Some card decks I have noticed, particularly darker colours have a tendency for the colour to rub off the edges leaving white marks...... my Legacy of the Divine has done it after just one shuffle....! Also my Tarot of Vampyres is going the same way.....
Both are by Llewellyn... I wondered if this happens to all dark bordered decks or just certain print runs?
I personally am not that impressed with Llewellyn cardstock.
I have the Steampunk tarot (Llewelyn) and it has black borders. When I received it, I must have looked at it cross-eyed (hadn't even read with it, shuffled or hardly touched the cards) and spots began to appear on the black borders. (Leaving white exposed.) It
arrived with some chips to begin with, which wasn't a good sign. But then on its own, other white spots started to appear.
I love the deck, but I am pointing it out as it is a characteristic of the cardstock.
The Fairy Ring Oracle is published by Llewelyn. The cardstock is very thin. It is okay, but not great.
I don't recommend the Sharpie, because I did try it with one card, and then that card was very noticeable from the side. So ... I don't know.
Black borders have been discussed in other threads ... maybe having a matte deck with black borders is worse, but then I got the Mary-el (shiny, not matte) and it had issues with lamination, etc. The print quality (Schiffer) didn't seem to be there. Or maybe I just got one out of a bad batch.
In contrast, I have the Dark Angels tarot by Lo Scarabeo. Matte cardstock, black borders. Really nice cardstock. No issues with chipping.
I also have the first edition Quantum (now OOP) published several years ago by Kunati with the fabulous silver gilded edges (like the Bohemian Gothic pewter. Yes, it is fabulous.
) It is matte cardstock and it isn't chippy.
Therefore, I still think if they started with a good cardstock to begin with that there would be less issues. (Including cards with black borders.) And I don't think
most are using cardstock as good now as it was in years past.