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I agree with Paul. We've had early release and such. I think this year we should try an UC exclusive.

RickDavidson wrote:Foiled backs seem to be the in thing at the moment - out of interest, what's the general feeling on their handling?

The technology of foiling the backs of cards have definitely come a long way. Handling for the purposes of magic or card games (such as poker) is just fine for either EPCC/LPCC or USPCC decks. In terms of cardistry, there definitely is a difference between EPCC foil and MetaLuxe from USPCC.

When an EPCC deck is foiled, they appear to utilize a stamping technique, so you can actually see and feel the pattern of the foiling through to the front side of the card. EPCC does a good job with the finish over the foil on the cards, so the negative impact on fans and spreads is minimized, but it's still there. Foiled EPCC decks will fan/spread slightly worse than non-foiled decks. Perhaps the physical irregularity caused by the stamping also contributes to the slight fanning/spreading degradation. But this is camouflaged to a degree by the fact that some of the various types of EPCC finishes tend not to fan super smoothly or evenly in the first place.

As for the USPCC, there is virtually no difference in performance between MetaLuxe foiled deck and a non-foiled deck. I don't know how the foil is applied to USPCC decks, but there is no stamping or textural effect from the application of the MetalLuxe foil, the cards are smooth and retain the free and even slip that the Air Cushion/Magic finish is known for.

MPC also makes a foiled back deck, but they intentionally texture the cards with raised UV printing over the foil (perhaps to mask the foil stamping). They look good, but the handling is sub-par and I wish they would come out with a foiled deck without the raised UV printing to see if the handling improves.

I agree with sinjin. I think everyone knows my preference for LPCC/EPCC over USPC (wish they would work on their registration issues!), but MetalLuxe is the way to go for foiled backs.

This appears to be a rebrand of Select Playing Cards? Sorry, I'm unaware of the history behind UC Annual decks and was under the impression that new concepts and designs make the cut for Annual decks.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/21 ... escription

Nothing against Edgy Brothers as well. I've seen the work and it is great but Select Playing Cards campaign failed for some reason. I do hope that reasons of the campaign not reaching the goal were looked into, and with UC backing this time around, I'm sure that Avant-garde will be a success.

guru wrote:This appears to be a rebrand of Select Playing Cards? Sorry, I'm unaware of the history behind UC Annual decks and was under the impression that new concepts and designs make the cut for Annual decks.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/21 ... escription

Nothing against Edgy Brothers as well. I've seen the work and it is great but Select Playing Cards campaign failed for some reason. I do hope that reasons of the campaign not reaching the goal were looked into, and with UC backing this time around, I'm sure that Avant-garde will be a success.

I think it's a tip of the hat appreciation to the Edgy Bros. who twice tried to get this deck to the public but failed. The new shading is incredible as is the color change on their successful Royal House Kickstarter deck courts UC stretch deck.

I don't know UC's deck design history either but want to see both succeed too.

Last UC deck, Nouveau, was also launched and failed twice before coming into Mikes hands (advice). And look at it now, new campaign (bijoux), same topic and going strong.

jsantafe wrote:Last UC deck, Nouveau, was also launched and failed twice before coming into Mikes hands (advice). And look at it now, new campaign (bijoux), same topic and going strong.

Was not aware of this and it does sound good. Third time's a charm. It does speak about UC being a great brand as well.

Coming on five days - now with glorious foil!

vasta41 wrote:So, I ask this every year it seems but what (if any) perk(s) are going to be set in place for UC members?

...so nothing?

We will definitely be doing something special for UC members. We are working on that this week.

Ready to launch in just over two hours. Don't miss the EB tiers!

Come help fund the #UC2017 Fifth Annual Decks project on Kickstarter. Link in the OP.

Shipping is messed up. Says free but 2 deck EB charged me $9....

Yeah, try to get in quick for an early bird and...
international shippings done it again! Can't bring myself to pay 50% more for shipping...

Anyway, your $100 pledge tier says four decks in a brick, maybe change that

What'S up with the shipping...is it really 9 US for shipping 2 decks to US?

hey, everybody - my apologies for the oversight on shipping. in kickstarter, you have to choose "united states" and set shipping at $0 and then select "rest of the world" and charge the regular shipping rate in order to ensure u.s. shipping is free. i didn't do that and that has led to this error and confusion. i have rectified the error in every pledge tier that has yet to be selected, but unfortunately all the early birds were selected almost immediately before we could fix them. and kickstarter does not let you retroactively (as far as i know at the moment) change rates.

i emailed mike ratledge to go over ways to fix the error. i think he has dealt with this before and we will get it fixed. he is currently riding out hurricane matthew so communication may be slow. i assure all our united states backers that they will not pay for shipping, even if we have to issue a refund to each and every one of you to compensate for the inconvenience.

again, my apologies and we will make every effort to set this straight as soon as possible. we thank you for your support - we are off to a very promising start and we resolve to make sure every backer is satisfied. thanks again for your patience!

pablo19 wrote:Yeah, try to get in quick for an early bird and...
international shippings done it again! Can't bring myself to pay 50% more for shipping...

