2014 PCF Deck Awards

[sinjin7]

I was looking at the Aquila thread here at UC and I noticed that their ad for their sale this Saturday indicated that the Aquila deck had won multiple awards from PCF. I'm not a member there, and I rarely go on that site, so I wasn't aware they already had their awards. So out of curiosity, I went over to check out the hardware they handed out, and I have to say I was pretty surprised by their results. I know a lot of members here are members over there as well, so I thought it would be interesting to start a thread to discuss their results, especially since we're about to conduct our own UC Deck of the Year Contest here.

I just want to share my opinions with others who wish to participate. Everyone has different opinions and there is no right or wrong when it comes to personal opinions and I hope everyone would respect that. I also don't want this to turn into a thread comparing their awards to our awards and have this degenerate into a flame war about who's awards are better. Their categories are significantly different from our categories, so it wouldn't be an apples to apples comparison anyways.

First, the pleasant surprises. I was happy to see Rick Davidson getting so much love by winning best crowd-funded deck, best face design (I'm assuming they meant best courts cards), and sharing best overall deck for his Origins decks. For the life of me, I don't know how that deck didn't crack $100K on KS (probably because it was a diferent currency than U.S. Dollars). I was afraid Origins would fly under the radar and be underrated, but the PFC Awards showed that people were paying attention and appreciated a truly great deck. I'm glad to see that Uusi won best deck designer(s). My appreciation for Uusi approaches near fanboy-dom. And I was happy to see Lorenzo awarded as best new designer. To win that distinction for a year like 2014 is quite a prestigious accomplishment.

Here are the head-scratchers for me. Best Cardistry/XCM deck was...Zenith? I would have Zenith as a heavy contender for best tuck box, and maybe even as a contender for overall deck of the year, but I bet even Paul was surprised about this category. First of all, I wouldn't have any EPCC decks as candidates to be considered for best cardistry decks. Secondly, the back design, while beautiful, is too monochrome for me to be a candidate for cardistry/xcm. And lastly, I doubt many people are using a $20+ deck for cardistry anyways. In my opinion, the only place the 52+Joker Club deck could win the awards for best deck not financed by crowdfunding and best Jokers is on a site that's sponsored by 52+Joker. Enough said. I would've given the award for non-crowdfunded deck to the Prohibition series (pick a deck, any deck) over 52+J. And I would give best Jokers to just about any other custom deck. I'm surprised Oracle won best deck accessory. I'm looking at Dale Mathis' 3D Mechanized deck as I'm typing this and I can't figure out how a Ouijia board could beat it. Finally, I'm surprised that Jackson Robinson didn't win more awards than he did. I suspect Jackson's a whole lot more popular over there than he is here, and he will still probably take home a lot of UC DotY hardware over here. I thought for sure he would win best tuck box and/or best court cards, best designer, best crowdfunded deck, best deck overall. And if Jackson had won all those awards, even I would've thought it would've been well-deserved.

I guess it just goes to show how great and diverse 2014 was and I look forward to how our own 2014 UC Deck of the Year Contest plays out.

[sms69x]

I went there to see the results and was very surprised by the results... Not the ones I would expect!

One of the thing I agree is with the best overall deck Origins, I don't understad how this deck didn't won more categories, but got the top category which is great.

For the best tuck box, well Independence for sure, that's a beautiful box.
Also was surprised by the fact that the 3d Metal Mechanised deck by Dale Mathis didn't won a single category.

But to be honest isn't easy to choose between so many great artists/decks, 2013 was a easy year it was Mr. JR and Uusi, 2014 brought a lot of new designers and inovators to the scene.

[Jock1971]

What i can`t understand is why they had a category for "the best unsuccessful crowdfunded deck".

[Fes]

What i can`t understand is why they had a category for "the best unsuccessful crowdfunded deck".

That didn't make sense to me either. Why would any unsuccessful deck gain an award of any kind? Seemed a bit on the silly side there.

Edit:
Really though, categories aside. What people vote for or don't vote for is their own choice. Second guessing them, or questioning them makes about as much sense to me as voting for Zenith as a cardistry deck. That's not saying Zenith isn't a great deck, it is and I love it. Any award it's given is great in my estimation.

I would have done things slightly differently myself, as far as categorizing and all that nomination stuff goes, but I think all in all it was about having a good time while drawing attention to great decks. A good time was had and attention was drawn with the nominations. Anything that draws attention to great decks is a boon in my opinion. I want to see our hobby grow and expand. To that end, I won't knock anyones efforts to bring attention to something good in playing cards. Victors awards this year were pretty fun too for that matter, his take on the awards was completely different and great to see. The Kardify best decks list also great. It's not one vs the other for me though. I think there's room for everyone and they all do a great job at drawing attention to some wonderful decks.

