Monolith Singularity by Thirdway Industries

[hsbc]

Front and back will be holographic-flood foiled and overprinted with metallic and neon ink.

Monolith Singularity is 100% redesigned - the courts are the same characters, but they are different. And this time, the background is black.

Like Conquerors Vendetta, it will be printed by EPCC.

I will print around 2500-3000 units (numbered)

Monolith Singularity is planned for Spring/Summer 2021. Patrons will get at least 1 copy of it for sure

[Entaro]

Looks like another great deck can't wait

[macstrat]

WITCHCRAFT!!!!! im in.

[KingfisherZero]

I mean, it's Monolith. ALL IN.

[Thirdway Industries]

Teaser pic from factory

[Entaro]

Saw these on Patreon this morning and they look sooo good! Easily going to become my favorite in the series

[chicken_ql]

I need these!!!

[EvilDuncan]

I still remember being speechless when I first saw the original Monolith. These are definitely a worthy addition. Love that green.

[Thirdway Industries]

Hello UC!

I just got Monolith Singularity and I wanted to share a teaser here as well.
The cards, printed with EPCC flood foil (the same technique of Conquerors Vendetta) are simply amazing - they're full foiled with Holographic (that looks like hotfoil in terms of luminosity and reflectivity) and overprinted with inks - both normal and neon.

The neon inks are of course fluorescent under blacklight
Plus the holofoil reflects blacklight, making a crazy alien-disco effect that honestly was not expected.

EPCC did really a great job on these and I'll do more decks like this in the future.
ETA of these is Summer '21, Patreon first, then TWI Website.

[macstrat]

I'm just going to mail you a blank check

[chicken_ql]

I'll take them all

[hsbc]

Very shiny? Yes The cards were clumped together at first but I shuffled them out. These look great but handle noticeably worse than other Monolith decks. Also the seal just demolished the tuck's paper stock

[bdawg923]

Oof. Get wrecked tuckbox.

I got my decks today too. Not sure which is the experimental tuck one, but the one on the right has pretty bad centering on the tuck. Anyone else got one like this?

[hsbc]

Yikes! I wonder whether Gambler's or Expert made the tucks...

I honestly don't get the love for EPCC from designers, the card quality is almost always a step down IMO - at least with their PRC factory

[Harvonsgard]

I honestly don't get the love for EPCC from designers, the card quality is almost always a step down IMO - at least with their PRC factory

• Because they are cheap in the first place
• Aren't complicated to work with
• Have cheap features (and appearantly features is what counts these days)
• No one cares for Uyghurs or human rights... as long as the cards have foil...
Did I mention features?

[bdawg923]

I honestly don't get the love for EPCC from designers, the card quality is almost always a step down IMO - at least with their PRC factory

• Because they are cheap in the first place
• Aren't complicated to work with
• Have cheap features (and appearantly features is what counts these days)
• No one cares for Uyghurs of human rights... as long as the cards have foil...
Did I mention features?

are trash stock and bad quality control considered features? Because so many EPCC decks I got "feature" both of those

[Harvonsgard]

Don't forget bend. Bend is a new feauture. It makes the card glide better on the table because the friction is reduced due to the cards having less points of contact with the table, lmao.

Seeing the success of designers that just revamp old designs I guess...
Don't ask me though, I didn't buy decks for ages from them.
Only duo that brings me to buy an EPCC deck is uusi and that just because I know they use classic stock and print in .

[hsbc]

No one cares for Uyghurs or human rights... as long as the cards have foil...

Yes I also would much much much prefer to financially support Taiwan over China

[Thirdway Industries]

Hello guys!

EPCC quality control on the box was not good this time: I'm the first one not happy about this, especially since the physical proof I got about Singularity box was much better than the final product (This is a problem between me and EPCC, though, we discussed and I asked them to improve a lot on future decks).

Anyways, apart this issue, I have to say the other comments are biased and quite harsh.

Monolith cards, as far I know, does not bend, so it's not fair point post that issue here. If other EPCC decks bends - post in the correct thread.

The seal that rip the tuck are bad - I hate seals (in general) as well and I try to avoid them completely when possible. But Monoliths needs to be numbered, so we have to deal with it.
"Easy to remove" seals are not always possible, since it depends from many factors.

