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Pictorial Review: In-House decks from Legends Playing Card Company

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EndersGame

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LEGENDS PLAYING CARDS: In-House Legends Decks

While cruising the internet in search of beautiful playing cards, I've kept coming across mention of "Legends Playing Card Company" as a publisher of very high quality playing cards.  The playing cards available from their website features decks that are nothing short of spectacular quality.  Behind the company is Lawrence Sullivan, an American magician based in Hong Kong.  As well as a successful career in magic, he established the Legends Playing Card Company in 2013, applying his pursuit for perfectionism to playing cards.  Legends very own "Legends #852" was an instant success, and from here they went on to produce custom decks of playing cards for high end clients who wanted a quality product.  While they also have some luxury playing card accessories in their catalogue, their main market is in producing custom cards, with a quality that rivals that of US Playing Card Company, and even tries to surpass it.  Lawrence Sullivan conceived the Legends Playing Card Company as his answer to the frustration experienced with many "premium" brands of playing cards, many of which were poorly cut and sub-par quality.  He's committed to quality in design, details, paper, finish, and manufacturing, using a proven factory in Taiwan to bring his vision to reality.  In this review, I will show you some of what I consider to be their in-house produced decks that I own myself and have first-hand experience with, and I will give you a pictorial overview of them. These are decks that were produced by Legends from the ground up.



LEGENDS #202 EGYPTIAN EDITION

I've previously mentioned the #852 deck from Legends, which featured Mark Stutzman as the illustrator.  The Legends #202 Egyptian Edition shown here was also illustrated by Mark Stutzman.



The card backs hit all the notes that Lawrence strives for: a bold striking design with a easily recognizable pattern, and yet intricate detail.  In this case we have a bordered image with a diamond shaped LS monogram in the center, and lots of detailed artwork representing the ancient Egyptian theme.

The court cards are fairly standard, but rather than the garish yellow of a typical Bicycle deck, have an appropriately lush gold look.



Probably my favourite card in this deck is the Ace of Spades.  Just check out the absolutely gorgeous artwork here, which features a coiled serpent inside - just beautiful!  For the Joker, we have a dragon, which often makes an appearance in the Legends decks, and in keeping with the Egyptian theme is shown here perched atop a pyramid.



The tuck box is just stunning, with 3D embossing and gold foil accents - again all totally in keeping with the theme of ancient Egyptian luxury!  But that's not all that the tuck box offers - it also has a cool diamond shaped "window" at the back (which cleverly reveals the monogram on the card-backs).  And what's more, it has gold foil on the interior!  That's crazy - just look at the pictures below to see how stunning this is!

I tell you, these guys at Legends know how to pull out all the stops when it comes to class and elegance!  In making this deck, Legends aimed to create "the best packaging design ever seen on a deck of cards" - and certainly it's among the best I've ever seen.



The  Legends #202 Egyptian Edition deck comes in three different colours: black, blue, and red.  The colour choices are Egyptian in origin: the gold and black combination corresponds to the sun and land, the silver and blue combination represents the moon and heavens, and the red on white combination corresponds to the Pschent double crown worn by Egyptian rulers, which combines the Red Deshret Crown of Lower Egypt and the White Hedjet Crown of Upper Egypt.



While remaining true to the design of a classic and elegant playing card, this deck hits every note right.  I think the ad copy is quite correct when it says this deck would be  "be right at home in Tutankhamun's royal chambers."  It's a luxurious and classy deck fit for a king, and I'm very grateful to have it in my collection.



LEGENDS #098 PERSIAN EDITION

The Legends #98 Persian Edition continues the Legends' exploration of ancient myths and legends, this time travelling to ancient Persia.



The artwork was done by Alison Lee, and features Persian floral and animal motifs.



Once again Legends raises the bar with innovative tuck boxes - on this occasion using actual thread stitched into the box! As far as is known, this is a first ever for a deck of playing cards, it needs to be seen to be believed!



But there's more to marvel at about this deck.  To create the effect of a traditional style, all the artwork was hand-carved!  I'll let the artist Alison Lee explain:

"The hand-carved and printed designs for this deck were inspired by my fascination with Middle Eastern history, and incorporate motifs from the Persian Empire and remains from its ancient capital Persepolis, including the double-headed stone griffin, Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian God and creator of the universe, and Nowruz, the Persian New Year, represented by a lion devouring a bull to signify a changing of the seasons. The designs were carved by hand into linoleum panels, and printed with a press using oil-based ink for a water-resistant finish. It combines my love of history and printmaking."



With all these things coming together to make this deck a reality, it's not surprising that it is one of the more expensive items in the Legends catalogue, at around $17 a deck.

LEGENDS DIGITAL PETROGLYPHS

The Legends Digital Petroglyphs deck is another in-house deck produced by Legends.



It comes in two colours, described as Candy Apple Red and Aubergine Purple - a nod to the playful character of the deck.



The real attraction is the playful artwork, which has been created by Stacey Jay Kelly of Squiddle Ink Illustration.



The tuck boxes are embossed, and made from what the Legends describes as "a pearlescent herring bone wood grain paper stock".



The card backs feature custom artwork, and so do all the faces of this whimsical deck.  For example, if you study the center pip of this Ace carefully, you'll notice that it's actually made up of tiny images of all four suits in different colours!  Very cool, and a fine example of attention to detail, which rewards the observant viewer.



CONCLUSION

For most people, the benchmark of quality is a deck produced by US Playing Card Company.  However in my opinion Lawrence Sullivan and Legends Playing Cards Company have come up with a solid process that is a quality that rivals and in some respects exceeds that of the USPCC decks, especially in terms of the cut.  Reviews of the Legends' playing cards bear this out, and are consistently very positive, and this mirrors my own experience with these playing cards.  While the card stock seems somewhat thinner than Bicycle stock, the cards are very durable, and have a great snap and handling.  The printing is precise and crisp, and not only does Legends Playing Card Company assist designers in bringing their dreams to fulfilment, they also have a very wide range of creative and custom decks available for sale on their website.

Legends might not be going the way of the majority by opting to use a factory in Taiwan, but it seems obvious that their choice isn't coming at the cost of quality.  If you're looking for a quality publisher for a custom deck of playing cards in larger quantities, they have the experience and expertise to meet your needs.
But even if you're just a gamer or card collector like me, it's well worth a look to check out their website, and see if they have a deck of playing cards that is just right for you. The decks you see here in this review are fine examples of the legendary playing cards that this company is producing, and they are quickly becoming a legend of their own!

To learn more, head here:

Official website: http://legendsplayingcards.com
Online catalogue: https://legendsplayingcards.com/collections/playing-cards

« Last Edit: April 22, 2017, 07:18:43 AM by EndersGame »
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