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Geraint Clarke of Ellusionist shared this article today:
https://ellusionist.substack.com/p/decks-are-dead

TLDR:

Today, we're massively discounting decks and taking them off life support.

Huge discounts are there on designs that it's time to say goodbye to.

This is nothing new for us. We've been doing this for a while, behind closed doors, focussing on magic and just letting decks be. As we could see it coming for a year or more.

Ellusionist will continue to give its overall focus to tricks - to magic.

A few times per year we will introduce cool mystery decks and new designs, but in reduced quantities. Just for our own enjoyment / regular use by magicians.

But playing cards hasn't been/won't be a big focus of our business for the foreseeable future.

Thoughts?

Well I just bought 9 decks for $40....

hsbc wrote: ↑Fri Jul 28, 2023 11:10 am Well I just bought 9 decks for $40....

I just got a bunch too

Interestingly, at around the same time as this article, Theory11 put out this behind the scenes video of their production process: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvPyVrjg6iB/

It's been clear for a while now that Theory11 is doubling down on their playing cards, while Ellusionist has chosen to focus more on the magic tricks.

Bringing up Fontaine not selling out decks because he now sells through Murphy's. Um, that is literally the point, no?. He used to sell out when everything was more limited and exclusive and I thought the point of selling through Murphy's was so that everyone can get a deck. Which inherently means not selling out immediately. Print more. Don't sell out stock right away.

Plenty of decks on Kickstarter are doing amazing. Tgw's new deck is at 3200% overfunded. Recent kickstarters have been super successful from gio, kwp, ondrej, even the new 666 cards. When creators put out nicely designed decks, people respond accordingly. Maybe ellusionist just hasn't made a good deck in awhile. Dude makes it seem like playing cards are dead. I expect nothing different from ellusionist though with their antiquated thinking and over the top pronouncements.

I don't disagree that colorway changes aren't the best and people may not back those as much. But that doesn't means DECKS ARE DEAD. Smh my head

manu wrote: ↑Fri Jul 28, 2023 10:54 am

A few times per year we will introduce cool mystery decks and new designs, but in reduced quantities. Just for our own enjoyment / regular use by magicians.

So they're going to move to limited releases, got everyone talking about Ellusionist today, and cleared out old inventory all in one fell swoop, neat marketing trick I never buy from Ellusionist and I did today

bdawg923 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 28, 2023 11:38 amBut that doesn't means DECKS ARE DEAD. Smh my head

I read it like the thread title aka Ellusionist Decks are Dead. And with that I wholeheartedly agree.
Good on them to not waste paper, ink and production time for their mediocre decks anymore.

I always thought they had some nice practice decks and some nice $5 sales - and I remember the joy of the tiger and viper decks - I think they made some of the bees I liked - but all in all they haven’t really done much in the area the past bunch of years, perhaps wisely, as there is plenty of competition in the space (penguin and vanishing, 52Kards, etc)

I do wish they kept trying to make good handling $5 practice decks, but I hardly need any more of such now. I wanted the Pioneers but I have plenty of marked decks I like - was still hard to pass them up. Was even tempted to grab a last few packs of Cohorts if only for nostalgia…

Probably even odds I end up going back in there before the walls are bare and trying to pick up a few of something - my famous Iron Will and its famous Rusty Bottom.

Having gotten into collecting later than most, I wasn't around for when Ellusionist was really popular. I've spoken to collectors from that time and for some, Ellusionist was the brand that pulled them into the hobby. With that said, the hobby has come a long way since then and for them to complain about more people having access to creating high quality products seems based off self-interest.

I understand their gripes about the increased difficulty of creating magic decks. There are also some valid points around the market being saturated, but as a result, collectors can be selective. Like any market, you either can adapt or you risk failing.

Their post did a great job at helping them get rid of excess stock though. I'm seeing it shared across multiple avenues.

