Bicycle Karnival Inferno - that's what I meant, one fiery deck. I totally forgot about them. However in comparison with Ignite they loose in my opinion. The design is too chaotic and "filled" for my taste. What do you think?
Most of the Karnival line is an acquired taste. Some take to it quickly, some never take to it at all. I'd say for for every person who can't stand to see another one of their skull-adorned, demonic-looking decks, there's about one person who thinks they're totally awesome card designs.
The two "universal truths" about the entire line, regardless of whether you love it or hate it, are that until Karnival Dead Eyes, they weren't exploring custom work quite as much as their fans would have liked - and all the decks before that suffered from "the shakedown period" - that period of time which ran roughly from halfway through 2009 until twelve to eighteen months later, when USPC first moved to the new Kentucky plant and was working out the kinks with the new equipment. A number of decks really suffered, particularly in terms of finish/handling, which were produced in that period. By the end of 2010, though, they seemed to have gotten a handle on things to the point that from then on, all their custom work was and is superior to anything they made in Cincinnati since the days of cotton and linen finish application rollers. Their standard Bicycle line took a slight hit because they seem to have gone just a little lower on the quality, though, presumably as a cost cutting measure. I haven't noticed enough of a difference in either Bees or Tally Ho decks to make a judgment call on them - I haven't yet handled any that were made between 2011 and the present.
