The Elixir Playing Cards by Seasons Playing Cards

[phantom1412]

Hi, I can't seem to find information about how the white deck is different from the black deck.
Is it only the tuck and the glided? The cards are the same?

(I got only one black so I wonder how the white I missed is)

[JuFiN]

The cards are indeed the same that is why the total decks black + white is 1000 (the minimum uspcc print run) Could not print a run small enough of a new design just for white version.

[Ikumi_V]

As always great:) Awesome work.

[Randomly Here]

Great work guys!
Boxing looks great!

[IAmTheChin]

Coming tomorrow. It'll be a KS Exclusive but you won't have to rush on some time zone which is nice. Just drop by if interested. I think this is a solution that will work. People pledging will get the full update (it's a long one) lol. Would post more pictures but I'm literally going to pull an all nighter to try to make photos now. That's the prototype was made this morning.

[theCapraAegagrus]

Coming tomorrow. It'll be a KS Exclusive but you won't have to rush on some time zone which is nice. Just drop by if interested. I think this is a solution that will work. People pledging will get the full update (it's a long one) lol. Would post more pictures but I'm literally going to pull an all nighter to try to make photos now. That's the prototype was made this morning.

A 3rd deck? I need the details NOW!

[theCapraAegagrus]

If I'm understanding correctly, if all goes well, there will be 4 decks and 2 cabinets to this campaign yes?

- Holographic-gilded White Elixir.
- Gold-gilded Black Elixir.
- Emerald-gilded Insights.
- Non-gilded Elixir.
- Burl wood Cabinet.
- New wood Cabinet.

[badpete69]

That's the plan.... Took this opportunity to let go of an extra cabinet pledge... It got snatched fast hehehe

[Magic Tapp]

If I'm understanding correctly, if all goes well, there will be 4 decks and 2 cabinets to this campaign yes?

- Holographic-gilded White Elixir.
- Gold-gilded Black Elixir.
- Emerald-gilded Insights.
- Non-gilded Elixir.
- Burl wood Cabinet.
- New wood Cabinet.

The way I read it, the non-gilded deck and the second cabinet are conditional on the result of the vote so there may be both, either one or none.

[theCapraAegagrus]

If I'm understanding correctly, if all goes well, there will be 4 decks and 2 cabinets to this campaign yes?

- Holographic-gilded White Elixir.
- Gold-gilded Black Elixir.
- Emerald-gilded Insights.
- Non-gilded Elixir.
- Burl wood Cabinet.
- New wood Cabinet.

The way I read it, the non-gilded deck and the second cabinet are conditional on the result of the vote so there may be both, either one or none.

You're right, that's why I said, "if all goes well". I personally don't see the need for another cabinet unless there's a total of 4 new decks in this campaign.

[Magic Tapp]

If I'm understanding correctly, if all goes well, there will be 4 decks and 2 cabinets to this campaign yes?

- Holographic-gilded White Elixir.
- Gold-gilded Black Elixir.
- Emerald-gilded Insights.
- Non-gilded Elixir.
- Burl wood Cabinet.
- New wood Cabinet.

The way I read it, the non-gilded deck and the second cabinet are conditional on the result of the vote so there may be both, either one or none.

You're right, that's why I said, "if all goes well". I personally don't see the need for another cabinet unless there's a total of 4 new decks in this campaign.

I agree - I am at the risk of being evicted by my better half because of the space my decks storage boxes take up and I really don't want to add another cabinet (which I would end up buying to complete the set)

[theCapraAegagrus]

I personally don't see the need for another cabinet unless there's a total of 4 new decks in this campaign.

I agree - I am at the risk of being evicted by my better half because of the space my decks storage boxes take up and I really don't want to add another cabinet (which I would end up buying to complete the set)

I was worried when I started reading this.

I'm really on-board with another cabinet, because then I would rather display all 3 campaigns next to each other, and the stacking problem from the 1st campaign wouldn't bother me.

[vasta41]

Well I just added $36 for the Emerald add-on!

[KT52]

Does anyone else feel that the emerald deck might be more limited and rarer than the black elixir when the campaign comes to a close?

