[felicityk] Alternate suits, standard patterns, and vintage decks

[felicityk]

Room One is the new champion of fulfilling campaigns much sooner than expected.

And just like that, they've been dethroned! This campaign was estimated to deliver in June 2026. Talk about embodying the principle, "under promise and over deliver"!

The Dapper Menagerie, Jack Brutus Penny, KingStar, 2025

[felicityk]

I picked up a pair of French decks.

SEMP (Société d’Editions Médico-Pharmaceutiques), Grimaud, 1980

[felicityk]

This slightly oversized deck (65 x 100 mm) was too cute to resist.

Sa Majesté, Muriel Kerba, Editions MITIK, 2002

[acetofive]

Fun deck.

[felicityk]

Another early delivery, Robin Hood: Nottingham Edition. I've included the spades and hearts from the original deck, as well as the back. Both versions have the same diptych jokers.

I also got the Longbow deck, which I will scan later.

[Honeybee]

I think they look better as one way courts but the back of the original looks way better

[felicityk]

I think they look better as one way courts but the back of the original looks way better

Agreed on both counts!

[felicityk]

Here's the Longbow edition of Robin Hood. I appreciate the use of Italian suits, with arrows in place of rods/staves.

The diptych Jokers are now a triptych, but annoyingly they overlap a bit. And I just noticed only two of the Aces have banners, which irks me.

[felicityk]

This post combines 4 TWI decks, three from the Celestial Kickstarter and the Patreon deck Archons. They are tied together, as I will demonstrate in the next post.

Celestial Sophia (Spades), Celestial Fulgida (Hearts), Celestial Amor Dei (Clubs), White Archons (Diamonds)

[felicityk]

The Archangel courts of Archons are the Jokers of Celestial. Shown below, Celestial Fulgida includes Raphael, Uriel, Selaphiel and Azazel.

I like this trend of relating a Patreon deck to a concurrent Kickstarter campaign. Gio did this to a lesser extent with Casino Paradiso and The Gentleman Thief.

[felicityk]

I went to Seattle, Washington recently and had the chance to pick up the Theory 11 Fantastic 4 deck in a shop. These days, I wait until they have at least two new decks in order to justify the shipping cost, and they haven't released another deck I want since.

As it turns out, this magic shop in Pike Place Market has its own deck, released earlier this year. The four Kings represent the owners of the shop and have little custom details (I met the King of Hearts). A (mostly) standard deck is not a typical buy for me, but I'm glad I picked it up. The store itself is one of the oldest magic shops in the US.

[kevork]

I've been there! Had no idea they had their own deck. I bought blue cherry casinos from there so my friends and I could play card games on our trip. Nice find

[Adamthinks]

That's a cool shop. Didn't know they had their own deck. I was over at Pike Place picking up a few things Thursday. If I'd have known, I might have stopped in to grab one. I'll stop in again the next time i'm over there.

[felicityk]

My husband and I did a lot of silly things in Seattle. For reasons I won't bore you with, a rubber chicken became our mascot early on in our relationship, and that eventually led to a great affection for all chickens.

In Pike Place Market, there is a novelty shop called Orange Dracula, and they have a Psychic Chicken. It dispenses plastic eggs with fortunes, only 50 cents each!

[felicityk]

When it comes to novelty stores, the true mecca is Archie McPhee. The aforementioned rubber chicken was purchased from their catalog when my husband was in college. Their storefront in Seattle has been on our bucket list to visit, especially since they set up a Rubber Chicken Museum on the premesis.

[felicityk]

I would be remiss if I didn't end this interlude by sharing Archie McPhee's very own Rubber Chicken Playing Cards. I bought these several years ago, and added them to the P52 database myself. They came in a tin. I don't think they sell them anymore.

[felicityk]

Back to (relative) normality. Here's a Kickstarter deck that arrived last week. The gold foil on the backs and in the outlines of all face elements unfortunately does not come through in the scans.

Shahnameh, Shabnam Adiban, WJPC, 2025

[Adamthinks]

I just received my copy of Shahnameh yesterday. It's a beautiful deck. I'm really glad I backed this one.

[felicityk]

Too soon?

Good Pals Christmas: Snow Globe Edition, 2025, KingStar, 47Kills

[acetofive]

Too soon?

Good Pals Christmas: Snow Globe Edition, 2025, KingStar, 47Kills

Never.

[felicityk]

In any event, we decorated our tree the day after my post, so it is officially Christmas season in our house!

[felicityk]

Let's keep the holiday spirit going.

Gingerbread, 2021, Douglas Fuchs, Penguin Cards

[felicityk]

He's making a list...

Deck the Halls, 2018, Jackson Robinson, Kings Wild Project

[felicityk]

I subscribed to Kings Wild Shorts from the very beginning, and continued with the No. 13 club. This was the last subscription deck Jackson produced outside of the Table Players (the only current series). It happens to be one of my favorites.

ETA: The indices are French, but the pips display Italian suit symbols.

The Twelve Days of Christmas, 2023, Jackson Robinson, Kings Wild Project

[felicityk]

And here's a different take on the same theme.

12 Days of Xmas, 2020, Jason Cheng, Deckidea

[felicityk]

These foiled decks are impossible to scan and difficult to photograph, but for my last Christmas post I wanted to compare the original Nutcracker to the Sugar Plum Fairy edition, which I picked up in the KWP 12 Days of Christmas sale. The original is red and green with gold foil; the new edition is red and pink with silver foil.

[felicityk]

I just ordered the ELF deck from Theory11 along with the new Hamilton deck, but they won't be here before the 25th.

Any idea of being a Theory11 completist (at least with respect to their fully customized decks) has long since gone out the window. They do so many properties that I have absolutely no interest in. I like ELF well enough. It's long overdue for a rewatch, actually.

[Honeybee]

"I like ELF well enough" Felicity, didn't you get the memo: Nowadays it has to be "Love, love, love" to purchase

[felicityk]

We rewatched ELF last night. It's a great movie for someone who grew up with the classic Christmas specials (on US TV) like I did. It specifically parodies Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in places.

I also like all of the actors involved. It's funny to look back on Peter Dinklage before Game of Thrones. I already knew who he was, but he wasn't anywhere near as famous as he is now.

[felicityk]

Squeaking in at the last minute, here's the ELF deck! It's not their greatest work, and if I hadn't just rewatched the film the very specific gags would make no sense. Nevertheless, I'm happy to have it in my collection.

ELF, 2024, Theory 11