Honest: Guardian Review

[Proximo]

This is my opinion so please respect that up front.

The Box: The first thing I looked over was the box. The box is beautiful and hands down one of the best looking I have seen to date. The Chariot in the front is very nice.

10/10

The Cards:

Back Design: The back design of the Guardians is very nice. The cards are one directional in a very subtle way. The Angels look great.

I was disappointed with the color. It's faded black. Look like they where printed at Kinko’s. If you compare this to the black on the box or the T11 card, you will quickly realize how faded it looks.

This may be by design, but I just think it makes them look bad. They are not as sharp as they could have been with a deeper black.

6/10

Front Design: The graphics on the face of the cards are sharp dark and solid. No faded colors here. The King, Queens and Jacks look amazing. Deep Blue, Dark Red and Silver replacing the yellow. They stand out very quickly as different. The reds on these cards are a shade or two darker. Very nice.

10/10

The Ace: The Ace is very nice, but not the best design I have seen. Again the color fade is noticeable here. Just compare the black on the Ace Design to the Spade Pip and you can see a major difference. I was very disappointed. The print quality of the Ace design looks cheap because of this.

7/10

The Jokers: The jokers are very different and I like the design. Again the print quality is not great with the faded black. Compared to the word Joker, it looks very cheap. One good thing about the Jokers is that they are both Identical. This is helpful because you can use them as duplicates in some tricks.

6/10

Card Stock: The card stock is OK. They are thicker than Standard Bikes, but not by much. They are not as thick as other custom decks available.

8/10

The Finish: The Air Cushion finish on these is not great at all. They don't move smoothly and certain controls are more difficult to pull off. Yes the cards handle OK, but for Guardians, I was expecting a high quality finish. The Finish on these is no better than regular bikes.

4/10

The Edges: Terrible. Let me say this again. They are terrible. For a deck that cost so much, you should not have to deal with such rough and terrible edges. Masters are just about perfect out of the box. Ready to perform. On the Guardians, I can hold them at an angle and see where the blade cut on the edges. When I started to riffle the edges, Card Stock Fibers where flying off on to my clothes.

I handled them for a long time and they get a little better, but overall they are of poor quality. Very disappointed. Regular bikes have better edges than these.

2/10

Handling: These cards handle OK. They don't handle like a $4.50 deck but rather like a $.99 Regular Bike deck. Once you get used to Masters, you can easily tell the difference between a standard deck and a Masters deck.

6/10

Overall: Honestly guys, I am very disappointed with the quality of the deck. If I am going to pay top dollar for a custom deck made for magicians, I would expect much better quality and craftsmanship. These Guardians feel like regular bikes printed at Kinko’s with poor quality black ink. The cards handle OK, but you can't help but wonder why you paid so much for them.

Masters and Ghost are so far superior to these that I can even begin to compare them.

The Double Backed card is great but it can't save this average quality deck. The T11 card seems to be printed of high quality black. Why did they short hand the actual print on the deck is beyond me? At least the T11 card makes a great book mark for my current Magic Book I am reading.

6.5/10

I will patiently wait for the revised quality versions of the Guardians.

[silent]

Thanks for the review I think I'll only get a couple instead of the 6 I was planning on and wait with ya for the next batch to come out

[TPA]

I like My cards rough-less..
If they would of done the back darker the detail would'nt be there..
I agree with the finish
My cards feel Great..I dint have problems with the fibers because they dint have non...

maybe you got a bad batch or something..

[ToonMagic]

I'm sure they'll fix everything, think of it like a test drive or a prototype and we are the testers. :D
I don't have a Guardian Deck but I'll like to try one out, so im going to buy one. :D

[drorange]

man i have 4 on the way they better be better than this

[HarbringerofDeath7788]

I only purchased about 2 of them for the time being, and i was a little dissappointed in the finish and edges as well. The design however are great but the cards themselves don't handle like bikes or tally-hos. Hope it's just the first batch cause the cards look really cool.

[theRooster]

I'm going to have to agree with Proximo on this one guys,
I really tried not to judge these too much considering all decks have pro's and con's. The reality is, if you pay for near perfection, you need to get perfection; that's why I feel I need to express my true feelings about this product. The card box is very attractive, has a nice nice texture to it, and looks like an innocent card box. The cards themselves have a great back design, very original, and fresh to those sick of regular bikes. The ace of spades is gorgeous, and the silver on the court cards is an elegant touch. There are many great things to say about the visual quality of these cards-they are quite radical. There are a few issues I would like to see in the new runs, or next custom deck being produced.
The Guardians are like regular bikes in terms of thickness, which is completely fine. I know many magicians that have gotten accustomed to that stock. I would rather have a thicker cards, but a majority is going to have to decide whether thick stock is necessary or not. The only real issue I have with the Guardians is the finish. The dimples in the air cushion finish aren't severe enough, making the cards slightly clump together during fans. Thats pretty much the only problem I have with them. For the next run or deck I would like better stock and a different finish.
I just want to say I love what T11 is doing. Distortion and Digital Dissolve are freaking killer effects I am actually going TO USE! They also have great customer service and I can't wait to see where this project is going!