[Bradius]

There are 641 backers with the potential to add two of the emerald decks. It is possible it could be more, but also possible less. It is a real possibility, but I am guessing it will be slightly higher or very close to that amount. I am just guessing though.

[Thedissident001]

Well I’m just going to go ahead and say how disappointed I am that this project has (de)evolved the way it has. Clear commitments were made that the gold gilded and white holographic gilded were going to be the last in the series, and next minute within the same campaign, two new ones are added, Emerald Insights and Midnight Elixir.

Anyone who wants to collect the series now has to stump for these cynical colour swaps (neither of which add anything new or particularly appealing) and the costs associated.

I’m intelligent enough to understand people’s opinions are largely based on where they sit with their pledges. People who wanted them enough got in strong and early, why should their exclusivity be compromised by a poorly conceived cash grab replete with poor cousin equivalents.

Beyond peeved by this and I suppose above all disappointed that Alex didn’t know his market well enough to account for backers adequately the first time around given the experience he has in the hobby

[sms69x]

Well I’m just going to go ahead and say how disappointed I am that this project has (de)evolved the way it has. Clear commitments were made that the gold gilded and white holographic gilded were going to be the last in the series, and next minute within the same campaign, two new ones are added, Emerald Insights and Midnight Elixir.

Anyone who wants to collect the series now has to stump for these cynical colour swaps (neither of which add anything new or particularly appealing) and the costs associated.

I’m intelligent enough to understand people’s opinions are largely based on where they sit with their pledges. People who wanted them enough got in strong and early, why should their exclusivity be compromised by a poorly conceived cash grab replete with poor cousin equivalents.

Beyond peeved by this and I suppose above all disappointed that Alex didn’t know his market well enough to account for backers adequately the first time around given the experience he has in the hobby

I must say that I agree with you to a certain extend.
Alex mentioned that he should be better prepared, but clearly he was, with this poor maneuver to cash-in in an extended series that is being extended to a point of exaution. After the success of his previous campaign he clearly knew this could happen, and having such a limited number of rewards available would ultimately led to this.
For once I would love to see a creator clearly express his intentions, instead of presenting poor excuses for the why he has to offer more decks or variantions of it. And as Alex wrote in a previous post:

know it would have been nice to be a bit more balanced with some display decks as well and in that sense this campaign will fall short. But since this is going to be the 5th and final deck of the Apothecary I really didn't want to create too many more variations and options and make this a big thing. I sort of wanted this to be the final cherry on top of the sundae as a nice close to the chapter to start something new.

So I don't see the reason why you have to came up with excuses, just be honest and admit, you're just adding more decks and variation for the simple fact that you can make more money on the campaign. I'm totally ok with that.

Now I would rather see you put a little more effort in trying to solve the misalignament of the cabinets than making one more variantion of this deck. Hope you're working in a solution for this issue.

[theCapraAegagrus]

Well I’m just going to go ahead and say how disappointed I am that this project has (de)evolved the way it has. Clear commitments were made that the gold gilded and white holographic gilded were going to be the last in the series, and next minute within the same campaign, two new ones are added, Emerald Insights and Midnight Elixir.

Anyone who wants to collect the series now has to stump for these cynical colour swaps (neither of which add anything new or particularly appealing) and the costs associated.

I’m intelligent enough to understand people’s opinions are largely based on where they sit with their pledges. People who wanted them enough got in strong and early, why should their exclusivity be compromised by a poorly conceived cash grab replete with poor cousin equivalents.

Beyond peeved by this and I suppose above all disappointed that Alex didn’t know his market well enough to account for backers adequately the first time around given the experience he has in the hobby

Honestly, I can't disagree with your outlook. It makes sense to me.

I added 1 Emerald Insights to my pledge for "completeness". I honestly am not interested in it otherwise, since the design was delivered in both a gilded and non-gilded deck in a previous campaign.

However, I am interested in the Midnight Elixir, because it's a more playable version of the gilded offerings.

If a 2nd cabinet isn't unveiled, then I'll likely be dropping my add-on for the Emerald gilded deck.

