Voltige Deck (D&D)

[ruicorreia]

On D&D Facebook page, a new deck was announced: "Meet our newest deck of playing cards, Voltige".

It looks very nice. Can this be the return of the Buck twins to really good looking decks? Let's see.

[Don Boyer]

On D&D Facebook page, a new deck was announced: "Meet our newest deck of playing cards, Voltige".

It looks very nice. Can this be the return of the Buck twins to really good looking decks? Let's see.

It's hard to say.  We can definitely say this is the return of the Buck twins to really interesting tuck boxes!  Though it is me or does the top of the flip-top lid look a little odd in how it's assembled?

[ruicorreia]

On D&D Facebook page, a new deck was announced: "Meet our newest deck of playing cards, Voltige".

It looks very nice. Can this be the return of the Buck twins to really good looking decks? Let's see.

It's hard to say.  We can definitely say this is the return of the Buck twins to really interesting tuck boxes!  Though it is me or does the top of the flip-top lid look a little odd in how it's assembled?

Yes, we must wait and see the rest of the deck. I'm not rising my expectations, considering their last decks.
And yes, I noticed that something was strange on the top of the lid but I assume that is a sample, so it's not perfect.

[Paul Carpenter]

They have shared some pictures of the cards on Instagram and such. It is a full custom deck, but is really a reproduction of an old French deck I believe. The folks at UC dug up some pictures about it.

[Card Player]

Has anyone noticed these are the same boxes used on the Gold Private Reserve? I don't usually buy decks for the packaging but these look quite nice. The seal and it's positioning is very interesting as well. Looking forward to seeing more!

[MrMollusk]

Some more photos from their instagram.









This is the first time I've really been excited for one of D&D's decks in a loooong time.

It may be a reproduction, but it's a fantastic one.

[troy]

This is the first time I've really been excited for one of D&D's decks in a loooong time.

It may be a reproduction, but it's a fantastic one.

But they didn't say it was a reproduction...They said it was done from scratch. And when called out about it, the doublespeak began.

[Don Boyer]

I get the feeling that it's an original deck based on some older Parisian designs - the pips and court cards are certainly Parisian, and the use of a "1" on the card we'd call an ace is also a throwback to designs from the pre-French Revolution years.  The card only got called an ace at that time because it was thought to represent the proletariat - the "common people" who suddenly were in charge of things when the royals were removed.  As such, they became the highest rank in the deck - until then, they were only the lowest.  Additionally, court cards were replaced with the new motto of France - "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité" (liberty, equality, fraternity {brotherhood}) instead of "Jack, Queen, King".

The birds under the spot-card indices are interesting.  The names of the designers on the Ace of Spades sound familiar - I think they were the creators of the Tungstene deck.

[MrMollusk]

This is the first time I've really been excited for one of D&D's decks in a loooong time.

It may be a reproduction, but it's a fantastic one.

But they didn't say it was a reproduction...They said it was done from scratch. And when called out about it, the doublespeak began.

I don't remember seeing a specific deck with this design, but the court cards look like they're based off the French standard courts.



It's entirely possible that they could have just redrawn the court cards, box, and back. I do agree that they may be taking too much credit for the courts, though.

[troy]

This is the first time I've really been excited for one of D&D's decks in a loooong time.

It may be a reproduction, but it's a fantastic one.

But they didn't say it was a reproduction...They said it was done from scratch. And when called out about it, the doublespeak began.

I don't remember seeing a specific deck with this design, but the court cards look like they're based off the French standard courts.



It's entirely possible that they could have just redrawn the court cards, box, and back. I do agree that they may be taking too much credit for the courts, though.

This discussion is a little more in depth here:

http://www.unitedcardists.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5172&sid=5962980cd780ad082f2c2a2a7385bc14

[Don Boyer]

This discussion is a little more in depth here:

http://www.unitedcardists.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5172&sid=5962980cd780ad082f2c2a2a7385bc14

Actually, it's not in-depth at all about the actual deck - it's assailing Dan and Dave's business practices for the most part.

I looked and found it amazing that with a few photos showing off very little of the deck, practically everyone on the topic's drawn the conclusion that it's a ripoff of some kind and that the design isn't original.  I prefer to hold my judgment until I've actually seen what's being judged and not just a glimpse.

[Sher143]

I don't know if one can say the design is completely  original if it has many similarities to an existing set of court cards. I honestly don't mind that it's a reproduction,  as I do like the way they've done the courts.  However,  I can't say I'm not a bit bothered about the way they're taking credit for the work.  The designer says it was done "totally from scratch." "From scratch" is defined as "from the very beginning, especially without utilizing or relying on any previous work for assistance." I would think the French Standard courts would count as previous work. 

[Don Boyer]

I don't know if one can say the design is completely  original if it has many similarities to an existing set of court cards. I honestly don't mind that it's a reproduction,  as I do like the way they've done the courts.  However,  I can't say I'm not a bit bothered about the way they're taking credit for the work.  The designer says it was done "totally from scratch." "From scratch" is defined as "from the very beginning, especially without utilizing or relying on any previous work for assistance." I would think the French Standard courts would count as previous work.