[Proximo]

Guys,

T11 is doing great. They are just getting started but they have top talent to make it a success.

The Guardians can be better and I am sure with time they will produce better versions.

You will still like these cards, it's just hard to accept the faults when you pay $4.50 a deck.

The faded black is personal preference. So if we stick to just what could be better, I would agree with theRooster.

The finish needs to be better and I personally would like the edges cut smoother. With time you can smooth these out, but I think they feel rough after you brake them in.

So let's sit back and enjoy what we have and hope for better quality down the road.

I am excited about T11 and everything they are doing.

[MindTrapMagic]

I couldnt agree with you more. I was all pumped and thought they would feel like the masters....but i was wrong. They were smooth, yes, but i went out that night at did walkaround for a couple hours and the deck is completly show. They arent very durable at all. Once this problem is fixed let me know people, id be glad to buy more of them if they are more durable and flow more easily

[Mikka]

Thanks for the review. I'll wait for some more cards to come out, as T11 is the only American store that I purchase from.

[TheGame]

This is my opinion so please respect that up front.

The Box: The first thing I looked over was the box. The box is beautiful and hands down one of the best looking I have seen to date. The Chariot in the front is very nice.

10/10

The Cards:

Back Design: The back design of the Guardians is very nice. The cards are one directional in a very subtle way. The Angels look great.

I was disappointed with the color. It's faded black. Look like they where printed at Kinko’s. If you compare this to the black on the box or the T11 card, you will quickly realize how faded it looks.

This may be by design, but I just think it makes them look bad. They are not as sharp as they could have been with a deeper black.

6/10

Front Design: The graphics on the face of the cards are sharp dark and solid. No faded colors here. The King, Queens and Jacks look amazing. Deep Blue, Dark Red and Silver replacing the yellow. They stand out very quickly as different. The reds on these cards are a shade or two darker. Very nice.

10/10

The Ace: The Ace is very nice, but not the best design I have seen. Again the color fade is noticeable here. Just compare the black on the Ace Design to the Spade Pip and you can see a major difference. I was very disappointed. The print quality of the Ace design looks cheap because of this.

7/10

The Jokers: The jokers are very different and I like the design. Again the print quality is not great with the faded black. Compared to the word Joker, it looks very cheap. One good thing about the Jokers is that they are both Identical. This is helpful because you can use them as duplicates in some tricks.

6/10

Card Stock: The card stock is OK. They are thicker than Standard Bikes, but not by much. They are not as thick as other custom decks available.

8/10

The Finish: The Air Cushion finish on these is not great at all. They don't move smoothly and certain controls are more difficult to pull off. Yes the cards handle OK, but for Guardians, I was expecting a high quality finish. The Finish on these is no better than regular bikes.

4/10

The Edges: Terrible. Let me say this again. They are terrible. For a deck that cost so much, you should not have to deal with such rough and terrible edges. Masters are just about perfect out of the box. Ready to perform. On the Guardians, I can hold them at an angle and see where the blade cut on the edges. When I started to riffle the edges, Card Stock Fibers where flying off on to my clothes.

I handled them for a long time and they get a little better, but overall they are of poor quality. Very disappointed. Regular bikes have better edges than these.

2/10

Handling: These cards handle OK. They don't handle like a $4.50 deck but rather like a $.99 Regular Bike deck. Once you get used to Masters, you can easily tell the difference between a standard deck and a Masters deck.

6/10

Overall: Honestly guys, I am very disappointed with the quality of the deck. If I am going to pay top dollar for a custom deck made for magicians, I would expect much better quality and craftsmanship. These Guardians feel like regular bikes printed at Kinko’s with poor quality black ink. The cards handle OK, but you can't help but wonder why you paid so much for them.

Masters and Ghost are so far superior to these that I can even begin to compare them.

The Double Backed card is great but it can't save this average quality deck. The T11 card seems to be printed of high quality black. Why did they short hand the actual print on the deck is beyond me? At least the T11 card makes a great book mark for my current Magic Book I am reading.

6.5/10

I will patiently wait for the revised quality versions of the Guardians.


ditto :(:(

[remy]

i just got half a brick of these and they're fantastic. no rough edges, and for some reason i do much better with these than masters. and masters are goooood. so maybe you just had a bad batch, like it was mentioned before.

[Krash]

I must agree. I'm pretty sure that T11 will eventually upgrade their Gaurdians. I just don't see how an great company like T11 could sit back, and read reviews like these and not want to change something up. You know?

While I will be purchasing T11 effects and possibly gear from time to time. I will not be purchasing any decks from here until a change is made. But, what one man hates, another may love!

Shane K.

P.S. 100th post!

[Jonny V]

Proximo this review is right on the money, basically summing up my feelings about this deck. The handling and the finish of these cards dont match the price, I can honestly say I'd rather use a regular deck of Bikes. Masters feel AMAZING out of the box, while these made me put them back in the box and put them away.

Patiently waiting for the second edition.

-Jonny V

[harapanong]

TheGame's post was really redundant.

