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Playing Card Chat ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ => Deck Reviews! => Topic started by: DrianAbara on February 06, 2013, 03:36:29 PM

Title: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: DrianAbara on February 06, 2013, 03:36:29 PM
So, I ordered this deck for my girlfriend and I'd like to review it and I also took a few pictures for you guys to have a look at! :D I ordered 2 decks, and they come with 2 jokers, an ad card and also a double backer which is always useful (although I've never used a double backer in my tricks EVER)

So, here goes my first review! (Hope you guys like it)

Looks:
Firstly, I'd like the take a moment to appreciate the work put into this deck, I think Curtis Kulig did great with the design and custom cards of this deck.
  The tuck box is plain white, with the custom Ace of Hearts design on the front and on the back is just the back design. I like the seal as it is just a red heart on a fancy border zig zag pattern, on the sides there are words to do with love and cards such as love, bluff, trick, deal, shuffle and on top of the box it has 2 hand drawn looking hearts.

The jokers fit well with the theme of the deck (red and romantic) and they are 2 way backs too which I personally like. The ad card is average, not much to say about it, and the double backer is just the same as the back design. The suits and pips are exactly the same except for the Ace of Spades and Hearts, all other courts and spots are the same except for the colouring on the court cards, they have an extra splash of red on all of them to add to the theme!

The back design just says 'love' in fancy writing all over the cards, however the backs are two way (as far as I can see) which I prefer as well like the jokers. The Ace of Hearts is a big hand-drawn red heart with 'Ace of love' handwritten below it - which I like as it fits with the cheesy theme of the deck. The Ace of Spades is hand-drawn too with various versions of 'love me' inside of it, and below it says 'Designed by Curtis Kulig',  In my opinion for fans and cuts the backs are not too exciting, they serve mostly for the novelty of a Valentine's gift, but I do believe that you could use this deck for a lot of 'love' themed tricks - perhaps 'Do as I do', for example. I believe they could have done more with the customization, such as having consistent custom heart pips throughout the whole deck, or doing the other aces instead of just two - in my opinion it's one, all, or nothing!
Overall for looks I'd give this deck a 6.5/10

Handling and feel:
Out of the box it is extremely slippy, as most decks are, I remember I tried to giant fan it 10 minutes after opening them and all the cards just slid along each other and fell on the floor! I have broken in my deck already after several hours of use and I can already feel the stock is a bit thinner and flimsier than usual, however it is not extremely thin and flimsy! They fan better than average (which is average for custom decks from USPCC these days) and they farrow well too. They shuffle, lepaul spread, spring and dribble fine although due to the thinness they lack that little bit of 'snap'. Overall I think this is a deck for collectors and magicians/cardists/people interested in cards who have partners (or buy it as a present for yourself if you'd like! :P )
Overall for the handling and feel I give it a 7/10 as it's not bad in any case, but just not outstanding compared to other decks out there.

Overall it gets a 7/10; I bumped it from 6.75 as it makes a great Valentine's gift!

Below are pictures of the two custom Aces, back designs, and several flourishes. (Some photos weren't focused too well, sorry guys!)

P.S Yes in the first picture there is a gym ball in the background.

P.P.S I shut my finger in a car door which is why it is super nasty.

P.P.P.S I apologize for my face.
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: DrianAbara on February 06, 2013, 04:07:21 PM
Sorry for the double post Don, but I needed to add some more pictures due to the image count restriction :D
Here are the two custom Aces up close, the joker, and a normal fan showing the backs :)
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: Don Boyer on February 06, 2013, 09:43:16 PM
Sorry for the double post Don, but I needed to add some more pictures due to the image count restriction :D

It's cool - I've done it myself.

BTW: that is one toothy smile ya got there!  :))

Good review, especially for a first-timer.
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: DrianAbara on February 07, 2013, 01:09:52 PM
Sorry for the double post Don, but I needed to add some more pictures due to the image count restriction :D

It's cool - I've done it myself.

BTW: that is one toothy smile ya got there!  :))

Good review, especially for a first-timer.

Thanks so much Don xD
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: Nurul on February 07, 2013, 01:14:15 PM
i love the fanning of the deck :) this deck looks cool :) i likey very much
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: DrianAbara on February 07, 2013, 01:24:49 PM
i love the fanning of the deck :) this deck looks cool :) i likey very much
The fanning is average for me, due to the rather plain back design it doesn't look to extravagant or exciting in fans, however I do believe my girlfriend will love it, she knows how crazy I am about cards xD
I was thinking about doing the '52 reasons why I love you' idea on this, but that'd mean ruining the cards and writing on them waahhhh :'(
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: Don Boyer on February 07, 2013, 02:31:56 PM
I was thinking about doing the '52 reasons why I love you' idea on this, but that'd mean ruining the cards and writing on them waahhhh :'(

Well then - just buy more!  :))  Magicians go through decks like most people go through underwear.
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: DrianAbara on February 07, 2013, 02:35:32 PM
I was thinking about doing the '52 reasons why I love you' idea on this, but that'd mean ruining the cards and writing on them waahhhh :'(

Well then - just buy more!  :))  Magicians go through decks like most people go through underwear.
I guess, but I'm not that big of a fan of this particular deck, it's just ruining cards in general :P Besides as I bought two one is for present usage and the other for personal, still not quite certain what I'm really gonna do to make it more special, any ideas Don?
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: Don Boyer on February 07, 2013, 02:40:40 PM
I was thinking about doing the '52 reasons why I love you' idea on this, but that'd mean ruining the cards and writing on them waahhhh :'(

Well then - just buy more!  :))  Magicians go through decks like most people go through underwear.
I guess, but I'm not that big of a fan of this particular deck, it's just ruining cards in general :P Besides as I bought two one is for present usage and the other for personal, still not quite certain what I'm really gonna do to make it more special, any ideas Don?

