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Pictorial Review: Classy decks from Legends Playing Card Company

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EndersGame

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LEGENDS PLAYING CARDS: Classy 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 classy decks that I own myself and have first-hand experience with, and I will give you a pictorial overview of them.



LUXX GREILLE PLAYING CARDS

The LUXX Greille Playing Cards is part of the LUXX premium line of playing cards, and comes in either blue/silver or black/copper.  This is one of the most classy decks I've seen so far from Legends, and it's not hard to see why, just by looking at the shiny tuck box!



Only 1000 of each were produced, and the seals are individually numbered.



The card faces are mostly in the traditional style, with slight adjustments to the font used for the numbers.  However this deck does have custom aces, custom jokers, and custom court-cards.



But the chief thing that stands out with this deck is the hot stamped shiny foil on the card backs.  If ever a deck is going to dazzle you with its brilliance as soon as you take it out of the tuck case, it is this one!



The attractive tuck case is nearly all foil, and this (along with the embossing) makes it immediately eye-catching.  Like the card backs, it features a repeating grid pattern that was designed by Rick Davidson, with geometry that helps to emphasize the shimmering foil.  Depending on how the light falls, the way this looks can change dramatically.



Unsurprisingly, this premium deck is one of the more pricey in the Legends catalogue, and a two deck set will cost you around $30.



DON QUIXOTE PLAYING CARDS - VOLUME ONE

The Don Quixote - Volume One deck of playing cards was designed and custom-illustrated by Nam Tibon, from design studio Cellar Window.

It was created as a homage to the 400th anniversary of the death of Spanish novelist Miguel Cervantes, author of the famous novel Don Quixote, the full title being "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha".  The first part of a two volume set of decks, it illustrates the characters of the novel and gives a glimpse of their lives, with the first deck corresponding to characters that the Hidalgo Don Quixote meets during his travels as a knight errant through Spain in the first volume of the novel.



The tuck box features a gold/copper style foil, with the back of the box being particularly stunning and impressive.  This is one of the nicest boxes I've seen, and I especially love the effect of the matt black used on the front, with the foil lettering, which creates a very elegant and stylish look.



The card backs features Sancho and the Don, while all the card faces in the deck are black, with beige coloured illustrations.  The use of just two colours, just beige and black, results in a very elegant and artistic feel.



Each court card represents a central character from the book.  In making the artwork, the designers researched books and old etchings of the characters.  One of the Jokers contains a complete list of characters in the court cards of the deck:

Spades: Don Quixote, Dulcinea Del Toboso, Sancho Panza
Diamonds: Don Fernando, Dorotea, Anselmo
Clubs: Ruy Perez De Viedma, Zoraida, Don Luis
Hearts: Cardenio, Luscinda, Lothario
Joker: Marcela

The level of detail is fitting, given the enduring reputation of a novel that has stood the test of time.  Here's some detail from Dorotea, the Queen of Diamonds, a mountain woman who was deceived by Don Fernando.



There are also custom court cards, Aces, Jokers, and a custom pip layout.



The Dom deck pictured above is white with black cards (which weren't printed quite as consistently as I'd like in a black deck), while a matching Hidalgo deck that was a stretch goal has a reversed colour scheme of black tuck box and white cards.



It is also worth mentioning that a Kickstarter for the Volume Two deck recently achieved funding.

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



The Don Quixote  deck is also available at your favourite Murphy's Magic retailer. See the product page at Murphy's Magic
« Last Edit: March 27, 2018, 11:33:22 PM by EndersGame »
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