The "decks are dead" thing is just a way for the often deceptive Ellusionist company to clear out unwanted/slow selling inventory. Awfully arrogant that they have decided to declare this on the industry, especially since they are no longer the kings of it. Sure, it comes off as shockingly honest to some, but they are just trying to kill an underperforming product before it kills them. All they are doing is changing their strategy to a few releases per year. Maybe they will have a subscription plan. Maybe they will just go the crowdfunding route. They haven't made many good decks in the past 5 years anyways. Their claim to fame of being deck innovators for doing decks in black is no longer a selling point and can no longer sustain them. For those who have not been around collecting, they were always doing shady, shifty marketing techniques, making bold and dire predictions in order to drum up some hype by trolling for followers and likes. Maybe decks are dead for THEM, but the entire collecting market is softening. This is how it goes when disposable income goes down. It will come back, eventually. I personally have less money to spend these days on collectibles. These things work in cycles. The markup for magic is much likely higher, and that makes sense from a business standpoint to go in that direction. T11 have found their niche by licensing products and putting out nice looking tucks to the masses with lots of foil and dull card art (with a few exceptions) at a reasonable price. D&D and AOP have done the same at a higher price point. So, I wouldn't really care if I bought another deck from any of them again. They made plenty of nice decks in the past and I am happy with them in my collection. I can also say that I am good with closing my Ellusionist collection and it stands the way it is right now. In my opinion, their pinnacle was with the Prohibition sets. Time to move on. It was a good run.

There are a few points in the article that I simply can agree on...
NGL, I made that article about "Reasons on Why Market has SO Many Decks" because of it

The Kickstarter Trend, Cardistry Rising among so many things

I do agree that now the “rules” of engaging a print of custom decks are now less strict, meaning ANYBODY can print their own decks if it means one has to pay a large sum out of the pocket.
“One Time Wonders” is I like to call those who just successfully produce one deck than bye bye

kevork wrote: ↑Sat Jul 29, 2023 3:31 pm Having gotten into collecting later than most, I wasn't around for when Ellusionist was really popular. I've spoken to collectors from that time and for some, Ellusionist was the brand that pulled them into the hobby.

Yes, I am amongs them that enters the hobby because of Ellusionist. It is that Black Tiger and Ghost that pulled me in. And then, there’s Theory11. Thirteen years ago, these two companies are the producers of custom decks - and when Bicycle Rider Back design can be altered to create the standards of custom deck.

Now, things change: Theory11 heavy focus on Decks - Ellusionist heavy on Magic tricks

I feel like supplier Penguin Magic are less into decks and more into tricks than ever before. I have only been a collector for a short while but I remember when playing catch up that Penguin not only had good prices and FREE shipping (a big thing for us non US collectors), they were always offering bonus decks for orders over $100 (or thereabouts) and I was often spending $100 with them. I get multi emails from them about tricks (there would have to be few overheads in selling tricks) but never see bonus deck offers of late. With Vanishing Inc also offering free International shipping, Penguin are not the go to they once were. Oh to have the free shipping offers that US collectors get from just about everybody

Vanishing has free international shipping? Might have to start shopping there. I've been so unimpressed with Penguins free shipping. Just this week I received 2 orders from them, one placed in June, the other in freaking April. Like 6 months to arrive! WTF is Fedex even doing?

Fortunately I received credits from Penguin and reordered those and received them in a more timely matter but still takes a month or more to get packages from them. Also don't like that instead of refunding me for lost packages they give me a credit thereby forcing me to shop there again, would have preferred refunds.

And every time I contact them about lost packages they tell me I should pay for shipping instead but I won't pay like $40 to ship a couple of decks, I would just rather go elsewhere if that is the case. Either way free shipping should not be so unreliable imo. But maybe i'm asking too much, lol.

Penguin has always been very reliable and prompt for me, but I’m in the US

I will never complain about free shipping when I am down here in Australia. Penguin have always been reliable but it takes between 6-8 weeks to get here. My first year of collecting, having them offer freebies for larger orders spoilt me.