I am not a good "card handler", so I cannot say if Monolith handles good or bad. But I am an expert of printing, and from this point of view, the cards are simply incredible: the foil is very intense and perfectly blended into the card, the inks are rich and the registration is perfect. Plus, the holographic foil super shiny and very prismatic. So far, no other company could offer a similar feature like this Flood Foil.
This is the main reason that I've picked (and I will continue to pick) EPCC for certain decks.
I can understand that the cards may not handle like the others decks I made, but Monolith is clearly not a deck that is made for "perfect handling" - I made plenty of other decks for that.

I never cared about the country where I produce, since I believe that quality is not bound to a specific country - the idea that China produces low quality items is a very bad (and wrong) prejudice - I have wrote this here in 2017 and I see that not much is changed after 4 years

Oh, also - even if I may philosophically agree, boycott a certain country for its politics is simple irrealistic (and, in the end, useless) in 2021 - especially for an italian one-man-company like TWI.

Deliver "on time" this "Patreon Package" (that includes Egoism, Black Market and the 2 Monoliths) was really a rush that started in December 2020.
I've worked behind the scenes for months to make it possible, and it wasn't easy at all.

I did my best to make this happens and, even if I am aware that some things are not perfect, I think the result is, overall, very good.

As usual, my answer is polite, but I am very disappointed with certain comments - Criticize is easy - made things, a little less

On the other side, I am very happy and I thank everyone posted good things and/or purchased the new decks!
There are a lot of orders and GW should be able to process these during the next week.

Have a great Sunday!

Gio

[Harvonsgard]

Oh, also - even if I may philosophically agree, boycott a certain country for its politics is simple irrealistic (and, in the end, useless) in 2021 - especially for an italian one-man-company like TWI.

Way to convinient excuse. You simple don't agree and don't care at the end of the day - which is cool, nobody needs to care. But it's easy to say I have no impact just to push away responsibility for one's actions.
With this mindset everyone makes their hands dirty and excuses it with his neighbour having their hands dirty, too.
Sorry if that scratches the ego a tad.

[bdawg923]

It's definitely a stretch to say Gio and other playing card designers who use EPCC are responsible for the Chinese government's human rights abuses. Can't agree with that.

Only reason I was ragging on EPCC is because I think they make low quality decks. It has nothing to do with them being from China. For example, WJPCC also prints in China and a lot of designers used them to print mini decks for their campaigns. Their mini decks feel great. Quite close to cartamundi decks in my opinion, at least the few mini decks I've had.

[Strag]

There are a fair amount of human rights abuses going on in the US right now (and have for centuries) so does that mean we should boycott USPCC as well? Just saying that it's a slippery slope and we can all point to things that shouldn't be happening. If the company on question can be accused of such abuses than by all means boycott them, but it's a bit harsh to blame this one on Gio in my opinion.

[Harvonsgard]

Presenting a fact is not a blame game (we're all in this) and of course the problems in regards to this are more complex than presented in a one-liner.
Do e.g. I boycott every made in China product? Of course not, lol. But I'm aware of what this means for people on the other end of the globe. I just don't say I care if ultimatively I don't, simple as that.

In regards to EPCC's quality. As much as I love to take a jab at them at least they try new stuff and they try to constantly improve the manufacturing. The last EPCC deck I got (Culturæ Animalis - which was PRC printed [if I remember correctly pre change of the PRC printer though]) had in regards to quality no complaints at all. I'd say inconsistancy is their issue.

For numbered seals, why not putting them on top (or bottom) of the tuck like others did Gio?

[Strag]

Regarding numbering, I like what Lotrek, Alex Chin and others do... Leave a space on the tuck and hand number them there before cello (if in they are actually wrapped, not all of Lotreks are)

[hsbc]

the idea that China produces low quality items is a very bad (and wrong) prejudice - I have wrote this here in 2017 and I see that not much is changed after 4 years

No one said this anywhere here China manufacturers are of course capable of top-tier work, it's about QA (and money)

Oh, also - even if I may philosophically agree, boycott a certain country for its politics is simple irrealistic (and, in the end, useless) in 2021 - especially for an italian one-man-company like TWI.

I've heard EPCC is very easy to work with, and also as you said that their registration and inks are very good!