[Bradius]

With the new releases, this short campaign is really cranking. $74k+ and rising. I am sure it will also increase when backer kit is released to allow some folks to spread out their costs a little. It is like watching some shopping sale madness, but on Kickstarter. If I wasn't one of those in the mad dash, I would find it entertaining. Still, it shows Alex has a very strong base in Kickstarter. His funding is regularly hitting some of the largest numbers. Ravn is also doing well at $29k+ and rising.

I am in for the Emerald deck. His gilded decks are just great, and is fairly reasonable at $36 shipped. I do like the new Midnight Elixer as well. The star of this campaign though is the burlwood cabinet and the White Elixer deck. If you got that set, then you got the main thing. The others are just extras if you want them. I do want to get an extra cabinet because I have a pair of the first campaign's color changing decks, but not a cabinet for them. Possibly also a cabinet for the first edition ungilded decks in the first series. Then my set will be sort of complete. I also imagine a few with the first set of cabinets want to replace them so they lock properly with the second and third campaign cabinets.

[JacksandJokers]

Well I’m just going to go ahead and say how disappointed I am that this project has (de)evolved the way it has

Couldn't agree more.
I'm too am annoyed that what was supposed to be a simple, 2 deck & cabinet, limited campaign has now evolved into a 4 deck series.

And it's not just the extra costs, it's more to do with the fact that these additional items were never advertised as part of the original campaign in the first place.

I know in many cases it's not intentional but It's like, ok we've milked you about as much as we can right now so, surprise, here's something else for you to throw your money at.

Creators simply need to be more open about what they're plans / stretch goals are & then stick to it.

[sinjin7]

This was the first Alex Chin project that I did not back. I always open and play with my decks, so if there is a deck that appeals to me, I always buy multiple decks - one or two to be left sealed in my collection and all the rest to be opened and used. When I found out this project was an ultra "limited" 2 deck set with a cabinet I do not need or am interested in, I passed on principle despite being a big fan of Alex and his work. I don't begrudge artists for producing super-blinged ultra "limited" decks (they need to profit off their work and make a living as well), but I just don't understand why they can't produce a less "limited" common version deck that can be user decks.

I understand Alex said he wanted to go a different direction and keep things simple and wrap up his series with a low volume 2 deck set, and that was his prerogative to do as the project creator. But now we're seeing 2 more versions popping up, which defeats the original intended purpose of this campaign. Although there are certain factors that indicate otherwise, I'll give Alex the benefit of the doubt and believe this was an attempt (as clumsy as it is) to try to mollify his backers who missed out on the gold and white Elixer set, rather than this all being a pre-planned bait and switch naked cash grab from the start. If it turns out to be the latter, though, I'll find myself passing on a lot more Alex Chin products in the future.

[vasta41]

Although there are certain factors that indicate otherwise, I'll give Alex the benefit of the doubt and believe this was an attempt (as clumsy as it is) to try to mollify his backers who missed out on the gold and white Elixer set, rather than this all being a pre-planned bait and switch naked cash grab from the start.

How about the fact that he had the Emerald deck ready to go just 3 days after the KS began? In other words, if this were truly unexpected then wouldn't you think it would take more than 3 days to render up all the pictures and add another deck to the campaign? Not to mention the Midnight version less than one week later. So that's two brand new decks added in one week's time. I don't know about you but whether or not he expected the tiers to sell out, those decks were preconceived before the start of this KS.
And while I like the additional 2 decks and even pledged for them, I did do a literal eye roll when I read the updates. I'm hoping Alex falls on the sword here and just admits that he said "only 2 more decks" (in a matter of words) but lied (for lack of a better term).

[Bradius]

I think one thing is clear is that we all knew the 188 very limited deck set would sell out very quickly. Alex's other sets in this series all sold out with much higher numbers, so the final set with only 188 would surely go fast. That should be no surprise to anyone, including Alex. In fact, I am kind of surprised they didn't sell out in minutes rather than hours. The gold Elixer decks also took longer to sell out than I anticipated. Would folks be upset and post as such on Kickstarter that they didn't like that they missed out? Yep. Happens all the time. That also shouldn't have surprised anyone.

