Kickstarter: Forge Arts Unveils the Moonlight Edition of GAIA Playing Cards

A few days ago, Forge Arts announced the Moonlight Edition of GAIA Playing Cards. They wanted to build upon the theme of the regular deck by creating a nighttime version to coincide with the cycle of the day. Like the regular of GAIA deck, the Moonlight Edition features the hand drawn illustrations of 17-year-old artist Ben Sinclair.

Changes have been made to the new edition. This includes a revised tuck featuring a dazzling night time sky with embossed elements. The card backs for the Moonlight Edition have been specially recolored and cast in shades of blue in this limited version. There are also subtle changes on the Aces to reflect the theme of the deck along with the appearance of 2 new Jokers.

2,500 Moonlight Edition decks will be produced but only 500 will be sealed and numbered as a special thanks to supporters. Check it out on the Kickstarter campaign.

Kickstarter: 5 Things You Should Know About GAIA Playing Cards by Forge Arts

GAIA Playing Cards from Forge Arts is a hand-drawn deck of playing cards featuring rich artwork of animals and the biomes they encompass. Currently seeking funds on Kickstarter, this colorful deck is designed by Ben Sinclair.

The deck features an earthly tone on the back design which incorporate patterns that meant to convey life. The earthy colors contrast the bright colors from the rest of the face cards, beautifully tying the deck together. Here are 5 things you should know about GAIA Playing Cards:

1. The entire deck is hand drawn by 17-year-old artist Ben Sinclair. UK illustrator Ben was inspired by Wylie Beckert while designing the deck. Interestingly, while creating the designs he never thought of having them produced into real playing cards, they were instead a personal art project. The designs took hundreds of hours to produce using Sketchbook Pro and a Cintiq 13HD to create them digitally. Eventually Ben wanted to share these designs by offering them in an actual deck of cards. That’s when Forge Arts linked up with Ben to prepare the designs and offer them in a limited edition release of the deck which was named ‘GAIA’.

2. The tuck box is wrap-around, fully panoramic design featuring a lush landscape with animals. The GAIA tuck serves as a teaser for nature and wildlife contained inside. The foreground elements are embossed to give depth and create a truly stunning and special look. On the back, eagles soar over the land, while elephants stroll along a river with a waterfall crashing behind them.

3. The theme of the deck is based around 12 animals from 4 distinct ecological biomes. Ben Sinclair truly designed a unique deck like no other. Each suit in the deck is based off a real world biome. The Clubs represent the tropical rainforest, the Hearts portray the savanna grasslands, the Spades characterize the high-altitude alpines, and the Diamonds represent the freezing tundra. The jacks, queens, and kings are made up of awe-inspiring illustrations of the wildlife which inhabit these biomes. The aces are also crafted to fit into their environment.

4. Limited edition signed and numbered prints by Ben. Forge Arts wanted a way to show off the incredible detail in the court card illustrations. As a Kickstarter exclusive release, they decided to offer individually signed and numbered prints of all 12 animals featured in the deck. The prints measure 11 x 17 inches and are perfect for framing on the wall. You can grab one of these exclusive prints by going to the add-ons section on the Kickstarter page.

5. Printed by the United States Playing Card Company on an air-cushion finish. While appealing to collectors, Forge Arts also wanted to create a deck that could handle well. This is why they decided to print with the USPCC on their embossed, air cushion finish for superior handling. If the campaign hits the stretch goal at $20,000, they plan to upgrade to a casino Bee stock for the cards.

Pledge starts from $14 and limited edition signed art-print, dealer coin, uncut sheets are available as add-ons. Check out the Kickstarter campaign here!

7 Questions with Matt Preuss and Nicolai Aaroe of Märchen Playing Cards

A collaboration between Forge Arts and Nicolai Aaroe, Märchen Playing Cards brings the mysterious world of German legend to life. The cards celebrate Germanic culture from the Brothers Grimm to the cuckoo clock, with lavish designs.

Fully custom, the Märchen back design decorated with an entrancing blend of scrollwork, foliage, and heraldic crests. The courts are meticulously illustrated in exquisite detail by Nicolai each featuring a different German legend. All face cards will be printed with metallic gold inks. Stunning!

We managed to have a quick chat with Matt Preuss from RarePlayingCards and Nicolai about Forge Arts, designing Märchen Playing Cards and their plans for the future.

For those of us who don’t know, tell us a little about Forge Arts?
Matt: Forge Arts is our new custom label brand for RarePlayingCards.com. This new brand will be comprised of originally designed decks of playing cards that we collaborate on with very talented artists from around the world.

Our experience with RarePlayingCards.com has attributed to our passion for custom decks with unique, elaborate artwork and interesting themes. We finally wanted to bring to fruition the fun ideas that we have thought of over the years that would appeal to the community.

