Your top 3 in these categories

[Don Boyer]

USPCC offers embossed and smooth (dont mess with smooth for fans), then a couple paper stocks. Your going to be hard pressed to find a huge difference between custom prints.

LPCC has a PVC coating that last a bit longer, which some like and others don't.

Smooth Aladdins fan very nicely - that rule about smooth decks is mostly but not always true, especially now that designers with USPC get Magic Finish by default.

Trivia: burning PVC creates a toxic gas that's lethal to humans.  It's why it's no longer used for electrical conduit in New York, just for plumbing drains.  The city found this out the hard way during an electrical fire in a train station before the ban.  So if you get cards with that finish, don't burn them!

[DarkDerp]

USPCC offers embossed and smooth (dont mess with smooth for fans), then a couple paper stocks. Your going to be hard pressed to find a huge difference between custom prints.

LPCC has a PVC coating that last a bit longer, which some like and others don't.

Smooth Aladdins fan very nicely - that rule about smooth decks is mostly but not always true, especially now that designers with USPC get Magic Finish by default.

Trivia: burning PVC creates a toxic gas that's lethal to humans.  It's why it's no longer used for electrical conduit in New York, just for plumbing drains.  The city found this out the hard way during an electrical fire in a train station before the ban.  So if you get cards with that finish, don't burn them!

You stepped in it now. Hope you have a legal pad and some sort of  writing instrument handy cause Don will be by shortly to school you in the  differences between finish and coa... WAIT!!!    Don?   

What have you done with Don, Fiddler?!

[Card Player]

USPCC offers embossed and smooth (dont mess with smooth for fans), then a couple paper stocks. Your going to be hard pressed to find a huge difference between custom prints.

LPCC has a PVC coating that last a bit longer, which some like and others don't.

Smooth Aladdins fan very nicely - that rule about smooth decks is mostly but not always true, especially now that designers with USPC get Magic Finish by default.

Trivia: burning PVC creates a toxic gas that's lethal to humans.  It's why it's no longer used for electrical conduit in New York, just for plumbing drains.  The city found this out the hard way during an electrical fire in a train station before the ban.  So if you get cards with that finish, don't burn them!

You stepped in it now. Hope you have a legal pad and some sort of  writing instrument handy cause Don will be by shortly to school you in the  differences between finish and coa... WAIT!!!    Don?   

What have you done with Don, Fiddler?!

Ahhh , you lost me.

[Don Boyer]

Ahhh , you lost me.

Most people think the card's finish is the liquid coating placed on the paper for durability.  Because the card's texture was applied to the liquid coating, it was indeed true for older decks, nothing much older than the early 1970s.

These days, it's not.  The finish is the texture or lack thereof of the card itself, while the coating is applied separately.  USPC keeps the old names around, which creates the confusion.

I often have to point this out to others.  DarkDerp's signature is a testament to this.  But, being the human being that I am, I do occasionally make mistakes!

Can we NOW return to the topic at hand, ladies and gentlemen?