Hello Rousselle!
I guess my posts may give the impression that I'm a USPCC "hater"... but in all honesty, that really isn't the case.
When I first started collecting, my goal was to own the best quality cards in existence. At the time, USPCC was the only real option (LPCC and EPCC weren't around)... and so my collection at that time was dominated by USPCC decks. As their was nothing to really compare against, I did consider USPCC to be the gold standard... but even then, I was finding that the newer USPCC decks were using card stocks which really weren't as good as what they were previously using.
Eg. the Mana V1, and Zenneth Kok's gold seal New Fan Back decks both used a really nice card stock which USPCC no longer offers. Even the old Wynn decks had a nice card stock.
The phasing out of good quality materials did start to bother me, and I did start losing interest... but then Legends came along, and my interest in playing cards took a turn for the better.
Over time, the more I compared the LPCC and USPCC products, the less impressed I became with our friends in Kentucky. The obvious things that stand out:
(1) Printing precision: USPCC have been around for donkeys years... and so how can they justify *not* being able to get print registration perfect, where as Legends can with printers in Taiwan and PRC?
I'm very much into doing gambling demos (the type Richard Turner and Darwin Ortiz do), and so I like to tell people at the start "these cards are just normal cards, and they're not marked or gaffed in any way"... yet 95% of all USPCC cards are unintentionally one-way, due to uneven borders!
(2) Cutting: LPCC and EPCC decks are boasting perfectly smooth edges due to a superior cutting system which they're using... where as USPCC still have somewhat "furry" edges. For a guy like me who's main use for cards is routines involving shuffling, it makes a big difference.
(3) Durability: LPCC and EPCC cards last a heck of a long time -- some decks have lasted me 5 times as long as USPCC decks. Even with the new card stock that USPCC started offering last year, it cannot compete in terms of durability. I used a deck of Madison Private Reserve Rounders, and after just a few uses, the edges had dents in them. It was basically ready for the trash can.
And so quality wise, I just don't feel that USPCC decks can compete. Yeah, they have the custom of casinos, so good for them... but as a collector, I'm not impressed. If the quality isn't the best available, then I'm not going to part with my money just because a tuck box has "Bicycle" or "Bee" stamped across it.
As it is, I wasn't too big a fan of the magic finish (which appears to be USPCC's top of the line coating) -- cards would just fly everywhere if I attempted to shuffle out of the box. It also made bottom dealing tough for me. The coating that Legends use works great for me -- great slip between the cards, and at the same time, allows me to easily grip cards for extraction.
I like good artwork on cards... but I like to make use of them also, and hence why I'm not really able to do very much with USPCC decks.
Jody's artwork, as I already expressed, is awesome -- the Golden Spike design was really cool. That's why I'm really happy that I'll be able to add these upcoming decks to my collection. Great quality artwork, and great quality printing/materials -- for me, that's everything that I'm looking for
Hope that answers the question!
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