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I'm coming around to these. I guess the shock of the green back knocked me momentarily senseless. It still doesn't look right if you ask me, but maybe I'm just remembering the Edgy Bros UC green deck last year - which was fantastic - too fondly. Gotta hand it to you tho Rick, that green tuck looks amazing! To be fair you sold me a pair the moment I found out you were involved.

The darker green back looks much better than before. It must be tough picking a green since the UC banner is a fade from a darker to lighter green top to bottom.

It's a Green Gem.
I love Green Gems.
I love Glowing Green Gems.
I love Shiney Foily Glowing Green Gems.

These Courts look to be flaming Outstanding !

I am going to second everything portcullis said.

Looking very good. I too would love foil backs. Excited to see the rest of the deck

Looking great, Rick!

As he noted, we decided to skip the holidays and we will be announcing more soo. I think it's a good decision. Several decent decks either didn't fund or barely squeezed by over the past month. Holidays just aren't a good time to crowd fund.

I prefer the darker green, too.
This deck is getting better and better. Great work, Rick!

Happy holidays to all!

Awesome decks & pretty queens
Great work (as always) Rick!

Can't wait!

Thanks guys, appreciate that! Thanks again for the feedback, more shortly. Happy New Year team

Hi everyone, hope your year has started well

Ok first look at the initial concepts for the court cards for De Novo. These sets are for the two decks - the green Viridi deck featuring full colour art, the red/gold Aurum deck featuring a more traditional variation in metallic inks. Each of the suits represent different factions in a future world... Happy to hear your thoughts!

I'm not a fan of each suit representing a different faction in future world. You need to create the story for each suit and hopefully have some "key card" or note on what each suit is. Maybe tweak the background so each faction has similar design instead of the one design across all four suits. And neither has the UC green coloring that I'd expect from one of the decks or is that up to the designer?

Green deck coloring looks great and like the Club. Red deck looks so bland in comparison.

Sorry for my harsh opinions.

This is looking fantastic! Really well done so far!
I would suggest some minor things, the KoS (green deck) looks too "real" when compared with the other courts you posted. Also the symbol in the KoS hat looks like a Club, this can be confusing!! As mentinoned by RichK, a different background for each suit would also be great. Other than that it is looking awesome (both versions).

Can't wait to see more courts!!

These are turning out great! I'd buy them as is.

alric wrote:These are turning out great! I'd buy them as is.

+1

The cards are looking great.

There will only be 2 different decks?

I need to know how many Carat Card Cases I need to order

Smocito wrote:The cards are looking great.

There will only be 2 different decks?

I need to know how many Carat Card Cases I need to order

Two standard decks, one "UC green" (the colorful one) and one red-ish tones (more standard, but of course not really).

I don't want to steal any of Rick's thunder, but there's a mystery involved with these decks. They not only tell a (future) story, they have cryptic clues to solve a puzzle (mystery?).

"All in due time"... Beyond the two standard decks which as usual are not just recolors (either back and/or tuck) - I don't like that - (they are significantly different) - there is almost certainly going to be at least one if not a pair of "ultra limited edition" decks just as we have done in the past, but the specifics of that are not nailed down yet, although I have my ears to the ground and I'm really certain that you're going to like them, whether they be typical laser-cuts like we have done the previous two years - or they are something a bit more exotic, which is what Rick is leaning towards: hand made, custom and bea-u-tiful, as all of his decks are.

I think we're truly in for a treat this year, folks! As I am prone to say: "Coming soon to a Kickstarter near you!" and at this point, pretty darned soon!

I haven't heard anything about special "perks" for UC members but as it's been many years since there were any I'm not holding my breath, sadly.

vasta41 wrote:I haven't heard anything about special "perks" for UC members but as it's been many years since there were any I'm not holding my breath, sadly.

I can't say for certain exactly what will be done, but I remembered to put a bug in Rick's ear, Paul. We'll see - it's not for me to decide nor to promise, but I am betting you will...

