UC2018 Decks "DeNovo" by Rick Davidson

[Lotrek]

Who IS doing the 2019 deck???

Rick Davidson

Shit, this might be Post of the Year. Someone has 11 months to dethrone.

Nobody will. I fell off my chair when I read it.

[Merlebird]

Who IS doing the 2019 deck???

Rick Davidson

Shit, this might be Post of the Year. Someone has 11 months to dethrone.

Nobody will. I fell off my chair when I read it.

[RichK]

Nobody will. I fell off my chair when I read it.

Don't give Lotrek an excuse to delay shipping.

[PipChick]

Don't give Lotrek an excuse to delay shipping.

DAMN STRAIGHT! GET BACK ON YOUR CHAIR & BACK TO WORK, YOU BUM! lmao






totally jk btw

[vasta41]

Well this is finally shipping. I'm 100% sure that the massive (and embarrassing if you ask me) delays with this project have killed the annual UC deck line. Which is a shame because we were the first forum to do this (I think?) and I thought it was a cool gesture. It's obviously too late now to start the 2019 deck and once a year is missed it looses a lot of credibility IMO.

These are beautiful decks and I'm obviously being harsh but I can't help feeling this way. I've never been someone to complain about the length of time it takes for me to get my cards (so long as I know they're coming) and if this weren't a 2018 commemorative deck I'd feel the same way. But receiving this half way through 2019 will just make me go, "Oh... cool" and toss it into one of my many shoe boxes.

[Bradius]

That is great to hear, but I honestly don’t mind the wait and I have a good feeling I am going to love these. This is a deck I will be opening.

[Merlebird]

I'm 100% sure that the massive (and embarrassing if you ask me) delays with this project have killed the annual UC deck line[...]It's obviously too late now to start the 2019 deck and once a year is missed it looses a lot of credibility IMO.

These are beautiful decks and I'm obviously being harsh but I can't help feeling this way.

This is definitely harsh, and more than a tad pessimistic. We've got eight months on the clock and access to some of the most experienced and industry-connected designers in the field. The schedule is tight, and they'd have to start, like, now, but I think it's too early to be writing off the possibility altogether.

But receiving this half way through 2019 will just make me go, "Oh... cool" and toss it into one of my many shoe boxes.

Which is different from the fate that would've befallen it in 2018... how, exactly?

[vasta41]

I'm 100% sure that the massive (and embarrassing if you ask me) delays with this project have killed the annual UC deck line[...]It's obviously too late now to start the 2019 deck and once a year is missed it looses a lot of credibility IMO.

These are beautiful decks and I'm obviously being harsh but I can't help feeling this way.

This is definitely harsh, and more than a tad pessimistic. We've got eight months on the clock and access to some of the most experienced and industry-connected designers in the field. The schedule is tight, and they'd have to start, like, now, but I think it's too early to be writing off the possibility altogether.

All true. Let's hope I'm wrong.

But receiving this half way through 2019 will just make me go, "Oh... cool" and toss it into one of my many shoe boxes.

Which is different from the fate that would've befallen it in 2018... how, exactly?

I would have proudly displayed it next to my other annual UC decks in my custom display cases. And for some reason those UC decks are often a topic of conversation among my friends and family that peruse my collection, more so than almost all the other 360 decks I'm able to fit into my displays.

[Magic Tapp]

Sadly, I have missed out on this deck, so if anyone have a couple of spare decks, please PM me. Thank you!

[Eric Lee]

You may wanna check to see if Mike sells them over here on UC itself once shipment has been fulfilled. I do see the 2016 UC deck still on sale.

[Magic Tapp]

You may wanna check to see if Mike sells them over here on UC itself once shipment has been fulfilled. I do see the 2016 UC deck still on sale.

Thanks Eric!

[Bradius]

My DeNovo decks arrived, including my limited decks. They are stunning and well worth the wait. Oh god they are delightful.

The Zorg card! The colors are great!

[Romeril]

Sad I missed it.

[BaconWise]

Excited to receive mine as well. For those of you who did, was there tracking provided by GW? I haven't seen anything come through in that regard.

