Regarding the synthetic vs fake I would have to side with NoirArts here (thought he defensive tone surely doesn't help you).
Synthetic stones are identical in any way that matters to natural stones. In fact synthetic stones are often superior in clarity and purity, and colour can be finely controlled - which is why you'll never see natural stones used for scientific purposes. (e.g. optics)
The only real difference is marketing - once comes from a lab, and another comes from the ground (and more often than not dug up under near slave labour conditions). Quite why the latter should be more real or worth more to anyone is quite beyond me.
Regarding my opinion of the deck.. I do like the cards and the backs. The dual foil and design appeal to me quite a lot, but I also agree that the Red/Gold does look better with the apparent dark background - I don't think that the image was meant to be deliberately misleading in any way and was meant to use shadow to accent the shiny. (Some will see shadow, some will see a dark stock - Kinda reminds me of the blue/gold dress!)
As you probably worked out from the above - the addition of the gemstone doesn't really sway me one way or another - and the tucks seem a little plain if I'm honest. Some laser cut "lace work" perhaps matching the card pattern on the tuck band would do wonders.
Personally I don't mind the 'artificial' rareness aspect - They ARE rare because there wont be many. you either want them or you don't.
I may try for one depending how my budget looks - if it had been on darker stock then the Red/Gold would have been the one for me. As it is I might pledge for the holographic foil version.
I like them. but the criticism was valid - as was the substantive part of the response - but Mike's right - we all need to watch the tone. /mod