ok so do you guys define collecting as un opened decks? or do opens count? i count my open ones.

Open boxes count for my personal collection, but not so much for trading.  I've never seen much call for a used deck unless it was an antique.

Only times I ever bought a massive amount of decks was twice - once when I snagged a gross and a half of Gemaco casino decks for less than 50c a pack and once when I traded six red Artifices for a whole lot of store credit.  By and large, I can't afford to buy in bulk.  Only time I ever bought a brick of anything was the red Artifices, and only because I knew I'd be selling some of them.  I have a huge order in for Americanas, but that's because I have a silent partner providing backing - he funds the purchase, I sell them on eBay, we split the profit.

@MrMagic - a grocery store seems like an unlikely place for a framed, uncut card deck sheet.  No matter where I work, I generally try to keep my personal possessions that I leave there at a minimum, particularly if it's rare, valuable or difficult/impossible to replace.  Hang it proudly in your home, man - it's a work of art!  (Also bear in mind that unless you shell out extra for museum-type glass, sunlight in any place that you hang it could ruin the colors over time.)  The "wall of cards" idea is kind of interesting, but you needn't go to such an extreme as building them into a wall.  Find an area with a lot of space that you'd like to divide and string them from ceiling to floor using steel wires.  Another option would be to build them into a Japanese-style room divider, but you'd want to secure it to a wall or fixture so one clumsy accident doesn't ruin the entire collection or kill anyone standing nearby!

@Eggman - it may have only cost you $20, but on average an unframed, uncut sheet goes for nearly $100 on eBay, with exceptionally rare ones going for multiples above that.  Framing it will increase the value, especially if it's a quality job.  Not to mention it's a freakin' work of art!  DeckOne was a really cool design, and the backs remind me of the throne room from the Death Star II!  I love that deck.

I'm still hunting for that Kickstart!  Put it up already!   

I've seen how-to videos for making wallets out of old playing cards or out of their boxes.  Another interesting idea is laying them out on a table and covering the top with a sheet of glass.  Some bars have done similar, but they shellacked the cards to the bar surface.

Using them for magic tricks which involve destroying cards is a good way to go.  If the deck is worn but still intact, handing them down to a little kid to play with works fine - they don't care about fanning and glide when playing Go Fish or Crazy 8s.

D&D: nice simple design on the later decks.  Just not many decks offered, and all of them limited editions.  I LOVED the special pro-cut stripper decks they were selling, with a stripped edge angle so shallow a pro card worker would have a very hard time spotting them in action; I regret not getting the red Bees before they sold out.  But their library - I'm drooling over many of the books they offer.

Theory 11: They have some great designs.  Among my favorite decks from them would be the Guardians (they're one of my "go-to" decks now) and Propaganda (gotta love that Tally-Ho stock).

Ellusionist: they were my first - it's because of them (curse them!) that I got into magic and card collecting less than a year ago.  What can I say, I love their stuff, and their Brad Christian videos, cheesy as they can be at times, do provide some good basics for the beginning magician.

David Blaine: his decks are good.  My always-in-my-pocket stripper deck is his "Discover Magic" deck - imagine having a pack of blue Split Spades Lions that's still available for as little as $5?!?  And they're STRIPPERS, too!  His other designs are great stuff and I like some of the special deals with the signed decks and stuff - whenever his designs sell out, he's usually offering some with autographs at slightly higher prices.  It's cool to whip out a deck signed by a major magic talent, no?

Retailers/after-market?  My faves are BMPokerworld and The1EyedJack.  They get damn near everything I want and sometimes the prices are pretty sweet.  Plus I've been doing some trades with One-Eye; he sounds like a nice guy.

It's a cool place but keeping secrets SUCKS!

Dude, I'd move to Kentucky if it meant getting a decent job at USPC!  My girlfriend would probably freak out, but maybe I could get her a gig there as well...   

For me, it would probably be the Mavericks (which I used to have), and the Series 1800's, those don't work at all. Possibly one of the worst E decks out there.

