Butterfly Playing Cards Black - LIVE on KS

[Butterfly Cards]

Hi everyone,

Butterfly Playing Cards Black are just entering their last 24 hours on Kickstarter.
It's been a fun campaign full of excitement.

We have unlocked some uncut sheets, BLACK-GILDED DECKS, custom laser etched deck sleeves, card clips, gaff cards, carat cases, pins and signed decks.

If you'd like to get one or more of these luxurious decks for the best price ever available, now is your last chance.

I won't say more about the campaign. I know that some of you have been a part of it for days or even weeks. If that's you, please leave a comment about your experience so others know if this campaign is worth their time and money.

Thank you so much,
Ondrej

[Harvonsgard]

Ondrej, Ondrej... I really shouldn't have looked at this campaign site.

I don't own any of the Butterfly playing cards, since there were always other decks on the bucket list and I'm not a magician, but there is no doubt that these are some of the most beatiful designed playing cards out there. Pretty awesome work that Stefan and you have put together there. I hope I'll find some of these adorable extras on the aftermarket.


This one is hilarious.

[Butterfly Cards]

Haha, thank you for joining the campaign shiroo56!

Sometimes I get a little silly. I'm a magician afterall - we are strange.

Thank you again!
Ondrej

[BaconWise]

That is simply the most entertaining promo video I have ever seen on Kickstarter. Great comedy and production value. The flying mustache was brilliant

[masagin303]

That was a perfect campaign indeed. I was so willing to not spend much there but could not resist in the end. And I’m afraid I won’t resist in the Backerkit phase again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[brownsl]

Same here. Ended up spending a lot more than I initially thought I would.

[Decknowledgy]

Got the prototype, thought I never needed the gilded real deal;
ended up:

[Harvonsgard]

[hsbc]

I have some regrettable news...

I’m sad to inform you that we were unable to print our cards in October. And it seems like we won't be able to print in November either.

Though I don't want to blame Cartamundi for our delay—because they can do things with cards in a quality that no other factory in the world can—it’s a fact that of the five print runs I’ve done with them, they met their deadline just once. It never ceases to amaze me how much time it takes them to respond to my queries. And, trust me, I’m on top of them all the time.

Luckily, I'm a very patient person and I am able to wait for quality. But I sincerely apologize to you for underestimating the number of projects Cartamundi would be stormed with ahead of Christmas. Apparently, they hadn’t expected it either.

Where we’re at:

Yesterday I received the standard deck ‘ready date’ for the next print run: January 13.

But since our decks are more complicated than standard decks, it will be later than that for us.

It makes me very sad, but there is truly nothing I can do to speed up the process while ensuring the best possible quality. I'll keep you updated about progress and will be grateful for your patience and support.

However, as cards are not the only products in this campaign, I am happy to share some samples of our Butterfly Deck Sleeves, which are almost done. I’m so pleased with how they turned out! Thanks to Sherman Tsao of Carat Case Creations!



Thank you all again for your patience. I'll continue working hard and will keep you posted.

All my very best,
Ondrej

Why is everyone seemingly okay with Cartamundi's constant delays and unresponsiveness? They're an international multi-hundred-million dollar corporation Delays are NOT okay. Not responding to customers is NOT okay. Why Ondrej doesn't "want to blame" them for the delay is beyond me - like, who else's fault could it be??

Cartamundi:

[rousselle]

I'm guessing that it's kinda bad business to badmouth your vendor publicly while you're still waiting for your vendor to give you the goods. It's a self-aware kind of tact.

[hsbc]

I'm guessing that it's kinda bad business to badmouth your vendor publicly while you're still waiting for your vendor to give you the goods. It's a self-aware kind of tact.

It's also why this sort of behavior from Cartamundi gets so little pushback -- and if Cartamundi delayed, disrupted, or cancelled a project because the creator publicly complained about Cartamundi's customer service and delays, that would be a whole other issue and an awfully bad look for Cartamundi. Aren't they literally the largest card and board game producer in the world? Their customer interaction is shoddy at best and they should do better.

[RWPPFFShuffle]

It seems that the bigger a company/corporation gets, the less they actually have to care about their customer interaction. Especially since now they own USPCC, you can complain all you want, but what's the alternative? EPCC? Point is, everybody sort of has to play by their rules now. They bought Boardwalk and Park Place.

[Harvonsgard]

Why is everyone seemingly okay with Cartamundi's constant delays and unresponsiveness? They're an international multi-hundred-million dollar corporation Delays are NOT okay. Not responding to customers is NOT okay. Why Ondrej doesn't "want to blame" them for the delay is beyond me - like, who else's fault could it be??

I would say that there is a differnece between being okay, like fine; with it and being okay, like in this case as in nothing I can do about it. Ondrej is a kind person and therefore doesn't want to sh** where he eats. I don't think that anybody is really okay with the delays from Cartamundi but the lack of alternatives puts every creator in a kind of impuissance.

Aren't they literally the largest card and board game producer in the world? Their customer interaction is shoddy at best and they should do better.

They are and they should.

Especially since now they own USPCC, you can complain all you want, but what's the alternative? EPCC? Point is, everybody sort of has to play by their rules now. They bought Boardwalk and Park Place.

They don't own USPC yet. The merger is planned but neither approved (Mike did a post on this) nor close to be completed. Both companies aggred to merge but that is all that is safe and sound yet.
I would disagree that everybody has to play by their rules. Printing is no witchcraft or voodoo, everybody (this is meant without any intend to disrespect) can do it, e.g. look at these awesome cards from that greek card wizard .

