Well its certainly not USPCC's best stock is all I'll say.  Its a very cool deck to look at its just very smooth finish and doesn't feel quite as satisfying as say... Steamboats.

Also the tuck box is very bad quality. Has the extra long flap that gets bent from the first time you open it no matter how careful you are.

Still, I've always been fascinated by cryptozoology and the Kraken is something that is totally possible to exist (we know more about space them we do about what's in the ocean)


Just my two pennies.

Deck quality is average. Probably not printed by USPCC, no seals no USPCC branding anywhere. It's definitely a cool deck.

The tucks look great, Randy! 

I'll take just the uncut backs please. Don't send the deck or the uncut fronts. Just send me an uncut sheet of 52 card backs.

Overall though,  it's nice artwork, and the deck does look very good. Not sure what to think about the theme. Part of me feels like its kinda inappropriate,  but another part of me thinks it's just kinda one of those fun things that just gets taken the wrong way.

"Isht" is a synonym for a cuss word spelled with the same letters. Kids starting hearing radio DJs play the cuss words backward when there was explicit language. In fact, some rappers started using it even in the explicit versions of their songs.

I've bought very inexpensive decks all the way up to Laser-Cut Aurum decks and everything in between. If i think that a deck isn't a good value, I simply don't buy it. If it's overpriced, but I still must have it, I suck it up, buy it, and enjoy my purchase. Not all decks fit everyone, whether it's design or price, and that's fine.

This is what my point was. I completely agree with you. And I see your point about shipping.

Thanks for telling us about the deck, Stuart. It looks great! More importantly, welcome to The Discourse. If you want, you may want to introduce yourself to the community at large, in the Introduce Yourself section.

One of the description I read about the deck said it had a lot of things hidden within the artwork. Without ruining any surprises that you may habe, could you elaborate? Anyways, this deck looks great I can't wait to see more.

Well, I agree with a lot of your points, but charging $20 for Zenith is one thing because it's Paul Carpenter selling it to me. The problem with this pricepoint is, Paul Carpenter has a name that holds a lot of weight. If the deck were being made by a really prestigious independent producer, I'd be more inclined to agree that this is something that is fine. Plus, I'm in a somewhat limited price range because I don't have a very high budget. I guess that's why I'm opposed to the price.

The point I was trying to make is, it is a very nice deck. I have absolutely no doubt that these will sell like hotcakes. I just personally don't have the budget to afford a couple of these if I want to buy a brick of the next Uusi deck or LUXX or any of the other projects right on the horizon.

And for the record, I'm buying my Zenith after the fact from a collector who was nice enough to sell me one of his. And I paid more than $20 plus shipping from overseas to get it back here to me in the States. And I'm HAPPY to pay it for a deck made by Paul. Like you said, his decks are great. I'm especially happy to pay that because I have all of his other decks (except Tendril, REALLY want one of those) and they are prizes in my collection.

My only regret is that I opted to get incredibly sun burned in Naples instead of checking in to see when Zenith was going on sale.

I think they look great, don't get me wrong. And I'm not upset that people would pay $18 for a deck. They wouldn't sell them at that price point if people weren't going to buy them. If you like the style of the cards and you have the money to spend on them, then go ahead. I won't stop you (especially because I think they look really cool) I just have a somewhat limited budget.

There are still plenty of decks that are of great design and collecting value that cost less than $18 per deck. The Exquisite Bolds were $12/ per deck, the Uusi Hotcakes are $11/ deck.

Honestly, exclusivity is the only reason that $18 seems reasonable and candidly, I don't feel like thats a good enough reason.

Like I said, it's a very nice deck but it isn't $20 good.

$18 for one deck?

As beautiful as I think the red color and the backs of the cards are, I'm gonna have to pass on this one.

I think the courts are the same as the Double Black deck that they launched on kickstarter a little over a month or so ago

I don't think the courts are unique to the theme of the deck. But I could be wrong.