The humble acorn is a fascinating object. The seed of the oak tree, the acorn has been used as a symbol in many cultures for thousands of years to represent life, potential, strength, fertility, and even immortality.
Acorns have been included as design elements in historical decks of cards, and even appear on the cover of one of the most famed books on sleight-of-hand: The Expert at the Card Table.
When creating this 2-deck collector's set, we knew the acorn (aka the Oaknut) was the perfect symbol to use as the basis for the design. The backs have a classically-styled design with a modern flair. The faces have been customized with new designs and deep, rich color tones that still maintain playability.
This special set marks the debut of UltraLux™ Finish. After months of research and trial & error, we are thrilled to bring this new offering to market.
UltraLux™ Finish is the combination of casino-grade European card stock that has been crushed to the perfect thickness, with just the right amount of linen texture for a perfect glide. Put this together with vegetable-based inks and AquaFlow™ water-based coating and you have a deck that handles like an absolute dream. The cards are traditionally cut with smooth edges that provide just the right amount of grip. These cards are soft enough to get to work straight out of the box, but durable enough to meet the needs of a full-time magician, cardist, or card sharp.
Inside the beautiful collector's box, you'll receive two decks of cards. The Standard deck contains the gorgeous cards with 100% custom artwork, 2 Jokers, and 2 gaff cards inside a striking white & brown tuck box with an individually-numbered sticker seal. The Gilded deck has stunning dark bronze foiled edges on the cards. The tuck box is crafted from luxurious chocolate-brown paper that has the design stamped in gold foil. The sticker seal is also numbered to match the standard deck.
The most limited set of cards created by Penguin Magic to date, Oaknut is sure to have a special place in the collections of those who are able to obtain it.
•Only 250 sets produced
•Includes one Standard deck and one Gilded deck
•Matching numbered sticker seals
•Both decks housed in a sleek collector's box with magnetic closure
•100% custom artwork
•Designed by Anna Lukavska
•UltraLux™ Finish with AquaFlow™ Coating
•Traditionally Cut
•Custom jokers
•Bonus gaff cards included
This is a very nice looking deck. I like how it has an old looking style with the modern components such as the gilding and tuck shine. I also wish these were sold separately.
"When I like something, I buy. No matter who did it, how many were printed or how many (re)colors exist.
When I don't like something, I pass. No matter who did it, how many were printed or how many (re)colors exist."
traaaf wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 2:19 am
Is there a non-limited version? I actually like the court layouts, does anyone know if that style is used on any other Penguin decks?
Not yet. The creator said that a non-gilded version may come in the future depending on how popular this run is.
I ended up getting the boxed set from PDC on their black friday sale at 25% off. Good stuff. One comment for people considering the set is that only the decks have the limited edition seal with #, not the box. You have to break the box cellophane to see the decks inside in order to see what your number is (small nitpick).
I have. The handling is... fine. I mean, they feel fine. My imperfect hands have been unable to fan these perfectly out of the box the way I can with USPCC and some others. But, the stiffness and snap are good, the quality of the printing is good. The *feel* is totally fine. Ender's Game has posted his own review of the handling, and he (I'm assuming Ender's Game is a he, but that may be a mistake on my part) says that they fan perfectly for him, and that they are absolutely on par with USPCC. I do not find these equivalent to USPCC, but I do find that while the fanning is a bit clumpy for me, I'm still totally fine with the feel.
However, this is on the basis of opening only one deck. (I haven't opened the gilded deck yet, and I only picked up one set.) There have been other decks produced by other China printers (like those used by Legends for the Serpentine deck, as well as US printers, for that matter, like Mr Playing Card's work for KWP) where one deck fans perfectly but another deck from the exact same run fans like crap, so it's possible that this new printer is similarly inconsistent. Unlike the NPCC decks I've handled, though, these feel okay in my hands.
I’m sure my feedback is biased, but I have also handled more UltraLux decks for a longer period of time than anyone else in the world at this point.
It is different from other stocks, for sure. In a blind test, I’m confident that I’d easily tell the difference between a USPCC deck, Cartamundi deck, and an UltraLux deck.
