Emperor - Mark Stutzman & Penguin Magic

[Reylek]

Hi everyone. Very exited to announce Penguin's first collaboration with Mark Stutzman. In the past 10 years that I've been working on decks, doing a project with Mark was definitely a "bucket list" item.

Hope you all like it too!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pe ... guin-magic" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Magic Tapp]

Standard courts?

[Reylek]

Yes, standard faces/courts. Since we are a magic company, and that is a big part of our core market/audience, standard courts made the most sense for this project.

[shkorc]

Delivery February 2020. That's some time away, right?

[theCapraAegagrus]

Delivery February 2020. That's some time away, right?

Yes, February 2020 is a distance of time away from right now.

[caniveski]

Shipping Rates are greatly appreciated and made me jump on board, love the backs

[ChumpofSpades]

Very pleasing design with excellent tie into Penguin.

You had me at Stutzman......

[Reylek]

Thanks folks for the early feedback. We're very proud of this deck and stoked to see it come to life.

Yes, February is a ways off. The campaign lasts a month. Post-campaign backer stuff and receiving funds takes a few weeks. Production takes a couple of months, and then shipping the decks to the US typically takes about a month. With luck we'll be able to deliver ahead of schedule, but I'd rather under-promise and over-deliver when it comes to the estimated shipping date for backers. In years past I have experienced delays in customs due to worker strikes, etc. Always try to build in a little "what if" time.

[MagikFingerz]

This looks like great work by the great Mark Stutzman. And these early birds are incredible, especially for an international backer! Backed instantly

[STLBluesNut]

I wish the tuck had a couple features.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[james001a]

Agreed on wishing it had a few more features, like embossing at least. Maybe some foiling / gloss on the black areas. Makes them stand out from those crappy non-embossed cardistry decks. However, Stutzman doing the art IS a feature in my opinion and I always look forward to his work.

[Reylek]

Thanks to everyone for the early support. We’re past 60% of funding in the first 2 days, which is awesome.

About half of the 2-deck Collector Sets with the gilded deck have been claimed, so we don’t expect them to last too much longer. They will most likely not be available after the Kickstarter, so during the campaign is the time to grab one.

[Reylek]

Hi everyone. We just released an important update for Emperor announcing our first stretch goals, as well as opening up a backer vote for the deck to be marked or not.

Initially we'd thought about marking the decks as a secret/hidden/unannounced feature, but decided it would be better that people know whether or not they're buying a marked deck. Early voting has the majority leaning towards "Yes". If you'd like to get your vote in as a backer, head over to the campaign page now.

Our stretch goals are for a gaff pack and for mini decks! It would be great to unlock both of these in the remaining weeks of the campaign!

We are down to about 175 left of the 2-Deck Collector's box, and are over 85% funded.

Thanks to everyone for your support!

[Fes]

Initially we'd thought about marking the decks as a secret/hidden/unannounced feature, but decided it would be better that people know whether or not they're buying a marked deck.

Deception is a terrible thing.
This is all I can say.
How unfortunate that it would even be considered to not mention to your backers, supporters, customers.

[Reylek]

We are a magic company. Deception (presented with the best intentions) is part of what magic is all about. Same with this deck. I would argue that an unadvertised marking system is not deception, but rather a secret feature.

I can virtually guarantee that almost everyone on this forum has purchased one deck or another that has markings in it that are not advertised/promoted. It has certainly happened to me more than once. Many would find this to be a secret bonus feature rather than deception.

It is clear from the success of various marked decks that many buyers, magician or not, enjoy having the feature built in.

A marking system is not something we just thought of today. It was on the table from minute one when we began creating the deck. Perhaps it would be better to publicize the marks from day one in the future on any other campaigns that are marked. Fair enough, lesson learned.

Ultimately, as stated, we felt it was best to leave it up to a vote and let people know what they are buying. No money has been taken from anyone yet, and the campaign has 3 weeks left to go. Anyone can feel free to pledge, cancel, adjust up or down, according to their preferences. The card buying world has collectors, magicians, game players, and cardists. Some folks fall into overlapping categories, others do not. We can of course see where a dedicated game player would prefer an unmarked deck, whereas a magician would prefer a marked one. However, it is next to impossible to cater to each group fully with any single deck.