Anyway, your $100 pledge tier says four decks in a brick, maybe change that

unfortunately, that was one of the other little details that got overlooked. kickstarter won't let me change a tier once it's been selected - even if it's to change the wording. we'll look into what we can do to fix that.

Okay, here's what i did. i shut down every early bird pledge tier, marking them as sold out. i then created a duplicate pledge tier offering the exact same number of decks and set the shipping charge for the united states at $0 and the rest of the world at the regular rate. everyone who has selected the old, flawed early bird pledge is advised to drop that pledge and get over and select the new early bird pledge so they can have the free shipping. if anyone is unable to get over and make that change before the new, correct early bird sells out, let us know and we'll make sure you either get a refund or we fix it some other way.

incidentally, when i made the new pledge tiers i was given the choice to set united states and "rest of world" shipping right away, and i don't think that happened when i set up the original pledge tiers, which may be why this confusion occurred. there might have been a glitch in ks's system. either way, it's still due to my oversight that all this is happening, and i resolve to fix it for everyone affected.

Yep, you never see that during previews because you never go through a "check-out".

I thought it would let you change shipping? Maybe not. If that is the case, duplicate them and put US=$0 before saving the new tiers, mark the original tiers "Sold Out" so they don't go back up for sale.

Thanks Guys! Pledge switched

one last thing - as u.s. backers pull out of the old, flawed early bird tiers that charge for u.s. shipping and move over to the new, corrected early bird tiers to get free shipping, we realize some foreign backers may not pull out and move over since their shipping won't change and they may be concerned they won't get over before the new tier sells out.

so, as a show of good faith, we will leave the old tiers up as well and look at them as our unofficial "international early bird tiers" for any foreign backers to take advantage and get a small discount on their decks. enjoy, and sorry again for any confusion!

a note on our decision to leave the old pledge tiers up - we actually decided to mark them as sold out because the tier mentions free shipping in the united states and kickstarter does not allow us to change the wording on a pledge tier once it's selected, and we don't want to continue to mislead domestic backers into thinking that they can get free shipping on those tiers when it isn't possible. so, any foreign backers that are in that pledge tier are welcome to stay, but any u.s. backers that stay in that tier will be charge for shipping. if they choose to stay in that tier and not move over for fear of not getting into the new tier before it sells out, we will issue them a refund on kickstarter at the end of the campaign for the extra shipping they were charged.

so, as of now, none of those old, flawed shipping tiers can be chosen, but we are allowing international backers to stay in them if they wish and any u.s. backers already in them may stay and notify us at the end of the campaign for their shipping refund.

shermjack wrote:Thanks Guys! Pledge switched

Cool! If anyone was charged, just select "Manage Pledge" then "Change pledge" and pick the new pledge tier at the same price. When you check out with these updated tiers, the shipping will be $0

shermjack wrote:Thanks Guys! Pledge switched

Thank you, Sherman! The short link is here: http://kck.st/2dVG41Y It's the easiest way to share it. We sincerely appreciate your help when you take time to share with your friends & family. That link / URL is also near the end of my signature block.

edgybros wrote:...but any u.s. backers that stay in that tier will be charge for shipping. if they choose to stay in that tier and not move over for fear of not getting into the new tier before it sells out, we will issue them a refund on kickstarter at the end of the campaign for the extra shipping they were charged.

I'm stuck in the $9 shipping EB since I pledged quick and had to get offline. Very glad to see I'll get a refund. Thanks!

I just hope the shipping snafu (although seemingly well taken care of after-the-fact) didn't deter any buyers, thus hindering this project getting funded. However at 85% right now it's looking good so next I'll hope it doesn't hurt the chances of the green deck getting funded. And I will be THOROUGHLY disappointed if it doesn't.

vasta41 wrote:I just hope the shipping snafu (although seemingly well taken care of after-the-fact) didn't deter any buyers, thus hindering this project getting funded. However at 85% right now it's looking good so next I'll hope it doesn't hurt the chances of the green deck getting funded. And I will be THOROUGHLY disappointed if it doesn't.

Already funded and then some, Paul. The few people who hit the EBs with shipping are mostly members here. We should have moved them out, if they are US backers, anyway - otherwise it doesn't make any difference, methinks.

Yes, it will need some more funding to release the green foiled deck, but we have a few tricks up our sleeves.

The Ultra Limited Blue Deck is numbered, etched, laser cut and comes in a carat case. Only 50 will be made, and they can be added for $50 (shipping is free). They are available now - just go to the Manage Your Pledge button and add the appropriate dollar amount to cover the number of decks you want.

I really REALLY hope this helps unlock the green deck. Only 5K to go!

Yea I fear if green doesnt fund the whole thing might fall apart I'm sure a lot of people would halve their pledge given that they assumed they would be getting one or two of each but don't want 2 or 4 of just the blue...