Maybe I'm an odd ball, but I see here and there and the people who frequent either as the same crowd. We're all about the same thing, great decks of playing cards. While all of our opinions on what's great and whats not are different, we all know good quality work when we see it. I include the people who don't frequent either site in this as well, the mass of people who only back on KS or who only comment on youtube. Like I said, to me we're all the same crowd.

[Sparkz]

I think you make a very valid point Sinjin, the wide range of opinions, tastes, etc... prove that we're all over the board individually. That's why I don't really understand the over the top "Conversations" when it comes to topics based on opinion.

But I'll be honest, I'm curious to see how UC's awards pan out just for a bit more comparison. As for Aquila, we're proud of what we accomplished and produced, we're grateful for the support, but also take all of this with a grain of salt

Now to get my votes in...........

[volantangel]

now now, lets not discuss what you are going to vote just yet. We will know in a couple of weeks =)

Haha but that unsuccessful crowdfunded deck left me scratching my head as well...

[ecNate]

What i can`t understand is why they had a category for "the best unsuccessful crowdfunded deck".

That didn't make sense to me either. Why would any unsuccessful deck gain an award of any kind? Seemed a bit on the silly side there.

Actually, I LOVED that category. The best deck that didn't get funded, but should have. It might open people's eyes to something they missed, inspire the designers/producers to try again, etc. I thought there were a few great decks that launched at the wrong time, didn't know how to market, developed during the campaign, etc. It may be somewhat silly, but unless anybody plans to have a full televised awards show with real prizes ANY internet based award is quite silly.

[Fes]

What i can`t understand is why they had a category for "the best unsuccessful crowdfunded deck".

That didn't make sense to me either. Why would any unsuccessful deck gain an award of any kind? Seemed a bit on the silly side there.

Actually, I LOVED that category. The best deck that didn't get funded, but should have. It might open people's eyes to something they missed, inspire the designers/producers to try again, etc. I thought there were a few great decks that launched at the wrong time, didn't know how to market, developed during the campaign, etc. It may be somewhat silly, but unless anybody plans to have a full televised awards show with real prizes ANY internet based award is quite silly.

Haha, Nate you're one of the few guys that understood the category then. I certainly didn't get it. To be honest, I still don't. Your perspective and pleasure about it has me smiling though instead of "wtf?".

[Eoghann]

What Nate said. I know there's quite a few I was cheering for that didn't get to the finish line.

[nECr0MaNCeD]

What i can`t understand is why they had a category for "the best unsuccessful crowdfunded deck".

That didn't make sense to me either. Why would any unsuccessful deck gain an award of any kind? Seemed a bit on the silly side there.

Actually, I LOVED that category. The best deck that didn't get funded, but should have. It might open people's eyes to something they missed, inspire the designers/producers to try again, etc. I thought there were a few great decks that launched at the wrong time, didn't know how to market, developed during the campaign, etc. It may be somewhat silly, but unless anybody plans to have a full televised awards show with real prizes ANY internet based award is quite silly.

+1 I agree 100%. Some awards are merely for entertainment. Like the Razzies.

[Gamblers Warehouse]

No Bicycle Steampunk Bandits anywhere on that site... Seemed biased...
No Bicycle Excellence deck By Elite anywhere which has been a best seller for us...

[ecNate]

No Bicycle Steampunk Bandits anywhere on that site... Seemed biased...
No Bicycle Excellence deck By Elite anywhere which has been a best seller for us...

Well the way it worked was for each award category a deck had to be nominated and then seconded before it was available to vote on. Given there's a limited number of people fully active there and even less that seemed to take the time to nominate or second, it's not surprising that just a few made it in.

[Fes]

No Bicycle Steampunk Bandits anywhere on that site... Seemed biased...
No Bicycle Excellence deck By Elite anywhere which has been a best seller for us...

Well the way it worked was for each award category a deck had to be nominated and then seconded before it was available to vote on. Given there's a limited number of people fully active there and even less that seemed to take the time to nominate or second, it's not surprising that just a few made it in.

Not to mention that 1 nomination per person rule haha. That was a pretty big downer for me. I wanted to nominate tons of stuff but couldn't. All hand slapped what not. All in all I think it was a fun activity and not a bad attempt at all. I have a feeling next year will be very different.