[Bradius]

GW sends an email they are sending something, but I don’t know what it is! Tracking number doesn’t work for me except when it is received. Hopefully Arabesque Players will arrive soon.

[rkoch78]

I just received my decks. Artwork is amazing...as per usual from Rick. Also love the detail on the tuck cases.

I normally receive a shipment notification for Gambler's orders but did not on these for some reason.

[Bradius]

The interesting thing on this deck, is it is a standard deck produced by Lotrek. I think the handling is fine, but I would be interested in those that are cardists and/or magicians about the handling of these decks. I hope Lotrek does some more non-foil decks from time to time. I was in for an EB brick at essentially $8 each, which is insane.

[chicken_ql]

OMG :O why was I not collecting when these were a thing?!

[Harvonsgard]

The interesting thing on this deck, is it is a standard deck produced by Lotrek. I think the handling is fine, but I would be interested in those that are cardists and/or magicians about the handling of these decks. I hope Lotrek does some more non-foil decks from time to time. I was in for an EB brick at essentially $8 each, which is insane.

I'd love to give you my feedback, you just have to send me one!

[hsbc]

How on earth did I miss that these are printed by Oath??? VERY excited to get mine now

[Decknowledgy]

Can anyone confirm which color is the Viridi colorized deck?
On Rick's website, the thumbnail seems to be showing the opposite colors?

https://originscards.com/

[Harvonsgard]

Can anyone confirm which color is the Viridi colorized deck?
On Rick's website, the thumbnail seems to be showing the opposite colors?

https://originscards.com/

Yup, "Viridi" is the green one and "Aurum" is the red one. Thumbnails are switched.

[Lotrek]

How on earth did I miss that these are printed by Oath??? VERY excited to get mine now

With such a delay, who else on Earth could have printed them?

[TheGentlemanWake]

Looking forward to reviewing these

[Bradius]

What is really ironic is in reading the campaign and beginning of the thread again I noted that one of the reasons for using Oath Playing Cards for the printing was to get it done faster...oops.

Don't worry, we love you Lotrek.

[hsbc]

Got my deck today, the art looks great in person This is a tiny detail but it's refreshing to see a tuck with a front that doesn't have a crease for the top to fold back with - oh! it also came with a little QoH print, should look nice in a small frame

[chicken_ql]

Is there a limited print run on these?

[Bradius]

I would imagine this was a one print run deck. I don't know how many were printed though. Mike may have some extras posted for sale on the UC Sales site. He has done that in the past.

[Merlebird]

What is really ironic is in reading the campaign and beginning of the thread again I noted that one of the reasons for using Oath Playing Cards for the printing was to get it done faster...oops.

I mean... "faster" is a relative term???

[sinjin7]

I finally received my brick and here are some observations. I want to start by saying I consider Lotrek a friend, we've had good conversations over the past few years about all things related to the playing card industry and community, and I am also a fan of his work as well. But despite our relationship, I have to be honest and objective so I will start with some negatives, some of which are just nitpicking, some of which are more substantial.

I don't think the metallic inks pop that much. I may be just too spoiled by the quality of the metallic inks that the USPCC is putting out now, but if I didn't know before hand there were to be metallic inks on the cards, I may not have noticed, and none of my non-card collecting friends I played poker with last night noticed until I mentioned it. Strangely, the green ink on the back of the Viridi deck looked more metallic than the gold ink on the back of the red Aurum deck.

There's a continuity error on the tuck box design on the Aurum deck. Both back designs have a band that runs horizontally across the middle of the tuck backs in their respective green or red colors. Each box has a side that is black (on the right side of the Viridi deck and the left side of the Aurum deck). The horizontal band wraps around to the fronts of the tuck box and ends at the black De Novo logo in the fronts of the box. The horizontal band should also wrap around to meet part of the way around to the black side of the box, but this only happens on the Viridi deck. On the Aurum deck, the band is cut off on the back of the box and doesn't wrap around part of the way to the black side like it does on the Viridi deck. This is very apparent when you put the backs of the tucks together and look at the black sides of both boxes together, and you'll easily see the missing red band on the Aurum deck.

