Memoria Playing Cards by Thirdway Industries

Designer Giovanni Meroni of Thirdway Industries has released yet another fascinating series of playing cards full of stories and rich illustrations. Currently funding on Kickstarter, Memoria is a deck of playing cards that unlock your memory.

The series tells of the protagonist who travels in the void searching for life’s purpose. The protagonist happens to be YOU. In the void, you meet with a witch who grants you three wishes. You have used two wishes, in which the first one is to tell who you really are, while the second one is to erase your memories. Now, with the third and final wish, you are allowed to look into the Shard of Memories to discover the memories. These shards are in the form of decks of playing cards, which are these decks!

There are 4 decks available during the campaign. The standard edition set of the series is Entropia and Ancestrale. The limited-edition set (only 888 print runs made of each limited edition) is Entropia Argentea and Ancestrale Aurea.

The tuck boxes for the decks will be made by Boschiero & Newton – marking this series to be the first one that employs them for the tuck box production. For Entropia and Ancestrale, the tuck boxes will be done on premium matte paper stock with two layers of foiling, embossing, interior artwork printing with metallic ink.

The tuck boxes for both Argentea and Aurea will be using an experimental material of mirror paper. It is a highly reflective foiled paper that can reflect objects like that of a mirror. It is complete with embossing and interior artwork printing with metallic ink. The cards for these editions will be gilded – silver for Entropia Argentea and gold for Ancestrale Aurea.

The cards will be printed by Cartamundi – the back of the cards will use full cold foiling. Entropia has the blue and silver color scheme, while Ancestrale has the red and gold color scheme. The artwork featured interlocking geometric hexagonal lines with chains and showed a series of mazes, stairs, and stained glass shards.

The numbered cards will have a custom layout – the pips are arranged on a circular pattern within a hexagonal frame and a stained glass background. Diamonds and Hearts will have a red background with gold and azure accents. Spades and Clubs will have a blue background with red and gold accents.

The court cards will always be the center of the lore in every TWI deck series. Entropia and Ancestrale each will have a set of different courts. This shows the Jack of Hearts from both editions to see they are all different. The left one is Ancestrale “Memory of Betrayal” and the right one is Entropia “Memory of Hate”.

All of the artworks are beautifully done in full detail that shouts the character of the court cards and the Jokers. The faces of the cards have a thin white border, allowing for the artwork to expand to the fullest to show all those painstaking work by Giovanni.

If you wish to dive deep into the story of this series, there is a book provided as an add-on (along with a collectible coin). The book will have a full story about the characters shown in both court cards and jokers, as well as secrets, insights, and interpretation.

The pledge starts from $26 on Kickstarter for a single deck between Entropia or Ancestrale – $48 for a standard set of Entropia and Ancestrale. Also, gilded decks, uncut sheets, booklet, boxset, and dealer coin are available as add-ons.

Standards (Flag Edition) Playing Cards

Elegance. Ornate. Detailed.

Standards fourth edition is part of a six-deck collection inspired by nineteenth-century British opulence. The stunning deck is designed by Kevin Cantrell Studio and crafted with meticulous attention to detail. The fully custom deck features an intricate card back, bold Ace of Spades, elegant court cards, and enhanced pips. The cards are printed in metallic ink to complement the luxurious tuck box. 

The tuck box showcase the intricate card back design on the front with the word Standards prominent featured and the eye-catching bold Ace of Spades on the back. The tuck is embossed and adorned with striking gold foil. Combined with the colors of the British flag, this deck is truly eye-catching! 

Standards are printed by The United States Playing Card Co. on Dan and Dave’s proprietary crushed-stock preferred by professionals.

Pre-Order Now, Butterfly Playing Cards for Ukraine

From Ondrej Psenicka in collaboration with Penguin Magic, Butterfly Playing Cards for Ukraine is a special edition deck with 100% of the sales proceeds going to humanitarian charities helping the people of Ukraine.

Butterfly Playing Cards are conceptualized by Ondrej and this beautiful edition is designed by Stefan Eriksson & Tereza Kovandová.

The card backs are now updated with blue and yellow similar to the colors of the Ukraine national flag. The color combination along with the Butterfly design elements are truly eye-catching.

The face cards now come with gorgeous re-colored standard courts, Ace of Spades and two butterfly silhouette jokers that match the back design color palette.

This deck is being offered as a preorder in an effort to distribute funds to the people as quickly as possible. Preorders will be open until March 11th, to determine the print quantity. The deck is expected to ship this Spring.

Available NOW for pre-order on penguinmagic.com for $25.

Making a Difference with Midnights Playing Cards

Midnights are a unique deck of playing cards currently seeking funds on Indiegogo. This is not just another deck of playing cards: they represent a poignant, important, and meaningful story, and by owning a deck you’ll be helping to make a truly magical difference in people’s lives. 

Under the umbrella of ‘Breathe Magic’, Breathe Arts Health Research runs the Breathe Magic Intensive Therapy Programme and the Breathe Magic for Mental Health Programme. Both programs are underpinned by scientific research and use the art of magic to help improve physical and mental health. 

The Breathe Magic Intensive Therapy Programme specifically works with young people with hemiplegia to improve physical and mental health. The incredible impact of this programme has been recognised with several awards, accolades and prestigious publications. Following this success, Breathe developed Breathe Magic for Mental Health, reaching a wide range of young people and adults, encompassing work with mental health, stroke, brain injury, communication, well-being and memory loss.

Breathe is a small not-for-profit social enterprise that has to fundraise year-round to continue delivering its programmes. Every deck of Midnights helps Breathe to run more magic programmes; address the long waiting list of children hoping to attend a Breathe Magic camp and fund more discounted places for those facing financial hardship.

Midnights have taken over 18 months of numerous designs, tweaks, and creative collaboration with magicians, playing card collectors, cardists, and designers.

Designed from the ground up by Jez and graphic designer Claire Speight the deck features exclusive court card detailing, unique ace designs, 2 complementing Jokers, and center pip details on spot cards. All of the face cards have larger than average indices in the corners so it doesn’t matter which way you fan the cards, you’ll still be able to see the indices.

The card backs feature a mirrored design with celestial details in a midnight blue colorway. The deck is packaged in a midnight blue tuck box embellished with stunning silver, with a matte lamination over the top. Beautiful to look at and handle. 

Printed by Cartamundi on true linen B9 stock with No9 Cardistry & Magic varnish for super-smooth handling. At the time of writing, Midnights playing cards is only 58% funded with only 3 days to go. To show your support, head to Indiegogo, and pledge starts at $20.