So. Here is my first written review, and it is for the Skulkor deck that I have bashed on for the past months.

Box: 3/5 The front looks pretty sleek, all in black, with Skulkor and the logo in a faded white in it's center. One side says "The United States Playing Card Company" and the other says "Skulkor Playing Cards Performance Air Coating". Bottom has an ugly skulkor logo and some copyright info. Top is just plain black. Back shows the design. Doesn't look too good as a whole but is pretty detailed (see more info later). Flap is a continuation of the back design and has the skulkor logo. The "continuation effect wasn't rendered well IMO and the logo is off-center compared to the back design.

Extra cards: 2/5 The deck comes with 2 extra cards. One is a gimmicked card, which shows a faded version of half of the back design and 3 face up cards. Pretty useless IMO. Front of this card is the same as those of the jokers. The other card is a skulkor ad card on the face and the back is also an ad and also gives a link to a tutorial on how to use the other gimmicked card.

Faces: 2/5 The jokers are both identical and show some sort of weird eagle. Pretty ugly IMO. No indexes on them. The Ace of Spades is custom as well, and says skulkor on the bottom. No copyright info. Simple and horrible. Faces are standard bike faces.

Back design: 2.5/5 The back design is pretty much the same as on the back of the box, but with white and thicker borders. It is very detailed, but as a whole it doesn't make any sense to me. Nothing pops out, and the center wastes the intricateness of the edges ad corners.

Overall look: 3.5/5 These cards look amazing in all sorts of fans because the corner design appears and looks great. The most beautiful of all though are giant fans as half of the back design shows, and it truly looks amazing.

Handling: 4/5 Just like any USPCC deck, these handle great, both out of the box and after having been worked in for a while. Fans aren't perfectly even, but they are very easy to do. Faros are also very easily executed.

Stock and finish: 4/5 I believe these cards have regular Bicycle Stock and Magic Finish, but I can't be sure since the box keeps the secret pretty well in stating they use "Performance air coating".

Durability: 3.5/5 The cards hold up pretty well to regular use. Nothing exceptional, just like most custom bicycle stock decks. The finish seems to wear off pretty quickly though.

Improvement Obviously there is a lot of room for improvement. The center of the back design is confusing and doesn't add anything to the intricate edges. It would have to be rethought. The extra cards are a waste. I would have liked to at least see re-colored court cards to fit the "creepy/mysterious" feel. Inside of tuck case isn't black, and that is too bad. The Ace of spades would also have to be redone. Jokers are OK. Box isn't bad.

Overall: 3/5 Mediocre at best. If it weren't for a standard USPCC handling, these cards would have only weaknesses. The design is ok. No custom faces, and disappointing Ace of Spades, Jokers, Extra cards and box. A confusing back design.

Extra On an extra note, Skulkor really have to change marketing tactics, referring to us as brothers, considering their lackluster product to be a "revolution", selling ugly clips, brick boxes and rings for a lot extra etc.

***/5

Please feel free to comment below regarding my review and what you thought about it. Thanks a lot. Also, if you'd like to see more from me, please encourage me below as well. (These are pretty tiring to me
Thank you for your time and patience,
Nathan

So, since many new members have joined in the past few months, I feel like I should explain this. A couple months ago, many members decided to get together and design a deck of cards all together, and if it turned out to be nice, to perhaps try to get it funded and printed. However, many of us temporarily set it aside. However, I think it's time to bring it back. Here is a sheet with all of the artwork done before hand, and the names of people who were supposed to take care of each set of cards. If we could recontact old members and get new ones on this project as well, it would be great. Here is some artwork:

Added bicycle Hemp, Silver Monarchs and rebels!
Orange = Trade in Progress

I'm willing to buy or trade for the following decks:
IN SEARCH OF - Sealed or open (Edited August 13th, 2012)

Kickstarter
- Galvanic
- Spectrum
- Actuators Color Edition
- Actuators B&W
- Deck of the Living Dead

USPCC
- Tragic Royalty
- Bicycle Hemp

Theory11
- Red and Blue Jaqks
- Silver monarchs
- Rebels

Big Bling Media
- Karnival Series
- Samurai deck

Other
- Anglo Series
- Blue Tune
- Pandora Vine back set
- Doomsday red and white set
- Professional bicycle skulls and bones
- White lions series B red and blue


