The box attracts the eyes right away with an undulating landscape in the shades of purple. As you inspect the box, you suddenly find yourself on a new planet whose mountainy skyline is lined with a breath-taking view of a plethora of planets and constellations. On the top of the box, we meet the first character of the story, who seems to be floating through space, as she stepped out of her space shuttle onto the strange land. Open the box and follow her on the adventure.

The back of the cards features the character that was presented at the top of the box in a lovely symmetrical design, embellished with a glowing crescent moon. Just like the box itself, the backs of the cards are designed in the matching purple colour scale, while the main character is drawn in cool blue.

On first glance, the court cards consist of silhouettes of kings, queens and jacks occupying a bigger part of the cards. However, upon a closer look, each of the silhouettes is, in fact, a window into a different narrative. With each of the cards, you get to discover a new character and their thrilling adventure in the outer space. The court cards vary from the calming hues of purple into the fiery orange and red tones.

The number cards keep a classic design to balance out the many details of the court cards. You can find the numbers and suit signs in two colours as well, purple and deep red.

The aces follow a similar design to the court cards, featuring a silhouette of a particular suit with a vista of a space shuttle flying through open space behind it.

The two joker cards offer a simple image of the spaceship that can be found hidden on many of the other cards as well. Are you brave enough to take it to the outer space? The Explorer deck with its neat and attractive design is truly an adventure worth embarking on.

Explorer Playing Card will be printed by United States Playing Card Company, AIR CUSHION Finish with the legendary BEE CASINO STOCK. LIMITED EDITION OF 2500 Decks.

KickStarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/davidxriffleshuffle/explorer-playing-cards Full Deck Scan: https://cardscans.piwigo.com/index?/category/906-explorer

Killer Bees are the mutant hybrid of timid European honey bees and their African cousins.  Like all superhero stories, the Killers were introduced to Brazil by mad scientists to help re-populate their diminishing Bee population.  But no-one could contain them... In 1957, 26 swarms escaped quarantine and declared war on the western hemisphere.  Danger lurking in the skies, these villains will stalk their victims for up to 1/2 a mile..  We wanted to capture the darker bodies of these cold-face killers in our deck. Creating a harsh black back with toxic-waste yellow honeycomb spilt on the back.  The black faces display custom pips and hold a sinister simplicity. Like something you'd expect to see on a discarded barrel of methylamine.  Killer Bees are the result of an unsanctioned lab experiment when toxic-waste spilled into a delicate hive of Honey Bees. 

scans of every card can be seen at http://www.marytcusack.com/maryc/decks/html/Cards/KillerBee.html​

The new DMC ELITES V4 marked deck (now in forest green) is the latest iteration in the ongoing quest by Drummond Money-Coutts to create the most powerful deck of cards available for professional magicians today. The ELITES are a unique collaboration between DMC himself (star of National Geographic's CARD SHARK and BEYOND MAGIC WITH DMC, and of the upcoming Netflix series DEATH BY MAGIC) and designer and magic creator Phill Smith - architect of the revolutionary OPTICAL MARKING SYSTEM. This brand new DMC ELITES V4 is the most versatile, nuanced and advanced version of ELITES ever created.

For the first time ever, the DMC ELITES V4 is now printed by the iconic United States Playing Card Company on their legendary Bee stock, still the world's favourite choice. The cards will endure hours upon hours of professional use, and all faces are standard USPCC faces for minimum scrutiny or suspicion from your audience.

The cards themselves feature the latest revision of the unique OPTICAL MARKING SYSTEM (OMS), a powerful 'reader' system designed specifically for the use of magicians and mentalists (as opposed to many decks designed for the gambling world). The OMS has an ingeniously hidden marking mechanic that is readable with extreme speed, at great range and even in poor light. It hides the value and suit of the card in plain sight with no decoding necessary - the back of the card literally says the value and the suit. Despite this, you can still comfortably hand the deck to a layman, safe in the knowledge that even the most critical observer would not ever suspect, let alone detect, the secret markings. So subtle, in fact, is the OMS that with the first edition of ELITES - many magicians complained that they'd been sent an unmarked version!

Drawing on the feedback from many hundreds of performers, the OMS has evolved significantly over the years, and in this version the markings are located in all four corners for the very first time - welcoming lefties into the ELITES family. A second quantum leap now allows the markings to be read from a relatively slim spread of cards on the table - or even a fan of cards held in the hands. Finally, the deck also now features a very clear, one-way marking system, allowing for delayed reads and unlocking a whole new realm of methods. Each deck also comes with an instruction card that explains the markings visually - with no language limitations for international performers.

DMC ELITES V4: the greatest marked deck in a generation - now greater than ever.

DISCLAIMER: These cards have been created with professional magic and mentalism in mind. Cheating at games through any means of duplicity - be it skillful or through specialised equipment - is unethical, immoral, and illegal. The creators, manufacturers and distributors of the ELITES range of playing cards cannot accept any responsibility for the unethical abuse or misuse of these playing cards.

2020 DOTY Award WINNER: 'Best Tuck'