Fable by Lotrek

[Bikefanatic]

I received my deck 2 days ago.

I noticed the smell, that's a first with a Lotrek deck.

Besides that, another great deck to PLAY with.

[flyers3003]

Anyone else have any card backs with issues? I have two, the Jack of Diamonds and the Ace of Hearts. Below you can see the normal back on the right and the back of my AoH on the left. The JoD isn't as bad as it only has the blueish coloration of the center diagonal stripe, it doesn't have all the other extra stuff the AoH has (looks like the red is offset leaving black spaces and bleeding onto the gold):

[Lotrek]

Damn, I went through all decks one by one to remove those cards that had accidentally made their way into a few decks but apparently I missed those. Your deck will be fixed immediately. I am sorry about that.

[Justin O.]

^ Can't beat that service.

[flyers3003]

Damn, I went through all decks one by one to remove those cards that had accidentally made their way into a few decks but apparently I missed those. Your deck will be fixed immediately. I am sorry about that.

^ Can't beat that service.

Nope. You really can't. Thanks Lotrek! Your customer service level matches that of your artistic level...way, way up there, in case there was any doubt by what I meant.

[SirCrunoke]

Today, as I said, I got my Lotrek mail package. Actually 2
Was I so drunk that I put an order accidentally and can't remember? I don't know, but Lotrek is informed.
So if there is someone in Germany, who wants an awesome Fable CRAFT deck, I think it is easier to ship it inside Germany, than back to Greece.
Although, if nobody takes it maybe I'll take it by myself.

So now to the original Fable deck: I really like the Tuck, this is awesome and I think not often if not never seen before. (The back should just be one half "gilded embossed and so on" like the front, or did I got a misprinted Tuck? ) I think the Tuck flap is at first a bit slim and hard to open, there are better decks, but this is still really good. The deck itself fits perfectly into the Tuck and comes out as supposed very smooth! And if you slide it out, and probably if you got the crafts deck you'll notice it even more, you'll see the deep dark red on the cards back. In the right lighting it is just as the tuck itself. Supreme! Although I liked the hot red on the crafts deck on its own more. And like Bradius said, the strip in the middle just pops out as it should!
Actually I thought the original Deck will be sealed, or packed like silk or the other Lotrek decks, since you stated the craft deck is for collectors who want to open one of yours. But I also thank you for that information cause otherwise I maybe wouldn't have got an crafts deck. Well what are we talking about, I would get it anyway

So as always, it depends on your personal preferences if you like this deck or not. I like it.

[Harvonsgard]

Picked mine up yesterday aswell. Lucky enough it was a sunny day, therefore I took it for a little photo session.

I was pretty exited, to finally get my hands on it, since other posted pictures and gave their feedback.
TL;DR: It is awesome and only matched by other Lotrék decks, period. Okay, Seasons tuck boxes are in the same league.

Long story; the tuck is amazing. Compared to other Lotrék decks I have to say they slip out the of the box relatively easily, but I'm totally on the side with people, which feel it could rip easily. Opening with care is key.
I love how detailed the back is and I especially love that only one part is foilded and the other part isn't. Great choice Lotrék.
I aswell see that the red from the craft edition pops more, but seeing that the card back and the tuck box are almost a perfect vice versa colourwise, lets me like the final version definetly more.

The impressions from the hot foiling on the card faces are incredible mellow, regarding how thin the stock is! Yah sure, they are clearly visible and kind of a bummer especially on the lower number cards with a lot of negative space. But at the courts with high colour density it almost vanishes. Still I'm personally more than happy to take that unavoidable sacrifice for a stunning card back like that.
A gripe for me is the stock. Which of course is only my subjective preference. While I do love the overall feeling and handling of the deck - which is incredibly awesome for non-patterned (dimples or linen imitations) cards - I don't like how flimsy a single card feels. The craft version feels a notch snappier than the final version, which is due to mor process steps on the final version, I would assume. A tad thicker would have been my preference for the stock. The cards are, again, 1mm wider and longer than standard poker size - you get more for your money - so, no complains about that.

My last bone to pick are the courts. This is some first world problem s**t. But I would love me some full custom courts (e.g. Venexiana, Arabesque), I feel that especially the theme Fable had infinite potential for that. I know, I know. I imagine Lotrék reading this like: "Are you serious you ungrateful bas****d? Do you know how much time and effort wents into the technical realization of decks like this!?". But a collector and Lotrék fan might be allowed to fantasize here .

Overall. My wallet still bleeds but I regret nothing. I'm grateful to have this crazy Greek as a part of the playing cards community - even though he blacklisted me because of an instagram post ! - and am looking forward to more boundaries pushing decks from Lotrék.

[Lotrek]

Good shot Harvonsgard but you won't get off the black list so easily!

Thank you, I'm glad you like the tuck case (one of my favorites so far) and also you understand why I didn't like the back's red of the Craft edition. It doesn't match at all the tuck case which was actually the starting point for this deck. Just put the craft side by side with the Official tuck case.

[Bradius]

Harvonsgard, I did a double-take when I saw your deck. You do realize you got THE deck? I mean it is the answer to life, the universe, and everything...wow...(dang lucky bastard...)

