Typical Wednesday.
Go to Circus class in the morning.(trapeze work and fabric climbing)
Eat lunch at Costco. (Pizza, Hot dog, and soda)
Go to the best magic shop on the planet. (The Magic Apple)
So I walk in, and Michael Rangel is there, as is Brent. Two kids from the castle junior program are there too, showing off. I show them a trick (Perversion by CK), and they are impressed. They heckled, but i'm cool. Then my friend Jeff from San Diego walks in and he shows me what he is doing for his castle Audish. We chat, and my friend Don Driver and his friends walk in. Justin Kredible comes in to pick up some new stuff.
I see a brick of Aladdin 1001's on the counter
"Brent when'd you get these? I thought DnD had them exclusively"
"I had to talk to a lot of people to get some of those"
I pick up 2 Aladdin at 4 bucks a pop.
"Do you still have Smoke and Mirrors you held for me?"
"Right here dude"
I pick up 5 Smoke and Mirrors. 3 smoke, 2 mirror.
I get home and open 'em up.
Sweet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Smoke & Mirrors::Reviewed by zachmonky
Smoke:
I'm getting tired of black decks, so I got one more of these then the blacks.
Mirror:
Cool, but i prefer the Smoke
BOX
Very nice, and stylized. Bottom of the box says SMOKE, sides say Dan & Dave - Illustrated by Si Scott. Other side says "The Dan and Dave Playing Card Co. Hollywood, CA 90028". IMHO a little pretentious. No seal, but it comes factory fresh with cellophane. No seal indicates that these were not printed at the USPCC. Back of box has their new DnD symbol, which is not on the design of the actual cards. The Top Flap says "Poker - Aristocrat".
DESIGN
The design of these cards are very different from most of the cards you see on custom cards now-a-days. Usually cards are either very "busy" and intricately designed like for instance the Split Spades Lions, OR they are one color with a big symbol in the center, for example Wynn's or Jerry's. I think what DnD were trying to accomplish was a nice mixture of both. Lots of people were disappointed with the choice of design. Personally, I was a little disappointed when i saw the design for the first time online. But now that I'm holding them right now in person, I am growing fond of the simplistic approach. The cards have a subtle one way force feature to them in the top left hand corner, which is a nice feature. The look extremely cool when doing a face down ribbon spread.
FEEL
The feel of these cards is well.......Aristocrat. If you are like me, and are unfimiliar to the Aristocrat feel, let me explain. These are VERY smooth and fan very well. They are not extremely thick, but are thicker than a bicycle card. The edges are rough, but I'm sure once the are broken in, that will not be a problem. They faro VERY well, which is good. Being so smooth, they do not hold together very well. I can't do a backpack cut with them, because they just so slipp'ry.
FACES
Much like Wynn's, Guardians, Centurions, and of course, White Centurions, the red cards are a bit darker shade of red, like a maroon, or blood red. The Faces unfortunately, are pretty darn ugly. I think their attempt was to simplify the basic design of the court cards, but IMHO, they are over simplistic, and look lame. That and the fact that they don't hold together well, are the only bad aspects, IMHO of course.
EXTRA
As an extra you get a double backer. I found in the guardian and centurion decks, the double backer always had a lighter design on one side, than on the other. With these cards, that is not the case. You also get a card with their DnD logo on the face of the card, the same logo on the back of the box. The jokers, I have to say, are my favorite part of the deck. They are stylish, simplistic, and sophisticated, and just look freakin' awesome. The ace of spades is fantastic too.
PROSnCONS
Pros:
Nice box
Fan well
Faro well
Design is cool
Double Backer
One way back
A tincy bit thicker than bikes
AWESOME jokers and Ace o' Spades
Cons:
Don't hold together well
Ugly Court cards, IMO
Some people don't like the back design
OVERALL
I really like these cards. I was really relieved when i actually had them in my hands, as the design was better than I had expected. Si Scott did a nice job on these, and the feel is very nice. At 6 bucks a pop, i would pick some up while you still can.
And they all lived happily ever after......The End.
