I still don't get the hate. There has got to be a backstory. From what I see there have been 2 fountaine Kickstarter projects. The cards are not marketed ostentatiously ie Daniel Madison/Ellutionist with every color change billed as game changing/ mind blowing/ pushing the limits.
The fountaine site is filled with how to demos and examples. The cards are simple and part of a brand image focusing on cardistry. In this current market Fountaines with 2 decks, 1 a recolor based and marketed on a guy's ability and community of cardistry hardly seem offensive.
So what gives?
Perhaps it's more a case of personal tastes. The Fontaine deck is really kind of boring, at least to me and apparently to some others.
DM/E was a bad example to compare these to - people are just as critical of those decks these days if not more so. I think E has reached the point where half of their playing card output is something by Madison, McKinnon or both. I have nothing against either man - Madison's a nice guy when you meet him face-to-face - but there's only so much of the same thing that the market will tolerate.
But back to the point. The deck is pretty snooze-worthy, I'm apparently not the only person who thinks so, and someone's having a great, fat laugh at it all while capitalizing on the opportunity. And I love a great, fat laugh!
I think as well that the Fontaines were not well-timed, especially initially. Zach Mueller was getting raked over the coals a bit here for ripping into a trick that was selling at #1 on T11's "The Wire" during one of his video updates and no one thought it was called for. Many had thought he had a bit of an attitude to start with and thought it was utterly uncalled for, not to mention bad for his own business. Someone at T11 must have agreed, 'cause he ain't there no more. His rep hasn't quite recovered, and the people most vocal about the lazy design of the deck were also the people who thought he was acting like an ass. It doesn't make the design any less lazy or him any less of an ass, but it puts things into perspective a bit.