Hey guys,
Lyle here from theory11. I am the guy you will get 99% of the time when you send off an e-mail to theory11 support. I just thought I would hop in here and give you theory11's two cents on the topic.
Don hit this one right on the money. Yes, there are four different decks of Monarchs. No, they are not all that different from one another. Here is the reasoning for it all.
Gold Monarchs (Gold on Navy) - These were meant to be the original, but the gold ink turned out to be really dark looking on a navy background. This was an oversight on our end, and 144 decks ended up in the hands of collectors because we were rushing to get things shipped (delays with delivery) after our pre-release. These decks were shipped out to customers before we made the call to shred them, as the decks we got in our hands from that 144 were the ones that failed to impress us after final printing. We shredded the rest. These were never intended to be rare, and we really don't consider them an official part of the Monarch line, though they certainly are our cards.
Monarchs (White on Navy) - The standard Monarch deck. Like them or hate them, you can't ignore them. We hyped these things to death because we knew they were something special. They are the best selling deck we have ever released. They are also my personal favorite deck. They represent a striking change in the direction theory11 was heading with playing card design.
White Monarchs (Gold on White) - Intentionally limited. This is our way of catering to card collectors. If you don't think there is demand for exclusive and limited decks, you were not around when we released these. Twice our site was crashed from incredible numbers of button mashers refreshing on our site. This deck was created specifically as a collector's item.
Silver Monarchs (Black on White, Silver Foil on Tuck Case) - We had a TON of mad people after each White Monarch release. They weren't mad about the crashes, they were mad about the fact that they liked the White version of the deck but couldn't get their hands on it to USE IT DAILY. These were not collectors, but people who wanted the White Monarch to be their standard deck. The Silver Monarchs were created to give these people what they wanted, an unlimited white variation on the Monarch deck.
We try to cater to as many people as we possibly can. Yes, we are a business. Yes, we want to make money (shocking, I know!). That said, we do it by trying to give our customers what they want. If you don't like the Silver Monarchs, you don't need to buy them, and absolutely no harm done. If you do like them, suddenly you have a new playing card option. If you just like to collect every deck that comes along, that too is your call and you now have something else to get your hands on. We get accused a lot of trying to "suck people dry." We aren't forcing anyone to buy anything, but instead attempting to give our customers what they want. We simply hope to make a buck along the way, as that is what a business does.
Some people don't like the color variation trend. To each his own. Again, nobody is forced to buy anything. Instead, we offered (primarily) two colors of the Monarch deck because not everyone liked the Navy. The same is likely to happen with other decks of ours. The Rebels were recently released too, and we already have complaints that it is a black and white deck. Black and white fits the theme, but obviously does not fit everyone's style. The Rebels may have color variations to cater to more people. It all depends on what our customers tell us. We take feedback very seriously. You guys keep us in business, so you are the most important people to us.
Sorry for the long reply. I hope it clears things up for you all. There is a reason behind all this madness. There is more to come. The next deck release is something VERY different from what we have done until this point. Many of you are not going to like it or use it, but it caters to another group of people that has been mostly ignored in recent playing card production.
Hit me up via PM or here is you have any questions. I am happy to answer anything I can!
Keep it real guys.
// Lyle
theory11 Interactive
