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Playing Card Chat ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ => Playing Card Plethora => Topic started by: xela on November 26, 2011, 09:58:41 PM
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Do you guys own any non-USPCC decks? Let's ignore the horrible trash like Cardinal's and skip straight to the premium brands from other countries.
I own some Fournier decks and they are superb for cuts (I know they are a USPCC subsidiary but they're manufactured in Spain - so it's all good.) I also have some Anglos which are absolutely wonderful decks.
The weirdest cards I have are the Archduke Eagle Backs. Their finish is absolutely mind-boggling and the cards are probably 1.3x thicker than a typical Bike deck.
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I got massas. I had some crappy cards from france, good for cuts but had no finish. I also have some vintage decks from before USPCC basically took everything over. I also have some Bees from canada, it doesn't say USPCC on the box so i assume they were made like by a subsidiary of USPCC. I also have some really great cards, I don't remember where i got them from, *might have been las vegas/L.A.* but they are in just a pure white tuck box with no back design *as in it is just the pure white stock* but feel absolutely amazing in the hands.
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The non USPCC decks I have are those crappy ones that you find in random stores that are plastic coated and just terrible!
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Piatnik decks aren't too bad. They are useable for magic but the only ones I've ever had are bridge size.
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I've gone through my fair share of Waddington's Number 1, which are horrible. I've got 'The Jill Deck', manufactured somewhere in Europe which is spectacular for cuts and double lifts but don't spread or fan at all, ever. I've got a mixed brick of Gemaco casino decks and the quality (although they're all Alpha series and seem to be just recolours) varies hugely. The golden nugget deck is lovely; looks great, feels great. Others just suck, I dunno why. Jack daniels deck from god knows where, which is quite nice. I have a Plainek (or something, can't remember the exact name) deck with old movie posters on it. It's OK. There's probably more... Generally speaking, USPCC decks are just better than everything else.
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I've got tons of non-uspcc decks including most of the already mentioned, too many for me to list off the top of my head though. Sure most of them aren't great but nice to have in the collection anyway.
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Carta mundi decks are not bad too. They are smooth finish.
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I have always been partial to the Hoyle PGC decks. You usually can find some pretty cool casino PGC decks on ebay also!
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The Phoenix Playing Cards aren´t bad.You could compare them to Bicycle Playing Cards.
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The Phoenix Playing Cards aren´t bad.You could compare them to Bicycle Playing Cards.
I agree! Although I prefer bikes, those are nice. And they come with those cool gaffed cards ;D
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i have a set of two decks in a very nice box that were made in vienna austria by Piatnik and are called shakespeare cards and they handle amazing and are very nice
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I've got Anglos which are quite possibly the worst smelling decks I've come across!
Also the MSM decks, the MYTH/MOTH deck and the Mystery Deck Both of which handle really well dispite feeling totally different!
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If you're talking international, I only have a limited collection. If you're talking domestic as well, then I have a few more. One of my favorites is A House of Blues casino deck by Gemaco - they look cool. Been wanting some Fournier 605 (that is the Asher deck, right?) but they ain't cheap. Phoenix is awesome, but only some of their decks are USPC-made. (They do have some sweet trick cards/decks.) KANPED, the Jill Deck is made by Phoenix, BTW; they sell it on their site.
The most unusual deck I possess would probably be this Star Wars deck I got, a recent release I think. It's not a good quality deck, but it's plastic AND has lenticular 3-D images, no glasses needed! It might be a CartaMundi, I'm not certain. And I'm also fond of my Magic Castle CartaMundi decks - they don't say CM but they use exactly the same joker. (BTW: has anyone else spotted the one-way feature on the back besides me?)
;)
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I've got Anglos which are quite possibly the worst smelling decks I've come across!
Also the MSM decks, the MYTH/MOTH deck and the Mystery Deck Both of which handle really well dispite feeling totally different!
i think you're talking about the watcher deck?
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Ahh the Watcher deck. I think I actually reviewed it on my channel. Excellent handling, and excellent tuck box design - on par with USPCC quality.
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KANPED, the Jill Deck is made by Phoenix, BTW; they sell it on their site.
The company is called card-shark (and it was designed by Annabelle de Vetten, a British artist; I don't know how much card-shark were involved). The Phoenix cards they make are USPCC decks, they print them there (which is why they feel like Bikes). The Jill deck is not but they haven't made it public where they were printed.
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Ahh the Watcher deck. I think I actually reviewed it on my channel. Excellent handling, and excellent tuck box design - on par with USPCC quality.
what happened to your channel alex do you Just not have time with the vortex and discourse running?
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KANPED, the Jill Deck is made by Phoenix, BTW; they sell it on their site.
The company is called card-shark (and it was designed by Annabelle de Vetten, a British artist; I don't know how much card-shark were involved). The Phoenix cards they make are USPCC decks, they print them there (which is why they feel like Bikes). The Jill deck is not but they haven't made it public where they were printed.
Card-Shark only makes one deck with USPC, the "Master" edition of the Phoenix. The others are from their own facility in Europe. Check out this link from their website listing the features and comparing them to Bikes.
http://card-shark.de/index.cfm?page=72&lang=en
And here's where they mention "Card-Shark goes Pop-Art!" with the release of their Jill Deck - which is marked, too (I'm itching to get two of those)!
http://card-shark.de/index.cfm?page=17&lang=en&detail=true&Category=1&ArtID=21
I wish they weren't so danged expensive...
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Wow, this is new. When I bought my decks there was only 1 kind of Phoenix and then a bunch of gimmick decks (which I guess must have been CSPF decks). Although CSPF stands for 'card shark printing facility' so I'm wondering if they're just calling the factory that or if they actually bought somewhere to print their decks...
There was no mention of CSPF when I bought the decks.
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Wow, this is new. When I bought my decks there was only 1 kind of Phoenix and then a bunch of gimmick decks (which I guess must have been CSPF decks). Although CSPF stands for 'card shark printing facility' so I'm wondering if they're just calling the factory that or if they actually bought somewhere to print their decks...
There was no mention of CSPF when I bought the decks.
Their Double Deckers are certainly not USPC - that's some super-skinny card stock there. Those are more of a gimmick - you can use it in card forces while still showing an entire deck (if you get the forcing version), or you can use the DDs after you treat them "in a special way" to make a wide variety of other decks. I have a few DDs plus a Get Sharky deck. That's a very awesome deck and trick, by the way! I have never failed to befuddle a spectator with it!
http://card-shark.de/index.cfm?page=65&lang=en&detail=true&Category=10&ArtID=148
I'm just guessing here, but it's possible they had their Master Edition made at USPC to get noticed by people who only buy USPC products, then did a not-entirely-hidden bait-&-switch to making their own cards while not shouting out that they aren't made by the USPC. I'd bet the Jill Deck is from their own facility.
If your deck has a total of 56 cards and says "Master Edition" under the Ace of Spades, it's USPC-made. Non-USPC versions say "Traditional Edition" and have only 55 cards - I'm guessing they left out the one joker the Master Edition comes with. Some other decks are also USPC, like some of their marked decks, but those same decks are also being printed in-house and you can't distinguish between them when you order.