[MagikFingerz]

I think you make a very valid point Sinjin, the wide range of opinions, tastes, etc... prove that we're all over the board individually. That's why I don't really understand the over the top "Conversations" when it comes to topics based on opinion.

But if we don't discuss opinions that are different from our own, how can we ever expect to understand them? Or, perhaps even more importantly, the people voicing them? I think as long as it's done right, "conversations" about opinions are some of the more useful conversations to have.

Reminds me of that gun from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie (can't remember if it was in the book, but it probably was) that when fired, instantly made the person hit see things from the shooter's perspective

[Sparkz]

I thought I qualified my statement by saying "over the top" as the conversations I was refering to. Conversation are the best part of any hobby.....but this topic isnt about that, so its all good.

[chach]

I haven't been over there in ages, but could Venexiana Dark have qualified for best failed campaign since the first campaign was on CardLauncher and didn't succeed?

[sinjin7]

I haven't been over there in ages, but could Venexiana Dark have qualified for best failed campaign since the first campaign was on CardLauncher and didn't succeed?

Apparently only if it was nominated and seconded.

No Bicycle Steampunk Bandits anywhere on that site... Seemed biased...
No Bicycle Excellence deck By Elite anywhere which has been a best seller for us...

Well the way it worked was for each award category a deck had to be nominated and then seconded before it was available to vote on. Given there's a limited number of people fully active there and even less that seemed to take the time to nominate or second, it's not surprising that just a few made it in.

Well, that's an interesting way to do it. It just seems to me that it would limit a voter's options. For instance, I wouldn't be able to vote for what I believe is the best overall deck of the year, but instead I have to choose from a list of decks that made it through their nomination process only.

As for GW decks, I thought the most outstanding deck from them was the Occults deck. I'm torn between choosing the Occults deck or one of De' Vo's decks for Best Flourishing deck and Best Fanning deck.

I thought the category for best unfunded KS deck was a very legit category. Sure, there are plenty of pretty bad decks not getting funded all the time, but unfortunately a few worthy decks fail for various reasons. Jackson's Silver Arrow deck is the obvious choice for this category, but I was pretty disappointed Rainbow Illusions deck failed to fund, as well as Venexiana Dark.

[DragonSoul]

Hmm, so does Best Face Design refer to standard/altered courts? Interesting that there was no winner for Best Custom Courts or Best Custom Pips.

I would have definitely listed Dale Mathis' frame for Best Deck Display Equipment.

I agree that there were a quite a few decks that could have qualified in the Best Unsuccessful. I liked Silver Arrow, Rainbow Illusions and the Gorilla deck but, my favorite deck that I wish had funded was Thunee.

[Don Boyer]

Hey, folks,

This is a great topic you've created. I thought I'd provide a bit more insight as to the Awards and how they were managed. In other words, you have questions, I'm trying to provide answers!

We threw the net wide as far as category topics - so yes, we did end up with a few that got no one's interest, at least not enough to nominate and second any choices. We did even have a topic where one nominee ran unopposed, winning by default. I would have thought something like Best Custom Pips and Best Courts would have caught more interest, but alas, they didn't. My staff didn't pick any nominees other than by participating in the voting - and as I was running the competition, I refrained from voting or even participating to the point of expressing a personal preference, as much as I would have liked to. No one would have known, but I like to be able to look a person in the eyes and say "I didn't participate, thus having no impact on the results" without looking away or appearing like a liar.

The winners you felt were pleasant surprises - well, I happen to like them as well!

I agree about Zenith as the Best Cardistry Deck being an odd choice. The other seconded nominee was a De'Vo/HandlordZ deck, and neither nominee's creators did any campaigning for that category. In the end, I think we just didn't have enough interest in cardistry for some reason and people simply chose which deck was nicer. The fact that we've hardly talked much about the more recent De'Vo deck releases must be a factor as well. It might have to do with a small but growing percentage of our population being more into vintage decks while still collecting modern designs. I've been told that many collectors are just that - collectors, not magicians nor cardists. I was made very aware of this last year at a New York gathering of some of the 52+J members. All avid collectors, not a single magician in the lot, and counting me, not a single cardist.

I suspect that the Dale Mathis thing had a lot to do with Dale's deck being quite a bit more rare than the other nominees, and that Oracle deck/accessory was fresher in people's minds as it came after Dale's deck, I think. People vote what they know, and not enough knew Dale's project or owned his decks.

