Cernunnos Forest - Celtic Myth & Zodiac Playing Cards [KS]

[MagikFingerz]

[PiazzaDelivery]

I love full-bleed backs. I hate full-bleed faces.

[STLBluesNut]

these may be a bit busy for some but i definitely love them. i would say one of the best designs this year.

[Sir Toddalot]

these may be a bit busy for some but i definitely love them. i would say one of the best designs this year.

+1

[james001a]

I really like the colors on these. Very mystical and soothing.

[GandalfTheWhite]

Agree. I really like these artsy deck. This creator is responsive and great with throwing in free surprises each campaign. I backed both of their previous campaign and had no complaints. For this campaign their latest update shared as a nice surprise. These decks now have a fluorescent deck sleeves for both the variants!

[MagikFingerz]

Is the printer the same as their previous decks? If so, can anyone who backed those comment on the printing quality?

[GandalfTheWhite]

Very good question. For this campaign it says it is printed by "WJ printing. A local cardistry-grade poker company which OEM for many branded deck. (Due to the NDA agreement, sorry can't disclose any brand name ^^) But I can say their quality is top-tier among those printers!". I've never heard of them. Bottom line -- the handling or printing quality could be a risk.

But for the previous 2 campaigns that I backed, both utilized different printers.

"Bastet the Cat - Ancient Goddess Bronze Foil Playing Cards" - were printed by the creator's own company. The handing was bad but understandable as these were foiled and out blinged out ... Snippet from their KS campaign page -- "Cards will be manufactured by my trustable award-winning production company - Wide Ocean. They are renowned printing company in worldwide and very passionate on paper product. And they are also the printer of my previous PATTO CAT playing card project, quality is assurance! http://wideocean.com.hk/"


"Shinto Neko" - I've not opened my decks (yet). Contemplating if I should open or not.The cards were printed by MPC (this was confirmed on update #5). On their premium linen air card stock with black core, metallic printing graphics, full gold foiling on card back.

[GandalfTheWhite]

I tried to dig further by directly messaging the creator. Below was the response. Not helpful.

Hello there~

Thank you so much for your support ~ as mentioned in campaign the card stock are linen texture card ranged from 300- 330gsm ~ black core card ~ they are based in Hong Kong and China, I don’t have their website and not sure if they can let me share with, I have to double check with them first and let you know, thank you so much ~

Herman

[MagikFingerz]

Been going back and forth on this a lot, and I've decided to pass on the Kickstarter due to the unknown printer (handling is a big deal to me). If reviews are good, hopefully I'll be able to get them from a retailer.

[GandalfTheWhite]

I'm on the same-ish boat. For now have backed this however with the unknown printer and knowing the creator's first campaign cards didn't handle well, not sure if I should stay or drop out. I should really open my Shinto Neko decks maybe before this campaign ends. That might help make my decision easier lol

[e10li]

Just received the decks today, which was a pleasant surprise since I only got the shipping notification from Backerkit this Monday. Handling on the day fairy (non-gilded) deck was not the best as the cards were a bit stiff. Surprisingly enough, the gilded starry night deck actually handled really well. The handling felt close to a standard USPCC deck to me, although I don't do cardistry so take my opinion with a grain of salt. The artwork came out really nice, especially on the starry night deck. Overall I'm really happy with the decks, definitely on board for any future campaigns from this creator.

[Sinecure]

I’m really looking forward to these. I thought the campaign was great and the creator was really helpful.

So glad to hear they handle well as the printer was my only reservation at the time of backing.

Since then I’ve picked up a deck of Montenzi’s No7 Winter Edition - also printed by WJPC - and I absolutely love the feel of those. I’ll be curious to handle Ink Beast Dark Edition which is WJPC too as I recall.

[GandalfTheWhite]

Thanks for providing an update e. I ended up backing pair of these and looking forward getting it! No tracking numbers yet but I know the creator had provided an updated recently that the shipping should be imminent given the delays from Hong Kong etc.

[Harvonsgard]

@hsbc - Did you back them? Because I can't wait to see some photos .

[hsbc]

@hsbc - Did you back them? Because I can't wait to see some photos .

Unfortunately not! These will be on my to-buy list, but who knows when

[Sir Toddalot]

I just got around to opening my decks today, and I must say I’m really glad I backed this campaign. The creator was very communicative, answered all questions promptly, gave updates at least once a month. There was only 2 decks and it stayed that way. Got my rewards pretty much on time, it was about a week later than estimated, which is very good in my book. Most campaigns I back are normally months late. And the most important part, the the cards themselves are beautiful. They are probably not a deck you’ll ever play with or do magic with, but for art they are amazing. In my opinion of course. I took a few pictures, apologies for the lighting, I couldn’t get in quite right. Some of the details are hard to photograph because of the fluorescent nature of some cards, but I did my best. If you like what you see, definitely get a pair because they are amazing in person.

[Sir Toddalot]

More pics.

[Sir Toddalot]

Last batch.

[hsbc]

These are on my to-buy list for sure Too bad I had to drop my pledge!

