What an uncertain year it has been! However, one thing is certain: we are incredibly fortunate to be part of such an inspired community of artists, designers, cardists, magicians, and collectors! Even with the pandemic, we have had a huge selection of decks released and delivered this year.
We’ve compiled our favorite decks for 2020 right here. To kick things off, this will be the first of four articles counting down to our Deck of the Year reveal next week.
If you think we’ve missed your favorite cardistry playing cards, let us know in the comment section below. Note that the selection expressed in this top 5 are solely those of the author and the list is in no particular order.
Contemporary and fun, this deck picks up Joker and the Thief‘s themes of duality and runs with it with a fresh, minimal approach. The fully custom design features a contemporary tessellating pattern back design The court cards are modeled on classics and have been completely re-illustrated by hand to create the distressed vibe associated with the brand. This rough around the edges approach continues onto the rest of the face cards and Ace of Spades.
Materia Deep.Sea
A truly unique marketing campaign by Cardistry Touch with a series of cryptic images, news articles of mysterious monoliths appearing around the globe leading to the launch of their new deck- Materia DEEP SEA. The deck features a bold and minimal design, with a simple rectangle shape repeated on the backs and the fronts. This consistency between both faces of the cards enhances motions and make it easier to focus on the actual moves and understand even complex cuts.
Fontaine Fever Dreams
A fun release from Fontaine Cards. The Fever Dreams Fontaines contains 6 decks of cards – each wrapped in a BLIND PACK. Also, comes in a Brick box that features a video screen with a charging port.
ARW V2
ARW V2 is Luke Wadey‘s Luke’s own rendition of street art, combining controlled mayhem with precise pattern work inspired by the Swiss design style. The deck features a 2-way back design and is printed with a combination of neon and CMYK inks. The deck maintains a bordered appearance whilst creating visual coordination of textual elements combined with bright neon graphics for card flourishes.
TEMPO
The futuristic deck by Ark Playing Card combines two-color UV light fluorescence technology to create the ultimate eye candy. Under the indoor lighting, tempo’s original high-profile pattern design is completely hidden, replaced by the minimalist style of black and white style. When the UV light is turned on and the UV light shines on the cards, the minimalist design elements magically disappear, and instead, a chic trendy style comes soaring back at you.
Note that the selection expressed in this top 5 are solely those of the author and the list is in no particular order.