Jackson Robinson did garner a number of nominations for his work last year, but not as many awards, as you've noted. Simply put, last year was a very good year for quality deck designs and releases. This had to be a tough year for picking what was best in any category and we certainly agree with your statement about how great and diverse 2014 was for playing cards and our community.

sms69x: I suspect that Origins didn't win as many awards because Ade Suryana actively campaigned for his Aquila deck, to the point of recruiting new members to the board to have them vote for him. It was not illegal and it certainly tipped the scales away from Origins a little. Word to the wise - when your deck is nominated for any award, CAMPAIGN FOR IT. And again, Dale's deck didn't win or even get nominated and seconded as much as you felt it should have been because people didn't nominate it, period. I think it was a very cool package, but I don't own one and I doubt I'm alone in that. Another word to the wise: when you make a deck that's very limited, you're also limiting the number of people who will possess it and who will discuss it at awards time. We tried to have people nominating only decks they were familiar with personally, preferably hands-on.

The category of "Best Unsuccessful Crowdfunding Deck Project" was done precisely for the reason that many, MANY decks fail the first time out and really shouldn't have. You can't swing a dead cat around at KS without hitting a deck project that succeeded on the second (or even third) attempt. It was never meant as a gag category - it was more of a shot in the arm for a designer considering shelving his or her idea because it didn't succeed the first time out.

And yes, Chach, Dark Venexiana did fit the bill for this category, but it wasn't considered strongly enough by our membership in the nomination process, by their own choice, apparently! I personally think the design of Venexiana was gorgeous - but with so many versions being out, perhaps people wanted something different that hadn't had its day in the sun.

I really enjoyed reading what Fes said in this quote:

Really though, categories aside. What people vote for or don't vote for is their own choice. Second guessing them, or questioning them makes about as much sense to me as voting for Zenith as a cardistry deck. That's not saying Zenith isn't a great deck, it is and I love it. Any award it's given is great in my estimation.

I would have done things slightly differently myself, as far as categorizing and all that nomination stuff goes, but I think all in all it was about having a good time while drawing attention to great decks. A good time was had and attention was drawn with the nominations. Anything that draws attention to great decks is a boon in my opinion. I want to see our hobby grow and expand. To that end, I won't knock anyones efforts to bring attention to something good in playing cards. Victors awards this year were pretty fun too for that matter, his take on the awards was completely different and great to see. The Kardify best decks list also great. It's not one vs the other for me though. I think there's room for everyone and they all do a great job at drawing attention to some wonderful decks.

Maybe I'm an odd ball, but I see here and there and the people who frequent either as the same crowd. We're all about the same thing, great decks of playing cards. While all of our opinions on what's great and whats not are different, we all know good quality work when we see it. I include the people who don't frequent either site in this as well, the mass of people who only back on KS or who only comment on youtube. Like I said, to me we're all the same crowd.

YES! That was the point. People had fun in the choosing and the voting, and it drew attention to some of the finer decks presently out there. The whole point of our shared hobby is for it to be FUN - the moment is stops being fun is the moment you should sell, give away or destroy your collection. And just like the Academy Awards, the Critics' Choice Awards, the People's Choice Awards, the BAFTA Awards, etc. rarely come up with the same winners in each and every category, there will be differences in the awards granted in places where collectors such as us gather on the Internet. That diversity is what makes our hobby more enjoyable and less boring!

A few people commented on the nomination process, so we're planning to do it differently for the 2015 Awards. We'll be using an open web-based form for ALL of the categories, all in one place. There will be decks picked from our list of 2015 releases, but there will also be blanks for write-in nominations. "Seconding" will be simple - if a deck gets two nominations, it's seconded, period. No limit on how many decks/people you can nominate, but they each still need at least two people to get on the final voting list. We did this seconding process in the first place to keep "orphan decks" off the list - decks that only one person thinks are great and no one else agrees - so that the final voting lists wouldn't be insanely long with too many decks to choose from. Beyond this, the process for the next awards is still not carved in stone - I'm happy to accept suggestions from people between now and the start of the next awards cycle. So yes, Fes, next year will be very different!

No Bicycle Steampunk Bandits anywhere on that site... Seemed biased...
No Bicycle Excellence deck By Elite anywhere which has been a best seller for us...

Did you or your staff nominate your own decks? You could have. Then find another staffer to second them. Standard, individual memberships are free, so there's no way it was too expensive.

There was no bias in the selections, other than what the members themselves wanted, period. It was their awards, after all. I didn't have any say in the matter other than choosing the categories. I've said this before, even in this very post - CAMPAIGN, and people will become aware of what you're promoting. Simply watch, and you have no say in the process - you're just a spectator. I specifically contacted ALL of the seconded nominations when the voting process began. I couldn't call all the possible nominees during the nomination process, since ANY playing card deck that came out last year and conformed to some degree to the International Standard was eligible.