Thing is, those 3 are all different, but they’re also all good. Handling is also incredibly subjective depending on environment (which includes the moisture/dryness of both your surroundings and your hands), skill level, technique, and personal preference.
I get perfect fans right out of the box with any/all UltraLux decks, be they Oaknut, Gingerbread, SpaceCraft, or Pegasus. I’ve also been fanning for 20+ years. Likewise with faro shuffles. It should be noted that these are traditionally-cut cards and faro more easily from faces-to-backs. If you faro with a backs-to-faces technique, it will take a little more breaking in before the faros are perfectly consistent.
One thing I like a lot about UltraLux is that they are smooth without being slippery. USPCC decks are fantastic, but when they’re new, they have a high degree of slip that I like to call “squirt factor” where the cards almost want to jump out of your hands, particularly with a thumb fan.
UltraLux fan smoothly but don’t have that same “squirt factor”.
Above all else, I love that we have more options than ever these days. Depending on whether your playing games, doing magic tricks, performing cardistry, etc you may prefer a thin deck, a thick deck, a stiff deck, a soft deck, etc. And today more than ever, people can find a stock & finish that really suit their desires.
With UltraLux the goal was something in the “Goldilocks zone”. Smooth but not too slippery, neither too thick nor too thin, and neither too soft or too stiff. A deck that can be used for a wide variety of applications and I think it’s delivering pretty well.
I’ve gotten great comments on the feel of the cards from Tyler & Steve at Deckin Around, who have no reason to blow smoke at me.
I also received these quotes from a couple of card experts. Erik Tait won the Gold Cups in close-up for his card magic at the International Brotherhood of Magicians. He will be competing in FISM later this year (basically the Olympics of magic) and has chosen an UltraLux deck to compete with.
His quote was, “I’m floored by how awesome these feel. I’d carry a deck on this stock into any show."
I also had a chat with sleight-of-hand expert Jeremy Griffith (aka Lost Angelus) about UltraLux, and his comments were, "UltraLux is fascinating! I've seen a lot of experimentation over the years with the 'feel' of various playing card stocks; some good, most bad. But playing with the UltraLux stock for the first time had me thinkin', 'now that's a damn good deck of cards!' (Which was a very refreshing experience)"
And as mentioned earlier in the thread, Ender’s Game Reviewer posted a pretty in-depth breakdown of UltraLux based on a couple weeks of testing.
UltraLux is still pretty new, so in time more and more people will have the opportunity to road test and give their feedback.
While personal preference will certainly vary, I don’t think there’s any denying that the quality delivers.
We have lots of new UltraLux decks coming out before year's end. Bound to be something that suits your fancy!
I'd tease images of our June release, but the feel/handling on them are slightly different than the other UltraLux decks because they have full-bleed black ink on the faces & backs, the designs on the faces & backs are fully done in foil, and the decks have black edge printing.
They still feel great, but they feel different from the other decks that use a bit less ink, no foil, and no edge printing.
PrincessTrouble wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 2:01 pm
Wish they would release these as individual decks. I'd pick up several copies of the non-gilded version in a heartbeat.
I kept the gilded version and I have the standard version available.
"When I like something, I buy. No matter who did it, how many were printed or how many (re)colors exist.
When I don't like something, I pass. No matter who did it, how many were printed or how many (re)colors exist."
I'm really quite liking this new card stock, which I first got to try with Penguin's Gingerbread deck. It is a very soft stock that fans of USPCC's crushed stock will probably enjoy. Although the cards don't quite hold their shape as much as I'd like, it's still practical enough for card magic (unlike even softer stock).
I've previously posted a longer write-up with my impressions of the UltraLux stock in another thread, with detailed thoughts about their looks, feel, and handling:
In terms of softness from most soft to least soft, I'd rank them like this: Luxury stock (Taiwan decks), UltraLux stock, Viper Finish stock (LPCC), Pre-crushed Classic stock (LPCC), Phantom Finish (DMC Elites). On that spectrum, USPCC's crushed stock would be somewhat comparable to Penguin's UltraLux stock in terms of the softness, IMHO.
Any other decks with brown gilding?
