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

Hey there UC,

So I've been thinking a lot lately about putting together a custom deck and one of the questions I'm trying to answer is...
if the back design, tuck case, ace of spades, jokers and gaff cards are done well enough is a deck with standard court cards still appealing to you as a collector?

I can't speak to any of the specifics yet but I think i have some exciting things on the horizon.

Anyway, thanks and let me know!

yuh

To me...Absolutely... for the right price. I feel like most collectors here would say the same, simply because a lot of them won’t break the seal and use them. Also, standard courts are great for those who play with the cards in addition to collecting them.

Personally, no at this point. I have so many decks with standard courts that I will only purchase custom or modified courts. My funds are more limited by the day so I'm looking for something unique to add to my collection.

But hey, surprise me.

It depends what you mean by "standard." Some designers have in-house court designs that they reuse, and if I don't already have a deck with them and they're appealing I might go for them. (Although, honestly, if there's already a deck with those courts on the market and I don't own it at this point it was probably because I didn't like those courts in the first place.)

But if we're talking boilerplate Anglo-American courts, then no, I'm not buying unless they're heavily modified and there's something else unique about the deck. For example, I bought the Puppet & Kite set despite the standard lineart because I liked the color scheme, added patterns, and custom pip layouts.

I basically agree with Merebird on this. I can also go with "if the price is right and it checks the other boxes well" category as well. I really do like custom courts as they then allow modification to fit the theme, but that also goes for custom pips. It just allows the designer to really get creative and build a cohesive theme for the deck that is completely tied together. Even ones where they make subtle classic recreations, the subtle changes to the courts add to the redesign.

Unfortunately for me, my art talent is so bad, I make CGP Grey's artwork look great. There will be no Bradius drawn decks, which is a good thing for the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUY6HGqYweQ

TheGentlemanWake wrote:Hey there UC,

So I've been thinking a lot lately about putting together a custom deck and one of the questions I'm trying to answer is...
if the back design, tuck case, ace of spades, jokers and gaff cards are done well enough is a deck with standard court cards still appealing to you as a collector?

I can't speak to any of the specifics yet but I think i have some exciting things on the horizon.

Anyway, thanks and let me know!

My experience says "yes".....depending on the execution, a deck with standard court cards with changes to "back design, tuck case, ace of spades, jokers and gaff cards" has found great success with collectors. I've always done full custom decks but I have also seen that decks, as you've described above, found great success, case in point, Jetsetter & Air deck. The latter is a novelty deck which may not fall into a deck with standard court cards but makes an interesting case study.

In the end, Kickstarter is a good platform for even testing the market.....

If you can do a recolor of standard courts I'd be more interested than the standard colors. Freshen up the old look with less "busyness" on the outfits.

What if we throw in the fact that the rest of the deck would be designed by a premium designer?

I do like the idea of removing busy line work from standard courts and a recolor.


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I prefer custom court cards. To me it almost seems like a short cut to customize everything from top to bottom and just skip the court cards. There are so many awesome decks being produced and made COMPLETELY custom that standard courts are less than ideal. Sure some creators produce decks with standard courts and those sell but I feel like those decks tend to be less interesting from a design standpoint. Now I have no idea what your cards will be like but from what I've seen of your general aesthetic I imagine any deck you produce will have a design that really pops(intricate/ornate/luxurious) so I'd personally be a bit disappointed if I didn't see custom courts that reflected your style.

I don't like standard courts on a custom deck. Only way it works for me if they are large vintage style courts, I do have a soft spot for them.

For me recolored courts are the same as having standard courts.

Räpylätassu wrote: For me recolored courts are the same as having standard courts.

+1

I don't mind standard faces and I actually like recolors of standards quite a bit. To me these are player/users decks and should be priced accordingly. An $8 dollar deck as you described would be an easy pair for me.

CupcakeBaron wrote:

Räpylätassu wrote: For me recolored courts are the same as having standard courts.

+1

+2

personally, there are so many amazing modern and vintage custom decks out there on my wishlist, that seeing standard courts on even a really attractively designed deck, generally makes it a pretty easy pass...

and now that Theory11s are available at Target, it'll be hard to compete with their $9.99 price tag and the quality of those beautifully blinged out tucks...

but, hey, it's always worth a try to fund on KS and I'd be super interested to see what you come out with regardless

As someone who goes back-and-forth between designing Semi-Custom and Fully-Custom Decks, I can say with experience that both categories sell well - as long as the design is strong and pricing is appropriate.