I would also say that the tucks are slightly tight, it took a bit of effort to get the flap out of the box and the cards in and out. Eventually it became easier, but it was pretty snug when I first opened the box. I also didn't like that the bottom flap is tuck into the box like on many EPCC/LPCC tucks because it sometimes interferes with getting the cards back into the tuck when a couple of the cards hit the flap and won't go into the tuck without some manipulation. I much prefer the bottom flap to be glued outside the bottom so there is no flap to intrude into the inside of the tuck box.

The biggest issue I have is the finish. There are two factors concerning the slip of playing cards, the first is the co-efficient of friction (how "slippery: they are), and the second is how consistent the slip is so cards spread and fan evenly. USPCC's Air Cushion is amazingly "slippery", but more importantly, the slip is very consistent as well so fans and spreads are very even. The De Novo decks are not on the same level, finish-wise, as the USPCC. I will go further and say they are not even on the same level as EPCC. The cards have some amount of friction, almost as if they're lightly powdered, but they're slippery enough to shuffle and deal easily enough for card game play. The problem is the evenness of the slip. The cards do not fan very evenly fresh out of the box. You don't get obvious clumps, but it's difficult to get perfectly even fans and spreads. In addition to not being even, they aren't consistent, either, because the two Viridi decks I opened were more uneven than the two Aurum decks I opened up (it will be interesting to see if that plays out across the rest of my brick). The closest analogy I can make is that the De Novo decks are somewhere between EPCC China and EPCC Taiwan. They're not utter junk like EPCC China, but not as good as EPCC Taiwan, and certainly not anywhere close to USPCC. One possible reason may be the chemical composition of the varnish/lacquer in the coating, but the obvious reason, for me, is in the depth of the calandering, or the dimpling. I know Lotrek disagrees with me based on some of the conversations we've had, but I feel the primary reason for the shortcoming of the finish is because the dimpling is way too shallow. The cards almost look and feel like they have a smooth finish. You have to have a deeper, more pronounced dimpling to break up the co-efficient of friction so the cards have better slip. My suspicion for Lotrek's aversion to dimpling is because he may feel that may interfere with the aesthetics of the artwork in some way, but whatever the case may be, he didn't calendar the dimples deeply enough to obtain a better slip on his finish.

Having laid out the negatives, I will say this was an overall successful production of "standard" playing cards despite the finish issues. We all know the technical wizardry Lotrek has with foiled decks, and they're well worth it even if they do cost an arm and a leg and an internal organ or two. But this is his first foray into "standard" playing cards at a very accessible pricing. I love the foiling and embossing of the matte paper stock of the tucks, and of course the artwork by Rick Davidson is superb - I don't know if there is a Rick Davidson deck that I didn't like. This was a very worthy collaboration for the lineage of the Annual UC Decks. And speaking of the Annual UC Decks:

Well this is finally shipping. I'm 100% sure that the massive (and embarrassing if you ask me) delays with this project have killed the annual UC deck line. Which is a shame because we were the first forum to do this (I think?) and I thought it was a cool gesture. It's obviously too late now to start the 2019 deck and once a year is missed it looses a lot of credibility IMO.

These are beautiful decks and I'm obviously being harsh but I can't help feeling this way. I've never been someone to complain about the length of time it takes for me to get my cards (so long as I know they're coming) and if this weren't a 2018 commemorative deck I'd feel the same way. But receiving this half way through 2019 will just make me go, "Oh... cool" and toss it into one of my many shoe boxes.

I respect Paul's feelings on this, but I disagree that it's too late to put out a 2019 deck. Yeah, it was a bummer that the 2018 Annual deck didn't come out in 2018, but at least it eventually came out. I do agree that skipping 2019 will cause a loss in credibility and effectively kill the Annual Deck line, so it's all the more important that we find the right artist to work with quickly and efficiently to get out the 2019 Annual deck in time. Hopefully Mike is working on that as we speak. As for the UC 2018 De Novo deck by Rick Davidson and Lotrek, it was well worth the wait and I hold this deck in as high esteem as all the previous UC Annual decks.