Dominus V2 Playing Cards

A NEW version of Dominus Playing Cards with numerous updates to technical features, layout and artistic refinement. Inspired by Macbeth and Game of Thrones and illustrated in collaboration with Eugen Poe, Nicolai Aaroe artistically depicts the internal struggle between the path of the righteous and the morally corrupt.

Dominus V2 illustrates the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek to gain power through activities related to the underworld and black magic. Each court card tells a unique story of fate, destiny, choice and consequence! Dominus V2 consists of two unique editions Obscura V2 and Deceptus, each representing the theme in a unique design with numerous deluxe features and designed as fine art playing cards.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES COMPARED TO DOMINUS V1?

• Transitional court design
• Retouched artwork with trip tone color shading
• 3 foils (black, red, copper)
• Bottom placed, numbered tuck seals
• Redesigned indexes and fonts
• New standalone edition ‘Deceptus’
• New coin, booklet & pouch design

★ Exclusive to Kickstarter backers & www.isolatedthunderstorm.com

★ A dark, occult theme inspired by European monarchies
★ Limited Edition (2.500 of each edition)
★ Metal foiled and embossed tuck boxes
★ Bottom placed, numbered tuck seals
★ Black ‘soft touch’ tuck stock
★ 100% custom design of cards, pips and tucks
★ Metallic ink with gold pigment on card backs
★ 55 poker sized cards (52+2 jokers +1 bonus card)
★ Printed by NPCC with fine art linen stock
★ Savings on each deck with higher pledges
★ Expertly fulfilled by Isolated Thunderstorm

The old 2016 Obscura tuck has had a makeover and been upgraded from 1 gold foil to 3 foils (copper, black, red) along with an even richer and intricate embossing pattern on all sides. The foil layout has also been remade to include many new details and texts, such as ‘SECOND EDITION’ on the front. The tuck material is the popular matte black ‘soft touch’ stock for a truly excuisite look and feel. Black interiors and bottom placed numbered seal.

Along with every other change and upgrade to Dominus V2 Playing Cards, the project also introduces an all NEW edition, Deceptus, which is manufactured with the popular matte black ‘soft touch’ stock for a truly excuisite look and feel. While interiors are all black, the exteriors have intricately embossed black and red foil on all sides. The side panels read ‘WISE AS SERPENTS, INNOCENT AS DOVES’. Bottom placed numbered seal.

NEW CUSTOM SEALS 

Each deck of Dominus V2 Playing Cards have a custom, bottom placed, numbered seal on it. Backers of more than one deck will have matching and consecutive numbers on the seals.  

In Dominus V2 all character illustrations are retouched and remade in trio-tone color shading for added depth. 4 Knights (Jacks), 4 Queens and 4 Kings of European monarchies. All illustrated on their moral right paths on one half, while the other features the same rulers in their ungodly variant. The afterlife is unforgiving and may turn your gift or talent into a curse that will haunt you forever. If you flirt with the underworld it might swallow you whole. 

Sir Furioso is a high born and fearless fighter. The Empire is safe and well under his protection, and captures the hearts and interest of even noble ladies. But his affection for his cousin, lady Braganza, goes hand in hand with his temper, and rumours start spreading. He then ignores all norms of marriage and openly declares his obsessive love for Queen Braganza, when King Filip is assassinated. When she refuses to accept his hand Sir Furioso initiates a killing spree and burns cities to the ground, sick with unrequited love and rage from a burning heart.

It would be a criminal act to deny the administrative prowess or the physical appearance of Queen Braganza. Even in pressing matters she always stops to think before she acts and the royal court enjoys her calculated reign with King Filip as much as her beauty, and perfumed presence. The dark whispers and imaginations of a sole dominion pushes her over the edge and she betrays her husband, King Filip, in his sleep. The empire is shocked by the mysterious assassination, but accepts Queen Braganza as supreme ruler of the kingdom.

King Filip is a wise king and spiritual man, who rules with authority and confidence. He has his kingdom in check and allies secured. He is the type of king that an empire can only wish for, and celebrations last for days when he takes the fair lady Braganza as his queen. Assassinated by his own wife, King Filip must suffer the consequences of the unexpected. King Filip will forever be a restless soul, a tormented ghost, swearing to revenge the betrayal and assassination, when no one dares to raise suspicion on the black widow.

