Who Won the 2023 52 Plus Joker’s Diamond Awards?

The 52 Plus Joker Diamond Award winners have been announced at this weekend’s 52 Plus Joker convention in Cleveland, Ohio. For the second year running, both ‘Artist of the Year’ and ‘Deck of the Year’ Awards went to Lorenzo Gaggiotti of Stockholm17. 

Lorenzo’s 17th Kingdom playing cards won ‘Deck of the Year’, a remarkable deck that defies convention with its captivating glass-hour shape. This is Lorenzo’s THIRD double category since winning both categories in 2019.

Other decks in the category were RX Almanac by Elettra Deganello, Under the Moon by Jocu PLaying Cards, Eye of Kukulkan by Herman Ong and Ethereal Dreams by Digital Desires.

Congratulations Lorenzo! 😀

The Superior Rainbow Deck is Finally Here!

First spotted at the 52+Joker Convention in Ohio, Cleveland last year, the highly anticipated Superior Rainbow Deck is finally here! The deck features rainbow cold foil on the card backs and tuck.

The card backs showcase Expert's Classic design and the courts in a retro-style hand-drawn face resembling the faces used on many standard decks today but have their own Art Nouveau style.

This latest addition to the popular Superior line is another game changer and a must have for every card collection. Available now from conjuringarts.org for $9.95.

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Detailed Look at Memento Mori NXS Playing Cards by Murphy's Magic

First spotted during the 52 Plus Joker Convention in Cleaveland, Ohio, the Memento Mori NXS (Nexus) is a spiritual successor to the 2015 Memento Mori.

Designed by acclaimed artist Adrian Valenzuela, art designer behind the original Memento Mori, the NXS, takes the low-poly designs to a whole new level by infusing abstract shapes with the realism of light and shadow.

The result?

An imposing deck mixing simplicity with bold design elements and maintaining a modern, but haunting feel. on the inspiration of the design, Adrian explained,

As we age, we deteriorate, so for this design I wanted to move forward in time, to an older version. The cards are more broken the skull with more damaged and the colors represents the evolution of life.

The fully custom NXS prominently features a front-facing skull on the tuck and the card backs. The Aces, Joker, and courts are VERY stylized and modern-looking, consistent with the overall look of the deck.

The low-poly design combined with abstract shapes works really well. Not only is it eye-catching, but it also enhances card flourishes making fans, spreads and cascades look really good!

Available now on murphysmagic.com or at your favorite Murphy’s Magic dealer.

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News: A Look at the 52 Plus Joker 2018 Club Deck

The fourth 52 Plus Joker Club deck was introduced at the 52 Plus Joker Convention in Cleveland, Ohio by designer by Randy Butterfield from Midnight Cards. Randy might be familiar through his previous deck designs that include the Draconian series, Oculus, LUXX, the Ornate series, Rome, and Grinders.

This year, Randy has designed a superb club deck that honors not just the club, but also the city of Cleveland. The tuck sports a brown colorway, a nod to the Cleveland pro football team, and the back of the box displays a gold silhouetted view of the Cleveland skyline.

Unlike previous club decks, Randy used gold foil only on the box, not on the cards. The cards themselves are subtle but still eminently elegant. The card backs and the joker feature the 52 Plus Joker logo, a jester, in brown. The color brown is also used in all the court cards.

Like all 52 Plus Joker club decks are available to club members only. To join 52 Plus Joker and be eligible to purchase one or more of these find decks, head to 52plusjoker.org.

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First Look: Check Out the Stunning 2018 NPCCD Playing Cards

For those of you who didn't know, it's National Playing Card Collection Day (NPCCD) today (October 17th)! NPCCD celebrates the collection of one of the oldest forms of portable art (circa 1200s). Playing cards are literal galleries of art and inspiration, showing and communicating the intentions of an artist to the public while also archiving the cultural values of their time. Collecting these art pieces allow us to be curators of our own galleries to display representing different checkpoints in time. These collections can be seen as extensions of the collector and this day is a time to celebrate and share their collections to the public.

To celebrate this special day, Alex Chin has released the 2018 Official NPCCD Deck. The deck was first unveiled during the 52 Plus Joker Convention in Cleaveland, Ohio. On the design inspiration, Alex said,

The design started with the initial sketches that led me to play around with the classic Vase or Face illusion that deals with foreground and background perception. From there the design theme got further entrenched into the idea of playing with perspective on a level that we have not yet seen before in the card world. I wanted to create something TRULY special that others haven’t seen before and ended up creating the 2018 NPCCD series featuring the world’s first light filter deck that literally changes design based on the box that you receive.

The theme of the series is about PERSPECTIVE and what we see. Since the holiday is about sharing with the world how we see cards as art, Alex created a piece that displayed that sentiment. The result is a truly remarkable deck that literally changes your perspective based on the filter each person sees noting that we can see the same design differently based on these filters.

