Exquisite 8teen

[PrincessTrouble]

https://store.conjuringarts.org/product ... teen-deck/

"After years of searching and trying to accomplish this EPCC has finally managed to print an 18 color deck! That’s right! With an astonishing and unique printing press Expert can now print 9 PMS colors per side! This is a big deal!

This deck is limited to only 500 decks and each is numbered on it’s seal. Each side of the cards are printed 9 PMS and the tuck is also printed 9 PMS outside and 9 PMS inside!"

[brownsl]

These look amazing! The colors ... wow!

[GandalfPC]

Nice

Grabbed some

[guru]

Got really excited to see this deck but then this happened

Looks like today is not my day....

[Decknowledgy]

Got really excited to see this deck but then this happened

carc.JPG

Looks like today is not my day....

Was the same for me no matter shipping to UK or Taiwan, $40USD shipping for a single $19 deck.
I gib up

Maybe it's a sign telling me to stop collecting pieces of paper

[HFMJ]

Yep, 40$ for me also for a deck to Romania.
"Maybe it's a sign telling me to stop collecting pieces of paper " - that was what I was thinking in the morning after missing out on the 52 plus joker deck, but then I thought I cannot quit after one upset.
But for sure it is painful to see these shipping prices...

[Bikefanatic]

Cool and colorful but not for me to buy.

[MagikFingerz]

They're nice, but not $20 nice. And I still think those court faces are quite unappealing.

When decks with a brand new feature appear, I think back to their Exquisite Bold, one of the early foiled decks, with a single foiled gold star on the back. Had it been launched today, with so many great foiled designs available, nobody would buy it. I'm sure there will be future decks that makes incredible use of this printing technique to utilize so many colors, so I don't need to buy the prototype.




PS. As a mod, I see a lot of spam posts (a user's first post need to be approved before it goes public), some of them have... lewd content. The title of this post didn't instill me with confidence that it wasn't one of those...

[GandalfTheWhite]

PS. As a mod, I see a lot of spam posts (a user's first post need to be approved before it goes public), some of them have... lewd content. The title of this post didn't instill me with confidence that it wasn't one of those...

hahaha good observation

[brownsl]

I thought the name of the deck was not the best choice. "Exquisite", yes. "8teen" not so much.

[PrincessTrouble]

I thought they should have been priced at $18 to go with the whole theme.

I'm really digging the pictures of these, so I ponied up the $19.95/deck and got a few.

[Harvonsgard]

They're nice, but not $20 nice. And I still think those court faces are quite unappealing.

When decks with a brand new feature appear, I think back to their Exquisite Bold, one of the early foiled decks, with a single foiled gold star on the back. Had it been launched today, with so many great foiled designs available, nobody would buy it. I'm sure there will be future decks that makes incredible use of this printing technique to utilize so many colors, so I don't need to buy the prototype.

Spoken like a wise man.

And yes, the courts are utterly unappealing. I always wonder why they take the shittiest courts to catch the vintage vibe? The courts Jackson uses are out since ~1900 why is he the only guy who has an aesthetic sense when it comes to antique courts?

Just as a whom it may concern:

"After years of searching and trying to accomplish this EPCC has finally managed to print an 18 color deck! That’s right! With an astonishing and unique printing press Expert can now print 9 PMS colors per side! This is a big deal!

Marketing strech to the fullest . Print machines that can print 9 colours in one run are neither new nor astonishing. Printwise no big deal at all. But what ever sells a deck .

Back design is actually dope imo. Good motive that presents the strenghts compared to cmyk very well. If they would use beautiful courts I would have even payed the $40 shipping to .

[MagikFingerz]

Marketing strech to the fullest. Print machines that can print 9 colours in one run are neither new nor astonishing. Printwise no big deal at all. But what ever sells a deck .

I mean, if their pitch is 9 x 2 (front+back) = 18 colors, why not stretch it to 9 x 52 or even 9 x 104?

[Reylek]

Marketing strech to the fullest . Print machines that can print 9 colours in one run are neither new nor astonishing. Printwise no big deal at all. But what ever sells a deck .

USPCC maxes out at 6 colors.

It's not a stretch to find a printer who can do more, but to find a printer who can do more colors while simultaneously offering quality playing cards that also handle well is not an easy task.

Bill Kalush is as knowledgeable and innovative as anyone in the custom deck world - he doesn't claim that things are difficult when they aren't.

[rousselle]

Marketing strech to the fullest . Print machines that can print 9 colours in one run are neither new nor astonishing. Printwise no big deal at all. But what ever sells a deck .

Bill Kalush is as knowledgeable and innovative as anyone in the custom deck world - he doesn't claim that things are difficult when they aren't.

True, but on the sales page for this deck, CARC says: "Expert Playing Card Company has introduced many innovative features over the years including hot foil on cards, cold foil on cards, flood foil, synthetic tucks and much more."

