Syzygy Bicycle Playing Cards

If you wanted a bright red deck with gold foil details on z tuck containing an insane work of art like inside like I did- And you’re into Zen...

This is an artistically pretty deck. Cards handle nicely -- high quality. Backs are gorgeous. Comes with an essential double backer. There are two jokers of differing color. I would prefer identical jokers in decks that are more expensive. I deducted 1 star since the black suits do not stand out visually -- detracting from their use in magic effects.

When first received I had mixed feelings about the Syzygy deck, but now that I have had the chance to put them away and come back to them periodically, I'm very pleased by them. The simple monochrome design of the court cards once seemed like a letdown, but now when I see them they feel very unique and well-suited to the overall scheme. What looks most impressive to me now are the intricate scrollwork design of the aces, and the less intricate but still impressive design of the pips. There's no question about the quality of cardstock, finish and tuck box.

This is another one of those "deceptive boxes". Upon examining the box, one might be led to believe that the card backs use metallic inks, but this is not the case. The cards backs feature a white border, inside of which is a flat gold (non metallic) colored ink on a reddish brown background. The design is some intricate detail work featuring a sun and moon logo. Interesting enough, this would be a symmetrical back design, but there are two small lines of text on the backs that actually make these one way backs. The card fronts themselves show a deck that is completely custom, even the two thru ten cards. White backgrounds all thru the deck house inks that are a gold coloration for the clubs and spades, and a brick red color for the hearts and diamonds. There are two identical full sized jokers (one red, one gold) that feature a radiating sun and moon design. All fonts are custom, as are the pips, which contain nice scrollwork. I did find that the coloration scheme worked well for this deck, only using one color on each of the club and spade cards, and one other color for hearts and diamonds. The court cards are decent, but to me they are the weak link of the deck. There are some similarities to standard courts in the facial features, but to my eye, the theme of the deck should have been carried a bit further with a little more embellishment to the court cards. This deck is a solid three and a half stars, and I'm rounding to four since I cannot award half stars.