[theCapraAegagrus]

...They don't own USPC yet. The merger is planned but neither approved (Mike did a post on this) nor close to be completed. Both companies aggred to merge but that is all that is safe and sound yet.
I would disagree that everybody has to play by their rules. Printing is no witchcraft or voodoo, everybody (this is meant without any intend to disrespect) can do it, e.g. look at these awesome cards from that greek card wizard .

Pfffffffft.

[Decknowledgy]

It seems like ages have passed since these decks were originally planned to have fulfilled... (Estimated delivery Nov 2019)

Per March 7, 2020:

Dear Backers,

We have a print schedule!

I’m pleased to announce that Cartamundi have confirmed they will ship the decks from Turnhout, Belgium to our fulfillment centres on April 27th.

I know this is much (much) later than initially planned, and a few of you have asked how it is possible there could be such a big production delay. Well, there are several reasons.

The first, and most important, is that we were overfunded by 2000%. And while this is a good thing, it was driven by multiple attractive stretch goals (like numbered seals, gaff cards, Futterfly decks, etc.), not to mention many more decks being ordered than initially planned. This impacted our timeline. Besides which, due to the Kickstarter exclusive numbered seals, there will be 13 different versions of the Black Series edition (including the Futterfly decks and unnumbered decks sold by Murphy's Magic).

The second reason is that this print run is one of the most complicated that Cartamundi has worked on in a very long time - if not ever. And as delays on their end meant I was given extra time before our production date, I used it to make improvements and add beautiful details. This impacted the initial quote from Cartamundi and negatively affected the manufacturing schedule.

A few of you have requested compensation for the delay, which I understand, and I am sorry not to be able to offer any. But what I can guarantee, is that you will get a deck of cards that will exceed all your expectations.

Thank you again for your patience. If you have any questions, you can always stop by the comment section or drop me a direct message.

All my best,

Ondrej

But 6 days ago in the comment section, unfortunate news happened yet again:

I just got an email from Cartamundi that the production is shifting for another month due to the Corona virus situation. I am very sorry about this.

Update coming soon.

o.

I'm just wondering, how difficult is it for Cartamundi to produce these cards? Of course, multiple options and separate customization for different decks + being wayyyyy overfunded might have been a cause, but I don't see how Cartamundi could fulfill many other later decks and continue to hinder on this particular project---for almost half a year now.

Thoughts?

[Eric Lee]

To be fair, the Butterfly decks are nowhere near standard. Lots of foil on both front and back plus gilding with Cartamundi arranged gilders do require more precision work and eyes to ensure they are done well, or else, you'll end up with globs like the Silverback gorillas and that's just for the backs.

Plus, from a pure business sense, it's just easier and faster to push this 1 deck to the back burners while they work on finishing the backlog of standard decks. Sad but that's the way it goes.

[shkorc]

I'd pledged for quite a high amount (for me at least ).

We missed the November date, no problem. One month, two months, three months... nothing. Then it started to get annoying, which also influenced my further support of other projects on KS.

Ondrej can't be blamed for not pushing Cartumundi. I'm not aware of any other KS creators who flew to printers HQs and had face-to-face meetings trying to get the production started. Hats of to him, he tried.

But I REALLY wish Cartomundi would stop fˇo$king around and do their job, ffs.

[BaconWise]

I appreciate Ondrej communicating the process so well. Something has to give at this point. Either designers will need to start finding new printers who can compete with Cartamundi's quality (not an easy task), or we're going to start seeing 8-month campaigns as a regular fulfillment timeframe on Kickstarter. Honestly, I think that would be the potential demise of KS campaigns if they become 8-month or 1-year ordeals. Patience can only go so far!

I am excited to see new potential players, like Liquorice Press out of UK, who are doing the new Uranium 52 deck.

[Decknowledgy]

Per latest update today:

Dearest Backers,

I was hoping to be sending out requests for address updates by now, but I have received an upsetting email from Cartamundi announcing a further delay:

“I’m sorry to inform you that no decks are scheduled to leave the factory next week. In fact, the latest planning is still accurate, with first departure scheduled on 12/06 (June 12). It must be this update did not reach you.”

Indeed it didn't reach me. Interestingly enough, it didn't even reach Jirs Huygen, who is the Cartamundi employee supervising our project (currently away from the factory as he is moving house). His colleague is meant to be updating me regularly, but despite multiple emails over the past couple of weeks, there has been no mention of further delays.

I talked to Jirs today (he is on call for me even out of hours) and he will get answers to my questions on Monday (the factory is closed today and tomorrow). We have a call scheduled for Monday night, so expect to hear from me again on Tuesday.

Talk soon,
Ondrej

[Harvonsgard]

LOL... Cartamundi communication
is like USPC cutting registration.

In all seriousness though. What's so hard in responding to mails. Even from home office (or even your smartphone) not that hard of a task.

[Decknowledgy]

Finally received mine today. This is by record the most lengthy and riddled with production problem KS project I've ever backed... But glad it's finally done. At least the packaging is sweet and neat, beautiful to be exact; guess that compensates the time that was added to the fulfillment!

[bdawg923]

Haven't gotten mine yet, but at least Ondrej has been responsive and open every step of the way

[Timmargh]

I'm hoping to get mine soon.

The Samedi campaign was a bit of a nightmare in a similar vein; not sure how the timelines compare though.

The third Kickstarter I ever backed, a movie made from space mission photos, is still on-going; it was originally due to deliver in September 2014.

[masagin303]

I received mine just today and after long time in production, the result is fortunately quite awesome. Cards are really beautiful and as skeptical as I was when it comes to gilding/handling ratio I was surprised with the outcome. I would never have thought that you could do a perfect faro with gilded deck and yet it works!

[masagin303]

...I'm gonna grab a pair of Butterfly's just to finally see the famous marking system.

Plans vs reality really didn't work that well here. My wallet even wanted a divorce last year. "A pair of Butterfly's" IRL:

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