Laying a Few Cards on the Table #2

I like that title and I wanna continue using it in the future to share some thoughts.

A supporter responded to my last newsletter. He wrote:

"Daniel, I was looking forward to supporting your launch but your using Chinese Mfg cards again.  I thought you had stated no more WJPC cards, only USPCC. The WJPC cards are not of the same quality. So sorry you decided to change back. If you ever use USPC I will be on board. "

First of all I never said no more WJPC cards. That would be crazy. My goal is always to create the best cards and USPCC also have the best card quality in my opinion. But of course there is always a reason why I print in China - every foiled deck that I printed couldn't be printed by USPCC.

Originally I also wanted to print the Hotel V4 deck with WJPC and instead of just a lavender background, the deck would have had lavender WITH GOLD FOIL! Just imagine how beautiful it would have been! Well you see it now in the image on top - just decided to create this render for this post :D

This should have been the actual Hotel V4 deck! But I haven't done it with WJPC, I went back to USPCC - to satisfy those who moan about China decks. I wanted to please everyone - one of the biggest mistakes I made in the last few years. Why? I never said it like that but the Hotel V4 campaign was a disarster. My answer to the person explains why:

Hey Mr. IhateChinaDecks (name changed by the editors), thanks a lot for your email. 

USPCC don't want to print my Hotel/Casino decks with foil, that's why I already printed the Hotel V3s with Hanson Chien.

USPCCs registration is too bad and they simply cannot guarantee a clean print because the foiled frame is too close to the background.

I really appreciate your point and USPCC is always my first choice too. The last Hotel V4 campaign was a USPCC deck, because there was no other reason to print in China.

A lot companies and creators are switching to China right now, that's why I thought it would even be a great idea to really advertise that it is a USPCC deck.

I also wanted the best quality possible but unfortunately this Hotel campaign was my least successful campaign in 6 years. People simply didn't appreciate it.

It was also a financial disaster for me because I sold about 800 decks, but I had to print 2500 because that's the minimum order quantity at USPCC since last year.

I hope you understand that we want the same and I will definitely return to USPCC in the future. But USPCC really forces you to look for alternatives with its rising prices and increasing quantities.

Right now, besides the Orbits that I design, I don't see a USPCC deck coming from Black Roses anymore in the near future at least. As much as I want, I cannot afford the print run anymore and the honest truth is, the interest simply isn't that big as it was 5-6 years ago. As a creator, I'm telling you something here that everyone else is trying to hide but it is difficult to print cards these days.

And I wouldn't print with WJPC if I didn't think it was the best existing alternative. I still want the best possible quality for my cards and WJPC is doing an exceptional job.

These discussions where the decks are printed also annoy me a lot and you can see how much thought I put into it to please everyone. Of course I know that the cards differ and that this is more important to some than others. But there simply is no bad quality anymore. Fifteen years ago, decks from China were horrible and there was really no alternative. But those days are over.

Thanks for reading.

Much love

Daniel