UnitedCardists.com - The forum for Cardistry, Magic, Custom Decks and All Things Playing Cards.

Hi Everyone!

We're trying something new - an (almost) BLIND LAUNCH for our newest decks!
I know that Playing cards are mainly solid in a visual medium, but let's give this a go

What I can tell you about these decks:

• Super colorful

• Embossed foil

• Fully custom designs

• Great handling

• All round a reeealy nice deck

We are launching on the 23rd of Sept, but have an Earlybird Launch Event on the 22nd for anyone who wants to sign up. You get 24 hours head start on limited decks, exclusive teasers beforehand AND a nice 20% discount on pre-launch day!

All you have to do is SIGN UP HERE - pretty simple!

I'll see you on the inside soon

Ben

Hi! This is fun. You left out a little info so I gotta ask some questions in an all at once with a lot of marks format because that seems like it's fun today. Gaff Cards? How many Jokers? Paper or plastic? Printer?

I get the fun of an unseen thing and I love the opinion marketing but let us know some of the information we like to know plx. It won't spoil your Mystery any.
(Spooky orange on mystery. I was going to use all kinds of colors because we can see the link. Stuck with orange, mysterious orange.)

Fes wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:15 am Hi! This is fun. You left out a little info so I gotta ask some questions in an all at once with a lot of marks format because that seems like it's fun today. Gaff Cards? How many Jokers? Paper or plastic? Printer?

I get the fun of an unseen thing and I love the opinion marketing but let us know some of the information we like to know plx. It won't spoil your Mystery any.
(Spooky orange on mystery. I was going to use all kinds of colors because we can see the link. Stuck with orange, mysterious orange.)

Good questions:

- No Gaff cards
- 2 Jokers
- 310 GSM paper, butter finish
- Printed by WJPC
- Shipped by GWH
- 2-way backs
- Large corner indices for quick recognition

By pure stats: a fairly standard 'custom' deck of cards.
By Aesthetics; a pretty remarkable and eyecatching deck (I'm biased though)

I'm able count the people that can sell me a mystery deck on one hand - well, with one finger to be precise.
Despite liking what Elephant Playing Cards has come up with lately, you ain't it.

For those who are interested and some who specializes in opinions more than research.

Fud wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:02 pm - No Gaff cards
- 2 Jokers
- 310 GSM paper, butter finish
- Printed by WJPC
- Shipped by GWH
- 2-way backs
- Large corner indices for quick recognition

Thanks for the information Ben. Have any of your recent decks used this finish?

Harvonsgard wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 2:19 pm I'm able count the people that can sell me a mystery deck on one hand - well, with one finger to be precise.
Despite liking what Elephant Playing Cards has come up with lately, you ain't it.

No one is buying a deck blind - its just a blind launch. You won't be able to see the decks before the launch (prelaunch if you sign up), but the full sales page (with images, videos, testimonials) will be unlocked for you to purchase off. I would never do a proper black-box sale.

Decknowledgy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 2:29 pm For those who are interested and some who specializes in opinions more than research

That's almost all you'll see of the deck until the launch

Fes wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 3:21 pm Thanks for the information Ben. Have any of your recent decks used this finish?

Yes: Circuit and Starry Night. Circuit was really good, Starry was a bit less. I would say these are closer to starry night. But cardists can still make these move like water (as you will see).

That's good to know .

Today is the last day to register for the EarlyBird Launch list!

Our new deck launches on the 23rd, but Earlybird opt-ins get:

• 24 hours early access to limited decks

• A sweet 20% discount for the launch day

There is absolutely no downside to signing up, so why not?

SIGN UP HERE

And here's a last teaser before the EB doors shut: this is what you can expect inside...

Link: https://elephantplayingcards.com/pages/mosaic

Wow, these are actually pretty nice. Honestly, the tuck looked pretty rudimentary so I wasn't expecting much, but the courts are nice. I think I would've integrated the mosaic aspect a little differently, seems too easy to use it most prominently as an axis of symmetry, but the concept has lots of promise. I'm on the fence, only thing holding me back is WJPC. I'm a fan of the overall design work though!

I forgot to check for the 20% off email yesterday, so missed that, but today they did send a 10% discount code good for the next couple of days. I ordered one of each, plus another deck that isn't discounted, but was on my probable buy list (helped that the shipping charge seemed to be flat).

To me the brand has had a very mixed history in terms of design quality and interest so I can't say I was excited about the launch and seeing what it was. But I was pleasantly surprised, I actually went ahead and got the Gemstone version as well as a Starry Night deck. Between those two and the Circuit decks (I have the white version which I really like) I think Elephant has been on a bit of a roll lately!

My order arrived today. Both Mosaic decks make nice use of embossing and foiling on their tucks. They also have cards that feel very slick and sturdy, but I don't know if cardists would say they "glide." Not in the humidity here, for sure Also, I appreciate the large indices.
Under mixed artificial/natural light my eye sees the Blue Diamonds as very dark, at first glance even black. With window light only, my camera shows this:
(with some bonus dust from my blinds)

The blues on the back and the faces are noticeably different.

Someone under 40 with a Blue Diamond deck, please reply and let me know if it also seems dark to your unassisted eyes, or if I'm just (not) seeing things.