Now are you talking about the old 1800's or the new ones?  They've started making the red decks with the Performance Coating and they're slicker than snot now.  They're still working on the blue ones.  The old ones did handle pretty poorly - I've botched a trick or two because of sticky 1800 cards.

I think they're an interesting idea, but BMPokerworld canceled his order with all the postponements.  $12 a pack is way too much for a gimmicky deck like this.  Plus the way they describe the ordering/shipping - the first hundred decks will ship in January, the entire print run will be sold out by then...  What exactly is the entire print run?  Is it a limited edition or something that will be regularly stocked?  With all those questions unanswered and that price point, I'm holding off.

It's pretty simple from my perspective: buy what you love, or at the least what you like a whole lot.  If you happen to have really deep pockets, then go for it and get a whole mess of great decks.  If you're like the other 99% then get a few here and a few there.  You don't even have to get the super-rare or the ultra-rare; there's so many different (and excellent) garden variety basic brand decks out there that cost less than $5 a pack that you could spend a lifetime getting them all.

I enjoy my cards.  I open at least one pack of everything I get - and whenever possible, I get at least two packs.  It's less for the resale thing, though I have done a bit of trading in the past, but more for the "I've had a fascination with playing cards since I was a kid and now I'm learning to be a magician" thing.  Have you ever seen a more versatile yet inexpensive form or entertainment in your life?  Countless games, and a cheap but decent deck is only a couple of dollars!  My extra decks?  I consider them backups for when the open pack wears out or gets a torn card or something like that.  I'll open anything - I have an open pack of Gold Arcane, Red Artifice, Black Ghost 1st, even Broken Spell (THAT'S a hard deck to find, I tell you).  I'm working on getting a White New Fan Back - which I'll open the moment it arrives.  Buying something simply to watch it attract dust seems empty and hollow to me.

My humble opinion: don't by a deck simply because it's rare.  Playing cards are all "rare" - as a collectible, they're categorized as ephemera; something that was never meant to last, "ephemeral" in nature.  Show me a garden-variety Bicycle Rider Back pack from a hundred years ago and I'll show you something that's extremely rare, even though they were made in the oodles of thousands.  Get a deck because it's really cool-looking or reminds you of something you like or shuffles like silk covered in butter, not simply because there's only X number of them in the entire world.  If you collect simply for the sake of "gotta get 'em all," you'll end up broke and miserable sooner or later, or you'll get frustrated and quit the hobby.

I picked up a half-gross each of three colors of Gemaco decks from a defunct casino - uncanceled decks.  I think the issue you're having with the differences in decks is probably due to quality choices made by the casino owners when they placed the order.  Some probably opted for better finishes, better stock, whatever else, and thus some are great while some, not so much.

BTW: I'd sell you a brick (or a few bricks) for $20 each if you're interested.  I got them pretty cheap.  Would have to work out shipping unless you live in the NYC metro area.

I ordered mine on Halloween and they didn't ship until this morning.  I inquired about it and they told me that the delay had to do with me ordering that hand lotion as well (I thought I'd give it a try; I have trouble with dry hands but don't want to use something too slimy/greasy).  There was a hold-up on the lotion inventory...

With the court cards like that it's literally impossible to find say the King you're looking for in a spread because There's no suit in the index! I know Lance is a designer but he's also a magician. This just has NOT been thought through properly.

I like the overall idea, but I'm with you on the design.  Face cards with black pips, number cards and aces with gold?  Varying index sizes (aces are largest, face cards have a single letter next to a full-size pip that's the same size as a number card's index number with pip.  I'm also waiting to see the final print regarding the faces - they look kind of "sketchy" if you know what I mean.  When I heard he was using live people as models, I was thinking, "wow, just like the White Knuckles, right?"  Nope.

If you're talking casino-USED decks, that right there is the answer.  Casino grade cards (finish, stock, etc.) are supposed to hold up well and have a good glide, but once the deck's been through the table a few times and handled by grubby hands handling dirty currency and chips, the finish and the edges take a beating.  Any casino deck I ever bought was simply OK - fine enough for a game of rummy but nothing I'd consider using for magic or cardistry.  (Not that I'm much of a cardist yet...