The Mono X cards are black, white and gray with no other color to be found. The standard artwork has been changed so that this is a truly unique deck.
First off, the Clubs and Spades contain only black ink. The Hearts and Diamonds contain only gray ink. These cards are truly monochromatic, thus the name. The card backs have a two-way design that is comprised of horizontal lines in various shades of black, gray and white. It looks as if there are two triangles whose points are about to meet, but they are separated by thick black lines. Some of the gray lines look as if they are dissolving. This design is conducive to flourishing and fanning and generally just playing around. The flourishing aspect is further enhanced by the some edge marking that carries over from the face of each card. Every Spade has a single line edge marking, every Diamond has two lines as edge markings, every Club has three and every Heart has four. Although the lines can be seen, I do not know how they can be used for magical purposes as the difference between the various suits is almost impossible to detect, even when the cards are stacked by suit. However, when you are flourishing and fanning, these lines are very cool to look at.
All the pips are custom designed in that half the pip is solid and the other half if made of lines with spaces in between them. The court cards are also custom in that they do not have fully detailed graphics and part of each royal member’s outfits are comprised of the spaced lines. The Ace of Spades is a giant Spade also built with various lines and the words “Mono – X 2018 L” underneath the graphic of the Spade.
Also include with the standard 52 cards are two identical Jokers that contain the word “Joker” in all caps starting from the bottom left of the card and the top left of the card. Both words meet at the “K” in Joker, which is the only letter that appears only once. There is also a double facer and an ad card that contains social media contact information about the creator.
The tuck box is predominantly black and is the negative image of the card backs. The words “Mono – X” are in large pronounced white letters against a black background.
These cards are manufactured by the USPCC on crushed premium Bee card stock and are traditionally cut. There are only 2500 decks and then they will be gone.
This deck of cards is unique and great for flourishing. They are eye catching because of their cool back design and because it is so noticeably lacking in any color.
Thanks to Murphy’s Magic for sending me this deck of cards so I can provide my honest feedback to you. While the cards still are available, they can be found at any Murphy’s retailer.