Written by zachmonky
Go to Circus class in the morning.(trapeze work and fabric climbing)
Eat lunch at Costco. (Pizza, Hot dog, and soda)
Go to the best magic shop on the planet. (The Magic Apple)
So I walk in, and Michael Rangel is there, as is Brent. Two kids from the castle junior program are there too, showing off. I show them a trick (Perversion by CK), and they are impressed. They heckled, but i'm cool. Then my friend Jeff from San Diego walks in and he shows me what he is doing for his castle Audish. We chat, and my friend Don Driver and his friends walk in. Justin Kredible comes in to pick up some new stuff.
I see a brick of Aladdin 1001's on the counter
"Brent when'd you get these? I thought DnD had them exclusively"
"I had to talk to a lot of people to get some of those"
I pick up 2 Aladdin at 4 bucks a pop.
"Do you still have Smoke and Mirrors you held for me?"
"Right here dude"
I pick up 5 Smoke and Mirrors. 3 smoke, 2 mirror.
I get home and open 'em up.
Sweet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Smoke & Mirrors::Reviewed by zachmonky
Smoke:
I'm getting tired of black decks, so I got one more of these then the blacks.
Mirror:
Cool, but i prefer the Smoke
BOX
Very nice, and stylized. Bottom of the box says SMOKE, sides say Dan & Dave - Illustrated by Si Scott. Other side says "The Dan and Dave Playing Card Co. Hollywood, CA 90028". IMHO a little pretentious. No seal, but it comes factory fresh with cellophane. No seal indicates that these were not printed at the USPCC. Back of box has their new DnD symbol, which is not on the design of the actual cards. The Top Flap says "Poker - Aristocrat".
DESIGN
The design of these cards are very different from most of the cards you see on custom cards now-a-days. Usually cards are either very "busy" and intricately designed like for instance the Split Spades Lions, OR they are one color with a big symbol in the center, for example Wynn's or Jerry's. I think what DnD were trying to accomplish was a nice mixture of both. Lots of people were disappointed with the choice of design. Personally, I was a little disappointed when i saw the design for the first time online. But now that I'm holding them right now in person, I am growing fond of the simplistic approach. The cards have a subtle one way force feature to them in the top left hand corner, which is a nice feature. The look extremely cool when doing a face down ribbon spread.
FEEL
The feel of these cards is well.......Aristocrat. If you are like me, and are unfimiliar to the Aristocrat feel, let me explain. These are VERY smooth and fan very well. They are not extremely thick, but are thicker than a bicycle card. The edges are rough, but I'm sure once the are broken in, that will not be a problem. They faro VERY well, which is good. Being so smooth, they do not hold together very well. I can't do a backpack cut with them, because they just so slipp'ry.
FACES
Much like Wynn's, Guardians, Centurions, and of course, White Centurions, the red cards are a bit darker shade of red, like a maroon, or blood red. The Faces unfortunately, are pretty darn ugly. I think their attempt was to simplify the basic design of the court cards, but IMHO, they are over simplistic, and look lame. That and the fact that they don't hold together well, are the only bad aspects, IMHO of course.
EXTRA
As an extra you get a double backer. I found in the guardian and centurion decks, the double backer always had a lighter design on one side, than on the other. With these cards, that is not the case. You also get a card with their DnD logo on the face of the card, the same logo on the back of the box. The jokers, I have to say, are my favorite part of the deck. They are stylish, simplistic, and sophisticated, and just look freakin' awesome. The ace of spades is fantastic too.
PROSnCONS
Pros:
Nice box
Fan well
Faro well
Design is cool
Double Backer
One way back
A tincy bit thicker than bikes
AWESOME jokers and Ace o' Spades
Cons:
Don't hold together well
Ugly Court cards, IMO
Some people don't like the back design
OVERALL
I really like these cards. I was really relieved when i actually had them in my hands, as the design was better than I had expected. Si Scott did a nice job on these, and the feel is very nice. At 6 bucks a pop, i would pick some up while you still can.
And they all lived happily ever after......The End.
Written by zachmonky
