Blackout Kingdom Bicycle Playing Cards

The Dark version is definitely the better version in my opinion. The back design is clean and the faces look really nice. The version is perfect for cardists, magicians, or even collectors. A beautiful deck with a nice black color scheme. The Light version is the same design for the backs and slight differences with the faces. The major difference is that instead of the black theme; there is a blue, orange, and tan color scheme. I am not really a fan of the colors in the Light version. The numbered seal makes it perfect for collectors though.

For clarity, I am reviewing the "light" version. This is an interesting design, almost like there's something mysterious and subtly sinister happening here. The entire deck is completely custom. There's a sort of rich, creamy coloration to the background that's featured on the backs and the fronts. The symmetrical backs use some nice brown and green tones with a diamond pattern, with a sort of "all seeing eye" design at the center, and the same eye in the corners. All card fronts have a nice border, with some scrollwork design and the "eye" logo at opposite corners, the other opposite corners containing the corner pips and numbers. The fonts, as well as the corner pips and center pips are all custom. The court cards are modeled after standard courts, but with a slight twist in facial features and attire. The color pattern of the deck carries thru to the courts, and all of the court cards are "blind", with ghastly blank eyes. There are two full sized jokers as well, both symmetrical, one with slightly different coloration than the other. The jokers are also "blind", and appear holding a scepter, and with a sinister look. There is also a double backed card included. For a fully custom deck, I feel slightly guilty with my rating, but there's some depth that's just not quite here that I see on other decks by independent artists. If fractions were possible, I'd rate this at four and a quarter, but today, four stars will have to do.

I have the Light deck, which I got as a gift for someone - they were very pleased with it. It's one of the more customized decks I've seen. The card back has a strong diamond shape with a large eye in the center. The faces are very very customized, and look very different from a traditional deck, with a very distinct style. It's probably not ideal for playing card games since the indices aren't super clear or practical. But it's a very attractive deck for the collector who appreciates this style, or for cardistry. The Bicycle brand ensures quality of handling, so no problems there.