WAVES by 52Kards [KS May 12 2022]

[hsbc]

Were you expecting something more custom, or more traditional?

I expected modified standard courts and I'd be surprised if others didn't IMO these courts are quite cartoonish, which for me personally is not appealing The thick outlines seem to go against the thinner lines on the back design, and the colors fight against the monochrome back and seem from a totally different palette. Maybe the tuck somehow manages to unify the two different styles and make it all flow together??

And there's an awful lot of whitespace on the courts... why not fill it in with the wave pattern? That's probably what I expected, modified courts against the wave pattern

[GandalfPC]

I was expecting more traditional - not that I would have preferred that, as I was waiting to see how custom said traditional would be - these are quite a variation from that, and I usually find I need to spend some time with such surprises before making up my mind about them. I’m waiting for it to grow on me

[steampunk52]

I was also surprised but the courts. I was expecting something closer to traditional courts too or perhaps something bit edgy/futuristic. I do have some decks that fall into the cardistry camp with very unique/modern takes on courts, but these feel very cartoonish to me as well (relative to the back design). I don't mean this to be harsh, but they feel a bit like illustrations I might find in a child's coloring book. I really like the back design/illusion, but the courts seem like the belong in different deck to me.

Recognize it's late in the process, but perhaps you could if there is interest in 'Magicians' variant that has standard courts from the Mint series? I really like the richer red color choice in those.

[52Kards]

I appreciate the thoughts everyone! If I hear enough feedback about this then I'm certainly open to reverting back to more traditional faces. We could indeed adapt the court designs from the Mint playing cards and replace the Mint design pattern in the headpieces with the Waves Pattern (see image below). What I'll likely do is run a poll in a backer update during the campaign and let the majority decision decide if we use the custom court cards or the more traditional Mint court cards.

[Harvonsgard]

We are a horrible bunch in here, haha. First we call creators lazy when they go with standard or modified standard courts and now we are calling for it.
But yah, I'm pretty unison with aforementioned and always was on record for saying better standard than not to my favor at all.
@hsbc hit the nail on the head in regards to what feels wrong about the courts.
What I expected were indeed standard-ish courts.
What I was hoping for, something fully custom, mind-blowing that ties in the back design. Don't ask me how that would look though.

[shermjack]

I, too, will add my vote for more traditional courts...really appreciate that you are willing to listen to feedback and revise the design!

[hsbc]

really appreciate that you are willing to listen to feedback and revise the design!

+1

[hsbc]

MAY 12, NOON PACIFIC TIME

[rousselle]

The thing about the courts: the design you first posted here actually looks kinda cool, but it simply doesn't in any way look like it's related to the backs.

I don't know if you're familiar with Uusi's "Royal Optik" decks, but *those* courts look more like something I'd expect to see paired up with a back like this. Something that evokes an illusion-ish, wavy or geometric pattern.

Your idea of a mildly modified traditional court is probably a better fit than the courts you showed us a first, but I still think if you could figure out something more along the likes of Royal Optik, you'd hit this right out of the proverbial park.



Either way, I'm likely in for a few.

And, hey! Thanks for joining us here and participating in the conversation!

Edit: for years, I've been calling Royal Optik, "Royal Optix." I have no idea why I keep doing that. Anyway, being reminded about that weird tic by Harvonsgard below, I've edited this post, accordingly. I've left a couple previous posts where I've made the same mistake alone, for the sake of posterity.

[Harvonsgard]

Royal Optik is a great suggestion for inspiration.

6730CA36-0954-4F9D-B2C4-3C92A0E9A27A.jpeg (85.34 KiB) Viewed 4661 times

A more modern and wavy take and this would be one of my favorite decks.

[hsbc]

Launched and instantly funded

Here are the tucks:





Launch livestream on YouTube

[Harvonsgard]

Congratulations on funding. Tucks are very nice.

[rousselle]

Hey, @52Kards:

I like the borderless *so much more* than the bordered deck, but I can't just order a one or two of each and then get a bunch more of the borderless. I highly suggest you allow adding on the standard and the borderless decks as add-ons.

Thanks!

[shunterino]

While I appreciate the willingness to listen to the customer I think it's a bit late to make changes now. You already have a massively successful campaign so even if some people are happy to change the courts, there will be many who won't be. I don't think you gain anything by splitting the fan base at this point in time. Maybe as an add-on alternative version but not as a complete redo in the middle of the campaign. Madness.

[Strag]

I actually rather like the court cards, although not so sure they fit in the with "waves" or optical illusion theme just by having lines on them. Since I happened to miss out on the day 1 decks, and that 2 of each of the other two decks would cost me $79 shipped to the UK I'm going to give it a pass and potentiallu pick up after market. Given the very nice exceeding of the funding goal and huge number of backers, I don't think that will be too difficult and if it is, ah well.

