Your first deck

[Sher]

Mine was the Black Book of Cards by Uncommon Beat, from Kickstarter. I was obsessed with Kickstarter just like Shermjack, and it eventually turned into a playing card addiction. Well, former addiction... Hopefully. Lol.

[jsantafe]

Just like GotMagic, my first deck was Bicycle 1800s, non marked, from a local magic shop in Madrid.

But to be true, the first deck that grabbed my attention was Muertos from Steve Minty. Funny thing, never bought and now I would to have one.

The addiction started, so, before purchasing: I just had my first baby (1,5 years ago) and in those late sleepless night I started visiting T11, E, CartesMagie, CPC, etc.

So when I decided to buy, I was somewhat informed (still a n00b, now I know!) and got, form AoP:
- Fultons Casino Orange (still my preferred faux casino),
- Artisans White,
- Contraband (favorito T11 so far)
- and the, at that time, cherry on the cake: Green Gatorbacks.

I still love those decks and sometimes cringe when I see how badly I opened the seals...

[ecNate]

Like others here, I started with a number of more unique decks to just play around with, including Shadow Masters and Guardians, but didn't really think of it as a collection.

Apparently the deck that started it all was the Haunted deck which opened my eyes to fully custom decks with custom courts. The details are fuzzy as to what my actual first received deck was because I quickly found the Fed 52 (especially Reserve Note), Mr. Mead Dark Suits and Ultimate Deck, which also became my first uncut. Those first few weeks/months I got a lot of shipments!

[decibelhz]

I started collecting in 2013 because of Jackson and his Fed 52's. Then I became obsessed with custom playing cards and had to get my hands on as many decks as possible regardless of whether or not I actually liked them which was stupid and how I ended up with over 2k decks in my collection. I know better now and haven't been as active only buying cards that I really like. Most of my friends think I'm crazy and I totally agree with them.

[Levent Suberk]

My first deck was printed in Austria, I do not remember manufacturer's name. It is bridge size and courts are printed as V D R. I bought it in mid 1970s. Worn within time then I throw it.

[Siege]

First fully custom deck to reignite my passion in playing cards was Lorenzo Gaggiotti's Requiem deck (Autumn version). Which I still think is peerless today. Still regularly use it.

(Looks wistfully into the distance) I love that deck...

[Justin O.]

First fully custom deck to reignite my passion in playing cards was Lorenzo Gaggiotti's Requiem deck (Autumn version). Which I still think is peerless today. Still regularly use it.

(Looks wistfully into the distance) I love that deck...

Requiem... So good... I wish Requiem was my first deck, that's super cool

[Fes]

Fun thread, really a great idea. I decided to take these out and grab a couple snaps to share. At the time I wouldn't call it collecting at all. It was more of a just keeping decks that weren't the typical brand of playing cards I'd been used to playing with at the time. This was my first deck that fit into that category and later became a part of my collection. They were given to me by a friend of mine after we'd used some for friendly poker in mid 05, the deck itself was printed in 04. While it's nothing like what we see now a days, these two are special decks to me. I can't say how many hands of friendly blackjack and poker I've played with that red deck over the years but there it is in all it's very used glory. These two decks now live in the "Bloody Stump" area of my collection along side a copy of some of my favorite decks of all time.

[lms_jam]

I have been collecting many things since I was young my first deck of cards was probably Jurassic Park from the early 1990's I don't think I really got into collecting playing cards until about 5 years ago. My first KS deck was JR's Fed 52.

[52JokesandCounting]

Mine first deck will be Red Aristocrat I bought from T11 in 2009, but that didn't get me collecting. It was Lorenzo Gaggiotti's Heretic Lux that get me serious into collecting.

Still love it till this moment, and I do agree Requiem is 1 of the beast!!

[JacksandJokers]

I was just browsing through the General playing cards discussion section and thought we should resurrect this topic.

My first deck was the Limited Bicycle Elegance deck when I first discovered the CPC site & thought that a print run of only 2500 decks was pretty rare

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[Bradius]

I have said it before, but my first deck that started me on my journey was ordered, but I had a decent collection by the time it finally arrived.