[IAmTheChin]

My commitment to this campaign has been incredibly high and my respect for my backers even higher. That is the only reason I’ve literally pulled 2 all nighters this week just to set up the surveys, read through all your answers, respond to all your questions, create new ridiculously expensive prototypes, and create a completely new set of renderings and photos for you guys. The extension of this campaign was based on your votes. The only thing that pushed me through was the idea that “at least the backers will finally be happy.”

I always open and play with my decks... I just don't understand why they can't produce a less "limited" common version deck that can be user decks.

This is exactly what others in the surveys voiced which is why I went through with the Midnight Elixir. It was made specifically to address this point so many people including yourself asked for.


I made the survey specifically to avoid this situation of being attacked. I know I wasn’t going to please everyone but there was a solid majority vote. The majority finally filled out the survey after the last KS reminder update so it was populated. If it was even close to a third against I would have given consideration, but it wasn’t even close. Only 44 people voted against a new deck. That means that there were still people that had the cabinet tiers that STILL wanted a fun play deck. Honestly it was seeing this that gave me the confidence to push through with all of this.

I let the project backers dictate the journey of this campaign and did my best to steer the ship. If you would like to criticize me for trying something democratic I’ll accept that. It was an experiment. But I will defend myself if you’re attacking me and my character in the light that I extended the campaign for selfish reasons. I made a 2 week campaign. I never secretly intended to milk anyone for a "cash grab". There is no runway in a 2 week campaign. If I wanted to truly generate revenue I would have made a silver gilded. But I didn’t specifically because you guys voiced your concerns over adding a new gilded elixir and I listened. Instead I went through the extra work and created a display deck, standard, ungilded, with a new feel that you guys voiced wanting (gilded owners included).

I'll give Alex the benefit of the doubt and believe this was an attempt (as clumsy as it is) to try to mollify his backers who missed out on the gold and white Elixer set, rather than this all being a pre-planned bait and switch naked cash grab from the start.

Thank you for that. In really do appreciate it.
I introduced a new product without it’s own campaign with 6 days left. There was no introductory momentum window that comes when launching a new product and was literally listed in the
“dead zone” of a campaign. The chances of us climbing back into the momentum zone now and reaching a close enough deck count to justify a 2500 deck production to hit the right cost per deck is a huge hail mary. I committed to engraving and making the boxes for the Midnight Elixir trying to again be nice to everyone. Making an new deck, with no runway or momentum boost, with added engraving costs priced at standard deck pricing is quite possibly the worst possible idea in history let alone a cash grab. The only reason someone would do this would be to cater to the backers requests themselves out of respect to them.

How about the fact that he had the Emerald deck ready to go just 3 days after the KS began? In other words, if this were truly unexpected then wouldn't you think it would take more than 3 days to render up all the pictures and add another deck to the campaign? Not to mention the Midnight version less than one week later. So that's two brand new decks added in one week's time. I don't know about you but whether or not he expected the tiers to sell out, those decks were preconceived before the start of this KS.
And while I like the additional 2 decks and even pledged for them, I did do a literal eye roll when I read the updates. I'm hoping Alex falls on the sword here and just admits that he said "only 2 more decks" (in a matter of words) but lied (for lack of a better term).

Yes, thank you for pointing that out. IT TAKES A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF TIME to render up and add another deck let alone two full decks. It's like taking a test, acing it, then finding out you have to take another test, but you have to wait for the teachers to figure out what test they want to give you, and then doing it all over again. The amount of work on my end has been utterly insane and I thought it would have been accepted a bit more. I wasn't expecting a hero's welcome but I didn't pull 2 literal all nighters to be greeted with a public execution and skepticism. You guys have seen this deck before. It was given to certain P52 moderators last year. It's green gilded with black engraving. I paid a bajillion dollars to have a rush prototype made with a new tuck is all. I thought it was a nice solution that was optional.

