Battle 26: Luxury Crown Decks vs. Aurum

[Don Boyer]

Luxury Crown Decks, the deluxe version of the classic Crowns, designed by Randy Butterfield of Midnight Cards and produced by the Blue Crown, are the kick-off decks of a new Luxury line of products, created in limited editions of blue and red, to date, with an extremely limited number of decks handcrafted with actual metal plates on the front of the tuck boxes signed by Alex Pandrea.  It's rare to see Arrco faces so tastefully recolored in a manner often reserved for USPC-faced decks, and the backs, Jokers and Ace of Spades are just plain beautiful.

Aurum, a unique full-custom deck from Paul Carpenter of Encarded, draws inspiration from the city of Venice, Italy and the waterways that surround and run through it practically at every turn.  There's an incredible level of hand-drawn details even in the backgrounds of the faces and backs.  The deck came in three different tuck boxes, all with some form of cut-out on the back of the box to let the card backs show through.  If I recall, they were "basic" in purple with a simple cutout, the rare "White Gold" with the same design done on pearlescent white paper, and finally the ultra-rare "Laser-Cut" edition - same design as a White Gold box but with a more intricate cut-out on the back performed using a laser.

So, LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLE! 

Voters who comment on their choice are entered in a random drawing for forum swag - see this topic for the rules.

[MrMollusk]

The Aurum.
Oh, man, The Aurum deck.
In my opinion, one of the most beautiful decks out there. The laser cut box, the thin borders, the extremely intricate designs that didn't overwhelm the awesome customization, and the sexy, sexy handling. Everything about this deck just seemed so cohesive and refined.

The luxury crowns are ridiculously awesome too, with the sweet box, classy back, and neat court cards, I'm also told they handle pretty nice. but I think the Aurum comes out on top for this one.

[Soliloquy]

They're both so beautiful, but I have to go with Aurum.

[Don Boyer]

I think the Aurum was a gorgeous deck, but I give the edge to the Crowns, and not because I'm friendly with the guys who made it.  As much as I loved the use of purple in the deck, in the end the pips (at least to my eye) looked a little too close to each other, in terms of their coloration.  It took some deliberation for me to draw that conclusion, because I really do love what Paul did with all the detail work in that deck - it's astounding.

[Utterfool]

I just am not impressed with the luxury deck. I didn't feel it made enough of a break from the original crowns to be luxurious, and with the multiple color changes obviously in the works it seems just to be their next standard crown deck.
Whereas I feel the Aurum did go that extra step to feel luxurious. So it gets my vote

[Nurul]

I agree, they r both so beautiful but the luxury deck just about edges it for me. I think I prefer the back design more than I do aurum and the red deck just won me over

EDIT
this is a little off topic, but it's in response to the last post u made in the previous deck battle. I've enquired about my prize but have had nothing. So people probably r claiming it's just nothing is happening with it tho. And yes, I have been in contact Alex is most likely busy

[Don Boyer]

I agree, they r both so beautiful but the luxury deck just about edges it for me. I think I prefer the back design more than I do aurum and the red deck just won me over

EDIT
this is a little off topic, but it's in response to the last post u made in the previous deck battle. I've enquired about my prize but have had nothing. So people probably r claiming it's just nothing is happening with it tho. And yes, I have been in contact Alex is most likely busy

Best way to get Alex is on Facebook, if John's not answering.  John did ask me to take the reins on running the contests because he was going to be busy with extra work shifts, so he might be slow to respond.

I think we have a clear winner here - Aurum by a landslide.  (Why don't we ever call large election wins something OTHER than a landslide?) 

For the first time even, *I* am the comment winner!  Yay, me. 

New contest very soon...  Ultimate Deck vs. the Anne Stokes/Alchemy four-deck collection.