The Prohibition Set from Ellusionist was inspired by the 1920’s Prohibition on alcohol. During the actual Prohibition, the manufacturing, sale and transportation of liquor were illegal. The name of the set is a nice touch in linking the 6 decks in the series together. Each deck representing a specific type of alcoholic beverage and each with its own look and feel. There are some who feel decks like these condone drinking and they choose not to support the project. To me they’re a deck of playing cards and nothing more, if you find the subject matter offensive you have the choice to not buy them. That’s the end of my disclaimer; I just wanted to get it out of the way.
There is a lot to like about this set, the variation in the decks is very nice and the inclusion of the display case, while quite simple, continues to work with the overall theme. The price point has been a bone of contention with some enthusiasts, but in my opinion, you really need to break it down and see if you’re ok with the final number. The equation I used was simple, I allotted $20.00 for the display case, I think that’s high for what it is, but that’s a good number in my opinion. With that out of the way you can break down the decks. You can purchase the complete set, with an additional set for $165.00 (just the boxed set for $125.00) Subtracting the display from the total; you’re purchasing each deck for about $12.00. Is that good? That’s up to the individual to decide. Recently the Absinthe and 52 Proof have been released as individual decks and tagged as version 2’s. So if you’re only interested in one or two specific decks, there is hope.
The 1st deck we’ll be looking at is the White Wolf deck. A fictional Premium Vodka designed by Mike Clarke. The deck has a bit of a Casino look to it with the White Wolf logo mirroring itself on either end of the bordered black card backs. The face cards have an interesting “Flecked” pattern as the backdrop of the entire deck; the courts have a modern line art look to them, simple, clean, and a bit of a “heavy” expression to the character model faces. The look does give it a heartier “Russian” feel loseley connecting it to popular Vodka brands.
The Ace of Spades has a beautiful organic look and feel to it, and what I assume are the Jokers, are two different images of a Wolf. Both presented in a high contrast, reverse black and white design. One shows the reverse silhouette of a Wolf, while the other is a close up of a Wolf’s piercing eyes. Neither has any designation of being a Joker, but the only other two cards in the deck are Ad cards, so I’ll stick to my original assumption. The face cards match the courts really well with half, line shaded pips and nice heavy indices. The tuck box takes on the look of a mock “Label” for the White Wolf brand. The color palette continues to follow the black, white and grey of the deck and the branding on the tuck has a nice emboss to it. The splash of color on this deck comes in the form of a colored tuck interior, a nice medium shade of blue, which also carries over to the custom seal.
Overall White Wolf is a nice deck, I find I like it more a part of the series, but I’m not sure how much I would like it as a standalone deck. The design and concept are well presented, but it really doesn’t have a huge “WOW” factor on its own. I think the Casino look and it being a black and white deck will appeal to some enthusiasts, while the lack of somewhat traditional Jokers may have others second guessing their purchase.
Check in over the next few weeks as we work through the entire Prohibition set, one deck at a time.
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| Image courtesy of Ellusionist |
PROHIBITION
Absinthe
Disparos Tequila
Rebellion Run
Moonshine
White Wolf
52 Proof
The Collection segment is produced by Anthony Ingrassia of Kardify. No part of this article, images or video can be reproduced without written permission from the author and Kardify.com. To see more of Anthony’s (Sparkz) collection and work please visit his Facebookpage or follow him on Instagram.