Forge Arts as the project creator for Märchen is now building its foundation on Kickstarter. It is important to note that while Märchen Playing Cards might be our very first deck, everyone involved in the project is very experienced in the field and we are very confident that this is going to show when the decks are manufactured.

What do you guys love most about being a designer? And what are some favorite projects you’ve worked on?
Matt: Nicolai Aaroe, the lead artist of Märchen, has worked on several successful decks in the past including Indictus, Dominus, Midgard and more. Nicolai will address the design aspect of Märchen.
Nicolai: The freedom to do whatever you want to do with a theme is very appealing to us and we do our best to work within some of the more acknowledged standards for poker playing cards, in relation to pips, values and indexes. For Märchen, we want it to be as unique as possible while still playable. The Germanic theme is something that is appealing to us personally, and being able to draw inspiration from the local area and geography was an absolute plus.

Can you describe the Marchen Playing Cards? and why you’re passionate about it? 
Matt: Märchen brings the mysterious world of German legend to life. The cards celebrate Germanic culture from the Brothers Grimm to the cuckoo clock, with lavish designs. Being our premiere deck, Märchen has been a blast to work on. We’re passionate about German folklore particularly and this project allows us to use our shared creativity to create a premium deck of cards that will be cherished by any collector. We really got a taste for creating decks ourselves and we already have our next idea planned well.

Talk to us a bit about going from the first draft to the final version. How did you get to this finished product?
Matt: Getting to the finished version was an exciting journey. Today there exists many types of custom decks with various themes, but we have yet to see one with a heavy Germanic element.

The first draft was loosely derived from a central idea of a Germanic themed deck. Starting with the court cards, we then took inspiration from various folklore and legends that stemmed from that region. We researched characters that would fit well with the court cards and bolster the story of the deck. From there we included the joker cards comprised of a cuckoo clock, castle, tree, and crest. Finally, we polished every design and character into the final version.

What was your most brilliant breakthrough when designing the deck?
Matt: Deciding to have two separate editions of the deck was the biggest breakthrough. This allowed us to expand our creativity since the Schwarzwald edition is tied to the Black Forest and the Hamelin edition is tied to the medieval towns and castles of a past era. This creates a contrasting element to the deck that really gives it life.

What’s next? Can we expect more deck designs in the future?
Matt: Absolutely! We already have another project ready to go that we’re excited to announce in the near future. However, our primary focus right now is to fully fund and produce a high-quality debut deck for all of our backers.

Finally, what are your favourite playing cards?
Matt: No. 17 Le Chat Rouge by Stockholm 17
Nicolai: Magna Carta by Seasons Playing Cards

Thank you for your time, guys. At the time of writing, the project is 72% funded with 20 days to go. If you want to support Märchen Playing Cards, you can find it on Kickstarter here!


Märchen will be available in two editions: Schwarzwald (dark green) and Hamelin (cream) Edition. Each tuck box will be sealed with an individually numbered sticker draped in a stunning, deep red color. Pledge starts from $14 and the deck will be printed by Legends Playing Card Co. on their diamond finish card stock. Dealer chip, companion booklet, and uncut sheets are available as an add-on.

First Look: Märchen Playing Cards by Forge Arts

[Update] Märchen Playing Cards are now LIVE on Kickstarter!

Forge Arts in collaboration with artist Nicolai Aaroe have revealed Märchen Playing Cards, their new deck of playing cards launching on Kickstarter tomorrow (7 Feb).

Märchen brings the mysterious world of German legend to life. The cards celebrate Germanic culture from the Brothers Grimm to the cuckoo clock, with lavish designs. Fully custom, the faces of the cards are drawn in metallic gold inks, protected by a matte finish.

Two limited editions will be available in the campaign: a green tuck box representing the enchanted forest of the Schwarzwald, and a cream tuck box standing for the medieval town of Hamelin.

The cards will be printed in Legends Playing Card Co on their diamond finish card stock. The Märchen Playing Cards will launch tomorrow on Kickstarter.

[Update] Märchen Playing Cards are now LIVE on Kickstarter!

Don't miss out! Follow Forge Arts on Facebook for updates.

Weiße Frauen. Enchanted elven beauties of germanic folklore coming to life for Märchen Playing Cards, scheduled for launch on Feb 7 by @forgearts They are described as beautiful and enchanted creatures who appear at noon and can be seen sitting in the sunshine brushing their hair or bathing in a brook. They may be guarding treasure or haunting castles. They entreat mortals to break their spell, but this is always unsuccessful. #playingcards #fairytales #folklore #germania #tales #legends #dirndl #kickstarter #elf #elven #drawing #illustration #cardporn #ink

A video posted by Nicolai Aaroe (@nicolaiaaroe) on Jan 22, 2017 at 8:15am PST