Well done Ellusionist, After angering thousands of your loyal customers with the Farce that was the Red Artifice release, you go and do it all over again with the Limited Deck.
It would seem E has learnt nothing about their customer base.
It appears that E are trying to return to the glory days of the Gold Arcane. They tried with The Red Artifice and failed. Whilst The Gold Arcane was special, elegant and desirable, The Red Artifice, whilst gorgeous, was just a recolour of a deck we already owned. Then to make matters worse they destroyed the elegance of the Artifice decks by releasing the bordered version.
They never compromised on the Standard Arcanes so I don't understand why they did on the Artifice.
Just read the posts on this and other forums, people are sick of Limited Decks that are bumped up for profit. At least theory11's Monarch Con was sold at the standard reasonable price.
I've bought enough decks recently, think I'll pass on these.
I'm absolutely astounded at nearly everyone here. Shocked.
I've heard a lot of whining and bellyaching over this topic - and a few deserved apologies to Xntrix, an E employee.
That "farce" that was the Red Artifice deck? Servers crashing because people were jamming into the virtual front gate? It was the result of their servers getting something like eight times the amount of hits they've ever had since the company began! They had no idea the demand would be as high as it was. They've solved this problem for any future such releases with a cloud computing solution - more capacity can be brought to bear as needed.
E has learned from their customer base. It's why the Artifice decks got the white border in the first place! Customers demanded it! I was one of them. Yes, folks, playing card collectors who encase rare decks in glass and worship them like fetishes aren't the only customers that Ellusionist has! The majority of their clientele are magicians and cardists - people who actually USE the cards rather than staring at the sealed decks bought by the brick and using them as currency to get the next new deck.
Artifice v1 was a beautiful deck, with a big flaw for magicians. By having a white face and a black back, certain tricks became impossible to perform with the unbordered Artifice design. E heard their customers and gave them what they wanted with the v2 borders, plain and simple. Why didn't they do this to standard Arcane decks? They didn't have to! Arcanes never had this flaw! They were either all-black or all-white. Furthermore, the all-black Arcanes could be markered in black along the card edges to conceal edge damage that all colored decks are vulnerable to. Artifice without borders didn't have this option because it would ruin the white faces.
Red Artifice a mere "recolour"? Dude, what do you think Gold Arcane is? Or Black Ghost 1st Edition? Gold Arcane was tweaked a bit, being the first E decks with Performance Coating, but other than that, they were just a recoloring of the black deck - and a rather pretty one at that. So I fail to see where this argument holds water.
People were complaining about how "expensive" the Ltd. deck is. It isn't - it's FREE, for crying out loud! You have to buy merchandise to get it, but that's the same exact deal as with the other rare E decks previously available, the only exception being the sale of Red Artifice. They made 5,000 of them - while this special offer is only for the Christmas season, there's no way on earth they're going to move all 5,000 before the promo ends. So you can expect to see them again as a promo or a contest prize here and there, just like the other rare decks. Think it's too expensive? Buy $150 worth of cards, get the deck for FREE, then resell the cards on eBay at face value! Then it IS genuinely free!
Guys, Ellusionist is a company, and like any other company, they need to make a buck to keep the lights on and pay the staff. But they give back when they do things like this - things they don't even have to do in the first place. Bloody hell, it's a holiday promo, and nearly everyone here is sounding like grinches. It's a wicked cool deck in my opinion - it looks like it's going to have unique faces to go with the elegant back design.
Can everyone afford to buy the merch needed to get it? No, of course not. Such is the nature of capitalism - I certainly can't afford everything I'd like to own. But it's not some impossible goal to get one, and you certainly won't see me moan or cry about it if I can't afford the goods. Did it occur to anyone that perhaps the deck is being targeted more at the people who actually perform rather than the people who just want to collect? Those are the people more likely to buy $150 worth of products from an online MAGIC/CARDISTRY store.
I actually had a phone call with Jason Brumbalow less than twenty-four hours ago. He posted on the company blog a few months ago about a local hospital in need of magician volunteers to cheer up the patients. I answered the request, and I've been utterly thrilled with the gig. Ever see a little sick kid tell you he feels better after seeing you perform a simple bit of sleight of hand? I have - it melts you to the core. Some of these kids are ill with diseases I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy so if making their eyes bug out and their jaws drop a little by performing for them takes their minds off their pain for a while, you bet your ass I'll do it. Their parents appreciate it as much as the kids - sometimes more.
I emailed Jason to thank him for the posting and to tell him how appreciative I was to be lucky enough to do what I'm doing there. He actually emailed me his cellphone number and asked me to call the next day (Friday afternoon, NYC time). Here's a man who spends usually one day a week doing exactly the same thing at a hospital near the company, has been doing so for longer than I've been a magician, and he tells me that I'M inspiring HIM, by showing him he's not alone in doing this work. We both agreed that it's practically like being selfish because of how much joy it creates for us as well as the patients. I mentioned that if he's in New York, feel free to look me up, and he said he'd save my number in his cellphone. He also requested my mailing address because he wanted to send me a token of gratitude, in addition to featuring my story on the company blog sometime next week. I agreed - my name is Don Boyer, so look for it. He's going to link back to the original article calling for volunteers as well, if anyone around here who performs lives in the area and can give a little of their time. If you don't live in my area, maybe you could ask at your local hospital if there's such a need to be filled.
A couple of hours after the call and emailing him my PO Box number, I got an email from E about an "order" that was being processed - I didn't order anything, so I assumed it's what Jason decided to send me. It was: one deck each of Gold Arcane, Red Artifice, Infinity and Tally-Ho Viper Fan Back (one of the last of the UV500 decks). Mine may very well be the first actual "order" of Infinity cards, though I doubt I'll see them before the release date.
My point is, this guy's a company CEO, doing charity work, giving away products to people to show his gratitude, whether it's for volunteering or for helping him make his dream of an online street magic shop a reality, while here there's people whining about how they can't afford the next free deck. How many of you could afford to get a Gold Arcane deck when they're not on special? I never hear any complaints about that... Corporate greed? Not even close. These are GIFTS for crying out loud, from him to you.
Everyone, PLEASE, get into the holiday spirit, even if it's not your religious holiday. This deck was made as a holiday promo - to boost sales, sure, but also to say thanks for being a loyal customer. If you don't want a Ltd. deck, fine - but is it that necessary to piss on it and Ellusionist in front of everyone? Most of you actually LIKE the company, based on posts I've seen around here on other threads! You haven't even seen more than a peek of what the deck looks like, never mind hearing a review! If you do want it and can't afford it, then I'm truly sorry for that, but it's a part of life that we can't keep up with the gotta-get-'em-all mentality. Pick what you like and can afford, buy it, and have some fun with it for crying out loud.
I apologize if I've offended anyone here. I'm not meaning to pound on collectors - I'm one as well as much as I hate to admit it and my girlfriend wishes I wasn't, and I know the joy my hobby brings me. The direction this whole thread took just really rubbed me the wrong way and I had to get that out of my system. Thus far, my experiences in this community have been largely positive and I hope to keep them that way.