Queen Rumyna is a powerful, intelligent and highly respected ruler, who knows how to persuade and convince the crowd with all the right words and arguments. Her station as queen is safe and secure if she stays on the moral right path. Her talent of the tongue may soon become her curse when she abuses her talent to obtain selfish advantages. Her fate in the afterlife will become an endless struggle to avoid suffocation from her own tongue. The scissors portray her pain as the haunting conscience of her actions.

King Wulankov is a powerful and mighty ruler. Feared by his enemies and loved by his allies, respected by the common folk, and admired by the nobles. He is also a perfectionist that leaves no detail unattended, solved or ignored. When an assassination attempt fails he becomes obsessed with solving the puzzle and the reasons for it. As his most successful knight and personal bodyguard is falsely accused of orchestrating everything King Wulankov starts beheading all the leaders who fail to capture the man.

Decorated with royal, divine, religious and occult symbolism the two new backs represent the moral codex and reign of european monarchs. The noble and honourable ruler will stay on a path of light. The relentless ruler may be lured by the deceiptful snake in ambitious blindness, soon to be set on a new path. For both editions, the 2-way layout is printed with a Pantone ink with gold pigment to achieve something that stands out from average prints.

There is a unique set of aces in each edition of Dominus V2. Here’s a look at all of them with the Obscura V2 set above and the Deceptus aces in their white design.

There is a unique set of jokers in each edition of Dominus V2. Here’s a look at all of them.

There is a unique set of custom pips in each edition of Dominus V2. Here’s a look at all of them.

Pledging for 6 or 12 Dominus decks you will have a standard box included in your reward FOR FREE as listed in the reward tiers. These boxes come in two sizes holding either 6 or 12 decks) and they are CMYK printed in a paper quality similar to the popular brick boxes of previous projects.

You can add any empty Dominus box to your pledge, regardless of which pledge tier you have. They come in two sizes, fitting either 6 decks (half brick) or 12 decks (full brick).

The Half Brick Deluxe reward tier and the Black Crown reward tier includes an elegant matte dustcover with metal foil printed on it as seen in the image above. 

A long list of addons are available as baked into the pledge system when you choose your reward tier. The list includes the new items introduced with this project, but also remainders from my previous projects which are only available in limited supply. Additionally, the list includes some ‘rare diamonds‘ such as prototypes from my Vengeance of Witches project, which are priced the way they are because there are less than 10 produced of each variant. Some collectors refer to such decks as ‘white whales’.

CUSTOM PLEDGES

Feel free to send me a private message at all times to arrange a custom reward combo which is not possible via the default system or if you are unsure how the new addons interface works on Kickstarter.

IMPORTANT: All decks purchased as an addon from a previous project is offered from a very limited supply of ‘project remainders’. This means that you can’t expect for the deck(s) to have a numbered tuck seal on it as the pool includes the print run ‘overs’.

The Obscura challenge coin is a black and copper metal card guard with a large diameter of 2 inches (50mm). Texts read ‘Embrace The Darkness’ and ‘Reach Beyond The Light’. 

The Deceptus challenge coin is a black and red metal card guard with a large diameter of 2 inches (50mm). Texts read ‘Wise As Serpents, Innocent As Doves’ and ‘Chaos Is A Ladder Not A Pit’.

In the addons section there is a deal where you can grab both coins at a reduced total.

The Dominus deck pouches are designed to fit one deck of cards each and are manufactured in silky smooth black satin with themed iconography applied in glossy foil on the front. 

The Obscura deck pouch features the reigning Dominus ram in copper foil.

The Deceptus deck pouch features the deceitful double-headed Dominus snake in black foil.

In the addons section there is a deal where you can grab both pouches at a reduced total.

The Dominus ‘courts explained’ booklet is ideal for you if you want to enjoy the face card illustrations in a larger format along with the backstories on why their transformation is designed the way it is. This is a printed booklet in horisontal A6 format with a single spread for each of the 12 characters.

In the addons section there is a deal where you can grab two booklets at a reduced total.

You can add any empty standard Dominus brick box to your pledge, regardless of which pledge tier you have. They come in two sizes, fitting either 6 decks (half brick) or 12 decks (full brick).