The key theme here is that I wanted these 2 decks to be optional. Join in if you missed out. I hope I could provide you with value. Don't join if you don't need it. You're already perfect already. Add one since you wanted a non-gilded deck to play with. Sure thing. On paper this solution should have been a success which is why all this conversation is baffling.

The update tone I will take into account. That's legit feedback. I'm emotional. I'll tone it down.

It's situations like this where it's because I'm literally exceeding expectations that I'm attacked which is why this forum discourages me. It just takes a rational mind to point and see that this campaign was run for half the time. End of statement. Anyone looking to milk the momentum of a campaign should always be hitting a 30 day window to reach both first and second swing of the KS algorithm. Doing a 2 week campaign is severely limiting and I do resent me being portrayed in this light.

disappointed that Alex didn’t know his market well enough to account for backers adequately the first time around given the experience he has in the hobby

I stand by my estimations for what information was available at the time. The first project had about 800 gilded. The 2nd had 1000 (800 ordered through KS) over 4 full weeks. I would think that everyone would agree in saying that 848 would be a safe estimation for a campaign half that length with 2 weeks. (Hindsight is 20/20 but given this information would you not estimate the same or less as well?)
My solution for the cabinets has been clear in the previous thread to pursue making a new set of cabinets going on into the future with the same orientation. Given all other solutions not feasible (reproduction, demagnetization). Of the collective 18 or so people that voiced their thoughts to me about this (on the forum and through e-mails) I still did try to make it right through reimbursement. I launched this campaign discounted where gilded decks went from $44 to $36 dollars. I priced the cabinets from $120 to $110-$99 depending on tier. This solution to give discount to those affected ended up being a discount I ended up giving to literally everyone in an attempt to be fair. Giving discounts to the entire campaign adds up to a large amount but again I took the hit for the sake of pleasing backers. (I don’t want to derail this thread so but you can join the original cabinet conversation in the previous thread).

it's more to do with the fact that these additional items were never advertised as part of the original campaign in the first place.

The fact that these items were never advertised in the original campaign was because I didn’t know there were going to be new campaigns. This wasn’t like the Luna deck where I had something in the background waiting in queue that I could just pop up. I literally had to create a survey of scenarios that I think you guys would like, take the data of what you voted on, run around paying exorbitant amounts to get prototytpes done, and also make all the renderings for them to make presentable in a way that you guys would actually get excited for it. I basically created an entire campaign for you guys within a 3 day period because I thought there would be appreciation at the end of the tunnel. To say it was exhausting is an extreme understatement.

TLDR; I estimated the campaign correctly with the data I had. Demand was higher than calculated estimates. People said I should fix this. I decided to let you guys decide. I sent out a survey to hear your thoughts for what’s next. I created an optional Insights deck to float us until the survey completed. Votes came in and I followed through with majority vote to create the Midnight Elixir. Both Emerald and Midnight provide the solution of being a nice substitute for those that missed out rather than shafting them empty-handed while still being completely optional for original backers as to not affect them. I’ve put more work in running this campaign than any other. I thought it would be greeted with optimism but is instead met with pessimism and attacks on character. Makes me reconsider why I do this.

[theCapraAegagrus]

Thank you for all of your feedback, Alex.

I'm personally just not a big fan of the Emerald deck, as previously mentioned, because this will be the 3rd variant of the Insight design. It throws my OCD out of whack!

In the survey, I did vote for the "display" Elixir deck, as I also mentioned because I enjoy having a more-playable version. As we all know, non-gilded decks are just much easier to handle.

Can you give away whether or not there will be a 2nd cabinet unlocked?

[vasta41]

How about the fact that he had the Emerald deck ready to go just 3 days after the KS began? In other words, if this were truly unexpected then wouldn't you think it would take more than 3 days to render up all the pictures and add another deck to the campaign? Not to mention the Midnight version less than one week later. So that's two brand new decks added in one week's time. I don't know about you but whether or not he expected the tiers to sell out, those decks were preconceived before the start of this KS.
And while I like the additional 2 decks and even pledged for them, I did do a literal eye roll when I read the updates. I'm hoping Alex falls on the sword here and just admits that he said "only 2 more decks" (in a matter of words) but lied (for lack of a better term).

