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kevork wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 2:59 pm

zlexander wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 1:27 pm

Bradius wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 7:00 am I am surprised it went for that low a price.

Ebay showing past sold prices as 150,250,327 USD so I think it went for much higer. Not many people are into redemption series compared to other Lotrek stuff.

$150 was not a completed sale as the buyer was using a third party shipper so the seller cancelled it. Sucks that eBay still shows these types of listings. The seller then put it for an auction and for some reason decided to put a $250 buy it now and it sold pretty quickly after that. Someone basically got it for a steal at that price seeing that an authentic auction could go for double that.

$327 usd? The other one was 299£ which is approximately $380 USD. I bought that one for a friend. That sale was also refunded and dealt with privately which again is odd that eBay keeps it up.

There's a few friends who have asked me to keep a look out. In summary, we now see 3 have exchanged hands publicly. There are potentially two more that might switch hands in the near future. It's interesting that someone would be in a higher tier and wanting to sell their deck.

Oh yeah 380$, my bad.

Qalif arrived , I opened one to check and there are no damages . Its really beautiful , definitely in my top 3

I'm waiting for Mystery III getting shipped to get Qalif

My Qalif came today.

overall not a lot of scratches (which oddly Lotrek said arent scratches) but still there are a couple
one thing I haven't seen brought up here is that there is two different stock being used.

Man, what he did with the edge colors really just doesn't look good. Baffled by that choice.

Evilgamer wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 1:08 pm
one thing I haven't seen brought up here is that there is two different stock being used.

IMG_7907.jpeg

I believe the 2 stocks got mistaken as an error , you can see in previous posts and in the comments of the FB post .Kevork did clear the confusion so thanks to him for that !

Hi all, here again after a looooooong time... Sorry I've been silent but managing Patreon, forums, IG, designing and printing is too much for me.
However, sometimes it's easier to drop a comment here and there than posting a whole update (which I will do very soon).

So, with the reactions to QALIF ranging from "Masterpiece" to "scam", it's time to explain a couple of things.

Regarding the "scratches": This actually is the foil sheet that is irregularly "folding" in places during stamping. This is an effect that happens whenever in the artwork there are solid foil areas ( the full bleed frames in our case) combined with highly detailed artwork. This is what they told me in the workshop. It was happening from the beginning of the printing and no matter what combination of speed, pressure and temperature we tried, it persisted. It has nothing to do with poor quality control or anything like this. It was in front of our eyes from the first sheet! Sometimes it seemed that we found a solution and we had 40-50 sheets without problems in a row but then, it would appear again. At a point, I believed that there is nothing we can do and just continued printing.
Actually, these "scratches" are present in other decks too, but you cannot easily spot them because they're lost in the details.

Long story short, as I don't accept the idea that "nothing can be done" I continued to try different tricks and I eventually made a device that we used to eliminate these scratches and it seems it worked! I say "it seems" because unfortunately, I tried that towards the end of the printing. We run about 100 -150 sheets without any scratches but these were the last part of the printing. So, I'm not sure whether this effect would appear again or not if we had say, another 300 sheets to print.

It's a pity to see this deck (which I believe is one of my top 3 if not the top) being obscured by those scratches. I'm actually pissed off. Not by the reactions of course, but by the fact that those stupid scratches seem(ed) unavoidable. I am about to do a big printing test (with my device) next week. Hopefully, the result will be what I expect it to be.

Regarding the edges: This was completely intentional. It was inspired by a deck I bought a few years ago in 52 plus Joker Convention. The deck had gilded edges but in two different shades of gold. I thought it was very cool to have that effect and in order to achieve it, I used two different color stocks. This made the printing much more complicated. Despite I like it very much, I see some people think it's weird or even a missprint.
Now, this is something I cannot do anything about (apart from not repeating it).

Thanks Lotrek, appreciate the thoughtful post. I think anyone who knows you, knows that you are an incredibly thoughtful person - so to call you a scammer is absolutely ridiculous and uncalled for. I think those of us who received our decks can attest that this deck is a masterpiece and likely one of your finest to date which is saying something. I know some people (myself included) aren’t a huge fan of the different edge colours but I totally respect you for continuing to try new things which is awesome. Anyway, just wanted to tell you that Qalif is beautiful and I can’t wait to see what the official Mystery III deck looks like. My only wish is that you consider foiling the faces in the final release - it would just make it that much grander! Cheers

Lotrek wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 1:52 pm Hi all, here again after a looooooong time...

Received my decks today, and they look absolutely amazing! Luckily, the deck that I opened does not have any major "scratches," and there are maybe one or two which really do not bother me. Courts look much better than on Mystery Crafts, and foiling is so beautiful!

I received my Qalif couple weeks ago.