Anyway, I believe we should not be too uptight over how the cards feel. Skill, in my opinion, can easily overcome the quality of cards most of the time. In fact, I recommend everyone to use bad-quality cards once in a while (those that have zero smoothness or whatever) to perform.

It gives your hands better confidence, as you are ready to do magic with any kind of deck. Andi Gladwin's Clog says something about this too... go check it out on his website.

Rough edges can be solved by rubbing the edges of the deck on your trousers. As for the smoothness... see my point above about using different deck quality.

You don't need a "perfect" deck to perform "perfect" magic. Be versatile. Don't blame the tools of the trade.

- harapan. magic!

[StreetMage]

While it's true that you don't need a perfect deck to do perfect magic, I'm not about to go out and buy myself a cruddy deck. If I have to borrow a cruddy deck, fine, but if I'm buying a deck for myself you can bet I want a good one. The more I hear about the Guardians, the less I want to spend $5 plus shipping on them. I'd rather spring for regular bikes, which I can get for about a dollar apiece, and have decent cards at a decent price.

[joshua barrett]

iv bought several decks of these and im generally happy as i enjoy the design.... that said i can agree with this review from the original poster. even the poeple at haines house of cards the first thing they said " the edges are horriable"

[hyo]

Big thanks for the honest review. I already had some concerns about the cards... Gonna wait for the Buck-Cards :D

[palaceguard]

I'll probably get a couple just to add to my collection.

[DaveTang]

eh, I probably should have read this before ordering 6. All well, I do like the design, and when they get here perhaps I'll get a batch of decks that weren't made properly, and were accidentally made really well :D thanks for the review anyways!

[Justin Miller]

Guys check out my review of these here (http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=883)
Justin N. Miller

[Nixdorf]

Thanks for the review. I saw the deck with the black color which is impressed me at first but since it is faded black that you mentioned and that's really disappointed me.



_______________
Nixdorf
Ultimate Magic

[Diego]

i agree 100% regular bikes feel better and the color was indeed faded. For those of you who have a camera at home and a guardian deck get your guardian deck and your camera,put the camera on the effect negative and take a picture of the box thats what i think the nest deck should be

[Dejussel]

Awww, man I wanted them but now I don't.

[Diego]

when my friend bought the cards they actually made me laugh the color on the backs was faded as mentioned the feel was worse than regular bikes actually way worse the only thing good was the box, joker and ace and the rest looked and felt like CRAP

[Steve Simmons]

I like them. I just ordered another 6 decks not even 5 minutes ago. That way, I can have a few first-editions that are sealed...

But I like the faded look too. Kinda nice for a change, and gives it a different feel. I guess it's just personal preference...

Best.
Steve

[Jack The Magician]

I like them. I just ordered another 6 decks not even 5 minutes ago. That way, I can have a few first-editions that are sealed...

I might just have to get a first-edition, and hope it'll be worth a lot of money in the future.:D

There only 142 left - I can't wait to see the second editions, or even another type of deck, like the Anti-Guardians, which is also known as the ****** ******. :D

Cheers,
JTM

[Steve Simmons]

Shadow Masters??? LOL!

Oh...and how do you know how many are left? Am I missing something, or just plain ignorant?? :D

[Jack The Magician]

Oh...and how do you know how many are left? Am I missing something, or just plain ignorant?? :D


No, your not missing something; ignorant, I wouldn't know. But I'm not only a magician, but also a psychic.

Shadow Masters???

Oh ... and how do you know how that? Am I missing something, or just plain ignorant? :D

Cheers,
JTM

[Steve Simmons]

I'd say just plain ignorant, but I'm in a good mood. The Patriots just scored a TD and then intercepted from San Diego not 2 minutes ago. So yea, I'm friggin pysched! :D

Go Pats!!

[Jack The Magician]

I'd say just plain ignorant, but I'm in a good mood. The Patriots just scored a TD and then intercepted from San Diego not 2 minutes ago. So yea, I'm friggin pysched! :D

Go Pats!!

17-0 Pats. Looks like Belichick is up to his old magic tricks, or should I say camera tricks ... :D

On a side note, Yankees and Sox tied at 1, Schilling looks like he about to clump up.

Cheers,
JTM

[Steve Simmons]

Make that 31-14 Pats....

Go Yankees!! :D

[flekka]

I have opened one packet of guardians and the printing on the back's are out of square, i.e. the white border is wider at the top left + bott right,
on the face side all the court cards lean to one side,
Is this on all , or just a bad pack, anyone else notice......
Still find they handle o.k.

john.

[The Dark Angel]

I won 34 dollars off of fotball this week.

But on topic, I've got 2 unopened packs of Guardians that are begging to be opened...

[Dana Hocking]

I'm calling it now. New England. All the way. Now I can prove that I called it. Unless they lose. Then, I'm going to edit this post.

I'm off topic. I think Raiker's gonna try to ban me now.

Dana

[remy]

hahaha smooth dana.

[The Dark Angel]

Dana, make us a Sports topic. By the way, I picked Houston over Indy. I have no idea, I just have a gut feeling. If they win, I want a member of the T11 crew to do something to publicly recognize me.
Thanks for throwing us all off-topic Dana.