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Congrats Lotrek ! Simply one of my favourite decks in recent/of all time. Production time !!!

So looking forward to these. I'm so glad I managed to get the signature editions.
Any chance the next deck will be Toulouse-Lautrec inspired? Because that would be so awesome.

Eoghann wrote:So excited to get these decks to finally see the Assassin Queen revealed! And I can't wait to see what you have in kind for the gaffs. I'm guessing a double backer with both colors is one?

One of the extra cards will be a double backer. I'll see if I can do the thing with both colors. Thanks for the idea!

@All: It's great that you liked the campaign as well, I always try to make it a bit more interesting. It's not always easy.

Now it's production time, I'll go through all the cards to fix little flaws here and there. I'm really very excited myself to see the finished product. My goal is to have these delivered to you the soonest possible. I'll send the artwork to EPCC in about a week the clock will start running. The main problem is the incredibly slow (and expensive) shipment from Taiwan to USA.

Good news from the Venexiana Dark front: I got the revised proofs, approved them (100% happy) and now they're going to the press. No official confirmation from EPCC regarding when but it should be soon, as they worked surprisingly fast with the resubmitted artwork. To be fair with them, the delay is partly caused by the total change of the artwork, as the background colors were way too dark when printed.

Epic delay for sure, but the deck will be printed only once. It should be done properly, I think.

Great news.

Lotrek wrote:Epic delay for sure, but the deck will be printed only once. It should be done properly, I think.

Why do more people not think like this.... This comment is one to be commended for sure.

I think in general people won't mind delays so long as there's good reasons for it and good communication - Lotrek certainly never lets us down on either!

montecarlojoe wrote:I think in general people won't mind delays so long as there's good reasons for it and good communication - Lotrek certainly never lets us down on either!

+ 1

+1 from me as well. I never mind delays from proven designers because they update us and always come through.

Forgot all about these! Can't wait for these and Icons.

no negativity intended here...but it has been so long that I don't even remember if I pre-ordered the decks or not!

You didn't. Start panicking.

The decks are printed and are expected to be in the port of Taiwan tomorrow! (5/12)

Lotrek wrote:The decks are printed and are expected to be in the port of Taiwan tomorrow! (5/12)

Say wha! Ahhhh yeah!!!

Woopeeeee !!
Great news Lotrek, you'll be happy with that .... !

Excited is an understatement. Highly anticipated deck!

Sorry guys, Wrong alert...

It seems it will take 3-4 days more, according to EPCC...

Lotrek wrote:Sorry guys, Wrong alert...

It seems it will take 3-4 days more, according to EPCC...

You have to count on what they tell you, no way around that. When they are really any, I am sure they will be headed our way!

Wait for decks sucks a lot

However I think Venexiana should turn incredible, it's one of the deck I'm waiting more.

Yes, Queen of Hearts is a reason.

I'm anticipating Icons more than these but it doesn't matter which ones come first.

It's pretty certain that ICONS will be shipped first.

Just about time...

Great news!!
So when I will get the "Not for Sale" unnumbered Venexiana Dark signature deck that I won in the UnitedCardists Deck of the Year 2014 Awards!! No rush though

sms69x wrote:Great news!!
So when I will get the "Not for Sale" unnumbered Venexiana Dark signature deck that I won in the UnitedCardists Deck of the Year 2014 Awards!! No rush though

The decks have to get to the port in the states, then to Lake Michigan Mailers in Kalamazoo and they ship the decks he needs to make that and the Signature Editions to Greece.

This is great news, but it will take a month at least before he can ship those back to us waiting with baited breath. I think this likely qualifies as the most delayed deck - entirely by the manufacturer - at least as far as I know. The campaign was in October, ended 4-November.. Even if they make it to LMM mid-June, that's more than seven months. I bet Lotrek is happy to see them move!

It all goes back to managing expectations. He has kept us deep inside the loop, instead of either making excuses or keeping us in the dark like some decks have. I think everyone agrees that we would much rather have a great product late then a dodgy product on time. He has gone out of his way to be totally transparent, and my observation is that there is not one thing he could do. Just shows how helpless we are and how beholden we have all become to the deck makers.

