Battle 10: S&M versions 1-3 vs. Original and Bee Split Spades

[Don Boyer]

Your challengers are:

TITLE	PRODUCER	DESIGNER
Smoke and Mirrors series, versions 1 through 3	Dan and Dave Buck	Si Scott
Original (Tally Ho) Split Spades and Bee Split Spades	David Blaine	Mark Stutzman

Think carefully on this, because you're being asked to compare a lot of decks!  Which decks consistently had the best handling?  The best design?  The best art?  If you can point out exceptions on either side, sure, go ahead - write it into the comment post backing up your vote.

• D&D's lineup
• Smoke and Mirrors, v. 1 (1st Edition), v. 2 (Special Edition) and v. 3 (Luxury Edition): two-deck sets with black (Mirror) and white (Smoke) backs, progressive variations on the back design, simplified courts with "Perfect Pip" faces.  Box design has unique art in the style of the backs.
• Blaine's lineup
• Original Split Spades: Tally Ho stock and faces (including the AoS, excluding some of the courts, made with images of David and people he knows).  Box resembles a black version of the Tally Ho box design.  Created in three colors: red, black and blue.
• Bee Split Spades: Bee Casino stock, box and faces (including AoS, excluding same as above with more courts).  Created in two colors: black and inverse black.

Anyone commenting to explain/support their vote is entered in the contest, details of which are in this topic.

.......and FIGHT!! 

EDIT: I'm refraining from voting in this one - as much as I love my Split Spades, I've never used the S&M prior to v4, so I couldn't fairly comment on them.  But don't let that stop you if that's what you want to do!

[Joker and the Thief]

The split spades are really really nice cards however Smoke and Mirrors trump them fairly easily in terms of design and handling.

Btw the designer of smoke and mirrors was Si Scott.

[Don Boyer]

The split spades are really really nice cards however Smoke and Mirrors trump them fairly easily in terms of design and handling.

Btw the designer of smoke and mirrors was Si Scott.

You're right - I forgot that Brad Fulton was the one who unwittingly gave the series its name!

[John B.]

Split spades hands down. David produced a great deck, has trick decks that don't look tricky if you use these as well, and people have seen them on his show and assume I have met him

[Fanofyankees13]

Smoke and Mirrors. Some of my all time favorite decks...handling is absolutely sublime, and that classic design puts them over the top.

[MrMollusk]

Smoke and Mirrors. I've only handled the Smoke V3 once (A magician was showing me a trick at a magic shop and he let me play around with them a bit), but the handling was godly. I've been trying to get my mitts on a pair ever since. The minimalist courts were awesome, and Si Scott hit every ball out of the park with the design. They're just so much better for a Cardist and magician, imo.

That's not to say the original Split Spades were in any way, shape, or form a sub par deck. They were sublime.

[sway]

Well, I voted for Blaine's Split Spades because the artist just made a great job with that back design. I'm also fond of the use of the gestalt effect on playing cards.

Plus - although I think the cards are nice - I've got to say I'm no fan of the S&M series as a whole, the hype never really grew on me.

Can't really say anything about how well S&M's handle, so I voted purely on design here.

[sr15]

These are probably my two favorite series of cards, besides maybe the Wynn or Artifice series. I've actually never handled any of the decks up there, though I absolutely love the handling on S&M v4-v6 and the SS Lions and I can only assume that the older versions handle even better based on what I've heard. It's unfortunate that these versions are so expensive, so I probably won't get the opportunity to use them for quite some time, but who knows.

Anyway, I can't comment on the handling at all, and I'm assuming they're both top quality for handling. The v7s kind of left a bad taste in my mouth, but I don't think it detracted from my opinion of the earlier decks in the series. I pretty much voted on design, and I have to say that I like the S&M designs better, especially the court cards. The back designs are both awesome, but I'd have to give the edge to S&M on that as well. Overall, the two series are really, really close for me, but S&M gets the edge.

[magimago]

Tough call,
D&D decks are beautiful and unique, handle great, but i would go with the splitspades, the backdesign is my all time favorite, and it has so many interesting features to discover, that it feels overall more interesting.

[Don Boyer]

Deck winner: Smoke and Mirrors, lock, stock and barrel... 

Comment winner......I put the names on a list at random.org, top name wins it....

....MrMollusk, contact John via PM to claim your prize!  (I just realized - since you won two weeks ago, you're our first two-time winner!  Congratulations!)

New battle: http://aethercards.com/discourse/deck-battles-(alpha)/battle-11-hornet-vs-mana/