCookies]

While I like both decks, I just find the design of the Aurum a lot more appealing. The deck is more custom and colors are great. Especially since they recently recolored the Artisans, I don't like the new, more pale inks on the recolor. Can't wait for Encarded to ship out the new Decos.

A shoutout to Lyle Borders from Theory11 for a great support team, replaced my deck at no charge (not even shipping).

Ok I'm going off topic now, so I'll stop it here.

[crazyfandecks]

Still prefer the back designed of Artisan than Aurum, Aurum have good quality of Stock and finish than, but its art is not my style  Aurum better than Artisan almost all categories. but vote for designer, i voted Artisan  for the details they made at back designed

[mirciusx]

I don't have Aurum, only White and Black Artisans

[john]

Aurum have won by 8!