Decks you love...except for the card stock

[greatdane]

I admit it. There are decks whose images I love and decks whose card stock I love. They are not always one and the same.

Love the original Bohemian Gothic images and card stock. Third edition Bohemian Gothic, love the images, the card stock, not so much. It doesn't "feel" right to me and is not as easy for me to shuffle as the original. I'm very tactile, so this matters a LOT. I AM SURE there are a ton of ATers who LOVE the cardstock of the latest Bohemian Gothic and obviously I don't think you're wrong. It's all a matter of what feels right to each of us.
I love to sit and shuffle with decks, so if that feels a challenge or something feels not right about the stock to me...the deck will be used less.

Anyone else love the images in a certain deck, but the card stock makes you shy away from it?

 

[Aeric]

Many of the US Games commercial decks from the past 2 years are made with stiff, thick, smelly laminated chemical plastic card stock that's harder to shuffle than decks from ten years previous. The new Albano-Waite and Original Rider Waite versions are examples. Handsome images, but yucky to use.

The newer Golden Tarot has its own thread devoted to that misery. Let's hope the same never happens to Touchstone.

My biggest beef is the sheerness of the gloss. When you're reading, nothing's more annoying than having to tilt a card at a different angle because of glare reflecting off it.

I miss the days when cards felt like pieces of cardboard, not credit cards. They've lost the rubbery flexibility they once had, and are no different from high quality casino playing cards.

 

[3ill.yazi]

I've said this elsewhere, but I'll take the firmer but shiny stock over flimsy. I still prefer my tattered 80s vintage RWS over the new one, but its more the replaced calligraphy that turns me off. I'm not so graceful, and have kids in the house, so I don't mind a sturdier deck. Therefore, the pocket Universal Waite, which I was trying out, was a big disappointment because of the stock. Tore three cards with my first shuffle.

 

[missyjean130]

Book of Shadows Volume 2 has such thin cards. I am extra gentle with them!

 

[greatdane]

That's it....

flimsy cards and/or overly-laminated stock that has this glossy, yet kind of sticky, oily feel that are both hard to shuffle....I did a trade to get the BELGIAN printed Universal Waite by US Games (not sure what year or years it was printed there) and it shuffles just beautifully. Wouldn't trade or sell it, it's perfection. I'm sure perhaps money has to do with why or where a company has a deck printed, but I would be happy to spend a bit more and get the stock that makes a deck a pleasure, not a challenge, to shuffle.

 

[Nica]

GreatDane I agree with you completely on that. While I am bonkers in love with the new BohoGothic Tarot's card stock, there are some decks I feel strongly could use another card stock:

Joie de Vivre (Such a beautiful deck, such TERRIBLE stock,) Victorian Romantic, Vertigo Tarot (FLIMSY! CHIPS EASILY!), Enchanted Tarot (Stains easily), Light Visions Tarot (too thick. Can't shuffle.)

Excellent decks. I use the Vertigo because it's my favorite deck, but the card stock is such a disappointment to me.

 

[greatdane]

Interesting, Nica

It seems there are definitely decks we enjoy images of, just not always the card stock, including the feeling of it and the smell. I wonder why deck publishers don't realize it is not just the images or how sturdy the stock is, but how it is to shuffle and the smell? To me, reading isn't just the visual, but engages all the senses.

 

[rylla]

while I love great card stock (like the first version of Belline -the one you usually get on eBay does not even compare) a bad card stock is never a deal breaker for me so I don't keep count - only cards with too small or hard-to-distinguish images are. As it would be the Labyrinth tarot - good art but completely not enjoyable because of the size of the images -

 

[greatdane]

Wish I could too, Rylla

Unfortunately, how a deck shuffles for me, how it feels, so matters. The images first, then the touch, smell of the card stock. The smell I can work with, change, but if a deck feels hard to shuffle, I just don't use it very often. If it's not a joy to shuffle, but difficult, definitely takes some of the enjoyment out of it for me.

 

[Maan]

Ow Nica couldn't agree more on the Joie de Vivre. Awfull. Can't see whats kn the cards because of the horrible gloss and shine.