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montecarlojoe wrote:When 95% are playable poker decks it kinda seems redundant...

C'mon Joe! Why do you have to be such a Negative Nelly!

There's plenty of room for a Best Poker Deck award once we dump one of the MANY cardistry categories!

montecarlojoe wrote:When 95% are playable poker decks it kinda seems redundant...

Tbh, a lot of "best" decks aren't necessarily very good for playing with. Heretic (which won last year), comes to mind. I suggested it, as might be a nice way to recognize decks that may have sacrificed some artistry for playability. *shrugs*

To me, it seems the most "playable" decks are decks with standard courts and pips just because they're the most recognizable.

And what exactly would be non-poker decks? It would appear only tarot decks would qualify, and how many of those come out in any given year? Even the Heckadeck, as odd as it is, can actually be used for poker.

sinjin7 wrote:To me, it seems the most "playable" decks are decks with standard courts and pips just because they're the most recognizable.

And what exactly would be non-poker decks? It would appear only tarot decks would qualify, and how many of those come out in any given year? Even the Heckadeck, as odd as it is, can actually be used for poker.

I agree. There are very few decks on the current US market (that most of use collect anyway) that you cannot play poker with. In fact, unless you're buying a deck for play in another country OR a tarot deck, what's the purpose of buying a deck you can't play poker with? IMHO don't like that category AT ALL as it barely, if at all, limits the amount of decks that could be voted for. Seems awfully redundant to me.

I suppose it depends how you intepret it:

1. Best deck that CAN be used to play poker
2. Best deck FOR playing poker

In the first the cards could be any size and as long as long as all expected 54 cads (including jokers) are present it technically qualifies.
However in the 2nd unconfusing backs, clearly recognisable courts, standard sizing, no gimmicks, and extra features like squeezer pips for left handed players all wouild play in favour of a deck.

The 1st interpretation IS redundant.

If we are talking the 2nd interpretation then there's room for it... But I'll be setting the final bits and pieces together at the end of the week.

vasta41 wrote: I agree. There are very few decks on the current US market (that most of use collect anyway) that you cannot play poker with. In fact, unless you're buying a deck for play in another country OR a tarot deck, what's the purpose of buying a deck you can't play poker with? IMHO don't like that category AT ALL as it barely, if at all, limits the amount of decks that could be voted for. Seems awfully redundant to me.

I was just about to make the same comment.
I think there are too few decks for this category for it to be competitive at all.

Also, How are we deciding what classifies as a Best Rookie deck? Will this be restricted to first time KS creators, under 3 decks created etc?

Would it not need to the first deck - either by a producer or artist? When you get to deck 3 you really aren't a rookie anymore

I don't think we would need to limit the platform to KS (though most people do seem to cut their teeth there.

So putting all that together:

Best Ace of Spades
Best Back
Best Courts
Best Pips
Best Jokers
Best Gaff/Extra Card
Best Use of Colours in a Deck
Best Deck for Flourishing
Best Deck for Fanning
Best Deck for Magic
Best Uncut
Best Tuck
Best Coin
Best Innovation
Best Crowdfunding project
Best Rookie Deck
Best Non-Poker Deck
Best Deck for Poker Play
Best Overall

Clarifications:

• The spirit of the "Best deck for Poker play" is to choose the best traditional standard deck for play in general - there are many other games we could have chosen such as Bridge, Gin or Cribbage - but poker is probably the most popular and familiar. For sake of argument when judging or selecting a deck think Texas Hold'em.
• The best Deck for Poker Play should be exactly that - best for playing with - not just the prettiest deck that could conceivably be used to play.
• Best non-poker deck is looking at decks that could not be used for Texas Hold'em Poker (or similar games) at all - that is a deck that does not conform to four suits (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs - or artistic substitutes) each comprising of 10 number cards (1 or Ace through 10), and three face cards (Jack, Queen, King). You would normally expect 2 jokers (Black and Red), but having only one, or both the same colour, for whichever artistic reason would not qualify a deck on its own. nor would card marking or gimmicks (being able to cheat doesnt make them unplayable!)
• Best rookie deck is looking for best Deck produces by a first time artist or producer - the platform it was made available through is not important. A new production company or trading name for someone who has previously prduced decks would not qualify.

