Decks with complete customisation?

[Jonathan]

Hey guys,

For those that have been around these forums longer I was wondering if theres a list anywhere of the modern custom decks that have full customisation - ie back design, courts and pips?
I tried doing a search but couldn't find a forum topic on it.

The reason I ask is I'm relatively new to the card collecting scene and I've bought a few decks and notice I like decks like the uusi blue blood deck (which has completely custom court design as well as really, really nice touches to aces) more than decks that are just a different back design and tuck box but have standard faces and pips.
I remember reading somewhere someone saying that non-standard courts aren't as good for magicians because people aren't as familiar with them/don't recognise them as they would the standard courts.

Cheers,
Jon

[PurpleIce]

Sher143 just posted a few in reply to BrainVassel on another topic

Thanks! I am also curious if anyone out there know the percentage of decks that contain 54 unique illustrations? (No cards alike!...minus the pips)

No idea what the percentage is, but I can name a few. They're mostly transformation, semi-transformation, or art decks:
- Ultimate Deck by Dan & Dave in collaboration with Stranger & Stranger
- Playing Arts by Digital Abstracts
- Creative Cards by Digital Abstracts (bridge sized)
- Deck 1, Deck 2, and Deck 3 by Black Rock Collective
- The Keys to the Kingdom by Tony Meeuwissen
- Clipped Wings by Emmanuel Jose (coming to Kickstarter 2014)

There's one other vintage transformation deck on my mind but I can't recall the name right now. I'm sure there are more, but I'm guessing the percentage of decks with 54 unique illustrations is very low.

Off the top of my mind would be the curator deck, Vanity Fair (Vintage deck), Decked Out (KS deck - recently funded)

[Sher143]

Thanks,  PurpleIce!

I'm glad you mentioned the Vanity Fair deck because that was the one vintage deck I was referring to that I could not remember for some reason. 

Also,  to add to the list,  here are some of my favorite fully customized decks. They have custom courts and different pips in addition to a custom back and tuck,  but unlike the ones I've previously listed,  they don't have 54 unique illustrations (I hope that makes sense to you).

Aurum by Encarded (Paul Carpenter)
- Intricate, detailed,  continuous,  and symmetrical line work on both the backs and faces of each card.
- custom die cut on tuck box
- gold foil and embossing
- redrawn perfectly imperfect courts

Deco by Encarded
- detailed Deco pattern on face cards
- metallic inks on both cards and tuck box
- foil on inside of tuck box

Federal 52 series by Jackson Robinson
- custom courts inspired by U.S. currency
- intricate line work on faces of non court cards
- foil and embossing on tuck box
- print on inside of tuck box

Couple more to check out:
- Tendril by Encarded
- Sherlock Holmes series by Jackson Robinson
- Bohemia by Uusi
- Royal Optik by Uusi
- Pagan by Uusi
- White Rabbit by Albino Dragon
- Call of the Cthulhu by Albino Dragon
- Synthesis by Albino Dragon
- Call of the Cthulhu: The Writhing Dark by Shane Tyree
- Steampunk Cthulhu by Nat Iwata
- Elves and Orcs by Nat Iwata
- Steampunk Pirates by Nat Iwata
- Grid by 4PM Designs
- Grid 2.0 by 4PM Designs
- The Black Book of Cards by Uncommon Beat

All of the above were Kickstarter projects. At the moment it's difficult for me to think of any from Dan & Dave,  The Blue Crown,  Theory 11, Ellusionist,  or CARC that are fully custom.  I think maybe Animal Kingdom by Theory11?

[Jonathan]

Thanks guys!
Perhaps if we get enough info here, the PCP admins may be able to create a stickied topic that list full custom decks.
I do notice alot of the beautiful good quality kickstarters have great designs. I've heard of all the ones you mentioned but I wouldn't have been able to come up with a list like that off the top of my head haha.

As for ellusionist decks I can think of a few:
The artifice series are custom, but I think what draws away a little from them is how they release 5 million recolours *exageration* so it seems like the design is more common (that and the print runs for them are much higher than those kickstarters). I still love the purple artifice though (I'm using a purple artifice at this very moment in fact haha ).
The arcanes are full custom (I love the black arcanes).
I think the executive deck is too.
Actually now that I'm thinking about it, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most of ellusionists' decks are full custom; same goes for theory 11.
What I don't like so much is opening/buying a deck of cards, finding a custom tuckbox, back design, jokers, ad card and ace and then finding all the number cards and courts are pretty much completely standard.

What I DO like is the blue blood deck by uusi and how they've got art on all four aces and not just the ace of spades. I wonder what other decks out there have that kind of level of customisation and thought put into them. I'm waiting on a few more uusi decks I've ordered but I'm sure I won't be disappointed. As for those decks that have 54 unique illustrations they're good but I feel they're more art than easier usable playing cards (such as the anne stokes collection - they're beautiful and have unique illustrations but they sacrifice having pips on the number cards to accomplish that).