Vengeance of Witches Playing Cards – Nightglow edition available as optional addon. IMPORTANT: All decks purchased as an addon from a previous project is offered from a very limited supply of ‘project remainders’. This means that you can’t expect for the deck(s) to have a numbered tuck seal on it as the pool includes the print run ‘overs’.  

Vengeance of Witches Playing Cards – Caccabus edition available as optional addon. IMPORTANT: All decks purchased as an addon from a previous project is offered from a very limited supply of ‘project remainders’. This means that you can’t expect for the deck(s) to have a numbered tuck seal on it as the pool includes the print run ‘overs’.

Vengeance of Witches Playing Cards – Hagazussa edition available as optional addon. IMPORTANT: All decks purchased as an addon from a previous project is offered from a very limited supply of ‘project remainders’. This means that you can’t expect for the deck(s) to have a numbered tuck seal on it as the pool includes the print run ‘overs’.

Vittoria Playing Cards – Volto edition available as optional addon. IMPORTANT: All decks purchased as an addon from a previous project is offered from a very limited supply of ‘project remainders’. This means that you can’t expect for the deck(s) to have a numbered tuck seal on it as the pool includes the print run ‘overs’.

Vittoria Playing Cards – Bauta edition available as optional addon. IMPORTANT: All decks purchased as an addon from a previous project is offered from a very limited supply of ‘project remainders’. This means that you can’t expect for the deck(s) to have a numbered tuck seal on it as the pool includes the print run ‘overs’.

Vengeance of Witches Playing Cards – Caccabus Phantom edition available as optional addon. SOLD OUT! (These might actually become available again if the backers that holds them cancels their pledge).

Vengeance of Witches Playing Cards – Hagazussa Hexennacht edition available as optional addon. SOLD OUT! (These might actually become available again if the backers that holds them cancels their pledge).

Vengeance of Witches Playing Cards – Caccabus Wax Red edition available as optional addon. While not shown here, the Hagazussa is also available in the Wax Red protoype edition in the list of addons. Visit isolatedthunderstorm.com for photos on it. SOLD OUT! (These might actually become available again if the backers that holds them cancels their pledge).

Vengeance of Witches Playing Cards – Hagazussa Metallic Blue edition available as optional addon. While not shown here, the Caccabus is also available in the Metallic Blue protoype edition in the list of addons. Visit isolatedthunderstorm.com for photos on it. SOLD OUT! (These might actually become available again if the backers that holds them cancels their pledge).

Vengeance of Witches Playing Cards – Caccabus Charred edition available as optional addon. SOLD OUT! (These might actually become available again if the backers that holds them cancels their pledge).

With the project well beyond the funded state, I am now looking into various ways to expand and enhance the end result beyond its original design.

All the planned deluxe features for my Dominus V2 project are already unlocked/included in the ‘base’ design for both editions, such as embossing, metal foil and special tuck stocks. Backers of brick boxes are also getting a box included in their pledge for free.

I do however have an ace or two up my sleeve to accommodate the tremendous support in my project for all backers. I have now added this stretch goals section on the campaign page, which will be updated accordingly – and with the first stretch goal already reached!

The first stretch goal ‘Bonus Card #1‘ has unlocked a free bonus card for every deck you’ve pledged for. This card features the translations of the latin texts that you see on the court cards in the Dominus V2 deck. So, it will aid you in interpreting the art and theme of the deck as a whole.

As the lead artist of several deck projects I am no novice in the world of custom playing cards. I have in-depth knowledge on printer companies and the strengths and weaknesses of each. I am an avid backer and know how things work. Take a look at my BIO to see more details and a personal rambling.

Through Dominus V2 I am hoping to tell a story of the shadowy union between the deceptive underworld and the european monarchy of the late middle ages. Betrayal, deceit, double-dealing. A deck of moral value, wealth and virtue that carries a message for subjective interpretation.

Dominus V2 will only be made with your support to help cover the costs of setup fees, proof charges, printing, design, freight, shipping and the time to create the 54 original pieces of art. I am launching this deck on Kickstarter as an artist, a cardist, and an active fan of the crowdfunding concept. Let’s do this together and create something unique!