Hey Boss,

Another way that's been discussed on these forums fairly recently (although it was apparantly for dirty vintage decks) is using a banana to clean the front and back. It looks interesting and they posted a video on the topic but I haven't had a banana at home recently to try it out haha.
As for your problem; unfortunately I've heard that the bicycle black scorpions - while a great looking deck - are one of those decks that apparantly just don't perform as well and get run down fairly quickly.
If you can't clean them all is not lost however - my suggestion would be to get a new, inexpensive unlimited deck for practice use (such as nearly any decks from ellusionist, theory11, blue crown or house of playing cards for 3-8 USD) and keep the black scorpions for special occasions/display/ only use the black scorpions to practice flourishes where stickiness is a good thing (think cuts where you're holding a number of packets?). Having a clumpy deck isn't bad - for some flourishes it actually helps to learn them on a clumpy deck and then move to a slippery deck.

To give you an example my current setup is this:
I have an old standard blue bicycle deck (from the 1990s) that I use to practice and learn/improve my new moves. It's a little stickier than most of the new custom magic-finish decks from all the use.
I have another old standard blue bicycle deck in a stainless steel clip that I use to practice moves that really bend and warp the cards (read: card springs).
I then have a LTD blue from ellusionist (it's a standard, inexpensive, slippery deck) that I use to practice moves that I've gotten better at and want to try with a more slippery deck of cards.
And I'll have one or two more decks out that are my most recent acquisitions /just nice to look at (at the moment those are black madison rounders and green madison dealers)

Another thing that'll help in the future is to make sure you wash your hands before handling your deck of cards - cleaner hands, less dirt and oils get onto your cards and then they won't degrade as quickly.

Hey,
Is this open to internationals?
If yes, please say so here or pm me
Thanks!

Hey AtomSmash!

Check this thread out: http://aethercards.com/discourse/playing-card-plethora/decks-with-complete-customisation/
It's a bit long but there are a few good ones on there.

If you have the time I'd recommend checking out kickstarter - alot of good decks started there for ~$10 USD + shipping a deck.
Regarding your price limit, do you mean readily available at <$15? The reason I ask is because recently on this board a guy sold red bohemias for $7, which is less than your limit but usually red bohemias would be more than your limit.
If you can get your hands on Uusi's cards I don't think you'd be disappointed. Encarded's cards also look amazing. And Zenneth Kwok has a small range of decks for sale with free wolrdwide shipping - you can get a Fatboy eat all day V2 for $10.90.

I personally like the Medallions. But if I really had to choose between them and the Monarchs, I think I'd take the monarchs. The recent T11 black JAQKs were less than $15 when released and are a great deck, one of my favourites. Unfortunately they were a limited release from T11 and their site doesn't sell them any more. Good news though I think JP Playing Cards is going to stock them... I might be getting mixed up with the black legends V2 though.

I tried to keep it broad to spark discussion. But I understand what you mean about detail and making it easier, so I will narrow things down a bit to help you. Kickstarter, CARC, D&D, T11, E, HOPC, USPC, etc. Basically anything custom made within the last 10 years.

Nice! Let's start talking. Throw out a few deck names that you think I should have in my collection. Something is bound to stick.

Hahaha that didn't narrow it down any . (I'm not as leet as you, I can't quote, comment, quote, comment I can only quote one block and reply all at once XD.

I'm glad to see you found a stateside trader .

As for decks that I think you should have in your collection, I don't know what your tastes are/what you're looking for in a deck, or what you currently have in your collection but maybe try this forum topic?
http://aethercards.com/discourse/playing-card-plethora/decks-with-complete-customisation/

A lot of the decks mentioned in that thread are beautiful (because if you're going for a custom deck, why have standard courts right?)

If that thread is tl;dr these are a few custom decks that I like off the top of my head (this only includes decks I've personally seen/handled in real life, so other designers out there, please don't be offended if I don't mention yours - it probably means I don't have it ... yet, or I have it and can't bear to open it):
Black JAQK from T11
Uusi Blue bloods
Medallions from T11
Arcanes and artifices from Ellusionist (not going to name a particular colour but there are... LOTS)

That's a small start ; like I said it depends on what you're looking for - nice art, good handling, an interesting story behind the deck's creation, cool reveals, and/or rarity of the deck.

