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Was on AoP checking their store and checked in on the Standards box.. Looks like only 1 left... So if you are still on the fence now is the time I guess

Still one box set available. However, I believe they are holding back 200 to sell later, for 500 box sets in total.

I'll admit, I was hesitant to jump in but I was wooed and fully-converted to the dark side (or gold side?) after seeing all of the reviews and picks after folks received their sets. In the end, I collect for the art and this set is everything I could have hoped for. The box is STUNNING and the cards make me feel things in my potty place (sorry for the lewd imagery). I didn't even open the box from AoP until about two days later. I kept waffling on whether it was a sane decision to spend $150 on three decks of cards and a box. My curiosity won-out and I cracked her open and I am not disappointed in the slightest. Took a few pictures to celebrate a real gem. Cheers, homies.

Agree ^ very happy with this purchase!

BaconWise wrote:The box is STUNNING and the cards make me feel things in my potty place

MUM!! WHERE'S THE BRAIN-BLEACH??!!

Well, box set is currently sold out!

I ended up ordering the box and it just arrived in the mail. What can I say - as far as card boxes go, it is one of the more impressive ones. I only wish it was done in silver, copper or brass rather than gold...

For those who wanted the Gold Standards deck, which only came with the frickin expensive box, they are now available at Buck Twins' personal online store for $30 per deck. It's the best price you'll ever get for them. (Now going on Ebay for around $90-120).

Shipping will not be cheap for int'l folks as AoP only uses Fedex, unless you use a shipping agent or get someone on UC in the US to help you out. They've also got other rare decks from their personal collection so you may want to get a few more decks to make shipping cheaper.

After they claimed on their website that the Gold Standard will only be availabe with the Box. They sold'em on different occasions afterwards.
Let's not count the decks you got via the Mystery Sale (I forgot the price $10 or $12). They sold'em some weeks after the release for $25 at their physical capsule store in San Diego (would be bold if they still do ). A couple of weeks after that they sold'em online for $25 for a short period of time.
Kind of a questionable thing to sell them now for $30 on a hipster site of themselves. I would think twice if I want to support such business models.

Harvonsgard wrote:After they claimed on their website that the Gold Standard will only be availabe with the Box...
Kind of a questionable thing to sell them now for $30 on a hipster site of themselves. I would think twice if I want to support such business models.

Y'know thats spot on. Makes me unhappy just thinking about this. And I love the box set. The decks are solid looking but now I feel kinda slighted about the company. I am going to consider selling it off. Leaves a bad taste i my mouth. When I feel that way I will usually just sell everything I own from that creator/company. But I have so many nice Decks from D& D/AOP. I'm feelin very mixed about it.

I know that feel. From the big publishers Art of Play was always my favorite by far. Their decks were always more to my taste than TXI or E!. Irks me a bit as well.
Even fontaine and anyone sell their restocked decks for OG retail price or in the case of anyone even below retail.

Harvonsgard wrote:After they claimed on their website that the Gold Standard will only be availabe with the Box. They sold'em on different occasions afterwards.
Let's not count the decks you got via the Mystery Sale (I forgot the price $10 or $12). They sold'em some weeks after the release for $25 at their physical capsule store in San Diego (would be bold if they still do ). A couple of weeks after that they sold'em online for $25 for a short period of time.
Kind of a questionable thing to sell them now for $30 on a hipster site of themselves. I would think twice if I want to support such business models.

Well, this is their official statement for the Gold Standards. So Blackmarketdecks was said to be decks from their own personal collection and at $5 more than the official price. Take how you want it.

Limited Edition Gold Standard playing cards produced exclusively for the Gold Standard Deluxe Box Set released in February of 2018. Now sold out, this limited edition deck can only be obtained at our Retail Capsule in San Diego, California or during special online promotions. Not available for online purchase.

I couldn't agree more. But...The Standards IS a beautiful deck in its own right. As such, I do like it a lot. I am not a fan of them pumping the rarity. At least the case is hopefully limited even if the gold deck isn't that rare. It is a way for them to make some money in a business where it is hard to make a ton of it.

I do really like many of their decks, and yes I am guilty of grabbing a Midnight Fuel and those Third Man Decks from the Black Market Decks website as I have been looking to put those in my collection, and for less money then I have seen them on ebay. However, I have a problem with when a wholesaler/retailer also wants the secondary prices too. I know they have a right to make money just like you and I do, and these are items they do not sell wholesale, but black market is a secondary market they have created. And I bought into it which supports their assertion that as long as people want and buy the decks, there is a market to be made. But it feels a bit sleazy because I am part of the problem. Again, I am mixed because I really do like many of their decks. Am I getting too down on myself about this? In the end I am a collector, but like I said before, I have purged entire chunks of my collection because I felt uneasy or flat out disagree with the ethics of a company. Yeah, I'm talking about DM, NS, and a few others I cannot recall. E has been on this list, as they infuriate me at times with their crap, but I managed to just keep the original decks, which to me are still the best, along a with a very few recent ones.