[Eric Lee]

Interesting to see so far that JR and LG were the designers who were most responsible for getting us sucked into this addic.... err... hobby. T11 is the company other than Bicycles.

As for me, I'm fairly new to this. My first purchase was Jody Eklund's Titans Robber Barons deck on Kickstarter.
My first custom deck that I got my hands on was the Impressions Cardinal Ed. Playing Cards by MPC. Got both the black and the green decks. (They arrived way before Jody's decks did)

Yup, MPC got me started down this path. Their raised gloss embossed cards were really nice and different for me as a newbie. Those were the coolest looking cards for at that time when most of the cards I played with were free airline cards, cheap Chinese made knockoffs or the free Beer cards (Tiger, Guinness, Carlsberg, Heineken)

Ben Jones' Pipmen World deck was the 3rd purchase. Really amazed with the transformation art and there was no turning back after that.

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[Bradius]

Eric Lee, then we started collecting about the same time. The Impressions Cardinal Edition was also one of my earliest purchases as was Jody Eklund's Titan Robber Barrons on Kickstarter.

[Magic Tapp]

[Well, what got me into playing cards was coming across Alex Chin's Apothecary campaign on KS (which should also tell you that I have not really been at it for too long).

My first collected deck, however was this one, from Theory 11 (of all the T11 decks, this and the red edition are probably my favourites):

[theCapraAegagrus]

The first custom deck that I ever bought was Ellusionist's Black Ghost 1st Edition in 2007. Jackson Robinson's Federal 52 is what jump-started my collection, though. I bought all 4 of the most common Unbranded decks for $80 in the Autumn of 2015 (around the same time I registered here).

[Bradius]

TwoPiece, did that Federal 52 unbranded set include the Federal 52 Unbranded Black Reserve Note? If so, please note that I HATE YOU.

[theCapraAegagrus]

TwoPiece, did that Federal 52 unbranded set include the Federal 52 Unbranded Black Reserve Note? If so, please note that I HATE YOU.

No, that's why I stated, "4 of the most common".

I did buy 2 Unbranded Black Reserve Note decks for $30 (opened) and $99 (sealed) in 2016, though.

[Bradius]

I did buy 2 Unbranded Black Reserve Note decks for $30 (opened) and $99 (sealed) in 2016, though.

Groan. I did get a nice set of opened Federal 52 decks, but not the Unbranded Black Reserve. Still, happy with what I have.

[theCapraAegagrus]

I did buy 2 Unbranded Black Reserve Note decks for $30 (opened) and $99 (sealed) in 2016, though.

Groan. I did get a nice set of opened Federal 52 decks, but not the Unbranded Black Reserve. Still, happy with what I have.

If you have the White Reserve Note deck, then you're not missing out on much, really.

The Unbranded Black Reserve Note's appeal is definitely the tuck case and the completion of the series. The face cards are identical to the White Reserve Note, and while the back design is nice, the metallic red ink doesn't pop off the black as much as you'd expect/want. The tone of black isn't even consistent from card-to-card. It's pretty much a marked deck because of the inconsistent color.

[Adonael]

My first was really JR's Federal 52 part 2, seems to be a common occurrence! It can't develop into an addiction if you're always broke though, so it hasn't for me, always been quite fussy about what I back. I had never held a proper deck of cards before the first arrived, the cards immediately tried slip out of my hands and I was like whoa so that's what real cards are like. The reason I still keep collecting are the same reasons I started, great designs and artwork, oh and Lotrek/Lorenzo/Gio.

[wingedpotato]

The first deck I remember buying just to collect was this 1002 Aladdin 28 years ago back in 1990. I was in Thailand and got a kick out of the fact that the cards were made in my hometown of Cincinnati. At the time I had no idea the gilding was a special thing. I bought many licensed decks later (Mulan, Bug's Life, Star Wars, etc.) because I loved the unique faces and pips, but it was the Black Tiger, Tally Ho, and Ghost decks from Ellusionist that started my modern era of collecting.