[STLBluesNut]

i would like to add some more about this campaign. a couple of things other creators could take note of.

the price for both of these deck if you bought the pair was $35. they have sleeves, seals (which i really dont care about but it is usually a big deal and sometimes even stretch goals) and foil on the tuck cards and sleeves. not to mention a beautiful design IMO. for all of those features to be only $35 for 2 decks is a pretty good value. for an upgraded tuck i usually like to see $15 but this did have foil on the cards, one deck was fronts and backs. you could also buy just one of the decks, you didn't have to buy the set.

the campaign had extras, none of which were required to be bought to get any of the decks. in fact, for a rather large coin, big foiled box and mat with the 2 decks was only $7 more! i dont usually buy extra but who wouldn't get the really nice looking set for $7. so not only a great price which made it an easy decision to upgrade but if you didn't want the extras you didnt have to get them. there was a tier for decks only. over 1k box sets were sold and only 305 deck only pairs. granted the difference between the 2 was only $7.

i don't know how they made it so affordable for all that you got. the point is that it was a great price on the options and they had options for however you wanted to buy, whatever you wanted to buy.

overall they made over 119k on the campaign and it wasn't bloated with 4 to 6 plus decks, gilding add ons, artificially "limited" decks, hyped up add ons and unlocks, etc. a simple, beautiful campaign with good value that ended up with nearly 1900 backers. i think this campaign was noteworthy and should be used as one of the examples when looking at offerings, value and running a campaign.

[james001a]

Does anyone know if these will become available to the public. I had to drop my pledge last minute due to holiday shopping but they look great.

[Strag]

i would like to add some more about this campaign. a couple of things other creators could take note of.

the price for both of these deck if you bought the pair was $35. they have sleeves, seals (which i really dont care about but it is usually a big deal and sometimes even stretch goals) and foil on the tuck cards and sleeves. not to mention a beautiful design IMO. for all of those features to be only $35 for 2 decks is a pretty good value. for an upgraded tuck i usually like to see $15 but this did have foil on the cards, one deck was fronts and backs. you could also buy just one of the decks, you didn't have to buy the set.

the campaign had extras, none of which were required to be bought to get any of the decks. in fact, for a rather large coin, big foiled box and mat with the 2 decks was only $7 more! i dont usually buy extra but who wouldn't get the really nice looking set for $7. so not only a great price which made it an easy decision to upgrade but if you didn't want the extras you didnt have to get them. there was a tier for decks only. over 1k box sets were sold and only 305 deck only pairs. granted the difference between the 2 was only $7.

i don't know how they made it so affordable for all that you got. the point is that it was a great price on the options and they had options for however you wanted to buy, whatever you wanted to buy.

overall they made over 119k on the campaign and it wasn't bloated with 4 to 6 plus decks, gilding add ons, artificially "limited" decks, hyped up add ons and unlocks, etc. a simple, beautiful campaign with good value that ended up with nearly 1900 backers. i think this campaign was noteworthy and should be used as one of the examples when looking at offerings, value and running a campaign.

Interesting, these never really appealed to me design-wise and I didn't think that $35 (plus shipping, assuming there was an additional charge) for a pair is actually that great of a price. I also wouldn't have paid that price for an unknown printer and the creator name was quite unusual so a lot of warning signs combined with a non-resonating design for me meant it was an easy pass. I also don't care at all for a deck sleeve, the few decks that I have with them I feel rather meh about.

As to how it was affordable, well there is a lot of stuff that is made in China that is quite cheap. You can get very good quality coins for $2-3 in single unit quantity, just check out AliExpress. I buy coins from there all the time as I collect them for card protectors. In fact the coin on that campaign does appeal to me so I'll see if I can find it there, you often can (they tend to play fast and loose with copyright).

Glad to hear that it was delivered on time and met your expectations. Great example of different campagins and options appeal to different collector types.

[STLBluesNut]

I also don't care at all for a deck sleeve, the few decks that I have with them I feel rather meh about.

As to how it was affordable, well there is a lot of stuff that is made in China that is quite cheap. You can get very good quality coins for $2-3 in single unit quantity, just check out AliExpress. I buy coins from there all the time as I collect them for card protectors.

true and valid points. i don't usually care about these items either and don't really in this campaign either but they are nice additions for the price. regardless of what the cost may or may not be, these are items that creators would often hype up and use to justify high prices on campaigns while charging a premium for them or including them "free" while unreasonably jacking up the prices of the decks. throw a sleeve on a tuck, call it ''limited edition'' and charge an extra $20 or more.

it was just an example of a campaign that wasn't all based on hype and big names that can offer a variety of items and features without having to charge unreasonable prices or bloating their campaigns with 4 recolors and gilding. for decks with no added features on the cards (metallic inks or foils) and plain glossy tucks going for $15 to $17 these days, i didn't think $35 for a pair of full featured decks was too shabby. personally, i don't care about printer if they look nice and the design is to my liking.

we can certainly agree that different campaigns appeal to different people.

[GandalfTheWhite]

I finally received my decks too! The artwork is amazing and concur with STL ^ . I had backed this creator's previous Shinto Neko decks too and the campaign was excellently ran. I was not able to faro (heads up - I'm not good with this ) but was able to spring and fan well. Here are more pics in addition to the what was shared above.

[Harvonsgard]

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[james001a]

The color schemes are very striking and add to the mystical feel. Excellent photos. A+++

[GandalfPC]

These decks are available (cube as well) in their current KS campaign “Eye of Kukulkan”

[markzero]

These decks are available (cube as well) in their current KS campaign “Eye of Kukulkan”

That's great news. I hadn't even seen these until tonight.

[hsbc]