[52Kards]

Thank you all again for the feedback on this project. I went ahead and posted a survey today so that backers can voice their opinion on whether they would prefer less traditional court card designs or more traditional court card designs. If you happen to be a backer, please check our latest project update post and cast your vote!

[sms69x]

I like both designs and would not like to have to choose between one or the other. So one way of solving this could be having one of the editons with one set of courts ans the other two with the other. I know this adds to the production cost and may not be doable but it could make everyone happy..

[TheGentlemanWake]

Seeing the votes and responses I don't envy the position youre in Asad!

[kevork]

Haha fair enough. If y'all don't mind me asking, what exactly do you find surprising/unexpected about the court card design? Were you expecting something more custom, or more traditional? Is there anything specific about the courts that bugs you? It's a bit late in the game to make any drastic changes to the design; but it'd be nice for future reference to get a better understanding of what hardcore card collectors like to see from court cards.

I love how open you are to feedback from the community. To me, they seem a bit too cartoonish/childish, reminding me of the KWP Back to School deck vibe. I chose Option B on the KS. Congratulations on the successful campaign!

[hsbc]

Some updates...

The Standard Edition Waves will be printed with the court style from Option A

The Day One Edition Waves will be printed with the court style from Option A

The Limited Edition Waves will be printed with the court style from Option B

I'm excited to introduce an extremely special Add-On item for this project. The Foil Edition Waves deck! This will be the most limited production deck ever created by 52Kards. We are unable to create a prototype that would do this deck justice, so I'll describe it in words and try to paint a pretty picture of it in your mind...

This deck will feature a borderless foiled back design with an inverted color scheme.
The Waves design pattern will will be foil stamped on the back of each card in a stunning black cold foil. This makes the design far more eye catching and luxurious than standard ink based decks.
The tuck case will be enclosed with a numbered/serialized custom seal for authenticity.
Only 1,000 of these decks will be printed. This will make it the most limited print run of any production deck ever created by 52Kards.
For now these will be limited to just 2 decks per backer so that more backers have an opportunity to claim a deck. If there are still any unclaimed decks available after a few days, then I'll increase the deck limit per backer.
The production cost of a foiled deck in such small quantities is much more than a standard deck, but we think it's well worth the extra expense to create an extra special trophy deck for card collectors.
The deck costs $23.

[Harvonsgard]

Great compromise.

[52Kards]

Quick update y'all

I introduced a new Add-on to the project yesterday:

Foil Edition Waves deck

This will be the most limited production deck created by 52Kards thus far. We are unable to create a prototype that would do this deck justice, so I'll describe it in words and try to paint a pretty picture of it in your mind...

• This deck will feature a borderless foiled back design with an inverted color scheme.

• The Waves design pattern will will be foil stamped on the back of each card in a stunning black cold foil. This makes the design far more eye catching and luxurious than standard ink based decks.

• The tuck case will be enclosed with a numbered/serialized custom seal for authenticity.

• Only 1,000 of these decks will be printed. This will make it the most limited print run of any production deck ever created by 52Kards.

• For now these will be limited to just 2 decks per backer so that more backers have an opportunity to claim a deck.

• The production cost of a foiled deck in such small quantities is much more than a standard deck, but we think it's well worth the extra expense to create an extra special trophy deck for card collectors.

• The deck costs $23.

As I'm writing this there are only 102 unclaimed decks remaining. If they don't get snagged up soon, then I'll increase the deck limit to 3 per backer.

[GandalfPC]

Removing my beware, as it certainly seems at this point that this new project has the right to use the artwork, and they also claim they used it previously in their V1, before waves - as pointed out below this artwork seems to exist before both parties used it.

Actual Waves king of spades:

[kevork]

Great catch, Gandalf.

[Harvonsgard]

Okaaaay... ? That is super weird. Like not even waiting until the project you steal from is over?

[TheGentlemanWake]

I wonder if maybe the artist sold the same design to multiple parties?

[GandalfPC]

52Kards got back to me earlier today - they are looking into it

[shermjack]

OK, well I just did a little internet search of the KoS court card and got to this (French?) website for a company called Kim-Play, which has been around since 1947 and the images of various courts are used to represent their officers or people on their team (scroll to bottom of page). Anyways, it leads me to believe that these courts are available to the public for use, but aren't commonly used and the designer for Waves apparently used them. I can't be sure about that, but they definitely don't seem to be an original design by the Waves artist.

https://www.kim-play.com/qui-sommes-nous/

[Harvonsgard]

There is nothing new under the sun...
Once again, haha. Explains why lots of us did get the "didn't fit the back design"-vibe immediately.

[GandalfPC]

Quite the surprise indeed.