Division Playing Cards

Sticking with the emphasis on shapes is the Division deck, which was created by Nick Vlow, a prolific Russian graphic designer who focuses on playing cards.

Nick describes this design as a "retro-geometric style inspired by Russian Avant-Garde".  The geometric emphasis is immediately obvious from the tuck box, which is a tribute to famous artist Escher, and celebrates his concept of cubic space division.  This concept has also inspired the name of this custom deck, and the Escheresque approach is on display here with an image that looks like a 3D maze.   I've always loved Escher's work, so this gave the Division deck instant appeal for me.



Danny Weiser is credited on the tuck box as the producer, and the deck is produced under his label WeiserConcepts, which has the slogan "Branding the art of magic with innovative style."

The custom seal on the tuck box gives us a foretaste of the colourway found within.



The card backs have an intriguing palette that focuses on shades of brown and black, and include the three dimensional rectangular shape similar to what was on the box cover.  Or is this just a brain fooler, and is it merely an illusion?  I'll leave you to decide.  That is of course part of the appeal of Escher's work, and this deck is all about breaking limits and boundaries, and going beyond first appearances.



The faces of the cards enjoy a level of customization to match the rest of the deck, including a recolouring that corresponds to the colorway on the reverse of the cards, with a soft brown replacing the usual garish red, for a more earthy look.

The design of the court cards has had slight touches of customization too, and several of the characters are holding an odd assortment of different objects.  For example, there's a bow, a dagger, a knife, an arrow, a key, and even a ball or coin (King of Diamonds), but there doesn't seem to be a unifying theme aside from giving these a custom look.



For the rest the cards look quite traditional, although the Ace of Spades has a fresh design in keeping with the rest of the deck.



Two gaff cards (a double backer and a blank face card) ensure that the magician gets some extra opportunities for fun with this deck, but instead of two Jokers we get two ad cards.



As for the cards themselves, these are printed by the United States Playing Card Company with their usual high quality, and so they handle nicely in fans and in spreads.



So where can you get decks like the one featured here?  Any reputable online retailer that sells custom playing cards should have these available (e.g. Rare Playing Cards).  If they don't, send them to Murphy's Magic, a magic wholesaler with an enormous range of custom playing cards that they sell in bulk quantities to dealers and retailers around the world.