I have to say that the craftsmanship is second to none. What Lotrek is able to archieve with just the foil is something special...
Regarding the "scratches" I've noticed those on a couple of other Lotrek's decks, so, I didn't care that much about them, very few of my Qalif cards presented said "scratches".
For the dual edges color, I have to say: I LOVE THOSE... More so, now that I know 2 different stocks were used to achieve the effect (I would prefer that the white one were the purple one from the Silk Rule, but still...). This deck is a piece of art, no one will use it in a game play, so the edge could be what ever the master wanted.
Two things that are worth to mention is the feell of the stock, which is very nice, a bit thick but not I would expect for a full foiled deck and the FANTASTIC handling, cardistry is doable with this deck, fans come out naturaly, spreads like butter...

All in all a showstopper by the master himself. I wouldn't say that Lotrek outdid himself (those courts are a bit underwhelming), but for sure he put out a massive effort that others playing cards designers/producers could only dream of.

I had thought Lotrek had done edge printing and hadn't realized it was two different stocks until the discussions recently. I opened two of my decks that arrived today and had seen a fellow collector do this with their decks so I tried to see if I could emulate it. Turns out I got lucky with the two I opened having a perfect alternating assortment to create this arrangement. I still find the use of two different stocks to be quite a clever attempt at something different nonetheless. This deck is stunning! I'll need to open it a bunch of times and admire it in the near future

they do look kind of plain when you put all the same color in the same deck....

I think might have worked better in a different color but certainly not sure which.

Evilgamer wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 9:31 pm they do look kind of plain when you put all the same color in the same deck....

I think might have worked better in a different color but certainly not sure which.

Hard to please everyone!

I was comparing the Craft version with the final version. I appreciate how much brighter that he made the inks. I know it is tough doing that with a dark color stock and all the other stuff going on. I really like the improvements. The one deck I received had no foil folding lines as noted previously. I have seen it on some other decks, but not this one. I do think the final version was an improvement over the craft version. That said, I really liked the craft deck, especially for the price.

They're too ornate for me because of the borders.
It is like a painting, I want the frame to compliment the artwork not distract me from it (I have been known to have a painting reframed)
It is for this reason I like less ornate decks by Lotrek such as Golden Rule
It doesn't hurt that they were ¼ of the price
(Is that kevork on the end )

Hahahah, that’s Kevork using The Golden Rule’s KoH as a profile picture

And thank you for sharing my photo~ appreciated!

Getting a free gift and then $500 is pretty great. Lol. I kept mine VIV Redemption deck.

My opened Qualif deck had no defects from what I've seen. Even though the pips are more visible than the Craft deck, I would just use it for single player games than with playing with others. I don't mind the sides.

There's so much more f*ckery on Ebay, more on the buyer's side it seems to me. Any tips as a seller to not get scammed, if people do charge backs but want to keep your deck, they'll send you back a messed up deck of the one you sold them, etc?

If you have valuable decks to sell to prevent getting screwed from a buyer, it best to just sell them on auction with So Cal Playing Cards and 52 Plus Joker?

I take major issue with what Lotrek said here and I'm a bit surprised no one else is. When these issues with Qalif were reported my assumption was that this might be news to him amd he would need to investigate, hence the delay in saying anything. But no, he's said here that he knew all along, as each deck was being printed and decided to keep printing anyway. Moreover, he decided to not tell anyone. To keep hyping the deck, and even worse, to keep suggesting that people buy more. While still not telling anyone. It seems like he's now perhaps fixed the issue for the later printed decks, but the majority of the decks will have shipped with the issues. And only luck will allow a good deck to arrive to us. Stuff happens beyond our control and often without our knowledge and that's not a big deal. But this isn't the first time he's knowingly shipped a deck with issues without telling anyone this past year. It's becoming a pattern amd that's really not OK. It's very dishonest. And frankly considering the money people have spent, it's pretty F'd up.

I have opted for my Qalif deck to be delivered together with Mystery III proper. But seeing it here I'm starting to regret the decision a tiny bit. Honestly, it really looks great and very vibrant. Regarding the "scratches" I'll have to wait and see but I'll reserve judgement for now. The dual color edges are a fun and interesting twist though in my opinion. Adds even more character. I like it a lot from what I've seen now. My only complaint would be the lack of openness regarding the issue with the "scratches". It probably would have been better to inform everyone beforehand (and then maybe reduce the price for additional decks slightly).

I kinda like the two different stocks but only when they're in this new deck order. The different colors are nice I think. But once the deck is shuffled, I imagine it would look pretty ugly with different amounts of different card stocks in different places.