Fes, you above all should recognize (and I would hope appreciate) that we are listening to backer's feedback. You were the only person to give us feedback about wanting a paper seal instead of a foil one. We felt that doing a perforated option on the foil seal would bring the best of both worlds. We updated/changed the deck to include that at no cost to backers. Are you saying we should not have done that since the perforated seal was not advertised from the beginning? Hopefully you can see my point here.

All we have done right now is open things up to a backer vote. We will post another update tomorrow with the results and what we will be offering, and we think it will make as many people happy as possible.

[Fes]

I do appreciate you are listening to backers feedback Kevin. I'm not trying to be a downer, nor a jerk. Not at all. In fact I'm doing the opposite.

A marking system is not something we just thought of today. It was on the table from minute one when we began creating the deck. Perhaps it would be better to publicize the marks from day one in the future on any other campaigns that are marked. Fair enough, lesson learned.

I think that's great. I wish you well.
Now I'm going away again.

[Reylek]

For sure, life is too short to be upset over playing cards. I'm not mad at anybody, just trying to clarify any confusion that might exist about where we're coming from with the project.

Tomorrow's update will make as many people happy with our roadmap as possible...

[hsbc]

I would argue that an unadvertised marking system is not deception, but rather a secret feature.

We felt that doing a perforated option on the foil seal would bring the best of both worlds. We updated/changed the deck to include that at no cost to backers. Are you saying we should not have done that since the perforated seal was not advertised from the beginning? Hopefully you can see my point here.

The problem is that a seal is just a seal, while a marked deck has different uses (magic!) than an unmarked deck (games!)

[Harvonsgard]

My 2 cents,
I'm on one side intriuged by the idea of a marked deck that is really a secret and not everybody knows about it from day one; big but I can also see that if one doesn't know that it is marked it can get people in trouble, since it is hard to prove that you really didn't know about it but you used it for gameday with your poker buddies. This could lead into awkward situations.
On the other hand, it is a deck from a magic(!) company that solely specialices in magic products, therefore you have to be aware as a customer. Just because custom playing cards are booming and non-magicians and collectors become a bigger market, does not mean a magic company has to change for them.

[Reylek]

We've just released our update. We felt that the best course of action to make as many people happy as possible as well as meet the expectations originally laid out in the campaign is to keep the main printing UNMARKED.

We are adding a Marked Deck option as a stretch goal at $25,000. Our Gaff Pack and Mini Deck stretch goals will be unlocked at $30,000 and $35,000 respectively.

Hopefully this works well for everyone and we can provide Marked, Unmarked, or a Mix as folks prefer!

[Reylek]

Happy to report that as of Sunday afternoon Emperor is Funded! Onward and upward to the stretch goals!

[Reylek]

Just 4 days left on Emperor, and as of this morning the Marked version of the deck is Unlocked and will officially be printed. Folks can choose between marked, unmarked, or both.

We also have fewer than 100 of the 2-Deck Collector sets left available.

Thanks to everyone who's supported the campaign, it's been a great run!

[EndersGame]

Version 2 of this deck is now out, in a limited edition of 500. It's not listed for separate purchase (the $100 price listed on the product page is an arbitrary figure), but is only available as a promo item that they're giving away for free, as part of Penguin's current TGIF offer.

While Version 1 was printed by EPCC, Version 2 is printed on the UltraLux finish that Penguin has been using successfully for some time now, and produced by their manufacturing partner in China.

Other than that I'm not exactly sure what has changed since Version 1. But the ad copy does mention a "newly revised V2 back design," and the deck now also uses Penguin's custom faces for the court cards and pips.

Some touches to the tuck box also seem new (likely possible as a result of using a different printer), namely interior printing, embossing, and an individually numbered seal: "The inside is printed with a subtle black & white snowflake pattern for an elegant finishing touch. The Emperor logo is delicately embossed on the front of the box. Each deck has an individually-numbered silver foil seal."

More info about this version of the deck can be found on the product page here: https://www.penguinmagic.com/p/18029