INTRODUCING THE IMPRESSIONS SERIES
MakePlayingCards.com revolutionary range of Impressions playing cards add something revolutionary to card design and printing: touch. The MPC Impressions series involves using special printing techniques to add a sense of actual touch to the artwork! By adding a secondary printing process, they create a raised glossy effect on the card faces, which is very visible due to the high gloss, and also can be actually felt.
In an another review, I've given an extensive overview of the process this involves, and its impact. In this review, I will give an overview of the current range of decks available in the Impressions series.
THE STANDARD EDITION
The Impressions Standard Edition is MPC's main and original deck with the glossy embossed effect applied to it.
When viewed normally, the cards seem fairly ordinary, although they do have custom artwork on the court cards, and also the Aces. And of course all the printing on the cards has an embossed glossy look.
THE COURT EDITION
The Impressions Court Edition has extended court cards.
This means that the graphics of the court cards are enlarged, to enable the artwork to be admired in more detail.
The image below shows a comparison with the Standard deck. On the left is a card from the Standard edition, while on the right is a card from the Court edition.
THE STEALTH EDITION
The Impressions Stealth Edition is a black themed deck.
All the cards have an intensely black background.
This is a very classy looking deck - although it might prove to be a challenging one to use at times!
THE PHANTOM EDITION
The Impressions Phantom Edition is a white themed deck.
You're definitely going to be relying on the gloss and feel with this deck as well! Holding up the cards to the light at the right angle certainly helps make these easier to discern.
See a good video here to see what the Stealth and Phantom cards look like first-hand.
THE FOIL EDITION
The Impressions Foil Edition was created in early 2015, and enhances the card-backs with the addition of metallic foil.
These are available in blue, red, and green.
Even the tuck boxes were also given an enhanced foil design.
THE FOIL FEMME EDITION
The Impressions Foil Femme Edition was created in late 2015 as a special version of the Foil edition, but in softer and more feminine colours: pink and mint.
This is a deck inspired by femininity. It uses the same high gloss, touch and feel printing technology, but is designed to meet a perceived need for a deck with softer tones, since very few decks use pastel style colours.
In the words of the publisher, it is "inspired by beauty, femininity, love and romance. We finalized on pink and mint colors which were chosen carefully from research of reports of popular colors which could represent this concept."
That doesn't mean that the Femme deck is a "women-only" deck, because the femininity colours will have a broader appeal. But it does certainly have a very unique vibe, because of the soft colours it uses.
The foil version certainly adds a touch of class that would be absent in a standard printing. See a video here to see what these cards look like first-hand.
THE CARDINAL EDITION
The Impressions Cardinal Edition is the most recent version that continues the Impressions series, and features blood red and white on a black background.
The decision to use this particular combination of colours for the artwork was made as a result of customer feedback.
As can be seen from the picture below, the card backs are also black, with the tree-inspired back design in white.
The red and black combination looks beautiful and classy, and yet using red and white still ensures that the suits are clearly distinguished, and the cards are playable.
See a video here to see what these cards look like first-hand.
THE RACING EDITION
The Impressions Racing Edition is similar to the Cardinal edition, but uses a blood red and white on a green background.
This deck was released together with the Cardinal edition, as a result of overfunding, and is themed in a British racing green colour. As with the others in the Impressions series, it also has an embossed tuck box.
The cards have green backs with white borders, and the white tree-inspired design.
Unlike the Cardinal edition, the court cards don't just have a single colour (red or white), but have other colours as well (e.g. yellow) that make them look like more traditional court cards.
This is certainly a very eye-catching and sporty looking deck! Like the other decks in the series, the glossy embossed printing is quite evident when it catches the light.
See a video here to see what these cards look like first-hand.
CONCLUSION
See my other review on the concept of this series for more detailed conclusions. In short, these decks are incredibly beautiful, with a raised high gloss that the light falls on in a most pleasant. But the raised surface on the cards not only affects the visual aesthetics of how the card looks, but also creates a fascinating feel. At the same time, the special embossing doesn't seem to get in the way of shuffling, fanning, dealing, or bending the cards, and doesn't impact negatively on playability.
It's an innovative and unique concept, that immediately gets attention and sets these decks apart from all others, and it will be interesting to see where this goes in years to come.
MPC has quite a line-up of different Impressions decks, which means we have a good range to choose from. I really appreciate the creativity and looks of these decks. MPC is definitely on to a winner here, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next!
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The Impressions series:
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A revised version of this article has also been published here.
