Top 12: Playing Card Decks to Expand Your Collection

The custom playing cards market has boomed over the past year, investment in crowd-funded decks has surged and new playing card designs and concepts are pushing the boundaries of the simple constraints of one tuck x four suits x thirteen cards.

No doubt, there are an incredible number of amazing decks out there and each deck is unique in its own way! So, how do you expand your collection? How do you know which decks to use for your stylish cardistry video? How do you impress your poker buddies at the weekly meet-up?

In the second of our popular "Top 12" series, we’ve collated 12 of our favorite custom decks to help you continue in this adventure. The playing cards featured below are a little harder to find but still reasonably affordable. As this series progresses, we will cover decks that are slightly harder to find and a little more expensive. Check out the first part here!

Enjoy the selection below. Difficulty scale from easy (1) to difficult (5). If you have one that we haven't discovered. Do feel free to share.

12. The Dawn of Flight 

The Dawn of Flight Playing Cards is a fully custom deck inspired by the Golden Age of Aviation in the Art Deco era. Designed by Paul Roman Martinez these classy decks serve as an homage to aviation from the earliest days to the 1930s—a time defined by travel, art deco style and the spirit of adventure. Available in blue (Airplane) and in red (Airship), both printed by the USPCC.

Difficulty: 1
Price: $14.90

11. Rebels 

Designed by StudioNumberONE and produced by Theory11, Rebels are a premium decks of cards inspired by modern street art. Mysterious and intricate, Rebels feature a custom-designed box, back design, Ace of Spades, and Joker. The backs proudly detail the United States Capitol Building, a timeless symbol of the nation's united spirit of independence.

Difficulty: 1
Price: $29.95

10. Legends v1

Simply amazing cards! Illustrated by Mark Stutzman, the intricate "Dragon" back design is just incredibly detailed and eye catching. The somewhat standard faces help keep the look of the deck familiar for working professional. The handling of the deck is were most will be impressed, they are just very smooth and easy to work with. Just beautifully designed and full of amazing secrets to discover.

Difficulty: 3
Price: $20.00

9.  RUN Heat Edition

Produced by Murphy's Magic, the RUN Heat Edition captures detail, stunning looks and an attitude. Beautiful presentation with the outer shell case and just as impressive Crimson and Chrome tuck box makes RUN a unique concept. The deck is fully custom from every aspect in and out. Familiar yet different court cards tie the custom Jokers, Ace of Spades and stylized pips together. The decks also include a Gaff that can be used for various effects for your magic routine.

Difficulty: 1
Price: $14.95

8. The Ultimate Deck

The Ultimate Deck is a one-of-a-kind, luxury deck of playing cards showcasing stunning works of art on every card. Produced in collaboration with award-winning design firm, Stranger & Stranger. Every single card is represented with a unique story, incorporating classical art, as well as works from todays leading illustrators. The Ultimate Deck features 54 unique works of art, and an elaborate back design. Packaged in a gorgeous tuck-case of extraordinary detail featuring embossed elements and foil accents.

Difficulty: 1
Price: $24.95

7. The Hive

The Limited Edition Hive Playing Card is designed and illustrated by Brendan Hong and independently produced by Kings Wild Project. Inspired by classic playing card art, this fully customized 54 card deck that comes with its own unique court cards to customized back design to Bee inspired Ace of spades. The deck comes in matching set of blue and red back design.

Difficulty: 3
Price: $49.95

6. Ornate Obsidian

The Limited Obsidian Edition decks are part of the very successful White Ornate series. Meticulously designed by Randy Butterfield, these beautiful decks exudes elegance which will elevate the impact of any magic or flourish routine, or add a high roller feel to your poker table. The tuck is truly mesmerising, crafted from a deep matte black vellum paper. The design has been carefully stamped in Black and Gold foil, giving the box a shimmer and shine. The inside of the tuck is coated in a solid wall of gold foil.

Difficulty: 2
Price: $34.95

5. Special Edition Whispering Imps 

The Whispering Imps are an original deck of playing cards illustrated by Mark Stutzman and inspired by American magician Harry Kellar's 'Whispering Imps' poster from 1894. Created by Chris Chelko, the "Special Edition" is a very limited edition deck of Whispering Imps. It features a brand new tuck box crafted from premium Starfire Red Vellum Paper embossed with Red Foil. The intricate card back design of the Whispering Imps is embossed with red foil on the back of the tuck box. Finally, the star pattern from the back design is printed with black ink on the inside of the box. 

Difficulty: 2
Price: $69.95

4. Bohemia

Bohemia is Uusi's second out of the eventual six deck series. The artwork of this eye-catching deck was inspired by the unlikely pairing of 17th-century Baroque style with contemporary, urban street art. Each have a flair for drama, tension and grandeur that when mixed together create one lush, combustible style! Every single card, right down to the pips and indices is individually hand-painted in varying shades of luminous blue for the dark suits of Spades and Clubs and lushly romantic red for the light suits of Hearts and Diamonds.

Difficulty: 1
Price: $20.00

3. Branded Black Reserve Note

The Bicycle branded Reserve Note deck is the fifth deck released in the Federal 52 series. Inspired by US Reserve Notes of the early 1900s, the Reserve Note deck a completely new courts set from the Federal 52 series. The stunning embossing along with a hint of bright red foil just sets this deck apart, as well as Jackson Robinson's signature style for this series and the fully foiled tuck interior makes this an amazing center piece to any collection.

Difficulty: 2
Price: $69.95

2. Seasons: Verana and Inverno

The Verana & Inverno are a set of playing cards that visually captures the changing seasons. Beautifully crafted by Alex Chin, this unique set stands out from other deck sets. These cards embrace two different illustrated artworks while still maintaining a consistency for the set. The back designs incorporate intricate flourishing enough to entrance any spectator. This summer and winter collection display class with beautifully complimenting silver and gold foiling and embossing across the set.

Difficulty: 1
Price: $29.95

1. Tendril Ascendant

Tendril Ascendant is a worthy successors to the highly sought-after original Tendril playing cards. Its design incorporates all the refinements that Encarded have learned over the years and mixes those with the organic symmetry first seen in the original Tendril. The colors are bold, the borders are intense, the faces are dark and the level of detail has been increased. The tuck is printed on a soft-touch matte black paper with incredible metallic green details and subtle gloss black foil tendrils. Special edition shown on image.

Difficulty: 1
Price: $10.00

The selection expressed in this top12 are solely those of the author.

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.