Adopting religious elements on playing cards might be controversial, yet they can provide beautiful artwork on a stack of small pasteboards. Each religion has its own artworks exploring its cultures and practices of it. In Christianity, the most prominent symbol is the Cross. German graphic designer Peter Voth collaborates with Riffle Shuffle to produce a deck of cards that explores this symbol. The Cross Playing Cards tells the story and influences of the Cross through cards.
There will be three editions of the Cross Playing Cards: Maroon Martyrs, Admiral Angels, and Golden Grace. The color scheme for these editions are red, blue, and gold respectively. The tuck box is using premium matte finish paper stock with premium embossing. The artwork on the box will have metallic foil.
The front of the tuck box features the giant cross in the center with a giant crown sitting on top of it. There are two angels, each on one side, holding a cross and kneeling to the symbol. There are two sacred animals on the bottom, the lamb on the left and the lion on the right. There are a few phrases in Latin that can be found on the box.
The box has an interior artwork that depicts the sculpture gallery of figures that can be found above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey in London.
The back design of the cards mirrors that from the back side of the box. It features a giant symmetrical cross in the center surrounded by Angels, the Lamb of God, and the Lion of Judah. There are two bird figures hidden within the detailed artwork: a dove and an eagle. The artwork will be printed with gold metallic ink on the colored background of respective editions. For the Golden Grace Edition, the artwork will be done in gold metallic foil.
The Number cards feature customized pips and customized indices. The index will be using a custom font made for the card design. The suits are saturated with the symbols of the Cross. You can find it in the center of each pip throughout the deck.
The Court cards feature historical figures that had rested in peace for their beliefs – grouped as the Modern Martyrs, the statues seen in the Westminster Abbey Gallery of the Great West Door.
All of the ten characters from the group appeared on the cards, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and St. Maximilian Kolbe. Two extra characters, who are not part of the group yet also martyrs, are added to complete the set. The characters are illustrated as a two-way portrait on top of a medieval church linework.
The Aces show the symbols of the four evangelists who chronicled the story of Jesus Christ in the Gospels books in the Bible. These symbols are signified as creatures prominently seen or mentioned. Ace of Spades featured St. Matthew, symbolized as a winged man or an angel. Ace of Hearts featured St. John, symbolized as an eagle. Ace of Clubs featured St. Mark, symbolized as a winged lion. Ace of Diamonds featured St. Luke, symbolized as a winged ox.
The Jokers featured an identical illustration of the legend of St. George and the Dragon, a scene where the knight bearing the cross symbol slaying a dragon with a long spear. It features in black and the respective color of each edition.
The deck will be printed by TWPCC on the Luxury Finish. Pledge starts at $14 for a single deck on Kickstarter.
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