Two Specialty Decks of Playing Cards

Most of the games I play use unique cards and dice, but sometimes a standard deck of playing cards is all you need. Here are two options with ties to other specialty games. On the left is a deck of cards branded with the Munchkin logo, and on the right is the Malifaux Fate Deck. The box for the former says, "These are regular playing cards. You do not need Munchkin to play." The latter is more explicitly intended as an accessory to the tabletop skirmish game, but since regular playing cards can substitute for an official Fate Deck, let's weigh this deck as playing cards, too.

I am a little perplexed by the Munchkin cards. John Kovalic is the original artist for Munchkin, but these cards are illustrated by someone named Ian McGinty. It's a similar style, and McGinty has illustrated several other Munchkin supplements and comics, so it still fits the brand. The cards themselves also have a nice finish. These feel like decent playing cards, and feel like they will shuffle well and withstand a lot of handling. The art on the backs of the cards matches that on the box, and if I have any complaints at all, it is this asymmetry in contrast to the patterns on most Poker decks. This is not a big problem, though.

I like the literal club and spade suits. These replace the standard pips on all cards, and are used in the usual patterns for each number. Each suit also has unique thematic face cards for jacks, queens, and kings, but instead of spoiling those here, I suggest buying a deck for yourself. I would definitely recommend this deck if you like some extra whimsy in more traditional card games, and I owe a big "thank you" to Hive account@generikat for these!

Malifaux is a skirmish game set in a world of steampunk horror. There is also a role-playing game entitled Through the Breach. Both are set an alternate history of our world where portals allow access to this plane of dark magic and nightmarish monsters. Various factions vie for control and access to the soulstones which power magic spells and arcane-infused machines.

Instead of dice, each player uses deck of playing cards. The in-game suits can be replaced by standard poker suits as follows: Masks (Diamonds), Rams (Hearts), Crows (Spades), and Tomes (Clubs). Aces are low in Malifaux, but they have nice black-and-white suit emblems. The full art is used in everything from the deuces (shown here) through 13, and the face cards just have a numerical value. Red and black Jokers represent 14 and 0 respectively as extra-good and extra-bad wild cards.

The backs all bear the Malifaux trademark script, and the finish is the same glossy surface used for many trading cards or stat cards, so these don't shuffle especially well. The art is gorgeous Gothic horror, but this particular product fails as a basic playing card set. That said, these are copyrighted 2009, so newer products may differ. These are fine for Malifaux, but I don't think they're a good substitute in Poker, Hearts, or even Solitaire. One could actually play Malifaux using the Munchkin deck, but there would be a massive tonal dissonance.

Apologies for the photography. My phone isn't great, and my editing skills are sub-par. What kinds of novelty cards have you used, and have you ever played an RPG or war game which uses playing cards? Join the conversation!