TRADE

Theory11
- Red Aristocrat (1)

Ellusionist
- Bicycle White Ghost (1)
- Bicycle Shadow Masters (2)
- Tally-ho Viper Circle Back (1)
- Black Tiger Red Pips (1)
- Infinity (1)

Dan and Dave
- Arizona Red Vintage Plaid

Special USPCC
- America the Beautiful (v2) (6)
- Harley Davidson Deck (6)
- Pink Cancer Research deck (3)
- Bicycle Wounded Warrior (2)

Walgreens Rare Decks (USPCC)
- Old Style Studs Red and Blue (2 of each)
- New Style Studs Red and Blue (2 of each)

Bicycles
- Black Rider Back (1)
- Standard Red and Blue Bikes (2 of each)
- Red and Blue Bicycle Prestige (1 of each)
- Pro Poker Peek Red and Blue (2)

Standard USPCCs
- Red and Blue Standard Bees (2 of each)

CVS
- Monte Carlo Red and Blue Standard (2)
- Monte Carlo Red and Blue Jumbo (1)
- Monte Carlo Red and Blue Pinochle (1)
- CVS Poker Club Red and Blue Standard (1)
- CVS Poker Club Red and Blue Jumbo (1)

Other brands
- Phoenix Back (1 red)

My real name is Nathan Canadas, I am sending from the US. I agree to ship Domestic with tracking, and Worldwide without.
If you are interested, I can negotiate the values with you by PM. If you are confused about any of the decks, just comment below or PM me and I will post a picture.
If you are scared of getting scammed, check out my reputation in the testimonials section. Thx!

Here is a deck which isn't new, but it USPCC, is pretty cool, and hasn't been mentionned before according to the search button.
It is called the Dog deck. It's great, handles very well, is completely custom, and available almost everywhere (bicycle shops, magic shops, Walgreens, Walmart).
Here is a link:
http://www.bicyclecards.com/products/playing-card/the-dog-playing-cards

Thx!
PS: If you are interested in trading for one, please check the link in my signature or PM me.

Happy Birthday Victoria! Since I haven't seen you on the forums in a while, I wanted to take this moment to wish you a happy birthday, hoping you'll come back regularly if you see this. Hope you have a fun one!

So. Since today is my birthday, I just wanted to take this time to thank all of you that work on making these forums a better place. I have truly learned so much since I got started with magic 9 months ago. Since, I've expanded my collection to over 300 decks (haven't counted in 2 months) and I have learned more than I could imagine. To at least 9 more months!

- Nathan, 06/11/12, my birthday

Here is its facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/vervedeck

According to Andrei Jikh (what he said on today's exposé), T11 will release a deck before the Rebel playing cards. These will be "white-backed and infused with gold" and "will be printed in very very very limited quantities" so "get them while they last". Doesn't this remind you of anything (cough cough Gold Monarchs).

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/405472496/custom-legendary-playing-cards-54cards-52-2-jokers?ref=live

The designs seems cool but unfinished. The back design isn't well thought out, and the 4 indexes are too bad.

So. The other day I went to Rite Aid and bought a 4 deck set with 2 black rider back Bikes and 2 red standard bikes. The box advertised both colors as rider backs although the red decks were really standards. Now, here's where it gets funny. I opened the deck, and right out of the box noticed that the deck had a much more oily but smooth finish than other bicycle standards I own. I also noticed these faro only one way, and traditionally. The box says "Erlanger, KY". I haven't handled a new deck of red Rider Backs from Ohio in a while, but I was wondering if it is possible that these were actually made in Ohio with a Kentucky box? And the finish seems closer to Linoid finish on a deck of Ohio Tallys than a normal Air-cushion finish. The seal is black. Does any one have any details or info they can give me?

Recently I have opened a couple of decks with certain issues. Which ones have you experienced?
I have often found a couple cards in front of the flap of a sealed deck. I have also already seen a standard bike deck missing a 7 of hearts for no apparent reason. So, which ones have you experienced?

Here is the post D&D have made:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150702767868892&set=a.10150630966783892.398756.87901818891&type=1&ref=nf

Apparently they will be selling Hofzinser playing cards.
Reminder: Theory11 already sell some:
http://www.theory11.com/gear/hofzinser-playing-cards.php?ref=s?ref=s