guru wrote:Let me tell a secret...I know people r hell bent on Jackson for Legal Tender but he was upfront about getting decks printed from Chinese factory, and similarly, Gio has also updated here about Sins being done by same factory.In the same vein, Jody Eklund's new deck like TITANS Robber Baron is done at Chinese factory and he mentioned it on the campaign page from the start.
That being said, there is a popular deck which says Made in Taiwan but, it was printed in China. The creator never came onboard in any forum whatsoever, and everyone is always going to be under the impression that the deck was done in Taiwan and not somewhere else. Fact of the matter is that I've seen reviewers liking the finish n handling of this deck
I don't know what your basis is for making these comments. You just said Jackson was up front about Legal Tender being printed in China? Are you serious? He made
no mention of printing in China on his campaign page. His campaign ended back in August 3, 2016. He never made any reference to these being printed in China until February 2, 2017 -
that's six months AFTER his campaign ended!!! And even that reference to China printing was ambiguous. And while the Legal Tenders were most definitely printed in China, his tuck boxes state they were printed in Taipei, not China or PRC! Throughout this whole campaign, Jackson hasn't been up front about almost anything: not the foiling, not the delivery date, and most definitely not about the printer in China.
Gio stated he would use either the USPCC or EPCC during his campaign. Sins ended on March 19, 2017. Three days later on March 22, Gio informed us he would print with EPCC. We didn't find out about him printing in China until June 16 - that's three months after his campaign ended. But at least Gio was crystal clear about printing in China, and he gave us a detailed explanation into the reasoning for switching to printing in China. Whether this works out for him still remains to be seen - more on that below.
Jody did, in fact, notify us he was printing in China right from the beginning of his campaign, but that was near the very bottom of his campaign page in the Shipping section, not in the Deck Features section in the heart of his campaign page. Nonetheless, I'll give Jody credit for his disclosure right from the start
instead of months after he's already received our money after the campaign ended.
With all due respect to all the YouTube reviewers out there, and there are some excellent ones, none of them are serious cardists, so I'll take their opinions about finish and handling with a pinch of salt. Just because a reviewer opined that a Chinese printed deck inside a tuck that's mislabeled as printed in Taiwan handled just fine for them isn't conclusive of too much for me. I'll trust what my hands tell me more so than any non-cardist reviewer out there.
Thirdway Industries wrote:Hello guys - if you read the last update you should have noticed that SINS will be printed in the Chinese factory of EPCC, with JN Finish (Skull&Bones).
EPCC is very proud about the finish, they said there are many magicans (especially one, very famous) who gave them an excellent feedback.
I think its a red flag that most of the feedback from Jackson's Chinese printed Legal Tenders have been negative to varying degrees (in terms of finish and overall quality, not the art). Even the relatively few positive comments have still conceded that its not as good as other EPCC decks. As I have stated before, China has been able to print a decent deck (and please note, I say decent, not excellent). The Legends series are decent. But after this whole Legal Tender fiasco, I question the consistency and quality control of the Chinese printers. I know for first hand fact that there are some who have received poor quality finished decks bordering on unacceptable, and from second hand knowledge based upon comments on Jackson's own Comments Section on his KS campaign and from posts here at UC that many others have also received decks poorly finished to varying degrees. Yet based on a very few posts here at UC and on the Legal Tender comments section, and from direct communication from Jackson himself, there appears to be a number of good quality decks that fall within the range of other Taiwanese printed EPCC decks. What that tells me is that Chinese printed decks aren't consistent and uniform in quality, so it may be hit or miss whether we get a good deck or a bad one.
For Gio's sake, I hope his Sins decks come out with consistent quality from the Chinese printer so that everyone gets a good deck, otherwise it'll get ugly for him like it did for Jackson. And
please, make sure the tuck boxes state the cards are printed in China, not Taiwan. You don't want to mislead anyone with such false advertising, and you definitely don't want to run afoul of laws governing the merchantabilty of goods sold in the United States.
I know that Bill Kalush/EPCC/LPCC has been in contact with David Blaine about producing a deck for him. But what a magician requires of their decks are very different from what cardists require in terms of the physical qualities in a deck. And its worth noting that, as of now, the only decks Blaine has chosen to bear his name has been printed by the USPCC. Of course EPCC is going to say their proud of their finish. They're so proud of their finish that they're constantly re-working and changing it year after year.
EPCC/LPCC was supposed to be cheaper, faster, and better quality than the USPCC. Oops. Its now come to the point where I don't know if I can trust the quality of a deck from EPCC/LPCC, or even whether its printed in Taiwan or China.