Cheers,
Jon

Yeah this'll need a revote in the future.
I think this is a really interesting deck battle though I don't remember if there have been gaffed deck battles in the past. Come to think of it perhaps an idea for another poll/topic (or series of topics) in the future could be best gaffed deck and best marked deck.

As for the Gaff System it was released for preorder months ago, then was due to be shipped starting Nov 26th but got delayed and with the black friday/cyber monday sales the shipping got even more delayed. I ordered the gaff system Nov 26th or so and I still haven't got it yet haha

Also, I'm REALLY stoked that E released some more ultragaff bundles as part of cyber monday. I was thinking I'd never get my hands on it seemed rare to me.

I agree with your topic title, some very cheap prices for sure.
I sent you an email

The short answer is yes, it's relatively simple to present something that looks like a USPC product, and there are factories doing just that.

Thanks Don.
Mmm I remember reading about bee forgeries and them being listed as distributed by a particular company I forget the name now.
What I was meaning is if you opened a box of chinese made forgeries, would they actually pass for USPCC's cards finish and handling wise, not just if you saw a fake and a real one on the shelf.
I was recently in Hong Kong and someone told me about the chinese made jerry's nuggets for sale - their shop owner was upfront and said they're chinese made replicas so I bought one anyway and opened it - it actually handles pretty well but I've never handled real nuggets so I can't compare.

Quote from: Sher143 on December 28, 2013, 11:29:22 AM

Thanks,  PurpleIce!

I'm glad you mentioned the Vanity Fair deck because that was the one vintage deck I was referring to that I could not remember for some reason. 

Also,  to add to the list,  here are some of my favorite fully customized decks. They have custom courts and different pips in addition to a custom back and tuck,  but unlike the ones I've previously listed,  they don't have 54 unique illustrations (I hope that makes sense to you).

Aurum by Encarded (Paul Carpenter)
- Intricate, detailed,  continuous,  and symmetrical line work on both the backs and faces of each card.
- custom die cut on tuck box
- gold foil and embossing
- redrawn perfectly imperfect courts

Deco by Encarded
- detailed Deco pattern on face cards
- metallic inks on both cards and tuck box
- foil on inside of tuck box

Federal 52 series by Jackson Robinson
- custom courts inspired by U.S. currency
- intricate line work on faces of non court cards
- foil and embossing on tuck box
- print on inside of tuck box

Couple more to check out:
- Tendril by Encarded
- Sherlock Holmes series by Jackson Robinson
- Bohemia by Uusi
- Royal Optik by Uusi
- Pagan by Uusi
- White Rabbit by Albino Dragon
- Call of the Cthulhu by Albino Dragon
- Synthesis by Albino Dragon
- Call of the Cthulhu: The Writhing Dark by Shane Tyree
- Steampunk Cthulhu by Nat Iwata
- Elves and Orcs by Nat Iwata
- Steampunk Pirates by Nat Iwata
- Grid by 4PM Designs
- Grid 2.0 by 4PM Designs
- The Black Book of Cards by Uncommon Beat

All of the above were Kickstarter projects. At the moment it's difficult for me to think of any from Dan & Dave,  The Blue Crown,  Theory 11, Ellusionist,  or CARC that are fully custom.  I think maybe Animal Kingdom by Theory11?

I would add:

RSVP "Timeless"
RSVP "Butterfly"
Bicycle "Venexiana"

 

Haha Lotrek, thanks for the adds there.
I didn't actually know Venexiana wasn't your first deck until I found a butterfly deck while overseas, bought it, and read the bottom of the tuck box .
Funnily enough I have a pair of venexiana's on my desk waiting to be opened and a few of the coins already opened on my desk, I suspected the cards were full custom but haven't opened them yet to confirm . I'm stretching out the suspence. P.s. I like the little paper book you included to explain the courst characters!

Thanks guys!
Perhaps if we get enough info here, the PCP admins may be able to create a stickied topic that list full custom decks.
I do notice alot of the beautiful good quality kickstarters have great designs. I've heard of all the ones you mentioned but I wouldn't have been able to come up with a list like that off the top of my head haha.