If you haven’t done so already, it would be great to have everyone join the discord (Lotrek has already joined)

https://discord.gg/6FxdMWYE

Dplay wrote: ↑Sat Mar 01, 2025 9:59 am My only complaint would be the lack of openness regarding the issue with the "scratches". It probably would have been better to inform everyone beforehand (and then maybe reduce the price for additional decks slightly).

Well, maybe it's my perception of things but I tend to consider as flaws only the things that I could had done differently. In that case I just accepted that it is what it is and the lines didn't bother me at all. There are so many things that bother me in every deck I produce (and people never notice) that if I was reducing the price for each one, I would end up paying you to get the decks!

kevork wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 9:42 pm

Evilgamer wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 9:31 pm they do look kind of plain when you put all the same color in the same deck....

I think might have worked better in a different color but certainly not sure which.

Hard to please everyone!

The word you are looking for is impossible methinks.

Lotrek wrote: ↑Sat Mar 01, 2025 12:58 pm

Dplay wrote: ↑Sat Mar 01, 2025 9:59 am My only complaint would be the lack of openness regarding the issue with the "scratches". It probably would have been better to inform everyone beforehand (and then maybe reduce the price for additional decks slightly).

Well, maybe it's my perception of things but I tend to consider as flaws only the things that I could had done differently. In that case I just accepted that it is what it is and the lines didn't bother me at all. There are so many things that bother me in every deck I produce (and people never notice) that if I was reducing the price for each one, I would end up paying you to get the decks!

Come on man. You just got done saying it was such an issue that you were pissed off. You're talking out of both sides of your mouth now.

Adamthinks wrote: ↑Sat Mar 01, 2025 3:24 pm
Come on man. You just got done saying it was such an issue that you were pissed off. You're talking out of both sides of your mouth now.

I am pissed off by the fact that this is something I (seemingly) have to live with and I cannot avoid. Just like I'm pissed off by anything I seem I cannot improve or change. It doesn't have to be a big thing. Most production issues I notice and I work to fix, usually go completely unnoticed by everyone.

I don't think the scratches is an important issue though, and I'm actually surprised that it's brought up (the way it is brought up) by some people. It's very possible that I won't be able to solve that problem. I don't know. I'll see next week.
By the word "obscured" I was referring to the reception of the deck. As I read again my statement, I understand that this wasn't quite clear... I also said that I consider this deck to be one of my top 3 if not the top. As it is, even with the scratches.

Lotrek wrote: ↑Sat Mar 01, 2025 4:03 pm

Adamthinks wrote: ↑Sat Mar 01, 2025 3:24 pm
Come on man. You just got done saying it was such an issue that you were pissed off. You're talking out of both sides of your mouth now.

I am pissed off by the fact that this is something I (seemingly) have to live with and I cannot avoid. Just like I'm pissed off by anything I seem I cannot improve or change. It doesn't have to be a big thing. Most production issues I notice and I work to fix, usually go completely unnoticed by everyone.

[...]

When you say you are pissed off by something you “cannot improve or change" I assume you mean the design/colour etc., whereas this issue seems to most to be a fault with the deck. Indeed, an issue that affects some decks but not others will almost always be seen as a fault.

laitostarr777 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 01, 2025 7:26 am Hahahah, that’s Kevork using The Golden Rule’s KoH as a profile picture

And thank you for sharing my photo~ appreciated!

I hope you didn't mind but I could not be bothered getting mine out and photographing them, I thought of giving you a credit - I will in future

Timmargh wrote: ↑Sat Mar 01, 2025 4:43 pm
When you say you are pissed off by something you “cannot improve or change" I assume you mean the design/colour etc., whereas this issue seems to most to be a fault with the deck. Indeed, an issue that affects some decks but not others will almost always be seen as a fault.

Not at all. I mean production issues. You cannot imagine how many problems appear that need to be solved. Foil printing has nothing to do with offset printing. What is frustrating is when you don't know what causes a problem or even worse, when you know what it is but in order to fix that, you create another. Happens all the time.

I agree that an issue that affects some decks but not others will almost always be seen as a fault. In that case, the faulty decks are those without scratches...

Lotrek wrote: ↑Sun Mar 02, 2025 12:06 pm I agree that an issue that affects some decks but not others will almost always be seen as a fault. In that case, the faulty decks are those without scratches...

Is Lotrek moving from card sales to car sales?

Honeybee wrote: ↑Sun Mar 02, 2025 2:50 pm

Lotrek wrote: ↑Sun Mar 02, 2025 12:06 pm I agree that an issue that affects some decks but not others will almost always be seen as a fault. In that case, the faulty decks are those without scratches...

Is Lotrek moving from card sales to car sales?

Some mental gymnastics are needed in marketing. It's not always easy to convince people that a deck of cards is worth in the hundreds of dollars.