But - and this is important - NO ONE HAS SEEN MORE THAN A GLIMPSE OF THIS DECK.  I'd do just as well comparing it to a sewer tunnel without a flashlight handy, because I'd probably see about as much there as I have of this deck!  It could look like practically anything!

Which designer stated anything about it?  As far as I can tell, it's the same pair of guys who created the Tungstene deck, so it's not like they're incapable of original thought and design.

Look, I've considered some of D&D's work wanting in my opinion in the past.  But in all fairness, I'm not running off and jumping to conclusions about a design that I've barely seen.  Show me a full deck, then perhaps I'll form an opinion - what's going on now is just silly and unproductive.

[MrMollusk]

New instagram photo.



"Available soon".

[Rose]

They look amazing.
The box colour is radiant, the side opening is revolutionary, and the stamp is cool.
The cards are awesome, love the pip design, except on the court cards, continuity in a pip on a deck is important to me, and this is palm face wrong.
But overall I like it, it is fresh, exciting with a touch of luxury.

[Don Boyer]

They look amazing.
The box colour is radiant, the side opening is revolutionary, and the stamp is cool.
The cards are awesome, love the pip design, except on the court cards, continuity in a pip on a deck is important to me, and this is palm face wrong.
But overall I like it, it is fresh, exciting with a touch of luxury.

In the dawn of the index (around 1865 give or take), some US-made decks had a similar design, where the pips were all placed where they used to go on pre-index decks and they just slapped an index in place, partially covering the pip.  Pips were pretty large then, so no one thought it was such a big deal, I suppose.  It wasn't until later that people thought to make the pips, pip patterns and courts smaller, leaving the indices on a margin around the design.

Anyway, the design most commonly used in the US originally came to be in Rouen, France, from which the British copied the design elements and ideas, eventually followed by Americans copying the Brits - it came to be known as the International Standard, commonly found in most casinos around the world as well as on kitchen and living room tables throughout North America, Asia and parts of Europe.  The deck the Bucks made, however, conforms closer to the Parisian design, which is perhaps a little more ornate and is still rather popular in France and some other European countries.  It was in the late 15th Century that the two designs developed - the French thought the Parisian deck was better and saved it for themselves, while the decks from Rouen were manufactured primarily for import to the United Kingdom.  In the end, like the battle of VHS versus Beta for videotape formats, the Rouen deck became the more popular worldwide because of it being exported, imitated and improved.

[Rose]

Well said, as usual Don, oh wait I didn't read the post properly, sorry, I saw the post that Mr Mollusk put up and was confused about the different pips on the numbers to the court cards.
Well now I like everything about this deck.

[Rob Wright]

Another pic- one way back

[BenMorrisRains]

On their instagram they said these will be here on Friday: http://instagram.com/p/s-RQ62q9ZB/

[Rob Wright]

On their instagram they said these will be here on Friday: http://instagram.com/p/s-RQ62q9ZB/

9am PST Friday

[Justin O.]

On sale now, at what I feel is a really reasonable price. I really like most of this deck. The back design doesn't really do a lot for me, but I like the face of the cards, the pips, the 1's, the courts, and I love the perforated side upen tuck with the diamond 'stamp' seal. Picked up a set of one of each color.

[Marcus]

I'll say here what I said over at UC..

Had these been reasonably priced, say somewhere between $6 and $8 with the regular brick discounts and sensible shipping I'd be in for a brick or two of each color. However with their international shipping prices and the deck price I'd be paying $20 per deck. That's far from reasonable and a no-go for me.

When did the Buck twins stop producing decks that were meant to be used?

[BenMorrisRains]

I'll say here what I said over at UC..

Had these been reasonably priced, say somewhere between $6 and $8 with the regular brick discounts and sensible shipping I'd be in for a brick or two of each color. However with their international shipping prices and the deck price I'd be paying $20 per deck. That's far from reasonable and a no-go for me.

When did the Buck twins stop producing decks that were meant to be used?

Exactly how I feel, although minus the shipping issue. I was going to buy a brick of these no problem. After adding 6 of the collectors edition to my card, it only applied the 10% off deal. That wasn't too bad and I was about to pull the trigger but was experimenting with different combinations. Then they removed the 10% deal...

4 decks at around $45 dollars plus shipping is sort of crazy. If they actually said how many were printed then it might justify the price. Like if there was only 500-1000 printed.

[Don Boyer]

$15 a deck is high, especially if shipping isn't included.  It's high for a KS deck, but at least on KS you get domestic shipping.

I think it's a nice deck but I'll probably pass.

When did the Buck twins stop producing decks that were meant to be used?

When they released the Stranger and Stranger Ultimate Deck.  C'mon, if you're going to ask trivia questions, make them a LITTLE harder, please! 

[Justin O.]

Fortunately shipping for me was only $6, and at $22 for one of each, I think $14 per deck, shipping included, seems reasonable for a popular company's brand new product. While I'm sure the value has diminishing returns the more decks you get, having more than one of each deck in my collection seems unnecessary.