Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Egor Zoidberg of the Strange Head Society Playing Cards

[Update] Unfortunately Gambler's have had to make an executive decision to cancel this project due to lack of funding thus far.  The Strange Head Society deck will be printed in-house by GW at Liberty and will have it available for sale in the near future.

Have you heard of the Strange Head Society? A place where the intrigue of classical science-fiction blazes the boilers of the grim steampunk world. While all manner of science and theory are discussed at Strange Head convocations, no gathering would be complete without a high-stakes game of cards. Commemorating this deep tradition, cardist and Strange Head senior-fellow Egor Zoidberg (Egor Klyuchnyk) brings us Strange Head Playing Cards.

This intriguing, fully custom deck portrays its royalty not as human figureheads, but as ideas central to the Strange Head Society: cosmology, mortality, and tentacles- perfect for fans of contemporary steampunk comics and anime, or of “proto-steam” literature by authors such as Wells, Lovecraft, and Poe.

Thanks to the folks at Gambler's Warehouse (GW), we had a sit down with Egor to discuss the idea behind the Strange Head Society Playing Cards, collaborating with GW, and Kickstarter.

Can you tell us about yourself and what is your design background?
My name is Egor, I'm designer from Ukraine. I studied at the Kiev Institute of Design for 5 years. Now I work as a freelancer. The first deck I created was a Demon deck which didn`t have much success but it gave me great experience. Also I draw posters and other stuff.

What is your inspiration behind the Strange Head Society Playing Cards? How did you come up with the idea?
First of all, it is Mike Mignola's art. Especially "Screw-on head" comics. When I first saw this comics, I decided to do something just as cool as it. My dog - pug named Joric - became an inspiration for the Joker card.

Talk to us a bit about going from the first draft to the final version. How did you get to this finished product?
Well, I didn't have much trouble with the ideas for this deck. I made a few sketches and began drawing immediately. The idea was so fascinating that I drew the project in two weeks.


How did you end up collaborating with Gambler's Warehouse?
Kickstarter`s policy doesn`t allow to launch a project directly from Ukraine, so I tried to look for some ways to share my deck with the world. I posted information on some forums and then a word of mouth led me to the Gembler's Warehouse, who launched my Strange Head Society`s deck on Kickstarter.

With all the projects competing for funding, why should potential backers choose your deck?
My deck is full of mystery, great idea, hard work and all new artwork, so it is all absolutely exclusive. You will be absolutely satisfied with this purchase.

What are your thoughts about the continuous strong growth of playing card projects on Kickstarter?
In my mind, it is because card projects gain a lot of success among other projects launched on Kickstarter. In addition to that, card games are popular throughout the world and it is fun to have your own unique deck to share it with your friends.

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks? 
To my deepest regret, the idea of original playing cards in Ukraine is not popular. Probably this is one of the reasons I decided to create my own decks. I follow the projects on Kickstarter and I really love the artwork of Federal 52.

Thanks for your time, Egor and all the best! At the time of writing, the project is only 21% funded with 16 days to go. To support the Strange Head Society Playing Cards, head to Kickstarter.


Pledge starts from $11 and the deck will be printed by the Expert Playing Card Co. on their famous Master finish. There are multiple add-ons available such as uncut sheets, poker chips, post card and art print.

Deck View: Pressers Playing Cards

Vintage. Sixties. Custom.

From the wizards at Ellusionist, Pressers Playing Cards are a beautifully designed deck inspired from the 60's advertising era. In fact, Ellusionist has gone as far as to say that the deck is "one of Don and Roger Sterling's favorite sets of playing cards" and "is the talk of Sterling Cooper". For those unaware, Sterling Cooper is the fictional advertising agency from the popular AMC show Mad Men.

This deck is wrapped in a beautiful vintage design, printed on soft luxe paper with a raised emboss, courts and face cards are fully customized. Also, Pressers features a unique "used" look & feel and printed by the United States Playing Card Company. Available at JP Games.

Indiegogo: 7 Questions with Kenneth Aidan Foo of Isometric playing Cards

Isometric Playing Cards are a deck of playing cards designed with cardists and magicians in mind. Created by Kenneth Aidan Foo, mastermind behind the popular card flourish, Ripple, this aesthetically pleasing deck is sure to grab attention in a quick glance.

Exuding style, this deck subtly pays tribute to one of the great classics, the Tally Ho Circle backs. The design is centered around a hexagon with triangles blading out along the short ends. The striking blues, combines with the stark geometric design and two-toned greys accentuate spinning flourishes, fans, cuts and displays.

We were able to catch-up with Kenneth for a quick chat on the Isometric deck, the design process and cardistry.

