The thing is that we all know what happened to those series...
Cult Classics? Lol
3 classic go 2 decks getting color change's. Between Rounders, Monarch's and now what looks to be purple S&M, I don't mind it. At the same time, I hope that does not give other companies ideas. I know there is a deck or two that come to mind that have wore out it's recolor welcome. D&D releasing a color once a year, is tastefully done. Changing color 5 times in 12 months like an unnamed company, kills a brand.
Cult Classics? Maybe the first ones were - but where would you rank something like "Friday the 13th Part VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan"? This is S&M part VIII, from the looks of it. New cast, maybe a new setting, definitely the same old formula, lather, rinse, repeat...
5 times in 12 months? Who would do such a thing? (coughACEcoughFLUTON'Scough...)
Look, a few colors are great. Especially when released together, but it can be OK to release them separately, especially if it's not a limited edition. But things are getting a little carried away.
So far, Rounders have had what, four colors? Black, red and now brown and blue? Fine - but there's a limit. At least in this case, two of the colors are limited editions - so boil it down to brass tacks and it's the black and brown decks that will see the most circulation and use.
Monarchs... Let's do a count.
- First was the very rare "Gold" Monarchs - they were supposed to simply be the Monarchs, but Theory11 made a smart decision and opted to reprint was would have been an inferior-looking deck. I don't own one, but I can look at the first edition of the Misc. Goods Co. deck to get an idea - beautiful design turned to mud by having fine gold lines in a heavily dark background.
- Second, what we know as simply "Monarchs" - you could call them Navy Monarchs to distinguish them if you wanted to. Unlimited, buy all you want, they'll make more.
- Third came the White Monarchs. They were a color flip, putting the gold on white and making the box white. Like the Golds, they're limited, though nowhere near as rare - as far as we can tell, since T11 never released the size of the print run.
- Fourth was the Silver Monarchs. Personally, I think these should have been called the White Monarchs, but what do I know? It's White Monarchs with black instead of gold and silver foil on the box. Again, an unlimited edition.
- Fifth are these new Red Monarchs. We have no idea if they're rare or unlimited. For sake of argument, let's assume they're unlimited.
So that's five colors, of which only three are unlimited editions. That, I can live with - but taking it much further than that will start looking stale. Would you rather see two, three, four or even five new deck designs, or the same old deck recolored over and over?
And then there's the Artifice deck...
It's a very attractive deck and didn't have the "hype fallout" that the Monarchs did when they were first released - though they did have the whole "bordered or borderless" debate between the magicians and the collectors.
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- First was blue borderless. Well-received, other than the debate mentioned above. Unlimited edition.
- Then came red - first limited-edition deck Ellusionist opted to sell at first rather than keep as a premium. Of the 5,000-deck run, 3,000 were sold in the first day. There was a lot of sour grapes on that one due to severely overloaded servers and potential buyers getting shut out as a result.
- Third was blue bordered, first of the "second edition" Artifice decks. Ellusionist sided with the magicians and made a white-bordered version of the card. This had the secondary effect of making the first-edition blue out of print, and thus a limited edition, though no one know just how limited - probably in the 10,000-20,000 deck range. This version is still in print, not rare.
- Fourth, emerald - very nice color. Well-received and unlimited, still in print. When asked about making an unlimited, white-bordered red deck, E stated that they didn't want to negatively impact the value of the first edition, so no red for the future.
- Now things start getting a little strange - fifth deck is purple, but with a border? And with really messed-up colors on the pips? One color was purple in the center fading to black and the other was black in the center fading to purple - not TOO confusing, right? I personally found them nearly impossible to use, as if all the pips were the same color, because in essence, they were! It came about because E asked on their Facebook page what color people wanted to see next. The majority chose purple, but of those, a whopping 20% also asked, without it being offered, if the deck could have no border. Taking this 20% as the people's mandate, they make the purple deck with a borderless design. Mixed reviews. In a subsequent print run, the pip colors are fixed to solid black and solid purple - a vast improvement. It is an unlimited edition and still in print.
- Sixth deck is another limited edition, specifically for the Black Club - the Apex Edition Artifice Black deck. Unique about these is the all-black faces and backs and that they have a plain Ace of Spades and an ornate Ace of Clubs - after all, they're for the Black Club... While successful at getting people to join the club, it's somewhat flawed in that the pips are white and light gray, making them appear nearly identical.
- SEVENTH deck... Artifice Tundra. Nicknamed Artifice Ghost by many, it's a fusion of the two designs. A black-on-white back design and all-black pips except for the indices, it bears a striking resemblance to the Bicycle Ghost deck - too close for some. Even the black borders around the red index pips is identical. Many groused that it was a case of lazy design work and lacking originality. Unlimited edition, still in print.
So Artifice, in summary: seven decks, only two limited editions, four are still in print. This deck is considered by many now to have "jumped the shark" and will hopefully not see any new editions anytime soon, at least not until some of the existing in-print editions are taken out of the product line.
Now on to...Smoke and Mirrors.
The first three versions (six deck in total, counting both colors each was released in) are evolutions of the same design. Fancy curlicues decorate the backs, and they're either black-on-white or white-on-black. Minimalist courts and USPC's "Perfect Pips" set off the faces of the deck.
The next three versions bear little resemblance on the backs to the first three, other than the "DD" logo in the center. Three versions of the same back in different colors, "Eco" (leaf green), "Paper Denim" (blue-gray) and "Rouge" (dark red). Same minimalist courts, color-matched to the backs.
The seventh edition consists of not one or two but SIX decks. They're reprinted versions of versions three through six plus a new color, "Carbon" (black) that matches the design of editions four through six. All six decks have USPC standard faces. It was disappointing to many long-time collectors, considered a downgrade of the originals, but to new collectors, it was a chance to own a deck design (albeit altered) that was previously out of their price range. It was believed that this would be the last version of the series. Originally available only as a boxed set, a second boxed set was released, called "Carbon Copy", which contained six decks all in the Carbon design, and finally all but the Carbon deck became available individually. As of now, Smoke, Mirror and the Carbon Copy boxed set are sold out.
And now we're seeing purple as a possible version 8. Only they know what the faces will look like - traditional Smoke and Mirrors or USPC standard - but the back is in exactly the same mold as versions 4-6 and the Carbon deck.
The only reason I can think of for making so many additional colors is simply that they were all limited editions. A color sells out, people want more of the deck, they make more - in a new color, perpetuating the rarity of the initial colors/designs. It's really, in that sense, a deck for collectors more so than for general use. It's the case of most every deck they design and sell, and on one occasion, a deck someone else designed (Tungstene). Though as I look over their inventory and see that popular older decks like the original Fulton's Clip Joint and the Vintage Plaid are still in stock, it makes me wonder if they are doing reprints of some of their deck designs now... (Well, it's either that, or they're not selling as well as originally planned when the print run was ordered!)
I think I'll wait for the pink one...
Um...that's...hmm...it seems like "TMI" doesn't do this, THING, justice...
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