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Weird theme, dislike the artwork.. it's a pass from me.

Gold star for originality though. Hurricanes, who'd of thought.

Eoghann wrote:Gold star for originality though. Hurricanes, who'd of thought.

This is a unique theme. Having lived through several very near misses with hurricanes it is a theme I'd embrace. For some reason this is too "Old English" looking to me, which has little to do with storms overwhelmingly associated with the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico. I think there is a missed opportunity here of adding the flavor of Coastal and Caribbean living.

Strag wrote:Weird theme, dislike the artwork.. it's a pass from me.

Same.

Calling it "full color" when it's more black and white than colored...

Eoghann wrote:Gold star for originality though. Hurricanes, who'd of thought.

Yeah, I'll give them that, and not much cookie cutter stuff in the artwork and layout of the cards either. I doubt these have been appproved by USPCC though (cutting/registration-wise), and their renders have terribly cut corners.

I won't even go into the back designs.

Did you guys notice that you can get either an uncut sheet of faces or of backs?

What a great idea!

I think the idea is cool but I don't like the way they represented each hurricane. I also think the pips being tilted is kind of weird.

Widdee wrote:

Eoghann wrote:Gold star for originality though. Hurricanes, who'd of thought.

This is a unique theme. Having lived through several very near misses with hurricanes it is a theme I'd embrace. For some reason this is too "Old English" looking to me, which has little to do with storms overwhelmingly associated with the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico. I think there is a missed opportunity here of adding the flavor of Coastal and Caribbean living.

Exactly, I wasn't even sure what I was looking at right away. Wind speed, what the? Oh, it's a hurricane deck, but seems off. Unique idea, but weird mix of style and theme.

Wait, why is there a train on the Ace of Spades? Old English, hurricanes, trains, that's different.

At least the LE has interesting rain theme, too bad the cards are way too dark though.

I don't like that 6 of diamonds. Doesn't fit.. the colour... the shape...is out of the theme, they just look normal. .. but this way it is easier to recognize cards.
@ first glance my eyes hurt when saw court cards. Too much going on? The back looks cheap...
Black deck look a lot better.. and ofcourse... limited...

I'm wondering why the banner on the courts wasn't made two way.

Sher wrote:I'm wondering why the banner on the courts wasn't made two way.

Those pips make them unusable in any game of cards that require you to hold them in your hand.

Strag wrote: Those pips make them unusable in any game of cards that require you to hold them in your hand.

Exact same thoughts. There's good ideas here. And originality for sure. But unusable in games and I don't like the backs. Pass for me.

I'm of the same opinion as everyone else it seems. Growing up and living on the Atlantic coast this is a theme that catches my attention but the artwork doesn't match the theme. Add the one way backs and it's a pass for me. Widdee is spot on with the Atlantic coast/Caribbean idea.

nECr0MaNCeD wrote:I'm of the same opinion as everyone else it seems. Growing up and living on the Atlantic coast this is a theme that catches my attention but the artwork doesn't match the theme. Add the one way backs and it's a pass for me. Widdee is spot on with the Atlantic coast/Caribbean idea.

I think one court out to be me being run off the beach during a huge gust, Necro. I have literally had to cut two vacations short (one my GF and I retreated to a dog trot house 30 miles inland), another lost power for a week halfway up the state, and sat out Camille in Mobile (woke up the next morning and it looked like a jungle outside). They are no picnic!

Yep. Gloria, Bob, Irene and Sandy and some others I am sure I have forgotten. Not to metion the occasional Nor'easter that can be worse than the hurricanes.

I actually like the Jack of Spades, the rest of the deck is just confused.

I understand the train on the Ace of Spades. My dad told me about this many times. He was a kid in Florida in 1935 and remembers this hurricane. If anyone has traveled in the keys you know that there are extensive bridges that go from one island to another. These were for the railways before they built ones for cars. This hurricane was so powerful that it swept all the cars (except for one engine) of an evacuation train right off the tracks.

Wait! Somebody actually came out with a deck that has an original theme! No Cthulhu or Steampunk or Zombie!

About time, lol, though it's sadly not executed very well.

Looks like they are taking advice quickly and really trying to make some changes with mirrored back eventually and an update with a new 2 way court. I'm not positive on the mixed theme, but for originality I likely will be in for one. Especially if enough changes are made.

Not sure this one will be successful.

I'm thinking someone who might be able to "do it better" with the hurricane theme might come along.

THAT I would buy.

MagikFingerz wrote:
... their renders have terribly cut corners...