Mike Ratledge wrote:

sms69x wrote:Great news!!
So when I will get the "Not for Sale" unnumbered Venexiana Dark signature deck that I won in the UnitedCardists Deck of the Year 2014 Awards!! No rush though

The decks have to get to the port in the states, then to Lake Michigan Mailers in Kalamazoo and they ship the decks he needs to make that and the Signature Editions to Greece.

This is great news, but it will take a month at least before he can ship those back to us waiting with baited breath. I think this likely qualifies as the most delayed deck - entirely by the manufacturer - at least as far as I know. The campaign was in October, ended 4-November.. Even if they make it to LMM mid-June, that's more than seven months. I bet Lotrek is happy to see them move!

It all goes back to managing expectations. He has kept us deep inside the loop, instead of either making excuses or keeping us in the dark like some decks have. I think everyone agrees that we would much rather have a great product late then a dodgy product on time. He has gone out of his way to be totally transparent, and my observation is that there is not one thing he could do. Just shows how helpless we are and how beholden we have all become to the deck makers.

Just to be 100% fair: The delay was partly caused by the fact that I completely changed the artwork after I got the first proofs. Of course I hoped that the factory would move faster instead of seeing the color corrections as an entirely new deck.
Anyway, it's definitely the most delayed deck ever without being a scam!

I got my Venexiana Dark decks in today. The curious thing is that when I opened up a Masked edition deck (silver), it had the Revealed cards with the burgundy backs and unmasked courts. So I opened up one of my Revealed editions (gold) and sure enough, it had the Masked cards with the green backs and masked courts. Did anyone else get decks that had their cards switched up in the tucks? I don't feel like opening up all my other sealed decks just to check. I just swapped the cards so they are now in their proper respective tucks.

In case it matters, the Masked edition was numbered 0113/1999 and the Revealed edition was numbered 1184/1999.

As for the decks themselves, I think they turned out great. I love the masked/revealed aspect of the courts and the stories they tell. I really love the tuck material used by these decks. They're the same super thick, black stock material used in the Zenith, Zen, Luxx, and Heretic Noctis decks. My only quibble with the tuck is that I wish it was embossed a bit more, especially on the front where it says 'Venexiana Dark', you can barely make out the words. All in all a great addition to the collection and excellent work by Lotrek, as always.

I didnt even know these were shipping.. looking forward to getting them

sinjin7 wrote:I got my Venexiana Dark decks in today. The curious thing is that when I opened up a Masked edition deck (silver), it had the Revealed cards with the burgundy backs and unmasked courts. So I opened up one of my Revealed editions (gold) and sure enough, it had the Masked cards with the green backs and masked courts. Did anyone else get decks that had their cards switched up in the tucks? I don't feel like opening up all my other sealed decks just to check. I just swapped the cards so they are now in their proper respective tucks.

In case it matters, the Masked edition was numbered 0113/1999 and the Revealed edition was numbered 1184/1999.

As for the decks themselves, I think they turned out great. I love the masked/revealed aspect of the courts and the stories they tell. I really love the tuck material used by these decks. They're the same super thick, black stock material used in the Zenith, Zen, Luxx, and Heretic Noctis decks. My only quibble with the tuck is that I wish it was embossed a bit more, especially on the front where it says 'Venexiana Dark', you can barely make out the words. All in all a great addition to the collection and excellent work by Lotrek, as always.

A friend of mine received his decks as well, and he told me that the tucks are switched as well. He didn't want to open his other decks to confirm, either, but it seems like they might all be switched. His was #28/1999

sinjin7 wrote:. Did anyone else get decks that had their cards switched up in the tucks? I don't feel like opening up all my other sealed decks just to check. I just swapped the cards so they are now in their proper respective tucks.

Yup, same here. The tucks were swapped for some reason.

Other than that they're amazing! I was eagerly awaiting these and they did not disappoint!