[Adonael]

Harvonsgard, I did a double-take when I saw your deck. You do realize you got THE deck? I mean it is the answer to life, the universe, and everything...wow...(dang lucky bastard...)

So he gets 42 the answer to everything, and I get unlucky 13, sounds about right for me

I received my Fable today, I love the tuck case, particularly the colour chosen it's just so nice to look at can't wait to have it displayed one day. The handling of the cards and the brightness of the ink on black are such an incredible improvement, leagues ahead of the Grotesk decks for example which were thicc (sorry), and faint, being difficult to see the art in low light conditions. I'm very impressed by the progress made and am looking forward to seeing how they're going to be used in the future! Here are some comparisons for the sake of science:

You can see just how much brighter the same colours are now.

How much thinner these cards are.

You can also see that despite the Grotesk card being much thicker, there isn't much difference in the foil border showing through to the front, and the fable cards handle far far better despite no dimpled texture.

[Harvonsgard]

Harvonsgard, I did a double-take when I saw your deck. You do realize you got THE deck? I mean it is the answer to life, the universe, and everything...wow...(dang lucky bastard...)

[masagin303]

Last 26 decks available, btw. Thinking of getting one spare. https://www.oathplayingcards.com/produc ... al-edition" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mike Ratledge]

Last 26 decks available, btw. Thinking of getting one spare. https://www.oathplayingcards.com/produc ... al-edition

Hopefully he corrected inventory for the ones sold" cash" at the convention. I know he had a few.

[Lotrek]

Last 26 decks available, btw. Thinking of getting one spare. https://www.oathplayingcards.com/produc ... al-edition

Hopefully he corrected inventory for the ones sold" cash" at the convention. I know he had a few.

Ooops! Thanks Mike! Corrected.

[Bradius]

That would be 14 decks remaining to push this deck to extinction.

However, lots of triple foiled Craft decks to fill the void.

[portcullis]

Mine arrived during the week. Really happy with it. The 2 as a pair looks fantastic.

Did myself a small injury tho pulling it out of my box. First deck I've had draw blood before I've taken it out of the envelope. Surprised there wasn't a little note attached. Staples?

[Bradius]

I am sorry for your injuries. However, that might have been a special security precaution that Lotrek used to try to dissuade Wayne, Mel and Shirley from fingering your precious decks.

[canogie]

Ok I'm getting a little confused regarding the fables.

There is the Fable Official edition, got that. Black/wine colored tuck.
The Fable Test Bundle, that includes the official and what other deck?
And
The Fable craft edition - I think that is the plaincovered tuckbox deck.

Did he release just the crafts, or was it in a bundle?

Which are numbered and which aren't? I'm looking through all of my emails and newsletters and I'm just going crosseyed looking at them.

[Bradius]

All were numbered.

Fable Test - 111 decks issued (Sold out with Lotrek) The test bundle included the Fable Test and the Fable Official Version. The Craft deck was not a part of the bundle as it was a bungle (although a really nice bungle IMHO)
Fable Craft - 450 decks in a brown wrapper with ink stamping simple tuck, but still three foil deck - 248 still available from Oath Playing cards - https://www.oathplayingcards.com/produc ... ying-cards
Fable (OFFICIAL version) - 450 decks issued. 11 still available through Oath Playing cards (Nearly extinct. On the critically endangered deck list ) - https://www.oathplayingcards.com/produc ... al-edition

I hope that helps sort out the Fable stable.

[canogie]

What did the fable test look like?

[Bradius]

Here is a photo of the Fable Test tuck from an eBay sale:



Here is a photo from another eBay sale with all three tucks:

[Harvonsgard]

What did the fable test look like?

Card backs have only the gold foil opposing to the craft and final edition.

[Decknowledgy]

Can anyone confirm that the left Queen is the craft edition and the right Queen is the official edition?



So the craft doesn't have the black border for the pip indices in the court portrait, and the colors are a bit dimmer?

[Harvonsgard]

Can't tell from the top of my head. I'll check when I'm home.
Easiest way to tell is by looking at the backs. Craft has bright red foil. Maestro has darkish red, almost brown foil.

[RichK]

Can anyone confirm that the left Queen is the craft edition and the right Queen is the official edition?



So the craft doesn't have the black border for the pip indices in the court portrait, and the colors are a bit dimmer?

Craft is on the left and Official on right. (I looked on the Oath site and it had Craft court which has much more facial shading.)

[Lotrek]

On the left is the Test edition.

[Decknowledgy]

On the left is the Test edition.

So the Craft and the Official editions have exactly the same colors and designs on the faces (the right one)?

[Paul Middleton]

We have less than 10 of each of these beauties, if anyone is looking.

https://jpgamesltd.co.uk/buy-playing-ca ... ayingCards" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Strag]

Just bumping this thread to note that there are 14 Fable Official available for the original price on Lotreks site right now.

[zlexander]

My friend shared some images showing of all 3 editions of Fable , Left - Official Middle - Craft and Right - Test side by side . Credit to Quez from r/PlayingCards Discord Server !