Stratosphere (by Legends)

[Azid]

Just found this new release by Legends:

https://legendsplayingcards.com/collect ... 9342879910

Legends PCC uses space-age materials and techniques to create a custom deck of cards that is worthy for a trip to Mars on Space X's Falcon Heavy!

Fit for passage on a starship, this deck feels and looks like the future. We manufacture it with solar-sail material, typically used to propel spacecraft with radiation pressure exerted by sunlight. This ultra thin holographic mylar is laminated onto the tuck box and card sheets before they are printed on or cut, forming a strong bond to the paper that wont deform or peel.

After curing, we use a state-of-the-art Koenig & Bauer six station offset press to print pantone colors on this iridescent mylar foil. For designers as excited as we are about this process, you can even print white onto the material in order to block out certain shiny elements of your artwork! In this case of the Stratosphere deck, we printed a deep space blue color that fits with the theme, allowing the holographic solar-sail material to shine around those lines in it's full intergalactic glory. From the famed card designer Nick Vlow, looking at Stratosphere cards is like starting into the depths of the Milky Way.

The card faces have no expense spared, each space man / astronaut / cosmonaut features metallic gold pantone ink visors, with a clear spot UV applied over the top to give it that extra shine.

[MagikFingerz]

Cool concept, but the actual cards leave me with a "meh". Then again, I'm not big on line art.

[Harvonsgard]

Features over design... . Not the approach that'll convince me to get a deck anymore.

[Fes]

The deck needs the name, it needs the images of the courts and rockets to be understood. That's a shortcoming on a theme design in my opinion, especially given this space stuff theme. I don't like the card back. I don't understand what it is easily with mine own eyes. It could very well be a mirrored Mjölnir spinning around upon first glance. (which would make some sense to me there's rainbow flashy bling going on al la the Bifrost) Needless to say, I don't think I'm the target audience for this deck.

[GandalfPC]

Now available in “ultra” black…

https://legendsplayingcards.com/product ... 3479083174

[MagikFingerz]

Cool concept, but the actual cards leave me with a "meh". Then again, I'm not big on line art.

I stand by my original comment. Let's hope this "Ultra Black" is applied to better decks soon.

[Harvonsgard]

Features over design... . Not the approach that'll convince me to get a deck anymore.

I'll stand by my original comment, too.

[GandalfPC]

As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder…

D4CDD257-7C03-4D51-B10D-C5B1CA08F1EA.jpeg (306.8 KiB) Viewed 6876 times

Half brick for me - so if they do make some cards you like with this stock, you’re welcome

[PiazzaDelivery]

Not going to hate, it's not a bad deck, but I'm eager to get my hands on this stock. The edges chipping white is definitely something that has bothered me over the years and I'm curious as to how Ultra Black will hold up. Not willing to buy this one to examine though.

[STLBluesNut]

not a terrible looking deck but a couple irritants would keep me from buying this deck. the tuck is ''backwards''. i do not generally like lines separating the courts, but at least they are custom.

[Harvonsgard]

0BBD1899-FC5D-4B35-97C6-84873C8AB95E.jpeg

Half brick for me - so if they do make some cards you like with this stock, you’re welcome

If they start doing beautiful designs on this stock, thank me later for forcing them to do better by not buying this deck .

[GandalfPC]

6459E3D6-F372-4942-BC5B-A20F56132E23.jpeg (72.04 KiB) Viewed 6755 times

[Gavin Wong Magic]

Quick look at the new Stratosphere with ULTRA BLACK™ card stock in action:

[Strag]

The are definitely shiny, but the courts with the space helmets throw me off a bit.

[EndersGame]

I just got a copy of the Ultra Black deck in the mail.



Does it look as good in person as it does in the promo pictures (below)? Yes it does, maybe even better, especially when it catches the light. The iridescence looks amazing.

I just wish that some of the court cards didn't look that similar to each other. But I think it's nicer than the original deck, and it will be interesting to see what they do with this black card stock in the future.

[STLBluesNut]

i do like that the edges are black on this deck.

[PrincessTrouble]

Meteorite Edition now available:

https://legendsplayingcards.com/collect ... -meteorite

We use an ultra-thin mylar, or full foil, laminated to both sides of art paper. The card backs are a new shard-like holographic full foil, and the faces are standard silver holographic. Like Pokemon cards, both feature overprinting at different opacities to block out the shiny effects in the artwork. The only difference is these spring, fan, and handle like a normal deck of playing cards! A designers dream, and totally out of this world technology for future playing card decks.

The cards feel soft and supple, they aren't thick or bulky like other double-sided full-full foil decks. They are nearly identical in thickness to our Classic Finish card stock. The ink opacities and colors chosen for this deck don't affect handling like the black inks on the Ultra-Black deck, so they will fan perfectly out of the box.

The colored inks are printed on the full foil with a 2-ton sheet-fed offset UV printing press, and cured with UV light, not an infrared heat tunnel. This yields a different feel to to the cards than our standard Classic Finish.

The card faces have no expense spared, with silver full foil, each space man / astronaut / cosmonaut feature shiny visors and accents.

[EndersGame]

Wow. They are really taking this to the next level.

[kevork]

Meteorite looks absolutely gorgeous. My goodness. I like that they're using the series to push their limits and try new things.

[Eric Lee]

I can't imagine playing with these cards under a strong light or outdoors on a sunny day. You'll be blinded by the cards everytime you make a play!

[krystalie]

Somehow or rather, Rose Gold colored decks seems to hit different, can't wait to get it. Yeet

[vasta41]

I had to pick one of these up. Finally also got my Year of the Ox deck, too (since I'm an ox).

[STLBluesNut]

Wow. They are really taking this to the next level.

it is a shame they didn't go to the minimum level and merge their courts in the usual fashion instead of putting a line through them.

[Strag]

Sadly I am hit by the Shopify bug that won't let me get these shipped to my location so I'm out. Good price for this deck IMO.

[GandalfPC]

Sadly I am hit by the Shopify bug that won't let me get these shipped to my location so I'm out. Good price for this deck IMO.

You can hit me with a PM if you like and I can see if we can get them to you one way or another

[Harvonsgard]

I get it, glitter brings all to boys to the yard but next level? Swapping one foil for another is barely next level. We have fancy foil from Legends since what? Two years now? And mylar foil printed over since a minimum of one year. Legends marketing is almost at E! level nowadays.

[vasta41]

Legends marketing is almost at E! level nowadays.

At least they're experimenting. I'd rather that than resting on their laurels. I applaud new playing card innovations, even if I don't care for them.

But to be clear, I DO care for this.

[Harvonsgard]

Changing gold foil for a diffraction foil is in no way, shape or form innovation though.

[GandalfPC]

Having one fan and spring well does seem to be to me - I have plenty of blinged out decks that fan and spring as good as bricks do


“We use an ultra-thin mylar, or full foil, laminated to both sides of art paper. The card backs are a new shard-like holographic full foil, and the faces are standard silver holographic. Like Pokemon cards, both feature overprinting at different opacities to block out the shiny effects in the artwork. The only difference is these spring, fan, and handle like a normal deck of playing cards! A designers dream, and totally out of this world technology for future playing card decks.”

[Harvonsgard]

As if Cartamundi cold foil never existed, lol. Amazing hiw marketing works.