Just my 2 cents- maybe 3, on the subject as pertains to the Hive deck.
Penny #1 I've seen it posted many times here that it is cheaper to print with EPCC. I have yet to see any EPCC deck for sale for less than USPCC decks. Designers may save 20-30cent per deck on a basic custom deck. Over 2-3000 decks. That could be a pretty good savings for the designer, but it doesn't translate to retail. As a collector- there is no difference to me between a $10 deck, and an $11 deck.
Penny #2 Overkill on custom- Foil, embossing, inside tuck color/printing, ultra custom tucks. This can easily double or more the cost of producing the deck. This is OK sometimes, but it doesn't have to be on every single deck produced- someone please print just a simple deck of cards. This is not a jab at any one designer. There are 5 or 6 decks on KS now that have extra customization. I think Jackson's Tally Ho's are a good example of nice design on a basic deck. As a first time designer for Brendan, I think the Hive could have still been a great looking deck without some of this stuff, and in turn made the deck a little cheaper.
Penny #3 I don't begrudge anybody making money. Brendan mentioned he had to be paid for his time designing the deck. A lot of artist live on ramen noodles, and spaghetti for years trying to get their work discovered. A small sacrifice on this deck could have been made up with future projects. The high price tag of this deck could limit your initial exposure. Think of it more as investing in future gains.
At the end of the day, I think Brendan is going to be a very successful designer, and the Hive will sell out. This is all just a bunch of Monday morning Quarterbacking gibber jabber anyways.
I'll be in for 1 set. At $25-$30 it would have been 2 sets.
My last thought for any designer. If every deck you design is going to be over $16+ then people will get turned off, and stop buying. When people get turned off, they won't buy a $6 deck either. JMO
Penny #1. That's not true, actually. The version 3 NOC decks would have retailed for $5.95 each if the company stayed with USPC. It's why they switched to EPCC - letting them keep their $4.95 price tag, allowing it to remain a leading "working magician's" deck as well as one that's popular with some collectors.
Penny #2. This will die down. EPCC offers the kind of bells and whistles USPC has nightmares about and that make designers drool. Think of it like '80s bands - synthesizers and electronic drums were all the rage because they'd finally become affordable to the typical musician. In time, people did tire of the sameness of the sound and music and they moved from being the focus to being just another instrument.
Penny #3 I can actually agree with. Super-limited editions keep your potential audience super-limited as well, in an age where diversity is going to be the key to survival.
And Don, the Hive compared to Lamborghini? 
That's honestly way too kind of you.
Don't look at me - it was Jackson who initially made the comparison.
Is there a bubble? ABSOLUTELY! But that bubble only applies to the card collecting world and subsequently that section of buyers. If you were to ask the banker who just bought Fed 52s for his staff what do you think about the Card Collecting Bubble? He would look at you as if you were from Mars. There will absolutely be a collapse in the Card bubble and it will come faster than most expect. The designers and companies that it will be effected most will be the ones who have all of the eggs in one basket.
It may sound selfish but my main focus is to capture non cardcollectors and turn them into Kings Wild Collectors. My focus is not to turn them into card collectors because if they fall into that group then they would be buying someone elses decks and not mine. You would be amazed at the frequency of return buyers who are Kings Wild Collectors over "card collectors"
It's true that the most diversified players in the card production game will be the best insulated against the problem a bursting bubble would create. But we also have to remember some important issues that could leave you less insulated than you initially thought.
You mention a roughly 70/30 split, non-collectors to collectors. But while collectors may only be about one customer in three, they're probably buying more like 1 out of every two decks or more. Collectors tend to spend in disproportionate numbers compared to non-collectors. And even non-collectors will eventually stop and take pause as a deck's price rises and rises. We as collectors think they're awesome works of art. Most other consumers may think it looks pretty cool but they, too, can be affected by price point, and super-limited short runs are far less likely to be on their list of must-buys, especially since they tend to sell out in a few hours.
For each non-collectors who bought your decks, there's probably a good number of non-customers wandering around Kickstarter who thought that paying so much for something they can get at WalMart for a buck or two a box is just crazy. It's like me showing a stranger off the street a Kenner Star Wars original Jawa figure with the vinyl cape from 1978, mint in package. Maybe one in ten or one in twenty (or depending on where I'm asking, one in a thousand) have any clue that this object, rather than being some cheap-ass action figure (which is what it originally was, when it was released) is worth several hundred bucks. They wouldn't pay more than five bucks for it, if you offered to sell it to them. Look at the Civil War decks you made for USPC - they're $4 a pack and sold faster than anything, and the company's going to make a new printing. That same deck, made on KS, might cost $15 - same as your initial offering of the Fed52 decks. That includes shipping, to be sure, but adding shipping to the $4 purchase still won't get you anywhere near $15, especially if you are buying more than one.
But getting back to the collectors. You know better than anyone else that they buy a disproportionate amount of decks compared to non-collectors. The motivation to buy is higher and they control more of the money in the custom deck marketplace. If they suddenly started buying just a little less, you'd notice it. If they bought a lot less, you'd feel it. If they dropped out of the market almost entirely, you'd end up downsizing your business quite a bit.
You'd have to be so diverse, Jackson, you'd need to have practically no collectors on your customer list in order to survive that bubble's burst, particularly if it's in the same spectacular fashion as the comic book market, the sports memorabilia market, the real estate market, the tech market (twice), the stock market (thrice in my lifetime) and nearly any other market where inflated prices and financial pressure on the consumer combined to take tons of cash out of the market and put it anywhere else. It would probably bounce back eventually, like those other markets, but with fewer people left standing and a lot of restructuring taking place on the part of those still-standing players. But you sell decks of cards (or facilitate the sale of them through your other businesses), so sales to card collectors are part and parcel of your business. Anything that affects their spending can have an impact on you in the process.
