Emanations are a deck of custom playing cards drawn and designed by magician Mahdi Gilbert for his unique style of magic and cardistry. The deck is currently on Kickstarter and, with 3 days remaining, is already funded. Only 2 spots remain to pick up the deck at the early bird price of CAD$16 (USD$12).
Emanations is a subversive exploration of early magic. These playing cards are but part of the overall project. According to Mahdi on the project page,
As I penetrate more deeply into my quest, I am compelled to share the treasures that I’ve uncovered. Wonders and secrets that have been discovered and lost countless times.
This pack allows you to perform magic and play card games the way they were more than 100 years ago. Mahdi continues,
It is my personal belief, based on my knowledge and experience, that we have lost much more in magic through carelessness than we can ever dream of gaining through creativity. My goal with these playing cards is to elevate magic by reintroducing high quality tools to magicians worldwide.
Emanations is a study of early magic that was spread around the pre-civilized world and Mahdi loved the idea of using an art deco style tribal mask in the artwork. He remembered Charles T. Jordan’s books and realized what he saw as a mask was really 3 letters.
Emanations is a project where explores the evidence of the unknown so Mahdi thought it only appropriate to appropriate something that he saw that wasn’t actually there. The same tribal mask design is featured on the one-way card backs as well.
The face cards are similar to Mahdi’s first deck, Hidden Leaves and feature no indexes just like playing cards used to be made, based on a very old and classic Goodall design. They produced some of the most artistic playing cards of their time and have inspired many trends, icons, and motifs you see in standard playing cards today.
Emanations will be printed to the highest quality possible by the United States Playing Card Company. The cards are made from the same Premium Bee Stock used in world class casinos for durability and flexibility. Pledge starts at CAD$16 (~USD$12) on Kickstarter.