Thanks, Randy

No, absolutely not.

Variations of a standard court (Kings Wild, Seasons) or historical ones yes. It would take an amazing cover, back and extra cards WITH a great price to make it an exception.

Either way, looking forward to what you come up with. Great luck too! Love your videos.

It totally can be... but, it depends upon a number of other factors: what are you offering on the card back or on the tuck? What other technologies are you playing with? Really, what is it about this deck that makes it interesting, and is it worth the price you are charging?

EPCC has a few lines of decks where they not only have standard faces but standard backs (their Zen, Superior, and Skull & Bones lines leap immediately to mind) where they change only one thing in order to test some new technology (black foil, Perfecta foil, Robusto stock, JN finish, etc.), and people (including me) buy those -- sometimes at higher-than-typical prices. And, while we're on the subject of EPCC, they also occasionally offer their standard decks (once more, the Superior line is the first one that leaps to mind) with no special treatments, but at a really, really good price if you buy in bulk. Again, some people jump in for that.

And, as was mentioned in an earlier post, Jetsetter really offers nothing more than seemingly standard-ish everything (albeit with his own take on a "standard" back, and interesting jokers). However, they are tied together thematically in such a way that still makes the whole greater than the sum of its standard parts for enough buyers to where it funds on Kickstarter with each new color.

So, yeah, I don't think you *have* to have custom or semi-custom courts in order to draw people in. But, 1) it helps, and 2) you gotta have *something*. What makes your deck interesting?

For every Jetsetter, there are *dozens* of projects that have standard courts that simply can't clear the runway. For every Honeybee with semi-standard courts, there are *dozens* of projects with semi-standard courts that also fail to generate buzz. For that matter, fully custom courts don't guarantee funding, either, as we've seen on these boards repeatedly.

What is it about The Gentleman Wake's deck that is going to convince me to open my wallet?

rousselle wrote:It totally can be... but, it depends upon a number of other factors: what are you offering on the card back or on the tuck? What other technologies are you playing with? Really, what is it about this deck that makes it interesting, and is it worth the price you are charging?

...

So, yeah, I don't think you *have* to have custom or semi-custom courts in order to draw people in. But, 1) it helps, and 2) you gotta have *something*. What makes your deck interesting?

For every Jetsetter, there are *dozens* of projects that have standard courts that simply can't clear the runway. For every Honeybee with semi-standard courts, there are *dozens* of projects with semi-standard courts that also fail to generate buzz. For that matter, fully custom courts don't guarantee funding, either, as we've seen on these boards repeatedly.

For me personally, standard courts, recoloured standard courts, modified standard courts, even courts that just look standard-ish even though they're made from scratch are all completely unappealing. It almost doesn't matter how good everything else is, I'll pass because of the courts, I don't even buy the T11 decks with standard courts. There have been exceptions in my collection of course, but few. It may be a little unfair, but courts take more time than all the other aspects of a deck combined, so if they're not custom it really does seem like putting in half the effort. In the case of most 'cardistry' decks, a fifth of the effort. I'm not just buying a pretty tuck box.

I would have to say i prefer completely custom but do like the Ravn decks which looks like the route you may be going down
Intrigued .....
are you able to say who the designer is ?

I just saw this joker card Lorenzo drew from his Facebook site. I wonder what is up, but I like the card.

What if the back design looks like this?

Anyone care to guess who the talented and premiere designer behind the design is?

I posted this in my 'standard courts' discussion thread... but It's appropriate seeing as how it's the corresponding back design to the above card...

I am going to go out on a limb and say Lorenzo and yes, I would be in for this back design, even with standard courts, depending upon the price points of course. Looking forward to seeing more.

considering the roman numerals, I'd also put my money on Lorenzo











Edit: Topics merged and thread re-titled

PipChick wrote:considering the roman numerals, I'd also put my money on Lorenzo




Edit: Topics merged and thread re-titled

Would you be so kind as to add 'By Stockholm 17' on the title? Gracias!

done and done - de nada, Señor Wake

Hope the deck is 17 cents!

I can confirm it will not be 17 cents. lol

I love the way TGW interlocks in the design, but there is a disconnect to me between that drafted-looking spade and the rest of the linework on the back. May be just me. That gold/black colorway hinted in the photo could be sweet. With standard courts, it will all come down to price for me.