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The tucks (although poorly rendered) would look amazing and those court cards are very, very well done, but... The center artwork for the back design is very poor (IMO the "border" looks great) and so are the pips.

I got the Midgard decks from these people, and the artwork is top-notch and the tucks were good. It looks like the artwork is really nice again, but I just can't get past the lack of quality from NPCC. These decks handle terribly. Unfortunate.

NPCC is what's keeping me away.

NPCC is the only major problem I have with this deck. Although I like the artwork and the theme of this deck, I probably won’t pledge for it.

Bah.
A pox on this futility.
The awesomeness of Aarøe Art defeats a few cardistry wimps, any day of the week.
In fer th'Mixed Brick !
May Loke fuse your fickle fingers .... [MURRAY]

As already pointed out the only big problem with this deck is the printer, a very poor choice again...

79% ....
Its Hammer Time !!

The artwork looks like the Marchen deck which is good. I'll pass.

I like Nicolai Aarøe's work. I am in for a pair.

Onehundredandtwentyninepercentagepoints. mmmm ....
Nullius Gloatus .... muchus.
Also, disincentively, tha more youse ignore the europe/s.e.asia contingent of cardistry, heheh, the less they will include youse ....

Don't know whether the designers are reading this, but I am curious about the choice of runes ... I mean the first big rune in the first pic (the O in Ormen) looks to me like an Anglosaxon rune, whereas most of the others look like elder futhark. It seems a bit bizarre. Don't know whether it's intentional. (the P rune also looks odd to me.)

shimmering wrote:Don't know whether the designers are reading this, but I am curious about the choice of runes ... I mean the first big rune in the first pic (the O in Ormen) looks to me like an Anglosaxon rune, whereas most of the others look like elder futhark. It seems a bit bizarre. Don't know whether it's intentional. (the P rune also looks odd to me.)

I'm far from a runes expert but I think you are right. He is using anglo-saxon runes everywhere, while the proper way would be to use younger futhark runes.

Yes, maybe you are right, AS runes everywhere ... except possibly on the "runic alphabet print" where the A and O at least look to me like elder futhark and not the same as what is used for A and O in the other runic texts.

Bradius wrote:I like Nicolai Aarøe's work. I am in for a pair.

I didn't realize that he was involved here. I'm not surprised that he's the reason that the court cards are very excellent.

Eaten half me shield already ....
May '18, by th'Gods !
Standing tall for the Fall.

Nice one Nic.

As most before me said, $37 shipped for 2 NPCC decks just isn't in my budget. Too bad- these are beautiful.

Love Norse mythology.

I backed for a pair of Ragnarok and the pair of the previous Migard collection.

Will probably add in the runic alphabet as well. That's a nice touch.

Bikefanatic wrote:The artwork looks like the Marchen deck which is good. I'll pass.

Funny about that ... both being Nicolai Aaroe decks. He's one of my go-to artists. I'm in for a pair.

This campaign has raised $93,000 so far. Not many decks as remain, so it may be topping out. I mean, I am in, but I don’t see this as better than Ambassadors decks at all. I am just left scratching my head trying to figure out why this is doing so much better than other card campaigns. I mean the Gemini campaign only raised like $68k.

Bradius wrote:This campaign has raised $93,000 so far. Not many decks as remain, so it may be topping out. I mean, I am in, but I don’t see this as better than Ambassadors decks at all. I am just left scratching my head trying to figure out why this is doing so much better than other card campaigns. I mean the Gemini campaign only raised like $68k.

These decks are a follow up to the Midgard series so I figure backers want to complete the "set", like I did. Plus I like Nicolai's artistic style. And I don't know many Norse themed decks out there.

I fear Lotrek might be not getting lots of backers since he has so many decks that took years but are finally being delivered. For what he's offering with metallic inks and blinged out tucks this Ambassadors deck is a steal in my opinion. And it's funded.

This deck is the third in a series by Design Imperator - I've just posted pictorial reviews of the first two (Chivalry & Midgard) here:

Pictorial Review: Design Imperator decks (Noir Arts)]

I wouldn't recommend NPCC playing cards for cardistry or card magic. I'd consider the card handling of their newest decks on par with MPC, and a grade lower than USPCC/LPCC. In my opinion they're fine for playing card games and for collectors - the tuck boxes in particular are outstanding.

RichK wrote:

Bradius wrote:This campaign has raised $93,000 so far. Not many decks as remain, so it may be topping out. I mean, I am in, but I don’t see this as better than Ambassadors decks at all. I am just left scratching my head trying to figure out why this is doing so much better than other card campaigns. I mean the Gemini campaign only raised like $68k.

I fear Lotrek might be not getting lots of backers since he has so many decks that took years but are finally being delivered. For what he's offering with metallic inks and blinged out tucks this Ambassadors deck is a steal in my opinion. And it's funded.

Ambassadors is an elegant and classy deck but it isn't something ground breaking nor is it a deck with highly customized courts. Everything is designed from scratch but still following the traditional look. Plus the delays I had in my previous projects. To be honest, it does better than I was expecting and it will be a well selling deck once it is out.
Rangarok on the other hand has completely custom courts, it is very well designed, the tuck case is very beautiful and the theme is appealing to many people in the world.

Bradius wrote:This campaign has raised $93,000 so far. Not many decks as remain, so it may be topping out. I mean, I am in, but I don’t see this as better than Ambassadors decks at all. I am just left scratching my head trying to figure out why this is doing so much better than other card campaigns. I mean the Gemini campaign only raised like $68k.

Agree with the other posters. I also wonder if the latest Thor movie is generating interest in the topic of Ragnarok, benefiting the campaign. Take a really well designed deck with fortunate timing and I think you have a recipe for the success we've seen.