Damascus by Emilysleights52 and Xavior Spade [March 17 2025]

[Evilgamer]

Im a huge fan of Damascus but I dont see any sign of metallic inks in the renders/face pictures except the jokers.
(the narrative says its there but its not showing)

also as mentioned not a huge fan of buying a standard deck to get the glided deck I want.

For now a likely pass.

[JazzBaloo]

I think the full bleed back design is great. The gilding colors go really well with the decks. Idk about the flat silver ish color change of the courts. Minimalist decks are what she typically producers and there is the collectors market for those. Prices need to reflect that for me. Imo 10$ for standard and maybe around 15$ for gilded. I understand that can be an unrealistic view to some but luckily it's just my opinion. I also understand that it is difficult for smaller producers to get good deals on printing and logistics. More investment gets you better service. The campaign is rolling slowly so far. I think it is due to a combination in lack of tier options, not enough put into the campaign page, minimalistic decks which mostly entice one kind of collector and prices for said minimalist decks. Overall marketing, state of the economy and shipping prices perhaps having an effect as well, idk. The fan base for Sleights decks appears to be very niche and somehow needs broader appeal. With this being a deck that involves both of them, I would expect more customers but there is still 11 days left for it to gain traction. I would immediately create more pledge options, starting with the ones asked for by customers.

[Honeybee]

Im a huge fan of Damascus but I dont see any sign of metallic inks in the renders/face pictures except the jokers.
(the narrative says its there but its not showing)

also as mentioned not a huge fan of buying a standard deck to get the glided deck I want.

For now a likely pass.

I generally find metallic inks disappointing anyway - it is like the poor man's foil

[Evilgamer]

Im a huge fan of Damascus but I dont see any sign of metallic inks in the renders/face pictures except the jokers.
(the narrative says its there but its not showing)

also as mentioned not a huge fan of buying a standard deck to get the glided deck I want.

For now a likely pass.

I generally find metallic inks disappointing anyway - it is like the poor man's foil

it really is, but its better than no metallic element.

[JazzBaloo]

It would be a game changer for me if other printers could rise to the level of uspcc metallic inks.

[JazzBaloo]

The color gradients create a vertical line down the center of card back. I hope the render isn't accurate but if it is then I would want that to be changed.

[kevork]

The color gradients create a vertical line down the center of card back. I hope the render isn't accurate but if it is then I would want that to be changed.

Despite not being a backer of this deck, I did find that design choice to be quite jarring.

[Honeybee]

I generally find metallic inks disappointing anyway - it is like the poor man's foil

it really is, but its better than no metallic element.

We will have to disagree on that - I generally find plain ink better than most metallic

[laitostarr777]

Wait.... metallic ink.... darn... I missed the fine print...
Too late, already pre-ordered it since Emily reached out for those who tried to back and fail

[Leachy19]

Nothing against Emily but her designs are so blah to me. Pretty much every deck of hers has standard bike courts. I guess I’m not her target audience.

[kevork]

It's by design and Emily herself has stated she doesn't add a lot of bling to decks to keep the decks affordable. She continues to get her projects funded and definitely has a following. Plus she goes to a lot of the card and magic conventions and networks too, which helps. She seems like a class act.

She also hits on cool aspects of mental health so my therapist side appreciates that. As a card collector into very custom works, hoever, the cards are not my cup of tea either.

[JazzBaloo]

It's by design and Emily herself has stated she doesn't add a lot of bling to decks to keep the decks affordable. She continues to get her projects funded and definitely has a following. Plus she goes to a lot of the card and magic conventions and networks too, which helps. She seems like a class act.

She also hits on cool aspects of mental health so my therapist side appreciates that. As a card collector into very custom works, hoever, the cards are not my cup of tea either.

bling and custom/standard are 2 different things. What are the cool aspects of mental health that she has hit on? What is helped by her attending card and magic conventions? Is she satisfied with 70 customers? I would like her decks to be more successful. What is she missing to make her projects more desirable?