I recall that Expert PCC, in the form of their PCF Agent account, nominated a Legends PCC deck! Even the board owner, Tom Dawson, was pushing for one of the decks (probably the club deck) and participated in the voting. (Before there are cries of impropriety, Tom did not have any connection with the "machinery" of how the Awards were run, start to finish. That was all the Awards board moderator, Rose, and me.)

In all the film industry magazines and select major newspapers, starting around late December and through January, there are COUNTLESS advertisements for movies that came out both recently and MONTHS earlier. Nearly all of those ads are captioned "For Your Consideration." This doesn't mean they think you were considerate - it means they want you, an industry member reading that publication, to think of that movie when making your choices for the Academy Awards, both for the nomination process as well as the final voting! The point being, there was nothing stopping you from holding such a campaign yourselves for your decks - you even have a company board at PCF on which to promote your wares!

Hmm, so does Best Face Design refer to standard/altered courts? Interesting that there was no winner for Best Custom Courts or Best Custom Pips.

I would have definitely listed Dale Mathis' frame for Best Deck Display Equipment.

I agree that there were a quite a few decks that could have qualified in the Best Unsuccessful. I liked Silver Arrow, Rainbow Illusions and the Gorilla deck but, my favorite deck that I wish had funded was Thunee.

Face design referred to all the faces of the deck, not simply the courts.

Any category that had no winners also had no seconded nominations. In a few cases there were unseconded nominations, but in a few cases no one nominated anything.

The category for Best Deck Display Equipment was more for those multi-deck displays people can hang on their walls or place on their desk. That lovely framework Mathis put together would have qualified as Best Deck Accessory, as it was designed specifically for his deck.

That Bicycle Thunee deck was a great design and I'm hoping to see it appear again. But presumably since Silver Arrow had a lot more discussion and was made by a much more famous designer, it took a lot of the attention in that category.

If you guys have more questions, I'm happy to answer.

[sinjin7]

My staff didn't pick any nominees other than by participating in the voting - and as I was running the competition, I refrained from voting or even participating to the point of expressing a personal preference, as much as I would have liked to. No one would have known, but I like to be able to look a person in the eyes and say "I didn't participate, thus having no impact on the results" without looking away or appearing like a liar.

I think that was honorable for you to completely recuse yourself from participating in the voting process, even if it meant it wouldn't be that much fun for yourself. You could make up for it by voting in our Deck of the Year contest.

Thanks for the explanation of how you guys ran your awards contest. If I may ask, which deck won by default?

[DragonSoul]

Ah, thanks for explaining Best Face Design.

Yeah, I can see how Dale's frame would be tricky. While I think of it as a deck display, you have a point that it was designed to work specifically with his deck.

Awards are always difficult! Well done.

[Don Boyer]

My staff didn't pick any nominees other than by participating in the voting - and as I was running the competition, I refrained from voting or even participating to the point of expressing a personal preference, as much as I would have liked to. No one would have known, but I like to be able to look a person in the eyes and say "I didn't participate, thus having no impact on the results" without looking away or appearing like a liar.

I think that was honorable for you to completely recuse yourself from participating in the voting process, even if it meant it wouldn't be that much fun for yourself. You could make up for it by voting in our Deck of the Year contest.

Thanks for the explanation of how you guys ran your awards contest. If I may ask, which deck won by default?

Perhaps I shall vote here! I appreciate the invitation, and it would be nice to get to vote.

The Aquila deck was the sole seconded nominee for Best Reveal Card. It won by default.

Ah, thanks for explaining Best Face Design.

Yeah, I can see how Dale's frame would be tricky. While I think of it as a deck display, you have a point that it was designed to work specifically with his deck.

Awards are always difficult! Well done.

Thanks for recognizing that. Kudos are always appreciated!

Yeah, with "Best Deck Display" we were shooting for something more "general purpose" to show off one's collection or at least a significant portion of it. Dale's lovely frame only showed off Dale's lovely tuck box, hence we'd consider it an accessory! And like I mentioned, it was a pretty rare deck to begin with and the frames even more rare - so few people ever managed to get a hold of them, hence the choice going to something that was at least a little more readily available in the Accessory category.

Ironically, no one nominated anything for that category! Not just "seconded nominations" - no nominations, period! I figured that cool plastic one everyone was talking about with the "flippy" cases held in a rack would be a shoe-in, but I guess no one else thought of it.

Before I forget - if anyone wants to come by the PCF to promote the UC awards or any of the nominees, please feel free to do so. I would personally welcome it.