UnitedCardists.com - The forum for Cardistry, Magic, Custom Decks and All Things Playing Cards.

Fes wrote:Was just checking in on this campaign and I noticed 1 S1 EB Warrior + deck pledge available. If anyone was looking for one, thought I'd mention it.

leemckenzie wrote:Hey guys!

There's only a few hours to go on the Kickstarter! Such a great feeling to know that people like your work that much. Completely humbling. Thanks for adding to the conversation here!

Been reading a lot of your comments about the Bloodlines, thanks for letting it all out.

Just to reference a few peoples comments about the $20 Limited Edition ($18.50 USD)...Did anyone catch Pauls/Encardeds beautiful Zenith release? Or Kings Wild Sherlocks/Fed52/? Or any good looking limited edition these days?

$20 AUD for a Limited deck is the among the cheaper end of the scales if you look around at some of the more higher end art out there among us. Of course price is always subjective and relevant to many many personal factors. Also, thats $20 in Australian, so that equals $18.50 USD.

Pricing is a delicate matter and not one I take lightly. I'm not greedy. I work hard doing what I love. If people knew how much was in my bank account for the last 6 months, you'd see how far I'm willing to go to try and do what I love for a living lol!

As many of you have already seen, the original Empires have sold from $30 to over $80 a piece on ebay and yet they were available on the Kickstarter for around $12. Thats a big difference. I'm not saying I should sell those decks for $80 each, but when the creator of a product only makes a fraction of what the decks actually worth out there, no-one notices. And (maybe not) rightly so, as collectors we have the tendancy to see how much we can get for how little, to make our collection better. But now being on the other side of that is a little different, I've had barely anything to live on since that Kickstarter. Actually, If I were to sell the rest of the Empire decks on ebay at $30 a pop, I'd make more than I did with the entire Kickstarter, which is utter madness. People make more money selling their Empire decks than I'll ever see.

I haven't done that because I'm trying to do the right thing, laying a foundation for Kings & Crooks, a place where I can pour my passion and make a living long term. I'm not there yet, but I keep going. Charging people silly money is not the way to do that, which is why I feel the prices are completely justified. Having an average, increasing backer average pledge of $90 seems to show that the majority happily agree, which is fantastic.

Charging silly money for decks is only silly after it reaches a certain point in my view, but again thats just my personal view, distorted by many other factors like everyone else. Someone else view of silly may be $100, someone else, $300, or even $15. Publicly people see the Kickstarter funds and presume the creator now has a *hit load of cash to play with and it couldn't be further from the truth, especially if the creator is trying to lay the foundations for a future with it. Unless you reach the ranks of 150,000 and over, with not much production costs, then there may be a little more 'play' money involved.

The comment about people switching pledges around rather than upping them is true for some, but only partially true from the actual metrics. As mentioned above, the analytics show that over time, the average backer has increased their pledge from around $50 to well over $90, which is astonishing to me. An average of $90 per backer shows that even though there are a a lot of people who will shuffle their pledges to make the best value, which is completely understandable, the majority of backers have simply increased their pledges. To me that shows a real personal trust which I feel I have worked hard to earn and I'm very grateful for.

I hope I've addressed a few of the concerns or points raised here, or at least shared my point of view. And for everyone who's had nothing but positive things to say, I say thank so you very much.

Hope you guys will be watching when the project finally ends in a few hours. The pulsing vein in my deck is a clear indication that thsi isn't over, yet.

Thanks for all of your support here at UC!

Talk soon guys!

leemckenzie wrote:It's easy to just get a slice of someones point of view and run wild with misinterpretation

vasta41 wrote:Well, I did it- I broke down and got the black and gold one even though I said I wouldn't. Looking at it as an add-on in the backerit just made me realize it'll be my last opertunity to own it at this price (even though it's a high price, it'll only get higher...). And it's just too damn pretty.

jerichoholic wrote:Great, so those of us who were nice enough to get the limited decks are now going to have to wait until March to get them since they are still being produced meanwhile everyone else will be getting their decks right away, real nice.

I hope that creators will stop using 2 printers for 1 card project.

Marcus wrote:With every new add-on YOU as a backer pledge for, you are adding more risk to your particular package getting delayed. That's how it works. It's not like Lee is sitting on them and just don't ship out - he's as anxious to get these as we are. The delivery date is always an estimation and nothing more, and you have to make your own decisions about this.

volantangel wrote:

jerichoholic wrote:Great, so those of us who were nice enough to get the limited decks are now going to have to wait until March to get them since they are still being produced meanwhile everyone else will be getting their decks right away, real nice.

I hope that creators will stop using 2 printers for 1 card project.

Well, if lee went to fully epcc, we would ALL be waiting for the decks, would that make you feel better ?

jerichoholic wrote:I understand it's out of his control but if he had printed everything through one company instead of two then everyone would get stuff around the same time, instead of people waiting another month or so because of the limited decks. This isn't the only project having this problem. I'm having the same problem with the Golden Spike cards! It's frustrating to see decks for sale at different card shops and yet you haven't gotten yours.

Cbkimble wrote:

jerichoholic wrote:I understand it's out of his control but if he had printed everything through one company instead of two then everyone would get stuff around the same time, instead of people waiting another month or so because of the limited decks. This isn't the only project having this problem. I'm having the same problem with the Golden Spike cards! It's frustrating to see decks for sale at different card shops and yet you haven't gotten yours.

You remind me of my nephew playing baseball(at 7 years old). He always wanted to be the one to get the ball first when it was hit, no matter where it went, and when he didn't, he threw a tantrum and cried.

If you really want your decks that bad, NOW, contact Lee and Jody and ask how much it'll cost to go ahead and ship what can be shipped or have them ship what's ready and pay shipping on the LEs.

Bikefanatic wrote:Why would any one worry about a delay when you already have hundreds of decks already!? When some people been waiting for something and they finally get it, they forgot about it or pay it no mind since they now have it then worry other decks that are soon coming out. I play with my decks so I take my time to enjoy them before future releases. If you do that, that's when decks you forgot about start showing up.

MagikFingerz wrote:That ain't no cloth bag, that's for sure!