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I'm pretty sure it's an ad card since I doubt they would have "Playing Cards designed by Theory11" on the back design.

New Ace posted.

Hmmmm.

It's obvious that some effort went into that ace, but it's just not screaming "contraband!" to me. More like, "A person who owns horses belongs here!" Are horses contraband?

I'm more than intrigued now. The differences between the Ace of Clubs font and the Ace of Hearts font is pretty strange. I like that the AoH font is still easily read even though it appears to be composed of lattice work. It does make me think of a certain tower in France too. With the way the card is sitting on the AoH photo it's easier to see some of the happenings there and it appears loaded with symbology and metaphors. It looks like there's an apple there on the left, in the center it looks like a serpents head noming on a heart that's dripping blood into a cup at the bottom. A couple muppets at what looks like maybe a feasting or sorting table. The heart itself looks like it's lined in flowers. Maybe it's a shrubbery? Has Theory 11 found a way to give the masses what they want? Bring me a shrubbery! Thus they deliver to unto us all, a Shrubbery!

I like it, I like it a lot. Big fan of shrubbery.

edit: in the time it took me to write this I was beaten by Fes.

rousselle wrote:Hmmmm.

It's obvious that some effort went into that ace, but it's just not screaming "contraband!" to me. More like, "A person who owns horses belongs here!" Are horses contraband?

There's a lot going on in the ace.
At the back there are some large iron gates with birds flying above it and a crown.
Then in looks like there's a face attached to the gates.
Then it looks like the top half of the big outer heart is trailing roses (with the bottom having no roses).
Inside that are some tangled vines with a peach?/apple? and a gold ball thingie.
In front of those is a snake biting into a smaller heart.
The snake turns into the ribbon with the hearts on it.
At the bottom is a table with some wares on it, being guarded by naked girls with a sash and spear.
At the very bottom is a glass of wine or port and an upside down rising sun (or spilled chopsticks).


Not really sure how any of it relates to contraband.

I like big embellished Aces. I think all aces should be big and bold. Why not, you have the room. The AoS has a long history of big over the top spades, but they alway managed to keep the form for the spade. Here in this picture you can barely ascertain the heart. To me, it's more of a image than a heart.

sprouts1115 wrote: Here in this picture you can barely ascertain the heart. To me, it's more of a image than a heart.

Yeah, other than that heart in the middle, and the larger one made of all the symbols along with all the little hearts in the details, it's next to impossible to tel, that it's a heart... I'm stone cold sober and can easily see at a glance it's a heart. Or even many hearts.

Sorry. I've got to agree with Sprouts on this one. I, too, love embellished Aces but, this one doesn't work for me. Just like people said they could only see boobs on the KS Perspective deck I see a bizarre face here. It just doesn't read as a heart at first glance. I think the worst part for me is the banners with the small hearts. If they weren't there I would like it much better.

DragonSoul wrote:Sorry. I've got to agree with Sprouts on this one. I, too, love embellished Aces but, this one doesn't work for me. Just like people said they could only see boobs on the KS Perspective deck I see a bizarre face here. It just doesn't read as a heart at first glance. I think the worst part for me is the banners with the small hearts. If they weren't there I would like it much better.

Me too. Hopefully the rest will make up for it, but if not I'll be disappointed, but I've been spending too much anyhow.

I'm glad I'm not the only one! It's that annoying "now that I see it, I can't unsee it" thing.

I think if the Hearts ribbon was removed, it'd look a lot more like a heart. I am glad, as well, to see more elaborate aces.

DragonSoul wrote: I see a bizarre face here.

Darn it. Now I see the face too...or an upside down orchid tuber.

Sorry, Aussie!

Sure sure, next you'll be telling me the theory 11 logo is actually really a Z, or two lightsabers, or the back of a el-cheapo ring.

Apparently this Friday, the 13th, is the release date. No word on a specific time or anything.

Cbkimble wrote:I think if the Hearts ribbon was removed, it'd look a lot more like a heart. I am glad, as well, to see more elaborate aces.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A19q7rysLs#t=24[/youtube]

I see where you are going, but Naw! They just need to make the ribbon come to a point and make the bottom of the heart. I like theme of putting a crown on the suit and telling a little story. He just needs the story to be at least 51% red for the AoH. His AoC is good.

I'm starting to think all aces should be big, bad ass, embellished aces that tell a little story. Usually, only the AoS tells a little story.

Excited!

I think the future is fully custom aces.

Is that a die cut tuck box I see?

sinjin7 wrote:Is that a die cut tuck box I see?

It looks like to cut out, but there would be pieces that aren't supported if it were. The interiors of some of the letters such as A and D in MADE then there's the little triangular piece under the r and a in Contraband that would be unsupported because of intersections of the swoop and the underline. May just be foiling that looks the same as the plate. But IDK, I'm not a professional nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

I just hope the rest of the cards look even half as good as these aces.

I love every single thing posted about this deck so far. The only that is falling short in my eyes (at no fault to T11) is the lack of 5 other decks in a cool rustic wooden box, a la E's Prohibition. It's got that same old-world USA type of feel to it and I really dig it.

I still don't get this. The tucks look really neat, but the Aces are just weird. Most importantly I don't see any 'contraband' connection and no court card images, etc. They need to do a better job of marketing this, unless it's just a standard court deck with some flair on aces and a fancy deck, meh.

Here's the final tuck.

I like it a lot. Possibly I like it more than a lot. I think this is going to hurt my wallet.

Here's hoping for custom pips and courts...!

The theme seems to be all over the place. Now there's a square and compass on the tuck. Wonder what that's about. Freemasonry, Pirates/Nautical...hope it will coalesce into a pretty great theme.

Spectacular tuck case, as per usual from T11. It wouldn't surprise me if there is nothing about the deck that relates it to contraband, I think T11 just randomly picks the name for their decks sometimes. When the Rebel deck came out, there was nothing about it to suggest anything rebellious. In fact, the back design has what appears to be a picture of Capitol Hill, and I don't know of many things that are more mainstream that a picture of a governmental building. . .

I also think the Aces are just strange. Way too much fluff around the pips, they're only a large splash of gold color away from looking like an Elite creation IMO. Tuck looks amazing, of course, but I too have my suspicions regarding the courts and theme cohesion...

Latest pic from Theory11 as posted on Instagram. The card looks completely different than what I thought originally.