[52plusjoker]

There are thousands of antique/vintage decks that meet the criteria of each card being non-standard. Categories include - souvenirs, transformations, promotions, novelties, design contests, etc etc. The idea of having each card unique goes back to the 15th century if not earlier!  Check out some vintage card websites.

[Jonathan]

There are thousands of antique/vintage decks that meet the criteria of each card being non-standard. Categories include - souvenirs, transformations, promotions, novelties, design contests, etc etc. The idea of having each card unique goes back to the 15th century if not earlier!  Check out some vintage card websites.

Thanks, yeah I have seen some nice vintage decks, but like most on this forum alot of those are out of my price range haha. I know that the idea of full customisation is not new and there are many antique/vintage decks out there that aren't standard.

For this topic I was thinking modern custom cards (now I have no idea how you would go about defining "modern" but I'm thinking last 20 years ie USPCC printed) because I've heard on these forums that in the last few years the number of new deck releases has skyrocketed with many deck releases being "custom" but using standard courts and/or slightly recoloured but standard design courts.
Another thing I forgot to add was I'm also not a fan of repeating courts, for example the recent D$D October Fulton's release I would not include in my "full custom" list (for want of a more eloquent term) as the courts repeated (except the king of hearts).

I guess a similar question I could pose is: what other decks out there have as much design and thought put into them as decks like the Uusi blue bloods, Jackson's Fed 52 series etc? I think sher143 definitely put a good list of the kickstarter ones up in his/her post

[52plusjoker]

Modern =20 makes sense as we are using over 20 to define vintage for the Forum.

[Lotrek]

Thanks,  PurpleIce!

I'm glad you mentioned the Vanity Fair deck because that was the one vintage deck I was referring to that I could not remember for some reason. 

Also,  to add to the list,  here are some of my favorite fully customized decks. They have custom courts and different pips in addition to a custom back and tuck,  but unlike the ones I've previously listed,  they don't have 54 unique illustrations (I hope that makes sense to you).

Aurum by Encarded (Paul Carpenter)
- Intricate, detailed,  continuous,  and symmetrical line work on both the backs and faces of each card.
- custom die cut on tuck box
- gold foil and embossing
- redrawn perfectly imperfect courts

Deco by Encarded
- detailed Deco pattern on face cards
- metallic inks on both cards and tuck box
- foil on inside of tuck box

Federal 52 series by Jackson Robinson
- custom courts inspired by U.S. currency
- intricate line work on faces of non court cards
- foil and embossing on tuck box
- print on inside of tuck box

Couple more to check out:
- Tendril by Encarded
- Sherlock Holmes series by Jackson Robinson
- Bohemia by Uusi
- Royal Optik by Uusi
- Pagan by Uusi
- White Rabbit by Albino Dragon
- Call of the Cthulhu by Albino Dragon
- Synthesis by Albino Dragon
- Call of the Cthulhu: The Writhing Dark by Shane Tyree
- Steampunk Cthulhu by Nat Iwata
- Elves and Orcs by Nat Iwata
- Steampunk Pirates by Nat Iwata
- Grid by 4PM Designs
- Grid 2.0 by 4PM Designs
- The Black Book of Cards by Uncommon Beat

All of the above were Kickstarter projects. At the moment it's difficult for me to think of any from Dan & Dave,  The Blue Crown,  Theory 11, Ellusionist,  or CARC that are fully custom.  I think maybe Animal Kingdom by Theory11?

I would add:

RSVP "Timeless"
RSVP "Butterfly"
Bicycle "Venexiana"

 

[Don Boyer]

Thanks guys!
Perhaps if we get enough info here, the PCP admins may be able to create a stickied topic that list full custom decks.
I do notice alot of the beautiful good quality kickstarters have great designs. I've heard of all the ones you mentioned but I wouldn't have been able to come up with a list like that off the top of my head haha.

As for ellusionist decks I can think of a few:
The artifice series are custom, but I think what draws away a little from them is how they release 5 million recolours *exageration* so it seems like the design is more common (that and the print runs for them are much higher than those kickstarters). I still love the purple artifice though (I'm using a purple artifice at this very moment in fact haha ).
The arcanes are full custom (I love the black arcanes).
I think the executive deck is too.
Actually now that I'm thinking about it, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most of ellusionists' decks are full custom; same goes for theory 11.
What I don't like so much is opening/buying a deck of cards, finding a custom tuckbox, back design, jokers, ad card and ace and then finding all the number cards and courts are pretty much completely standard.

What I DO like is the blue blood deck by uusi and how they've got art on all four aces and not just the ace of spades. I wonder what other decks out there have that kind of level of customisation and thought put into them. I'm waiting on a few more uusi decks I've ordered but I'm sure I won't be disappointed. As for those decks that have 54 unique illustrations they're good but I feel they're more art than easier usable playing cards (such as the anne stokes collection - they're beautiful and have unique illustrations but they sacrifice having pips on the number cards to accomplish that).