I like doing a nice color change followed by a deck change.  Use a standard red Rider Back deck, do a trick where you force the AoH on her, tell as story about hearts representing love as you do a color change to make the AoH convert to the "Love Me" AoH ("Ace of Love"), then do a switch on the entire deck, revealing the Love Me deck.  How you accomplish the changes is entirely on you!  :P
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: DrianAbara on February 07, 2013, 05:38:31 PM
I was thinking about doing the '52 reasons why I love you' idea on this, but that'd mean ruining the cards and writing on them waahhhh :'(

Well then - just buy more!  :))  Magicians go through decks like most people go through underwear.
I guess, but I'm not that big of a fan of this particular deck, it's just ruining cards in general :P Besides as I bought two one is for present usage and the other for personal, still not quite certain what I'm really gonna do to make it more special, any ideas Don?

I like doing a nice color change followed by a deck change.  Use a standard red Rider Back deck, do a trick where you force the AoH on her, tell as story about hearts representing love as you do a color change to make the AoH convert to the "Love Me" AoH ("Ace of Love"), then do a switch on the entire deck, revealing the Love Me deck.  How you accomplish the changes is entirely on you!  :P
That sounds great Don, thanks!

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Now just to figure out how I'm gonna do that...
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: Nurul on February 07, 2013, 07:04:11 PM
Is your gf planning on playing around with th deck? If not, th deck you're giving her, you could always write '52 reasons why I love you' on that deck .. Won't ruin th deck, will just make it unique ;) good luck with whatever you do buddy :)
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: DrianAbara on February 08, 2013, 10:45:42 AM
Is your gf planning on playing around with th deck? If not, th deck you're giving her, you could always write '52 reasons why I love you' on that deck .. Won't ruin th deck, will just make it unique ;) good luck with whatever you do buddy :)
No she doesn't do anything with cards (unless she's been learning and keeping it secret from me  :-[ )
I might start getting her to learn though... Magician boyfriend and girlfriend, that'd be great!
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: Knobz1 on February 08, 2013, 03:06:59 PM
The back design is just 'love me' in fancy writing all over the cards, however the backs are two way (as far as I can see) which I prefer as well like the jokers.
I just want to clarify that the back of the cards do not say “Love Me” but just “Love.”   Other than that good review.
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: DrianAbara on February 09, 2013, 10:51:36 AM
The back design is just 'love me' in fancy writing all over the cards, however the backs are two way (as far as I can see) which I prefer as well like the jokers.
I just want to clarify that the back of the cards do not say “Love Me” but just “Love.”   Other than that good review.
Thanks Adam, corrected it now!
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: Knobz1 on February 09, 2013, 02:37:55 PM
The back design is just 'love me' in fancy writing all over the cards, however the backs are two way (as far as I can see) which I prefer as well like the jokers.
I just want to clarify that the back of the cards do not say “Love Me” but just “Love.”   Other than that good review.
Thanks Adam, corrected it now!
No problem bud!
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: Lara Krystle "Lane" on February 11, 2013, 02:46:45 AM


Thanks for this review. :) I kinda like the simple joker thats just handwritten. ^-^
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: DrianAbara on February 11, 2013, 07:46:44 AM


Thanks for this review. :) I kinda like the simple joker thats just handwritten. ^-^
No problem Lara! I aim to do more reviews in the future!
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: g-low on February 13, 2013, 12:41:47 PM
I really like how they look fanned. Thanks!
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: digipunk on February 14, 2013, 02:18:44 AM
I like this deck too because of its design and the quality of the box, but somehow the stock of cards remind me of typical Bicycle 808 :o
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: Don Boyer on February 14, 2013, 11:09:55 AM
I like this deck too because of its design and the quality of the box, but somehow the stock of cards remind me of typical Bicycle 808 :o

Nothing wrong with that.  They only offer two stocks at this point, anyway.  The quality of the cards straight from the box are about as good as all the other custom decks that have come out in the past handful of months - which is to say pretty good.
Title: Re: [TXT] Love Me deck by Theory 11 (By DrianAbara)
Post by: DrianAbara on February 14, 2013, 06:34:40 PM
I like this deck too because of its design and the quality of the box, but somehow the stock of cards remind me of typical Bicycle 808 :o
Yes, the cards are rather thin, as I mentioned.
However, I am not too bothered as I went with the whole '52 reasons I love you' thing and she loved it!