Can you/someone explain what this means please?

Renders means pictures

What MagikFingerz is saying is the cards in the pictures have very badly cut corners.
Like someone has cut them freehand with scissors

Jock1971 wrote:Renders means pictures

What MagikFingerz is saying is the cards in the pictures have very badly cut corners.
Like someone has cut them freehand with scissors

Specifically, renders means digitally produced pictures, usually as a way to create preview pictures of something that hasn't been produced yet.

But yeah, it may be a minor thing but I just don't think it reflects well on the creator when things aren't done properly. These were clearly square pictures before the corners were removed, and frankly it looks like it was done in MS Paint.

(skip to the last few paragraphs if you don't want to read all of this!)

Hello all! My name is Steve and my fiancé (Brenda) and I created this deck of cards. Set the guns to automatic because I am a newbie.... If you would like to read a little more about me check the intro forum ( http://unitedcardists.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=5006" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )

First off - I want thank everyone for their comments. Even the comments that "I don't think this KS will make it" because there is no doubt that is a possibility. The reason Brenda and I even tried to make these cards was because we wanted to play this deck and you can't just make one - you have to make quite a few...! I have a few cards from KS and I have to say - for me - a lot of them aren't playable. Either the numbers are too small or they aren't inspiring. Hurricanes are inspiring to me because I live in Key Largo, FL and I have to get off my ass and put up the shutters and... something that is way more difficult - find a place to put the boat which is 44' long and 25' wide... can't just pull it out of the water.

It isn't enough to just like cards.... For someone to create a good to amazing deck of cards they need to be an artist, be a visionary, be a hard worker or just be rich. Well I'm not rich so I have to be two of the others. My background is coming from 11 years of being in the print industry while simultaneously building a very active forum for collectors. I understand "the collector" as well as the professional. I also understand high quality products with great stories behind them are almost always successful. I've created shoes with Nike that kids camped out for two weeks to have the opportunity to buy them. They were made for a single event and if you weren't there - you didn't get them for retail... you paid 10x retail in the secondary market.

(stop scrolling - this is the good stuff

To sum it up. I love cards - I have a number of them in my collection and it is growing every week. I love great stories behind the cards - either life events or real people's stories behind them. I sense some of these card projects are by people just trying to cash in on the upswing in the card world (as well as the ability to create cards due to KS) and those people will fall by the wayside. As many of you probably can see - the project is set to go live at $10k and that doesn't even break even - but I truly want the cards.

Short term - my goal is to create four decks of cards. The first deck, the Hurricane deck, is a solid first try. I put myself out there with this deck - Brenda and I organically came up with theme and worked hard to get to where we are at. Are they perfect - hell no. But for those who want to give constructive criticism the cards will evolve and get way better. The next three decks of cards are RIDICULOUS... especially the next one. We are half way through the deck and I humbly believe many of you will be impressed.

We will have mirrored courts and the backs of the decks will be changed. There are a few more items I'm working on but don't want to commit to until I see what they look like. Again - thanks for all your input. Praise is awesome but in reality the most helpful comments are the ones that point out mistakes or better ways to do things. You can't have a big ego in this world and I checked mine at the door._steve

P.S. The renders are a little rough around the edges...

Almond;
First let me say I appreciate what it takes to get a deck to the KS phase and the hard work I know it took. Many of us here are blunt and forward with our critique, myself included. Don't take this the wrong way. Underneath the blunt criticisms you will usually find some darn good advice.

Oh, and BTW, Welcome to our funny farm.

nECr0MaNCeD wrote:Almond;
First let me say I appreciate what it takes to get a deck to the KS phase and the hard work I know it took. Many of us here are blunt and forward with our critique, myself included. Don't take this the wrong way. Underneath the blunt criticisms you will usually find some darn good advice.

Oh, and BTW, Welcome to our funny farm.

Thanks! My previous world dealt with kids 14 - 20 and although 99% of them were really cool... 1% would get that e-courage..... a little 14 year old kid calling you out hardcore! But of course when you would meet any of them in person everything changed... all was good._steve

Almond Twist wrote:Thanks! My previous world dealt with kids 14 - 20 and although 99% of them were really cool... 1% wold get that e-courage..... a little 14 year old kid calling you out hardcore! But of course when you would meet any of them in person everything changed... all was good._steve

That reminds me of this recent skit on the Tonight Show, very interesting to see people's reaction:

OMG - that is classic! And yeah - that is how it went.

Welcome to the zoo, Steve! I tossed you into the Deck Artist group - enjoy!