Well, I like what we have seen so far. I am excited to see this get kicked off and be an early backer. Of course, I really can't wait to have these in hand. Great job so far Rick!

Awesome job Rick! I love these as well!

Can't wait to see more.

Excellent, thanks for the honest feedback everyone There is still room to adjust these designs, so it's great to hear your thoughts.

The idea of factions grew from exploring how court cards might evolve in the future, and they don't necessarily need to be a major focus of the decks. As the cards of today are linked to famous characters from history, this could have the same idea. But there is a little back story to each suit - the Earthers, Humanists, High Order and Synths - which could be noted on the ad card in the deck. The suits could all be matched to the same colours, and it wouldn't be hard to introduce more green - or to obviously have two full colour decks - but I do like the idea of contrasting formats. I'm experimenting with more detail in the flat inks and will post that soon for your feedback.

Yes we're working on limited editions on top of the standard decks, thanks Mike, hoping to have visuals and specs nailed down this week

I very glad to hear there will be UC green version of the deck. That color says UC more than anything else though of course we don't want to handicap designers by requiring it. It would be great to fit it in though.

I would also like to see a UC member perk. Extra Limited Editions are way beyond my means so it would be great if there was something that would make the less fortunate among us who have been here for years feel like they were still a part of the group.

The deck looks awesome and I look forward to seeing the finished product.

The unitedcardists Annual decks should have a lot of reference to this site, whether its by color, on the AoS, or on the tuck itself, because that's the purpose of these decks. I always felt the appropriate "UC perk" would be to have an autographed deck just for the members here.

alric wrote:I always felt the appropriate "UC perk" would be to have an autographed deck just for the members here.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Of course it would be nice if there was an extra perk for members of UC who purchase the Annual UC deck, but practically speaking, it can't be something too expensive or impractical to implement. But I think autographed decks for UC members fit the bill perfectly. It's a nice personal touch, would be exclusive to UC members, and adds value to the deck. The only two downsides I see is that it would be somewhat of an imposition on the deck artist who is already so generously offering his/her talents for our Annual deck, and logistically it would be difficult if the artist is outside of the U.S. But still a really good suggestion.

I for one don't care for autographs but since there hasn't been a UC member perk in years I guess it would be better than nothing.

Thirdway Industries wrote:Awesome job Rick! I love these as well!

Can't wait to see more.

Putting your hand up for 2019??

portcullis wrote:

Thirdway Industries wrote:Awesome job Rick! I love these as well!

Can't wait to see more.

Putting your hand up for 2019??

Ahah no no - I've already did an UC deck: Delirium Prism - I think it's better that there will be a new artist for 2019
However, never say never... made an UC deck was really fun!

Thirdway Industries wrote:

portcullis wrote:

Thirdway Industries wrote:Awesome job Rick! I love these as well!

Can't wait to see more.

Putting your hand up for 2019??

Ahah no no - I've already did an UC deck: Delirium Prism - I think it's better that there will be a new artist for 2019
However, never say never... made an UC deck was really fun!

*facepalm* I KNEW THAT! THEY'RE FREAKING UC GREEN AND YOU'VE GOT "UC DECK" PRINTED ON THE TUCK.

I'm just off now to go burn my cardist membership card. *whistles nonchalantly*

To be consistent, I will use the text that I am going to use on Instagram: (different graphic)

With great pleasure I would like to announce the eminent launch of the UC2018 Sixth Annual Decks project on Kickstarter is coming up at noon (12PM EST / NYC Time) Saturday 17-Fevruary-2018. These glorious decks are designed by Rick Davidson of Origins Playing Cards in New Zealand and are the sixth release of our annual decks series. Expect more from this campaign! We have two versions of the standard decks and Rick is already working on an ultra limited edition laser cut, which has become a tradition for the series. More news as time grows closer.

@rickdavidsonz @UC2018 @unitedcardists @cardporn @DeNovo

I know this is a long shot, but can we get the KS funding in NZ$? (entirely selfish reasons)