Yes, thank you for pointing that out. IT TAKES A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF TIME to render up and add another deck let alone two full decks. It's like taking a test, acing it, then finding out you have to take another test, but you have to wait for the teachers to figure out what test they want to give you, and then doing it all over again. The amount of work on my end has been utterly insane and I thought it would have been accepted a bit more. I wasn't expecting a hero's welcome but I didn't pull 2 literal all nighters to be greeted with a public execution and skepticism.

If you really did all that then I stand corrected and give you all the praise in the world. Those 2 decks do not look like they were designed in a hurry so I immediately assumed. Shame on me! And if people's votes are what led you to printing 2 more decks in the series then I have no problem with that. After all I'm voting with my wallet and backed both of them as soon as the update came out.
As for execution and cash-grabbing, I never got on board with that theory. You've sold (and given for free) enough decks for me to know you're not about that.

[IAmTheChin]

Thank you for all of your feedback, Alex.

I'm personally just not a big fan of the Emerald deck, as previously mentioned, because this will be the 3rd variant of the Insight design. It throws my OCD out of whack!

In the survey, I did vote for the "display" Elixir deck, as I also mentioned because I enjoy having a more-playable version. As we all know, non-gilded decks are just much easier to handle.

Can you give away whether or not there will be a 2nd cabinet unlocked?

No problem. I just wanted a chance to show my point of view.

I was going to post the update this morning but got caught up in this thread. There was a 70% vote against. Sorry man. Got to stick with the vote.

[Bradius]

Don't think we all or even most of us think badly on your character Alex, quite the opposite. I am glad you mentioned the backer survey you conducted that drove your decisions on this campaign. Thanks for your feedback on our comments. Sorry, if any of our comments, especially anything I might have said, caused you pain. I appreciate you taking the time to be active in these forums.

[theCapraAegagrus]

Thank you for all of your feedback, Alex.

I'm personally just not a big fan of the Emerald deck, as previously mentioned, because this will be the 3rd variant of the Insight design. It throws my OCD out of whack!

In the survey, I did vote for the "display" Elixir deck, as I also mentioned because I enjoy having a more-playable version. As we all know, non-gilded decks are just much easier to handle.

Can you give away whether or not there will be a 2nd cabinet unlocked?

No problem. I just wanted a chance to show my point of view.

I was going to post the update this morning but got caught up in this thread. There was a 70% vote against. Sorry man. Got to stick with the vote.

No worries! Overall I am very happy with this campaign.

[sinjin7]

It's situations like this where it's because I'm literally exceeding expectations that I'm attacked which is why this forum discourages me.

First of all, thank you for your in-depth explanation for your thought process behind the Elixir campaign. You have always been open and transparent and have gone out of your way for the benefit of your backers. As I stated before, since this is literally your first project that I did not back, I was unaware you put out a survey for your backers, and that that was the impetus for the additional decks.

I went over this thread again and I didn't see anything that I would consider as character assassination on our parts, but all that matters is that you felt your character was put into question, and for that I apologize. I don't want to speak for the other members here at UC, but the posters you may have felt were attacking you are Thedissident001, sms69x, Misterharmanko, vasta41 and myself. None of these people have the reputation of crucifying deck designers or being trolls. I consider all of them fairly positive contributors here at UC. We're just passionate about playing cards, and because we're such fans of your work, we got a little heated in voicing our disappointment for certain aspects of your campaign, and I regret you perceived that as attacks. There have been a lot of deck artists who we all loved at one point, but have done less than honorable deeds that made us lose respect for them. You have very definitively explained the reason for every action in the Elixir campaign, and I'm sure we all have a better understanding and acceptance of your decisions as a result.

It really saddens me that our forum discourages you at times. Sure, we have our fair share of trolls that may tarnish our reputation among deck artists, but they are in minority and is something I hope we can get away from. I hope you can see it as an actual compliment that your talents are great enough to be able to inspire such spirited passion in the first place. I hope you continue to be a part of our community and I want to assure you that we consider you one of the good guys as far as deck designers go.