My 2 cents: I have no issues with resellers selling decks for any amount of money with two exceptions:

1. As long as the decks are not sold for less than they were offered via crowd funding. To me this is a HUGE offence- it's a slap in the face to the people that pledged their hard-earned money to go out on a limb and help a creator make an idea into a reality. Those are the people that deserve a discount, not the aftermarket.

2. As long as it doesn't go back on previous promises. In other words if someone says, "only 1,000 to be printed; never to be printed again!" and then more are printed. The problem here is that the devil is in the details, ESPECIALLY with the big boy companies like E most notably. Unfortunately you have to read between the lines with them. For example you could take that statement and dissect it as "We only said the first 1,000 would never be printed again. We never said we wouldn't print 10,000 more" or something like that. "Buy in the next 24 hours, this will never be sold again" means 6 months later you get the deck for free after spending $50 on their site. Etc.

Otherwise I personally hate the player, not the game. Who's to blame for inflated prices, the seller or the buyer? I blame the buyer and say, "all the power to you if you've got the money." I will not begrudge anyone for trying to make money (assuming the aforementioned conditions are met), which is very hard to do in the playing card industry.

vasta41 wrote:My 2 cents: I have no issues with resellers selling decks for any amount of money with two exceptions:

1. As long as the decks are not sold for less than they were offered via crowd funding. To me this is a HUGE offence- it's a slap in the face to the people that pledged their hard-earned money to go out on a limb and help a creator make an idea into a reality. Those are the people that deserve a discount, not the aftermarket.

As of this morning, there are 111 Gold Standards available at the $30 price point. I do feel like the bespoke set is less special as the only rare component is now the box.

Considering what folks paid for the bespoke set and the current price for the gold deck, it would mean the empty box value is around $200.

Considering what folks paid for the bespoke set and the current price for the gold deck, it would mean the empty box value is around $200.

You just had to do the math for me didn't you...dang it. Ouch! Ouch! I feel like I am walking on hot sand right now.

I hate neither player nor game. It's just that I make use of my ballots (dollars) and encourage folks to do as well. Think twice what you tolerate, because it teaches others how to treat you.
If people are cool with paying $30 for a $15 deck, I'm cool with them spending their money on it .

BaconWise wrote: I do feel like the bespoke set is less special as the only rare component is now the box.

Well said Baconwise. That's the point I am not so eloquently trying to make. I am a deck collector not a box collector. But it IS beautiful. Maybe would be nicer in copper with a nice greenish patina. But I digress, THATS what gets me annoyed. Now the only real thing of rarity is the deck. Also, I believe that they were going to release new decks at some point in the future, so I can actually fill the box as it was intended. I just don't know when.

On another note though, I did have a question about something I asked on Dan and Dave's website, and Dan got right back to me with the answer I needed, so props to them for that.

The Buck twins have a long history of pulling junk like this. They claimed the S&M v.6 deck was sold out, and then 6 months later they magically found about a hundred more bricks in their "attic". They promised they would never reprint any of their Smoke and Mirrors variants during the series run, but then they went ahead and reprinted 10,000 copies for their S&M boxed set once the series "ended". And of course they promised in their Kickstarter for the Cardistry Con 2016 deck that it would be limited and only available through the Kickstarter campaign, and a few months later they were being sold on their Art of Play site. They've cleaned up their act in recent years, but I see their back to their old ways again.

Btw, does anyone know as to when the next standards deck is expected to be released? I thought it was going to happen at the end of April but am guessing that with everything that has been happening, this has been delayed.

Magic Tapp wrote:Btw, does anyone know as to when the next standards deck is expected to be released? I thought it was going to happen at the end of April but am guessing that with everything that has been happening, this has been delayed.

Both AoP and Kevin Cantrell have confirmed the project is in queue with USPCC. There was a recent discussion on Instagram and they said it was planned for a late-March release, so they are hoping for summer now. Good to know there is movement on the set.

Based on their IG feed, AoP will be releasing a new Standards colour this Friday.

Some love from AoP for our fellow Brits.

if its limited to 5000, may be in with a chance......if its 500 i am screwed as working

Hey folks - the Flag Edition is live and as of 9:23 AM, still available. No idea what the print run is, so they may last a long time or be gone by the time I type this. Have a good one!

Well those look lovely. Now I have 2 more spots to fill in my box.

james001a wrote: ↑Fri Aug 14, 2020 6:58 pm Well those look lovely. Now I have 2 more spots to fill in my box.

Actually, it is deck number of four only, they are still releasing two more decks

These are available at other retailers for the same price and a lower shipping cost.
I bought just one deck this morning from AoP and shipping was $6.25 . Found out about the other retailers after it was too late.