The deck is fully custom and meticulously designed. The back design features a mobius strip that reveals a sphere of 2 heads. Inside the head of one person is the exterior head of another represented by different colors. Small suit symbols hide in them and are revealed to show what they are thinking about which change based on which “reality box” you use. There is a crown above each head and a line of chess pieces that head the top and bottom of the card. They are interspliced with one another to mimic columns.

The Aces is meant to blend the lines where the box stops and the cards begin. It shows through the front facing window. Each bulb of the club holds a different chess piece. In total it holds 6 different chess pieces but will only show specific ones based on which reality it is in. The red filter boxes will show the King while the blue filter boxes feature the Queen.

The beautiful tuck box features gold and silver intaglio engraving onto astral pearl stock that exudes a feeling of luxury. Each box contains 2 large die-cut windows featuring either a red or blue “worldview” that shows the deck inside. According to Alex,

The color of this window is what determines the design of your deck. The tuck flap is a side loading custom die that is shaped like the famous ribbon face. It is part of the innovative “kinetic diecut window” I designed which allows the diecut to change shape through layering. The opened window shows more information on the cards. When closed it completes the illusion of a pawn chess piece between the faces.

There are 6 different decks! Each one represented by a different chess piece shown on the back. 2 decks feature all red filter box. 2 decks feature all blue filter box. 2 decks feature a mix of one red and one blue filter on the box.

The white and black decks are hand gilded in red, blue, and holographic. Only 500 of each deck is run. Orders are mystery deck. You don’t know what color you will get. There will be a Special Supporter pricing for the first 48 hours. Head to NationalCardCollectionDay.com on October 17th to cop these stunning decks. Don't miss out!

News: Here Are The New Decks Announced at the 52+Joker Convention Cleaveland, Ohio

At this year's 52+Joker Convention at Cleaveland, Ohio, it is all about the bling! Here's a look at the stunning decks announced during the event. Check it out:

Imperial by Kings Wild [News]

Damask by Lotrek Oath [News]

The National Playing Card Collection Day 2018 Deck by Alex Chin

Image by Spectre @ UnitedCardists

Superior Rainbow by Expert

View this post on Instagram

A further look at the new Superior Rainbow deck. What do you think of the new foil colors?

A post shared by Expert Playing Card Company (@expertpcc) on Oct 13, 2018 at 5:56pm PDT

52+Joker Club Deck by Randy Butterfield

Image by Spectre @ UnitedCardists

New Memento Mori by Murphy's Magic

Image by pokereaq @ Instagram

News: Here Are The Winners of the 2018 52 Plus Joker's Diamond Awards

The 2018 52 Plus Joker Diamond Award winners have been announced at the annual convention held in Cleaveland, Ohio. The 'Artist of the Year' award went to Lotrek Oath for his stunning Ambassador Playing Cards. Lotrek posted on his facebook,

Wow... I really didn't expect that. Hoping yes but not expecting it! Congratulations to all winners and nominees!

Also, Alain Benoit's Cartomancer Playing Cards won the 'Deck of the Year' award for a very unique deck that fully incorporates themes of cartomancy into the deck design. What an incredible effort and achievement for Alain's first deck. Other decks in the category were Masquerade by Denyse Klette and Luna Moon by Kevin Yu.

Congrats!

News: Lotrek Oath Announced the Much Anticipated Damask Playing Cards

Lotrek Oath announced the much anticipated Damask Playing Cards at the 52 Plus Joker Convention at Cleveland, Ohio. The sublime deck features a floral design pattern throughout, from the borderless card backs to the Ace of Spades and the beautiful borders of the face cards.

Only the red deck was announced but a blue variant of the deck was available for sale during the convention as well. The decks come with two inks plus 4+1 foils on the face cards, 2 foils on the back, printed on a striking paper stock.

News: Kings Wild Unveils Imperial Playing Cards

Jackson Robinson has unveiled his latest deck of playing cards, Imperial which consists of two limited edition decks in Red and White color variants at the 52+Joker Convention in Cleaveland, Ohio.

These King Wild decks are truly luxurious, and they feature a beautifully designed tuck, card back, and courts. The face cards are simple and elegant, with a minimalistic color palette of metallic gold, rich black, and crimson red.

The tuck case is traditionally intaglio engraved and embossed using the traditional die stamping printing technique, giving the tuck an opulent and tactile feel.

The Imperials are printed in a very limited run of only 300 and 150 for the White Edition and Red Edition, respectively. These will be offered to subscribers of the Kings Wild Shorts before being released to the general public.

Printed by The Expert Playing Card Company, these luxurious decks will bring a new level of class to your game nights. The White Edition is priced at $25 and the Red Edition $35. Available late November 2018.