As for ellusionist decks I can think of a few:
The artifice series are custom, but I think what draws away a little from them is how they release 5 million recolours *exageration* so it seems like the design is more common (that and the print runs for them are much higher than those kickstarters). I still love the purple artifice though (I'm using a purple artifice at this very moment in fact haha ).
The arcanes are full custom (I love the black arcanes).
I think the executive deck is too.
Actually now that I'm thinking about it, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most of ellusionists' decks are full custom; same goes for theory 11.
What I don't like so much is opening/buying a deck of cards, finding a custom tuckbox, back design, jokers, ad card and ace and then finding all the number cards and courts are pretty much completely standard.

What I DO like is the blue blood deck by uusi and how they've got art on all four aces and not just the ace of spades. I wonder what other decks out there have that kind of level of customisation and thought put into them. I'm waiting on a few more uusi decks I've ordered but I'm sure I won't be disappointed. As for those decks that have 54 unique illustrations they're good but I feel they're more art than easier usable playing cards (such as the anne stokes collection - they're beautiful and have unique illustrations but they sacrifice having pips on the number cards to accomplish that).

Quote from: PurpleIce on December 19, 2013, 09:02:36 AM

I do have a friend who takes personal group tours around the whole of Taiwan. Though i doubt he collects cards, I may get some info from him on possible sites where the factory is located.

Good luck.  I've heard there's over a hundred playing card factories in Taiwan.  I found dozens in a casual web search.  I was looking for the Legends factory and said to myself, "Well, there can't be that many card printers in Taiwan, right?  There's only a handful in the US that actually print here."  Sh'yeah...

Quote from: PurpleIce on December 19, 2013, 09:02:36 AM

I did some rummaging through forum posts and i think i found the thread you were mentioning.

http://aethercards.com/discourse/playing-card-plethora/where-to-buy-playing-cards-in-hong-kong/

It is still in PCP though. 

Ugh.  Oh, well, back it goes...  I get easily confused... 

Hey!
That Hong Kong post was my thread.
Lol I think I originally put it in STISO but it got moved to PCP XD bahaha.
Verloren was a huge help on that thread and seeing as you found it looks like you read the thread.

I got back from Hong Kong with a HUGE haul of cards. They weren't particularly cheap but mind you though I come from Australia where you can barely buy any variety of playing cards and international shipping costs a lot.
I managed to find 4 card stores in Hong Kong. 2 of them were in the 188 wan chai building; they have similar but slightly different stock. If you're in the Causeway Bay/Wan Chai district I recommend you check em out they have a lot of variety. Price wise they're about 12 USD a deck on average. They have some 30 USD/deck decks too (more limited/sold out ones like Encarded's Tendrils, JAQKs etc). There's also a card store in Sham Shui Po that again has a slightly different range, something unique about them: they have fake jerry's nuggets for about 10USD.
In my opinion the cheapest store (but a smaller range) was in Mong Kok above a Bauhaus. I think the name of the building is Ginza plaza/place or something.

As for your other destinations; can't help you there sorry. But in Japan I think if you looked around you could find some interesting palying cards. I noticed a fair few japanese brands make playing cards through USPC (eg Rilakkuma's, hello kitty, tokidoki ?Bape not sure if they're Japanese though )

Wow yeah that is a very impressive haul indeed!

Hey guys,
I just got back from Hong Kong where I went a bit crazy buying decks because they can't be found in Australia.
Here's a picture of each unique deck in my haul (I also got duplicates of some that I didn't include in the picture).
What do you guys think?
I can't even say which one of those decks was the best find (Note: the jerry's in the photo aren't real, the shop keeper was upfront about that - I just bought one to feel what the handling of fake jerry's are like then I remembered I've never handled real Jerry's so... I can't compare XD. But scarily enough they handle well, they fan like crap but riffle beautifully.)

This image is a compressed one because the full one kept giving me an error :S

Not until I get those turquoise Bees. I don't think they were opened.

Their collection isn't as vast as the other ones mentioned here. The only intriguing decks I saw were Altruism (not sure which version), Animal Kingdom and Phoenix Apocalypse.


I'm not sure if fake Nuggets count as intriguing.

What are turquoise bees? Are they a specially expensive/rare deck why do you mention those in particular?