This is closer ... but im not  thrilled about loosing my symmetry to the underlying texture...

Or this?...

I like this

EDIT: The one that has the "ivory" background.

final tweaks...
the version on the right does not shade the infinity symbol in the center. it was how i have planned it for a while because i feel it balances out the white space better, but i thought you'd enjoy seeing what what been making me go cross eyed for a while.

interesting how many options this design is capable of... gonna have to hold a serious poll later on final options. I'm calling this one "backlit"

The backlit effect would be great for a second deck.  It looks cool.

what do you think of this for indices and pips?

This deck looks really cool regardless of what color scheme you choose. The backs are very, very neat and I like the theme overall.

I don't know if this has been brought up as I only read the first two pages. But one of the things I thought about this deck is because it has a lot of versatility it would be a perfect candidate for a wrought iron look. It appears from the four of diamonds that that kind of look would work. Possibly with a multicolored stain glass type of look in the back.

I personally have only seen one deck that attempted to look like that (it may have been on this site that I saw that design I'll see if I can dig it up.)

Wow. Those look really good. Im pledging either way, don't sweat the details, if you get bogged down on the pips or the color scheme you're going to overthink it. Honestly, this deck would look great and a great add to any collection regardless of whether you have standard pips or whether you do something custom.

My only word of advice (I dont design cards, but I act and play music) is that sometimes there's only so much you can do about something. To be honest, I think having cool pip design is important and can really make a deck stand out, but very rarely (if ever) do I find myself looking at an otherwise impressive deck and saying "now if only the pips were nicer".

The deck exudes individuality and it has a classic look without borrowing elements from overused themes, like modern art and minimalist designs, just like every second project on KS. Personally,  I think it looks really, really sharp.

I think that is actually a great way to do your pips.  Making them just look cut out works with the rest of the design and doesn't  require you to somehow make them "linked" with the rest of the design.

Crap i didn't realize it was Friday night.. signing off with this screencap of my progress...

I love the way this is going.

Here's a random thought......not for first deck but maybe variants, or doing add-ons: Your card back really looks like an ornamental screen (like, a wooden room divider or a door). I wonder what it would look like with something behind it - a Chinese style dragon, for example. Or a person. Or a landscape. Maybe too busy, but maybe not.

FINAL (99.9% SURE) leaning towards a off white - ivory look vs stark white

I love this one!!! 

finalizing the shading elements on the jack...