As usual, my answer is polite, but I am very disappointed with certain comments - Criticize is easy - made things, a little less

I think my decks sat in the heat during transit, which made the seal extra sticky and cards clumpy - seriously, when I first pulled the deck out of the tuck, the entire deck was just a big block I could pick it up by one card and the whole deck lifted up But again, like I said, some twisting and shuffling took care of that! And FYI in the pic above where the cards are in smaller clumps, that's how they remained after my first bending of the deck to separate the cards

Plus I understand that China is becoming a larger and larger market and creators may prefer to stay focused on the cards and art and eschew politics totally, probably financially wise honestly

I hope my comments aren't disappointing Gio, you're (obviously) one of my favorite card artists and I can't really see how thinking that EPCC needs better quality control, that some of your decks handle better than others, or that the CCP is deeply problematic are at all out-of-line criticisms

[Bradius]

Honestly, just go see the Salesman. He will sort everything out.

[laitostarr777]

As usual, my answer is polite, but I am very disappointed with certain comments - Criticize is easy - made things, a little less
I think my decks sat in the heat during transit, which made the seal extra sticky and cards clumpy - seriously, when I first pulled the deck out of the tuck, the entire deck was just a big block I could pick it up by one card and the whole deck lifted up But again, like I said, some twisting and shuffling took care of that!

Well I think that would be the case, maybe... but I think the other factor might be the material of the tuckbox as well. Hmmm... I wonder who make the tuckbox for the Black Monolith, as... I am sucessfully secured the seal for the Black Monolith - but sadly not this time for the Monolith Horizon. I did the usual methods of removing the seal, but yeah, the seal pulled off parts of the tuckbox X.X
It hurts me so much that I have no choice to just slice the seal following the curve opening. This seal be a reminder that it is used to cover up the ugly parts caused by the seal's suspected sticky glue or suspected matte paper material from the maker.

Although this is not the only time that I have to opt for this opening option:
Gods of Egypt along with 666 Gold-Silver-Bronze have this kind of seal that looks like those counterfeiting seals found on official licensed products - hard to remove and very darn sticky. I think Devils in the Details have that kind of seal, but I was definitely lucky it didnt suffer this fate.

NOC Luxury - this is one of that inevitable case: the seals were part of the design, thus salavaging the seal won't look good

As for the cards, I don't shuffle them, I just took my time do a walkthrough one by one card, carefully removing the sticky ones. Easy fix, always work

---

Also, let's all just agree that EPCC are good at making decks that are meant to be just looked at and not to be used for magic or cardistry or gaming - especially if the deck made by them have all the foiling pizzas. If handling is really bad, than simply just hold it on your hands, spread it, just take a card one by one and admire the beauty, and that's it - don't do anything like fanning and springing and pressure, or you just troubling yourself. And, why keep on attacking EPCC while USPCC's still have offset problems? The real question should be: why designers and "hype" brands still go for USPCC if they know so well that this problem still persists till now? "Because of handling is always good" is always the answer everybody always give to avoid discussing this problem.

[STLBluesNut]

The real question should be: why designers and "hype" brands still go for USPCC if they know so well that this problem still persists till now? "Because of handling is always good" is always the answer everybody always give to avoid discussing this problem.

i think this is because it is still a brand name that many know and trust. as vocal and active as we are here, and other places, we still have to remember that the amount of people on forums and whatnot are a very small % of the people that buy and collect custom playing cards.

also, there are people out there that will buy only from certain printers. it seems to me in the years i have been collecting that most are more concerned with handling than other factors. i have seen more posts that people will not buy from certain printers because handling is poor than posts that people will not buy from USPCC because of registration.

im sure that there other factors as well. overall i think more people are willing to buy from big brand names because of the brand name than not, regardless of their issues. you only need to look at brands like fontaine, noc, anyone.

[Bradius]

As hot foil and cold foil become more popular, you will see movement to Cartamundi for cold foil decks and some Asian manufacturers for hot foil decks. I can tell you that to manage the huge shipping costs, KWP is going to use USPCC for the most part. I imagine shipping is now a much bigger concern, and may sway US producers to use USPCC rather than overseas manufacturers.

[PiazzaDelivery]

{...} may sway US producers to use USPCC rather than overseas manufacturers.

good. USPCC (and Cartamundi) stock and handling is still superior imo.