[JazzBaloo]

Nothing against Emily but her designs are so blah to me. Pretty much every deck of hers has standard bike courts. I guess I’m not her target audience.

It seems a lot of collectors aren't her target audience.

[Evilgamer]

I generally find metallic inks disappointing anyway - it is like the poor man's foil

it really is, but its better than no metallic element.

We will have to disagree on that - I generally find plain ink better than most metallic

We will, and thats fine, not everyone has to like what I do. Even with a very very very good non metallic details deck like S17 I still miss the foil.
(though I have both EOTO sheets framed)

[Adamthinks]

I generally find metallic inks disappointing anyway - it is like the poor man's foil

it really is, but its better than no metallic element.

We will have to disagree on that - I generally find plain ink better than most metallic

We will, and thats fine, not everyone has to like what I do. Even with a very very very good non metallic details deck like S17 I still miss the foil.
(though I have both EOTO sheets framed)

There were a few TWI decks that made extraordinary use of metallic ink that I don't think foil would have improved. Like the Odissea decks. Those were done by USPCC. I don't know what sort of metallic ink they have access to, but it's better by far than any other I've seen. Their 2500 decks minimums likely mean well never see those used again. Though even before that minimum it was rare to see someone use USPCC for metallic ink for some reason.

[JazzBaloo]

OPC has provided some nice decks with metallic inks. Good decks for ec because of the standard ish courts and cheap price. I picked up the Scoops deck and a couple others for like 9$ each and was amazed at how shiny the metallics are. At the right angle it could almost pass for foil.

[kevork]

What are the cool aspects of mental health that she has hit on?

Emily has been transparent publicly about her own mental health struggles and her decks tend to have some underlying psychological element.

• 988 Lifeline: In honor of September being National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, I created a deck of cards promoting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
• Forget Me Not: In honor of September being National Suicide Prevention Month, Forget Me Not Playing Cards will bring awareness to suicide prevention and the National Suicide Hotline/Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
• Breakthrough: This deck represents that even through tough times, there is growth. Something positive can always be taken out of a negative situation. "Growth comes in times of darkness."
• Chapter One, Two, Three: When I came up with the idea for the Chapter decks, the concept of "writing your own story" came into my mind. I really liked the symbolism that everybody is the author of their own life and I wanted to incorporate that into an elegant, minimalistic deck of cards geared toward magicians.
• Reflections: The names of the decks, "Epiphany," "Ponder," "Discovery," and "Wonder" are supposed to be a different perspective on the word "Reflections". When people see these decks' cards and tucks, they are going to see literal reflections while the names of the decks are more about one's internal self-reflections....Deep, I guess, right?

What is helped by her attending card and magic conventions?

Networking, brand exposure, selling decks in person.

Is she satisfied with 70 customers?

Maybe, maybe not, but she wouldn't have made 20+ decks if she didn't enjoy doing this to some degree. I imagine she gets a lot of fulfillment from getting a project funded. Hopefully she feels content with all that she has accomplished.

I would like her decks to be more successful. What is she missing to make her projects more desirable?

No clue. I'm definitely not her target clientele but I do own her Nebula deck, Chapter 1-3, and 988 Lifeline. I bought all of those from her website, not KS.

[KGthePrince]

I have a lot of respect for anyone capable of producing a deck of cards, and Emily has produced quite a few.

That being said, I think I'm finally able to put my finger on why her decks don't connect with me. As Kev alluded to, she has been open with her mental health struggles, and some of her decks are centered around those themes. However, if you showed me those decks with no context, I would assume it was just a standard, minimalist deck with standard/semi-standard recolored courts. When it comes to the themes of mental health, she seems to use a tell, not show approach, and I wish the imagery in the art did more of the talking than the exposition around it. I understand she wants decks for everyday use, but why not work with an artist who can help flesh out some of these deeper concepts?

As someone who's worked through their fair share of demons and mental health issues, I wish I connected to her work more. But more often than not, I am left wanting more.