I liked the approach Ben took with the Mystery teaser launch sign up thing. It would have been cool if they'd at least given it twenty four hours to drive some traffic to the preorder site before slapping image links up but the three and a half hours wasn't bad I guess. I got a laugh out of it, should have made some bets first though knew what would happen. I think there are some interesting design decisions there on this deck. Some pretty serious flaws being made in the process. I guess it's two decks with two colors being offered, same flaws just in different flavors. I don't think either of them are good enough to warrant that price tag even with this discount.

At some point in time, probably due to kickstarter needing to have a price point that makes funding happen, prices inflated on playing cards. (they had to on KS, why not everywhere?) I don't understand why the price would inflate on these to whatever silly number that pre-discount thing is. (other than strike while the iron is hot and pay for the print run with some hype motions.) Know they'll be on Amazon at around a tenner in a couple weeks like everything else elephant makes. Oh wait, they're up now with prime shipping for under $12 usd not to worry though they'll be at under ten soon.

Absolutely applaud the self funding on these recent decks by elephant. It's nice that they're not abusing the crowdfunding avenue.

Fes wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:53 pm I liked the approach Ben took with the Mystery teaser launch sign up thing.

The mystery launch was a test, though not the test you probably saw

Fes wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:53 pmSome pretty serious flaws being made in the process. I guess it's two decks with two colors being offered, same flaws just in different flavors.

What sort of flaws do you mean? For me it's all about live and learn - if there's something that could be done better next time, I'm all ears!

Fes wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:53 pmKnow they'll be on Amazon at around a tenner in a couple weeks like everything else elephant makes. Oh wait, they're up now with prime shipping for under $12 usd not to worry though they'll be at under ten soon.

Nope, they'll stay at $11.97 on Amazon (2 cents higher than the website) plus a 5% coupon. Amazon's a tricky beast...

Fes wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:53 pmAbsolutely applaud the self funding on these recent decks by elephant. It's nice that they're not abusing the crowdfunding avenue.

I can't stomach the thought of asking people to pay $15+ for a deck that can be sold for $10-$12 and then hit them up for shipping too on the promise of 'limited' or the fake economy of 'hype'. I also dislike the disingenuous way some companies are using KS, but each to their own.

I will be running a KS for a deck soon, but it's not one like this.

I won't be inflating 'standard' deck prices beyond what production, shipping, advertising and warehousing justify. You won't see an EPC 'standard' deck netting more than $3-5 profit per unit, ever. And I'm always working to improve the quality and range of our products, so keep giving feedback! Every time someone does I always read it, and either act on it or store it away for later

Don't worry about Fes, they can't seem to stop typing walls of text everywhere which are ultimately vague and about nothing, but seem to be harmless enough. Although I'm not sure why they don't seem to understand how costs could rise over a period of 7 years since KS decks started becoming popular, or how not everyone has cash laying about to self-fund any deck they wish.

Though on that topic, considering what I'm used to paying for decks I myself was surprised by the affordability of these which is part of why I picked them up.

Fud wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2020 2:58 pm

Fes wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:53 pmSome pretty serious flaws being made in the process. I guess it's two decks with two colors being offered, same flaws just in different flavors.

What sort of flaws do you mean? For me it's all about live and learn - if there's something that could be done better next time, I'm all ears!

It looks like you were moving for more visibility on indices in this deck with a large oversize font. However for some reason on the dark deck your pips aren't so friendly to those of us who are visually challenged. The gemstone deck pulls the pips off much better and the dark would have with a color reverse on the pips. More visibility is a good thing when you're dealing with such a busy back ground on the card face. Both decks suffer from font choice in the indices on the courts though. I'm not going to point out more on the dark deck, it's got issues.

This is the biggest problem in my opinion, same design but a very lopsided set. Sometimes it's okay to not do a black deck, even more so when the design isn't suited for it. The typical set is just two colors, Red and Blue. Would have been great if you had done Gemstone and Sea Glass for example instead of whatever the dark deck is. Still get two decks out of the design with slight alteration on font pulling off loads of visibility. A much stronger set and I don't think it would have increased your cost, maybe a touch depending on inks but probably not.

Alright what were you testing? I'm curious. I liked it before when it was a hype mechanic. I may really like it now.

Fes wrote: ↑Sun Sep 27, 2020 5:39 am This is the biggest problem in my opinion, same design but a very lopsided set.

Alright what were you testing? I'm curious. I liked it before when it was a hype mechanic. I may really like it now.

Fair point, and it did turn out a bit cluttered. The original plan was to make the Gemstone version and a lighter mondrian color scheme one (which looks awesome!), but data indicated that a black deck would be better at first.

As for testing... I spend 11 months of the year testing, up until November 15 when the USA goes insane for 4 weeks. If I can squeeze even half a point of conversion rate out of anything, I will test it. For this launch, your pre launch emails, text images, offer, page setout, popups, copy, post purchase emails, pre and post purchase up/cross sells, etc - all were up for grabs. You wouldn't have seen any of that though. I don't know if that makes it better for you, but I think data is about the sweetest thing ever in business

I never thought of this as a hype launch (though I guess it was by definition), I considered it a clean testing ground