You are an amazing cardist! Can you tell us about yourself and how long have you been doing cardistry?
That’s so nice of you to say! Well, first off, my name is Kenneth, I’m a Singaporean born and raised, studying in Perth, Australia. I've been doing cardistry for about 7 years now!

When did you first start thinking about using Indiegogo for the project? What made you decide to take the plunge?
Well, I had initially planned to use Kickstarter, however, after setting up an account and beginning to formulate a marketing plan, I realised that Kickstarter did not support Singapore citizens so I had to make the move to Indiegogo. It is super unfortunate that people don’t see Indiegogo in the same light as Kickstarter. Indiegogo has been a pretty satisfactory platform for me so far!

What is your inspiration behind the Isometric Playing Cards? How did you come up with the idea?
I had wanted to make my own deck of cards for a very long time. A lot of the early versions consisted of triangles and hexagons. I gave up on designing the deck for a couple of months and focused on a bunch of other projects. Eventually I decided that my deck would pay tribute to the Tally Ho circle backs and slowly everything fell into place.

Some people see a major similarity with the Isometric Playing Cards to the Virtuoso deck. I can definitely see the similarity, but I felt that my design offered a different sort of take on the concept of geometric backs.

Walk us through the process you took to design this unique deck. How did you get to this finished product and what was your most brilliant breakthrough when designing the deck?
That’s a tough one to explain. I’ve had this long standing fascination with hexagons and wanted to find a way to incorporate them into something I did. Eventually, like I said earlier, I decided that I would use one of my all-time favourite decks – Tally Ho Circle Backs, as a starting point and everything fell into place.

The hexagon sat nicely in the centre and the “blades” of the design mirrored the lines along the top of the circle backs. The most brilliant breakthrough was the colour scheme. I was trying to find something that looked different enough, and was experimenting with a wide range of hues and colours to fill the 10 triangles in the deck. It is much harder than it looks. After a few nights of experimenting, I finally came to the current colour scheme and just loved the heck out of it.

With all the projects competing for funding, why should potential backers choose your deck? Well, I've found that a lot of the current decks vying for funding are either super intricately designed decks that are going for the “custom everything” look, or the super minimal, almost lazy, design. The Isometric Playing Cards offer a really cool, simple custom back design that catches the eye, but at the same time doesn't feel too lazy, or go too overboard.

At the same time, they are going at a really affordable price for backers! I don’t want my deck to sit on someone’s shelf as a “super rare limited collector’s edition”. I want to see people use them!

What do you think of about the growing trend of cardists having their own brand?
It is really great to see people willing to take risks and developing their own brands. Not just with cards, but with merchandise and marketing as well! One piece of advice that I can give for cardists developing their brand though, is to take your time to find out what you are trying to achieve. I often see very new cardists struggle with trying to make themselves popular by putting out video after video and picture after picture. Work on your material first, then find out how your material can work for you.

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks?
I gotta go with the classics. Blue Seal Tally Ho Circle Backs and original Studs. I would stab someone to get my hands on more of those cards.

Thank you for your time, Kenneth and all the best! If you like what you've read here and want to support Isometric Playing Cards, you can find it on Indiegogo Here! 

Pledge starts from USD$12 and will be printed by Legends Playing Card Co on their Emerald stock and finish.

Collections: Hotcakes by Uusi Studios

Uusi's Hotcakes may not appeal to everyone, but one thing is for certain, every deck Uusi produces is trully a work on it's own, each having it's own unique styls and concept. Hotcakes is the fifth deck in the 6 deck series by the designers and draws it's inspiration from the full figure court cards of the 17th Century. From that inspiration the concept took a bit of a "Naughty" twist on its style using a more "Pop Art" pallet and burlesque look to its figures. With that being said, Hotcakes does end up a bit more in the "Art Deck" catagory compared to Uusi decks of the past, but that's fine. I really like the illustrations and overall theme of the project very much. The tuck imagery is a bit bold in its reveling corset design, but the campaign did offer a "Modesty Sleeve" for those who preffered to keep the revealing tuck under wraps. The deck itself, as always, is completely custom and the back design has a bold pink and black pallet with a nicely balanced borderless design that ties everything together. Uusi's Linnea and Peter are designers and artists, and Hotcakes continues to show how much the two strive to push in new directions.

Hotcakes was produced in two colors, a standard Red version and a Limited Edition Black version (Pictured) Only one deck remaines in the Uusi series and I for one hope that Uusi occasionally returns to Playing Cards as a medium, their concepts and visions are just superb.    

The Collection segment is produced by Anthony Ingrassia of Kardify. No part of this article, images or video can be reproduced without written permission from the author and Kardify.com. To see more of Anthony's (Sparkz) collection please visit sparkzcollector.com