Very few of T11's decks are full-custom jobs, and some of the ones that are weren't their original design, but a design they tweaked, such as the JAQK deck.  The only original, start-to-finish custom I've seen from them would be the Sentinels.  The rest use standard faces and recolored courts.

E used to use standard faces, but that started going away with the Artifice deck.

[Jonathan]

Thanks,  PurpleIce!

I'm glad you mentioned the Vanity Fair deck because that was the one vintage deck I was referring to that I could not remember for some reason. 

Also,  to add to the list,  here are some of my favorite fully customized decks. They have custom courts and different pips in addition to a custom back and tuck,  but unlike the ones I've previously listed,  they don't have 54 unique illustrations (I hope that makes sense to you).

Aurum by Encarded (Paul Carpenter)
- Intricate, detailed,  continuous,  and symmetrical line work on both the backs and faces of each card.
- custom die cut on tuck box
- gold foil and embossing
- redrawn perfectly imperfect courts

Deco by Encarded
- detailed Deco pattern on face cards
- metallic inks on both cards and tuck box
- foil on inside of tuck box

Federal 52 series by Jackson Robinson
- custom courts inspired by U.S. currency
- intricate line work on faces of non court cards
- foil and embossing on tuck box
- print on inside of tuck box

Couple more to check out:
- Tendril by Encarded
- Sherlock Holmes series by Jackson Robinson
- Bohemia by Uusi
- Royal Optik by Uusi
- Pagan by Uusi
- White Rabbit by Albino Dragon
- Call of the Cthulhu by Albino Dragon
- Synthesis by Albino Dragon
- Call of the Cthulhu: The Writhing Dark by Shane Tyree
- Steampunk Cthulhu by Nat Iwata
- Elves and Orcs by Nat Iwata
- Steampunk Pirates by Nat Iwata
- Grid by 4PM Designs
- Grid 2.0 by 4PM Designs
- The Black Book of Cards by Uncommon Beat

All of the above were Kickstarter projects. At the moment it's difficult for me to think of any from Dan & Dave,  The Blue Crown,  Theory 11, Ellusionist,  or CARC that are fully custom.  I think maybe Animal Kingdom by Theory11?

I would add:

RSVP "Timeless"
RSVP "Butterfly"
Bicycle "Venexiana"

 

Haha Lotrek, thanks for the adds there.
I didn't actually know Venexiana wasn't your first deck until I found a butterfly deck while overseas, bought it, and read the bottom of the tuck box .
Funnily enough I have a pair of venexiana's on my desk waiting to be opened and a few of the coins already opened on my desk, I suspected the cards were full custom but haven't opened them yet to confirm . I'm stretching out the suspence. P.s. I like the little paper book you included to explain the courst characters!

[mirciusx]

- October by Brad Fulton, DD.
- Ultimate Deck by Stranger and Stranger, DD.

[MagikFingerz]

- October by Brad Fulton, DD.
- Ultimate Deck by Stranger and Stranger, DD.

Regarding the October deck, I wouldn't count decks that have repeating courts as "fully costumized".

[Don Boyer]

- October by Brad Fulton, DD.
- Ultimate Deck by Stranger and Stranger, DD.

Regarding the October deck, I wouldn't count decks that have repeating courts as "fully costumized".

I wouldn't even call them "fully customized"...  But aren't they all wearing costumes? 

[RandyButterfield]

I'm surprised no one mentioned either the Imperials or ORNATE Decks!

Thanks, Randy

[Jonathan]

I'm surprised no one mentioned either the Imperials or ORNATE Decks!

Thanks, Randy

I don't have the ornate decks yet but they look great; I didn't know they were your work haha.

I recently opened a couple more decks and found a few more with complete customisation (although some are kinda borderline):
Majestic by Elite playing cards
Persian Empire deck by Cy (I know he got a lot of flak on this forum and there was a lot of scandal with the way he marketed/ran his initial campaign; but the cards themselves are quite nice and the borderless back design makes for a nice fan)
Grain back Deck by Ashley Acton (this isn't bicycle/USPCC)
League of Monsters by Cevin Cox (Again not USPCC but these cards handle amazingly, like really, really amazingly)
War of Kings by Andy Fischer (Again not a USPCC, and from looking at these forums seems the tucks on most people's decks got destroyed in transit)

[BiggerDee]

Randy, you just barely beat me to it! The Imperial and Ornate decks are fantastic! DEFINITELY put both of those on your list. Randy, Paul (Encarded - Aurum, Tendril, Deco) and Jackson (Federal 52) are my 3 favorite designers. I pretty much load up on anything that they release!

[Paul Carpenter]

Randy, you just barely beat me to it! The Imperial and Ornate decks are fantastic! DEFINITELY put both of those on your list. Randy, Paul (Encarded - Aurum, Tendril, Deco) and Jackson (Federal 52) are my 3 favorite designers. I pretty much load up on anything that they release!

Aw shucks stop it now. You'll make me blush.