Hopefully the clarifications of the Poker /non Poker seem reasonable and unambiguous. Let me know any tweaks you'd make though as I want to have these cemented tomorrow evening.

OK - We're good to go!

Voting will be open on 11th Feb - see the beginning of the topic for updated details.

Spread the word!

Check out the beginning of the topic for new prize tiers and a spangly new poster from Lorenzo!

Voting is now open - voting closes midnight on Feb 18th.

Good luck everyone!

montecarlojoe wrote:Voting is now open - voting closes midnight on Feb 18th.

Good luck everyone!

As before, I won't be confirming each vote that I receive, only punting them into my secondary Inbox folder named "2016DechOfTheYear". I don't vote, so I do go through them looking for anything that might require us to DQ your vote(s) for one or more category, and notify you if I see something.

So far I have received four votes as of 4PM EST /NYC time.

I will acknowledge your entry though so you know its been counted. Mike is my second pair of eyes (and frankly more knowledgeable than me)!

Hi guys,
if it is not too late I want to add 3 prizes from NoirArts:
1 - mixed half brick of our decks (worldwide shipping included)
2 - Branle Tesoro deck (worldwide shipping included)
3 - Defunctorum coins (worldwide shipping included)

Thanx for such great contest.

Best regards,
Roman

Sweeeeeeet!

Thank you Joe for adding our decks to "Prize section". Want to note that Memento Mori Collection decks and were produced and delivered in 2016 also, I think that they clarifies to the list of 2016 decks. Could you add them to this list please?..
Thanx

Hello guys, sorry for the late

I missed this thread completely, too many SINS.

I'm still in time for donate some Thirdway Industries decks ?

There's always time!

You have a PM

After a little discussion and the back rooms we have decided to extend the vote deadline until Mardi-Gras (February 28).

It was also pointed out that some may want to participate, but feel conflicted about winning prizes - if you feel like that describes you, please do join in but let me know with your votes that you'd prefer to opt out of the competition side of things.

So a little more time to think and research - best of luck everyone!

I needed the extra time. Very busy at work this past week, and the pressure won't let up until Sunday.

Two decks that shipped in December that should have been mentioned in the lists of "Decks that qualify as 2016 releases":

Denim deck by CPC
PlayingColor: the World's First Coloring Playing cards by PlayingColor

FWIW.

Just two days to go to get your votes on to decide the best decks of 2016!

There has been a wide range of decks nominated this year so your vote could still decide a winner...

Last day to get in votes everyone. The more votes there are, the more accurate the results. Thank you.

montecarlojoe wrote:I will acknowledge your entry though so you know its been counted. Mike is my second pair of eyes (and frankly more knowledgeable than me)!

I did not see an acknowledgement -- Is that still happening, or delayed?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I couldn't confirm the process to enter in the earlier posts, we just PM montecarlojoe & Mike Ratledge?

Stepchild - wait a mo - I've seen it but I only just got home!

ecNate - yup!

And voting is over!

I'll need a little while to clear up any queries (so if we are still PMing dont worry - your vote counts) and double check entries and so on.

I should be able to publish the results by the end of the week - so stay tuned!

Now that votes are closed, I'll make a couple quick observations:

DAMN this was a difficult year for voting. Far, far too many very, very deserving decks in most categories. 2016 was an amazing year for custom cards.

Also, I'm not sure (and I don't feel like looking it up just now), but I think this may be the first year that I chose an overall best deck that I didn't actually pick as the top winner in any specific category (even though it was a very close call in several categories). Absolutely a case here of the whole being so much greater than just the sum of its parts.

Looking forward to seeing the results, but yeah... this was a great year for playing cards.

Cheers!

100% agreed. So many categories were almost coin-flip close for me. Deciding at another moment, I might've put my current 2nd choices in any number of top slots.

My overall deck winner was "a close second" to me in several categories and I only actually gave it top marks for two -- well, only two of the categories that deal with actual characteristics of the decks...