They have to stop claiming that they "introduced" hot foil on cards. They just flat out didn't. I have custom decks I had printed up by Gemaco for my wedding in 1998 that have the design hot foil stamped on the backs. The wedding date is stamped in hot foil on the back of the cards. 1998. Gemaco, which is one of the most respected brands in casino-quality playing cards in the United States. And, that wasn't the first year that Gemaco was making such cards. I'm pretty sure it wasn't even the first decade they were offering that technology.

As someone who used to own and operate a print shop (we even had an old Heidelberg press!), I can appreciate the genuine awesomeness of the technology that went into producing these cards -- it's absolutely not "no big deal" despite appearances -- and I hope that others take advantage of this technology in producing future decks. I also appreciate how much Bill Kalush has contributed to the advancement of playing cards. He seems like a great guy, and I look forward to meeting him at a future 52+J event.

But, it is not unfair to view the marketing material from CARC as containing a wee bit of hype.

[IAmTheChin]

Controversial opinion here, but I actually thought this deck was the show stopper of the presentation even above the club deck. I was thoroughly impressed with the difficulty and expense of that set up. The club deck is nice but it feels like we're approaching the apex of shiny=value where we're literally coating the entire backs without design (see NOC/fontaine).
Tbf he did preface the introduction of it saying that it'd be for print geeks of which I do happen to be part of. At the end of the day though like we all say, meaning is in the eye of the beholder.

[Harvonsgard]

As someone who worked in the print industry for years I apologize for not being impressed. Stuff that has been done on book covers, in the packaging industry or in security printing for decades doesn't get standing ovations from me just because it's now on a card back, front or tuck box. Seen that been there.
As someone who also knows a thing or two about marketing and psychology, I apologize again for not being impressed either.

I repeat myself, beautiful courts that match the beauty of the back design, NOW THAT would have been impressive.

And yes + @Alex the back is indeed more impressive than the 52+J back design.

[jerichoholic]

Looks nice but their shipping rates are horrid

[hsbc]

Back design is so so so good

Stuff that has been done on book covers, in the packaging industry or in security printing for decades doesn't get standing ovations from me just because it's now on a card back ...

You might have seen it, they had a video of the cards being printed going through 14 separate giant printers. I got the impression that it's the first and currently only setup capable of printing so many separate colors on playing card stock. Am I wrong and actually other card printers can match the output, or do you just consider the "on playing card stock" not really important in the grand scheme of things?

Why can't you just keep putting uncut sheets into the printing lines over and over and over again to get as many separate inks or whatever as you want? I'm assuming it would affect the registration and/or coating

[Harvonsgard]

As always the answer is costs. You can do what you just said it's just uneconomic. That's the reason this deck is almost twenty bucks instead of twelve like for a gilded Superior.
The question printers face is, why print with Pantone/HKS when you can simulate almost every colour with CMYK, when the later is more cost efficient. Most modern printing machines can print 4/4 (one run both sides) or 8 colours in one run.
I'm not unappriciative of what has been done here technically and again, the back design let's me almost pay $60 for this deck. It's just that they didn't invent the wheel or made fire for the first time and therefore I'm dismissive towards the ad copy, not the product, that - I dunno if I mentioned it - I dismiss because of the butt ugly courts !

[brownsl]

If anyone ordered this deck have you received them yet? I placed an order, it took them 5 days to say they shipped them but the tracking number I have says the USPS still has not received them. It has been 3 days since Conjuring Arts says they were shipped.

[rousselle]

If anyone ordered this deck have you received them yet? I placed an order, it took them 5 days to say they shipped them but the tracking number I have says the USPS still has not received them. It has been 3 days since Conjuring Arts says they were shipped.

According to my tracking number, mine should arrive later today.

For me, USPS lately seems to be having packages disappear and reappear late *far more often* than it used to. YMMV.

[brownsl]

Looking forward to getting your thoughts on them.

[Bradius]

Well, I liked the courts and the back. I am looking forward to getting my deck that I will most likely not open.

No accounting for taste I guess.

[hsbc]

For me, USPS lately seems to be having packages disappear and reappear late *far more often* than it used to. YMMV.

Same here, I think it's part of the USPS slowdown: https://apnews.com/article/politics-lou ... 992f0fdc91

[brownsl]

Lol, I ended up getting my decks today, along with the Superior decks I ordered.

[PrincessTrouble]

If anyone ordered this deck have you received them yet? I placed an order, it took them 5 days to say they shipped them but the tracking number I have says the USPS still has not received them. It has been 3 days since Conjuring Arts says they were shipped.

Mine arrived today.

[hsbc]

[Harvonsgard]

I guess it's not possible to shot a picture of the card back that doesn't look vibrant af?

[rousselle]

You were more successful at removing the numbered seal than I was. I finally had to set fire to mine just to open the box.

That said, these Bad Larrys fan perfectly right out of the box. I like the feel of the cards; not just the handling, but the suppleness of the bend. Not *quite* as supple as Bikes, but much closer than most other EPCC decks that I have.

The damage that serial seal did to the tuck, though. Ugh.

Oh, if you look really closely at the backs, you can see a teeny, tiny series of 1's and 0's that translate to: "If you can read this, you're too close."