Looking for new Playing cards (2 Viewers)

twocannons

Two Pair
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I am a big Kem card fan but looking for something else for a regular home game I run. Copags seem to dent up too often and I have had several Faded Spade cards split apart.

What do you guys like beside those?
 
Welcome!

As mentioned already, desjgn, Fournier and Dal Negro/NTP plastic cards are very consistent and universally liked for the most part. Mostly easy to find but can get expensive, especially Fournier.

Piatnik if you can find them are also a favorite of mine. While not impossible to find these cards, sometimes it can get difficult.

Like with chips, I recommend you buy a setup of each brand and settle on one or two that you like. Other manufacturers have excellent offerings as well, but are more polarizing than the three brands above. Quick summary:

Modiano: great feeling cards, but difficult to source and have varying severity of quality control issues. Refused to refund desjgn on cards previously printed on their stock that were obviously marked/defective. Essentially persona non grata around these parts due to this.

Cartamundi: Careful with these. There are American manufactured Cartamundi decks sold in Target and Walmart that stink. You're after the Belgian manufactured stuff. Rebranded under the Copag umbrella since Cartamundi bought them. Belgian Copag stock very good but the old Cartamundi Belgium casino stock is gold. Very soft and doesn't have the same temperamental issues Kems have.

Angel: Very nice cards but almost impossible to source. Expensive even when they can be found. They only sell their high end plastic stock to casinos.

But yeah, just go with desjgn, Dal Negro/NTP or Fournier. Can't go wrong with those three.
 
KEMs are on the flexy side of the spectrum, and Fournier are on the stiffer side. If you like flexy cards, Angel is a good choice but they're much harder to acquire.
I'm a KEM fan because of how easy they are to shuffle, but were amazed at how easy the Broken Arrow cards are to handle. I'd say the Broken Arrow are in the middle regarding stiffness between KEM and Fournier, but I'm liking them more than KEM these days because of price, shuffle, and less maintenance.
 
Always love to try new things and have never heard of Angel decks prior to this thread; just ordered a red/blue Angel deck off eBay for $15 in all! Thanks for the awesome suggestions everyone!
 
Piatnik #1 my absolute favorite (IMO best quality)
Fournier #2 (2nd best quality)
Faded Spade #3 (IMO best art and love the middling index, not too small and not too jumbo)
Desjgn #4
CoPag #5
Kem #6

I haven’t tried Angel, Modiano or NTP but I do have some NTPs en route. Not a fan of Cartimundi but as mentioned above, maybe I played with the crap version.
 
I am a big Kem card fan but looking for something else for a regular home game I run. Copags seem to dent up too often and I have had several Faded Spade cards split apart.

What do you guys like beside those?
Here are the next two sets to try that are readily avail. here in the US. Desjgn and Broken Arrow.
 
I am a big Kem card fan but looking for something else for a regular home game I run. Copags seem to dent up too often and I have had several Faded Spade cards split apart.

What do you guys like beside those?
Well, if you can afford KEM Arrows, I heartily recommend Modiano Platinums (you can hear the boos and hisses coming!)

They are a great setup with no real drawbacks except a relatively high price tag (except when compared to Kem Arrows) and the fact that they dont come in Bridge Jumbo Index.
 
Where do you guys go to buy some of these brands? It looks like most don't sell off their website. Is there a preferred vendor to go to?
 
Modiano, Da Vinci, Bicycle Prestige, Copig, Cartamundi - Amazon.com
Desjgn - eBay or Etsy
Broken Arrow - PCF Vendor Section
Angel - Amazon.jp
Fournier - Tough to source in the US. Try eBay international
Modiano Platinum - eBay International
KEM- Kem.com, sometimes Amazon if it's direct from Amazon and not from a 3rd party seller jacking up the price.
2011 WSOP Kem and 2012 WSOP Fournier - eBay, incredible value!
Faded Space - Direct from their website
 
I'm a huge Desjgn fan but would also like to throw Bicycle Prestige out there. They feel amazing and are an excellent stiffness. Plus they have a little bit of texture to them that I really like (overly smooth cards don't do it for me).

(Edit: Ope, just saw them listed in davefr's post above mine. Nevertheless.)
 

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