Opinion about the Nightshade Deck

[axther]

I am thinking about buying the Bicycle Nightshade Deck from their website, it will totally cost me 22.98$ Including the shipping to Israel

Should I buy this deck as my 1st deck part of a collection? And should I get 2 more decks and send them all together so i won't pay shipping every time I buy a single deck?

And should I buy it from amazon or ebay if i find for cheaper? or best is to buy from the website?

[Fess]

There is no way that anyone but you can answer those questions. What you're asking is about value for dollar. This is something only you can decide for your collection and wallet.

[Cardfool]

First of all, welcome to the wonderful and wacky world of collecting playing cards...you are in for a great ride!

As for purchasing decks for your collection, if you can find the deck on eBay, Amazon or anywhere else cheaper, then I would consider buying from the cheaper site, depending of course, on the site's reputation.  eBay and Amazon have pretty good customer protection for purchases and therefore I consider them to be safer websites to purchase from, though you still have to be careful when selecting vendors (make sure that they have a lot of good feedback and little or no negative).  You should also consider checking out playing card re-sellers in Europe as shipping will be less...you should check out JP Playing Cards out of the UK, they provide free shipping to Europe for purchases over a certain amount and they have a great selection.

Ultimately, Fez is right, and only you can decide on how much a deck is worth to you and whether you are willing to (and capable of) pay the price for the deck.  Best of luck with your hunt for decks...don't forget to show us how your collection grows

[Don Boyer]

There are a few things you should always be aware of.

This is a luxury hobby to start with - even more so because you're almost always going to be ordering internationally.

Check the shipping costs for any retailer sending you decks, and also check what your country's rules are for Customs fees.  Many collectors outside the US get burned by high Customs fees when ordering outside of their country.

Ordering in bulk will usually save you money - you'll pay less for shipping and some retailers will give you bulk discounts.

Consider using a mail forwarding service, like shipi.to.  They'll allow you to receive several packages at their US address, then they'll consolidate them into a single, larger shipment they send to you.  In some cases, you might be able to save a few bucks by paying the retailer's domestic shipping rate instead of the higher international rate, though there's still the matter of getting things shipped from the consolidator to you, and the cost of their services.

[axther]

Thanks for all the answers

I'm thinking about buying atm the killer clowns bike and looking for other interesting decks that have a unique design and unique Jokers , I'm looking at different stores on the web (US and Europe)

btw, is it possible to collect the Jokers aside? I mean I would collect the decks, but I want to play with them and use them here and there, but I won't play with the jokers themselves (and the add cards or any other extra card that is not needed in gameplay), so can I like collect them and keep them only in a "perfect" condition by the side and the rest of the deck as a different collection? Like to showcase the Jokers in 1 place and the decks them self in another place

[Magasaki]

Its possible, sure, if that's what you want to do. I open the vast majority of by decks but still keep them all together. If there's a deck I really want to use I'll just buy a couple and keep one neat.

I always buy international too, so I try to order a few things at once to save on shipping.

[Don Boyer]

Thanks for all the answers

I'm thinking about buying atm the killer clowns bike and looking for other interesting decks that have a unique design and unique Jokers , I'm looking at different stores on the web (US and Europe)

btw, is it possible to collect the Jokers aside? I mean I would collect the decks, but I want to play with them and use them here and there, but I won't play with the jokers themselves (and the add cards or any other extra card that is not needed in gameplay), so can I like collect them and keep them only in a "perfect" condition by the side and the rest of the deck as a different collection? Like to showcase the Jokers in 1 place and the decks them self in another place

I'm guessing that you're a younger collector, new to the whole thing.  That's cool.

There's a popular version of card collecting called "single swap."  Those collectors love the card back designs, but find the hobby a little too expensive or that it take up too much space - but for whatever personal reason, they collect single cards from a deck rather than the entire deck itself.  It's a lot cheaper to collect singles than entire decks, and an entire collection can fit on a single bookshelf with room to spare, while I can personally attest to the fact that a collection with a few thousand decks in it takes up a LOT of space and is VERY HEAVY (I moved a few months ago)...

Some collectors of single swaps specialize by collecting a specific card from a deck.  Most popular would be the Aces of Spades and the Jokers, followed by the court cards.  They'll get that same card from every deck they collect, and just that card.  Finding specific cards from each deck is a little more challenging, because by focusing, for example, on only the Ace of Spades, you've just eliminated 53/54ths of all the single swaps on the market as potential candidates for your collection.  That would be 52/54ths eliminated if you're a joker collector, unless you specialize there, like getting only the "color" joker, the "big" joker or the joker that doesn't have the USPC Guarantee on it.

[axther]

Thanks for all the answers

I'm thinking about buying atm the killer clowns bike and looking for other interesting decks that have a unique design and unique Jokers , I'm looking at different stores on the web (US and Europe)

btw, is it possible to collect the Jokers aside? I mean I would collect the decks, but I want to play with them and use them here and there, but I won't play with the jokers themselves (and the add cards or any other extra card that is not needed in gameplay), so can I like collect them and keep them only in a "perfect" condition by the side and the rest of the deck as a different collection? Like to showcase the Jokers in 1 place and the decks them self in another place

I'm guessing that you're a younger collector, new to the whole thing.  That's cool.

There's a popular version of card collecting called "single swap."  Those collectors love the card back designs, but find the hobby a little too expensive or that it take up too much space - but for whatever personal reason, they collect single cards from a deck rather than the entire deck itself.  It's a lot cheaper to collect singles than entire decks, and an entire collection can fit on a single bookshelf with room to spare, while I can personally attest to the fact that a collection with a few thousand decks in it takes up a LOT of space and is VERY HEAVY (I moved a few months ago)...

Some collectors of single swaps specialize by collecting a specific card from a deck.  Most popular would be the Aces of Spades and the Jokers, followed by the court cards.  They'll get that same card from every deck they collect, and just that card.  Finding specific cards from each deck is a little more challenging, because by focusing, for example, on only the Ace of Spades, you've just eliminated 53/54ths of all the single swaps on the market as potential candidates for your collection.  That would be 52/54ths eliminated if you're a joker collector, unless you specialize there, like getting only the "color" joker, the "big" joker or the joker that doesn't have the USPC Guarantee on it.

Ye I am only 18
every shipment to Israel takes at minimum a month, so I can't buy from now to now and I wouldn't hold myself for a whole month without playing with some decks I want to get, and the joker is an unused card so I thought of looking out for the joker cards more then the other cards, like saving him in a perfect condition (unlike the rest of the deck which I will play ones a month or even less, depends on the mood lol)

[troy]

My suggestion is to look on YouTube and looks for decks you're interested in before you buy.

Then, spend your money on the decks you like most.

I think the 2 best channels for reviews are:

https://www.youtube.com/user/magicorthodoxy

and

https://www.youtube.com/user/vjose32