Kodiak by Jody Eklund / Black Ink

[Decknowledgy]

From newsletter:

KODIAK

Coming To Black Ink Playing Cards July 1st!

Elegant and absolutely gorgeous! I am excited to introduce you to Kodiak playing cards. My first ever self-funded deck that will be sold on Black Ink Playing Cards.

These will be available starting as a Pre-Order on July 1, 2020. Live at 10am MST. I am estimating that delivery of these bad boys will be sometime in August.

PRICE: $15

But, for the first 24 hours they will be on sale for $12
So be sure to get in on the 1st day of sales.

All Court Cards Will Be The New Black Ink Standard Courts.
(My take on the traditional style courts)

[BaconWise]

These look pretty sharp! I will pass due to the (mostly) standard courts, but the whole project looks great. Thanks for sharing, Ted

[brownsl]

I also do not care for the mostly standard courts but will still pick up a deck or two because of it being a Jody Eklund deck.

[Harvonsgard]

No back design reveal? I like what I see so far but the back design is next to the courts the most important factor for me.

[Fes]

Loading up me email I see this "KODIAK Coming soon" subject line. Black Ink doesn't spam my inbox like some others did so I click and... I'm sold on the five claw spade, that quick. Then I see the bear popping through the spade, fantastic, I'm sold again. The court doesn't look mostly standard to my eye but we all consider things differently. It looks like a custom court within classic proportion to me and he does refer to them as his take on traditional style courts in the email, sold again due to that by the way. The spade pip on the cards shown is strong and crisp, sold again. Really a lot to like here for my taste. Please no more teasers or I'll be buying bricks.

I'm going to make an educated guess that the embossing on the tuck hints at the card back. While we won't know for sure until we see it. I feel like it's a fairly safe bet. Time will tell.

July 1 is a long way off for this tease Mr. Eklund. August is an even longer way off for me to get these in me paws.

[vasta41]

Unlike others here I don't mind when some decks have standard courts. And I like the recolors on these ones. I'm in for sure!

[jodyeklund]

Hey everyone!

I am glad to see Kodiak is up on UC. I am having a friend do a lot of these photos. He is not quite finished. He hasn't gotten to the cards yet. I should have some more shots going up this week on Instagram.

Here are some production shots of the back and a couple courts. These will have metallic inks.

[jodyeklund]

...just so everyone knows, the posts that I just put up, the colors are off. Especially the blue. :O

[Harvonsgard]

I'm going to make an educated guess that the embossing on the tuck hints at the card back. While we won't know for sure until we see it. I feel like it's a fairly safe bet.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
I like that back design and the tuck is great aswell.
The courts are way better than the old Bicycle standard ones and I like the refined pips as well. Not Luminosity but a great everyday deck, imo.

[james001a]

For $12 this seems like a bargain for sure. I don't mind the standard faces at all at that price level. And a nice looking tuck with foil and embossing makes this an attractive offering. I also agree with the member that said earlier that Black Ink does not bombard us with spam, so I appreciate not constantly being sold to. I wouldn't mind if he did a deluxe or other limited version of this, with maybe different color foils to more easily distinguish the spade from the bear on the back (front?)

[RichK]

The back seems very 'meh' when looking at the tuck. I see the bear paws but it looks like 4 calligraphy pen tips to me. Maybe it's the all blue but feels like a trial back.

[Xarin77]

I personally love the look of this one. Nice and clean "standard" deck. Tuck is elegant and clean (especially with the embossing). Great deck to bring out for regular playing.

[brownsl]

I like the tuck a lot, I think the cards are decent, I am not a fan of the back. I will still get a couple of decks but wish the backs wowed me like the tuck does.

[jodyeklund]

Hey everyone!

Kodiak is now Live and available for Pre-Order!

https://blackinkplayingcards.com/collections/kodiak

I want to say thanks to most of you for all you support over the years. This will be my first self-funded deck. This is only possible with your support over the years.

Thank you!

Jody

[brownsl]

I am in for 4.

[vasta41]

I'm in!

[Fes]

I picked some up as well. Kind of interesting on the pricing never dropping below a tenner though. I mean, preorder, no KS fees being snatched out of the pot. Printing the things anyway. Would have been nice to see bricks on offer for under ten clams a deck. Whatever though, just meant I bought a whole lot less than I would have. I still hope they sell like hot cakes!

[PiazzaDelivery]

I'd be in if not for Legends. I actually really like Jody's standard courts, better than KWP imo.

[Harvonsgard]

I'd be in if not for Legends. I actually really like Jody's standard courts, better than KWP imo.

[Decknowledgy]

I'd be in if not for Legends. I actually really like Jody's standard courts, better than KWP imo.

Why not? Not everyone has to agree to favor a certain designer over another.

[Harvonsgard]

I just wanted to share a funny gif, you should know me, lol.
We aren't going to put up disclaimer in our signature, are we? Everybody, especially in my book, is of course free and encouraged to like/love whatever pleases her/him the most.
If Piazza feels this way I'm happy for him that he found courts that he likes a lot.

Legends is cool though - no respect for him bashing them .

[chicken_ql]

Curious how many of these decks are being printed

[rousselle]

TMIMITW Disclaimers.jpg (114.59 KiB) Viewed 7912 times

[supernova]

I received mine earlier this week, and found time to free the pips this weekend. There are some logistical issues that (eg only one deck came when I ordered two), but that I’ll take that offline and have reached out to Jody/Black Inks separately.

What I want to do is give a quick review of this deck. First of all, the tuck and the Ace of Spades look great. Second, and my motivation for posting this review - aside from USPCC, these is the best cards I’ve handled! I like these even more than the Cartamundi, which are always modern cut. These are traditional cut, fans, faros, cuts, dribbles and springs great. See my giant fan as a testament to this (the unevenness is my poor technique, rather than the deck). I’m not sure if these are the standard Legends stock/finish, but they feel amazing. I would love to see Jody use more of this stock/finish for future more custom projects. I think Legend like EPCC is also more flexible in say hot foil applications on the cards.

Finally on what I don’t quite like - courts are too standard with minor recolour/redesign. Even if the courts are meant to be standard, I prefer slightly heavier rework, like Jackson Robinson and Lotrek. I also prefer more work done on the other Aces, which is missing in this deck. Lastly, I think Legends’ metallic inks are less shiny than USPCC and Cartamundi, so there’s less pop especially for the card backs.

Hope this is helpful.

[brownsl]

I ordered 4 decks and received a package today with only 1 deck. I have no idea why. Sent an email but have not gotten a reply yet. It seems something similar happened to supernova.

[Magic Tapp]

I ordered 4 decks and received a package today with only 1 deck. I have no idea why. Sent an email but have not gotten a reply yet. It seems something similar happened to supernova.

Did you hear back from Jody? I have the same problem - out of the two decks that I ordered, I only got one. Sent a question to Black Ink and am still waiting to hear back.

[brownsl]

I ordered 4 decks and received a package today with only 1 deck. I have no idea why. Sent an email but have not gotten a reply yet. It seems something similar happened to supernova.

Did you hear back from Jody? I have the same problem - out of the two decks that I ordered, I only got one. Sent a question to Black Ink and am still waiting to hear back.

Yes, I did. This is the reply I got.

"There was a mistake when I sent the fulfillment sheet to the center. We will get the rest of your order once we receive shipment in the warehouse."

Did not get a time-frame about when they expect to receive shipment. This reply was from a couple of weeks ago.

[supernova]

Same here

[EndersGame]

These were beautifully produced by LPCC.

[hsbc]