It’s that time of the year! We have painstakingly compiled the best playing cards for All Hallows’ Eve just for you. Behold! The 2019’s Kardify Top 12: Decks for Halloween! This year with enough monsters, bones, ghosts, skulls, quirky characters and pirates to keep your spine tingling through the night. If you have one that we haven’t discovered. Do feel free to share.
Note that the selection expressed in this top 12 are solely those of the author and the list is in no particular order.
Little Deck of Horrors
From Ellusionist, the Little Deck of Horrors is a celebration of the nostalgically scary ‘Ghost Train’ with faces haunted by ghouls, goblins, and ghosts. This whimsical deck features evil characters from the yesteryears in bright neon colors with a retro graphic design. If you are looking for a cool monster themed-deck for your magic routine or a nostalgic deck for game nights, Little Deck of Horrors will definitely do the job.
Culminus
Culminus Playing Cards by Nicolai Aaroe are inspired by the eschatological literature of the postexilic period. Culminus is represented by two meticulously crafted deck, Infernum (evil) and Infiniti (good). Both decks feature matte tuck cases, embossed artwork, and exterior and interior gold foil. Infernum comes in a Black-brown stock and Ivory matte stock for Infiniti. The gold on white on the Infiniti is especially stunning. Inside, the cards are fully custom with distinctive pips, ornamentation on the indices and hand-drawn courts.
October Second Edition
Fulton’s October Playing Cards is a frightfully fun and whimsically deck featuring the illustrated artwork of Steven Noble. Packaged inside the box you will find one tricked out deck of playing cards. Everything from the back design, ace of spades, jokers, and court cards were customized. The deck features a superior dark-charcoal and black box, while also incorporating an asymmetric design that proudly features the back illustration of the cards within.
Black Widow
A fully custom deck created and designed by Justin Froyd and J Gonzo. Black Widow Playing Cards is a unique deck to showcase all the traits of a spider, from the spider web to the hourglass shape of the deadly black widow spiders. The courts are custom yet familiar with the spider web design incorporated into their garments. The darker tone of the deck gives it a terrifying feel!
Bicycle Monsters
A fully custom Bicycle-branded playing cards inspired by the classic monsters from stories and myths, created in a fun style that will appeal to all ages! Each set of courts represents a different type of monster, from the Water Dwellers to the Undead, Shape Shifters and creatures not of this world. The retro feel of the deck adds to the deck charm. Definitely a great deck to use for Halloween.
Play Dead
Play Dead Playing Cards mixes bold line and shape patterns with 3D forms to produce these stylized illustrations. Fully custom, the deck is designed by Steven Harrison with stylized courts, Ace of Spades and backs feature bold line work which compliments the color palette and the intriguing theme. The 3D skull faces and pips add depth to the minimal design.
House of the Rising Spades
From the mind of Lorenzo Gaggiotti of Stockholm17, the House of the Rising Spades is an exquisite deck inspired an esoteric realm full of mysteries built for cartomancers, cardists, magicians, collectors, dreamers, and card enthusiasts. The beautifully illustrated face cards have no standard index, particularly the spot number cards (2 to 10). Recently picked as 52 Plus Joker’s ‘Deck of the Year’.
Bags of Bones
Mad kings, assassins and a headless dinner guest are all denizens of this dark and droll universe. Bag of Bones offers an entertaining mix of eccentric character and macabre humor! Designed and hand-illustrated by John Littleboy, this transformation deck is filled with humor and personality, from the flies in the web, the garden, the rising naga, and blood splattered stairs! What makes this deck so unique is that each card of each suit tells their own engaging story, which unfolds from each ace through 10.
Haunted 8’s
If you’re not already in the spirit of Halloween, then this spooky deck is certain to get you in the mood. Ghouls, Goblins, Headless horsemen, Zombies, Scarecrows, Pumpkins and more…! All packed into the October Kings Wild Shorts deck recently delivered to subscribers. A fun-filled deck brimming with artistry and ingenuity for All Hallows’ Eve. The theme, colors, spooky characters and design elements that make up Haunted 8s came together perfectly!
Monolith
This fascinating deck series has more sci-fi feel to it and a sinister and darker look to it. The neon inks certainly bring up a Sci-Fi feel to it. First glance, the theme of this deck you might think that this deck has a Sci-Fi theme, but designer Giovani Meroni added a Mythology twist to it. The courts feature the Gods of Space, that left us after creating the Universe. Spades are the Gods of Void, Clubs the Gods of Materia, Diamonds the Gods of Energy and Hearts the Gods of Life.
Skelstrument
Designed by Abraham Sanchez, Skelstrument is an intriguing deck featuring the human skeleton and musical instrument. Every element from the pips, Courts and card backs have been artistically drawn marrying the human skeleton, music, and the visual representation of sound. The purple and black bar on the card faces creates an incredibly striking design when the cards are fanned, squared or flourished… tying every card together like notes on a sheet of music. Definitely a fun deck for the Halloween season.
Seafarers
Seafarers by Joker and the Thief is a nautical-themed deck designed by Gustavo Magalhães. The intricate artwork on the card back not only incorporates symbolically and thought-provoking imagery, but they also maintain a timeless air. The court cards are all completely custom and the themes from the back design carry over and give life to these oceanic royals. They are unrestricted by borders, taking full advantage of the space of the card. Each suit tells its own story, with each jack, queen, and king being thematically and symbolically linked.
The selection expressed in this top12 is solely those of the author.
