Nisei Card Review

I wanted to compare the cards Nisei has provided to get a feeling for myself, to provide feedback to Nisei and to help others.
I have printed some cards during the last year and by no means I’m professional in this area.
When it make sense I will include future print runs too.

Please keep in mind, I’m German, that means very direct and a bit rude in my statement. I really appreciate the job that is done by Nisei as I never have expected to have ordered the third (GNK Q1, SC & GNK Q2) kit by 1-Feb!!! Job well done, so this is more about the Details and if things stay as they are, I’m totally happy.

My understanding is:
Q1/2019 Kit was printed through DriveThruCards:
They are considered cheap when you are within the US and lower quality.

SC2019 Kit was printed in Europe through LudoCards:
Don’t know anyone who has used them, but you need to order big batches of cards, so that is why.

Packaging is not ideal, as my top cards have some issues. Both in the SC and Q1 GNK Kit.



in both cases only the top card is affected. So a different packaging would be nice, or was it the same issue with FFG? I think it’s due to that the cards can float around in the envelope used. Don’t know how many people have this issue.

With the SC kit, we got the first back for Runners!
So here it is

Comparing it to the Corp one


it seems the GNK back was preliminary and we might see an updated version. Are we getting a new Corp back?

So, what about Print Quality?


The left square is from MPC
The others as described.

My analysis: Rashida & Titan are print wise the worst! Perhaps also the font size is a bit small and that is where I was looking for print quality.
MPC & LudoCards seems very equal, but I realized, that it seems like LudoCards is printing in layers, so the letters seem to be on top of the cards, while I can’t see this on the MPC cards. I assume it’s based on a different printing process (offset vs. whatever? laser?) but can’t say for sure. Honestly I like the Ludacards the most based on this effect, but you could also argue the other way around.

It would be interesting to compare the cards between the US print & EU print as they should be the same card but from different companies.

The quality of the mat seems surpreem compared to what we got from FFG!

I really like the better quality cards and would appreciate to pay a bit more in general to get better quality print.

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Thank you for your feedback, @5N00P1. It’s definitely great to hear from people other than the crew directly involved with organizing the sourcing and delivery of NISEI’s kits - and I’m encouraging everyone else who received any kit from us around the world to jump in on this thread and help us figure out what we can do better in the future!

As for the points you made:

  • Packaging of cards - we have heard that the top cards show a bit of wear from the delivery, so starting with GNK Q2, we’ll see if the light paper deck boxes offered by Ludocards are something we can get in large numbers without upsetting the pricing. I pack all the GNKs in gloves to make sure that I don’t leave marks on the materials - but also not to get my hands dirty :slight_smile:
  • Card backs - good question - I will ask the Creative Team to chime in and answer this one.
  • Card print quality - I’m not an expert in comparing printing tech, but I do agree that Ludocards does a good job, even if their tech seems to be a bit different. Ashes for Europe will be most likely printed via Ludocards as well.
  • Mat quality - I am very happy you like the quality - it’s one of the main reasons why we go through the pain of importing them into Europe and Australia from the US - with our quantities, we can get them much cheaper and the quality is definitely top notch.

Cheers,
V

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I want to echo @Exile above: Thanks for the feedback! Seriously, pick all the nits. This is how we get better.

No excuses, but keep in mind this is us spooling up. We’re just now figuring out how to do a lot of it. We prioritized speed when releasing our first stuff.

If y’all bear with us and just keep letting us know when we’ve screwed up, we will figure out how to refine our process.

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Got a confirmation from Pat (NISEI’s Art Coordinator and Resident Visual Magician) that the Runner backs from SC cards are staying and the Corp backs will look differently (not only in colour, but also in general design).

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Thank you all for your feedback and I know you just started and that is why I put a lot of effort into this, to make it as detailed as possible. You are doing an awesome job!

It’s great to hear an updated corp back is coming to us! Looking forward to it.

I’m really happy to hear that Ashes might also come through LudoCards! That’s a major thing!

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I’m thinking of reviewing the Q2 and the Downfall cards. Any interest in that?

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I know I’d read it. :slight_smile:

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Already looking forward to it!

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It’s not me, but some one printed proxies through MPC and took also some Nisei photos and reported about it on reddit:

Direct link to photos:
https://imgur.com/gallery/AeC5PYD

OK, some time has passed and here are some missing pieces…


Backs from the Corp cards, GNK Q1/2019 being Rashida & Titan, Downfall should be clear & GNK Q3/2019 also includes MoPus cards.


GNK Q1/2019 doesn’t contain runner cards.

As you can clearly see, I’m not good in taking photos! But also that the new back is darker.

Putting them into sleeves:


Ultra Pro was an issue before, but you see the difference.


Dragon Shields, you can see the old one with the new ones I’m not so sure and clearly the light is bad, my fault!

Later I’ll provide photos from the actual card fronts.

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The new GNK Set. Seeing so many core set cards in the price pool(s), like Mimic, Sure Gamble & Nisei MK 2 I’m thinking if these cards are full bleed for future Core 2020 that you can buy?


I really like this double side approach to IDs, I think we have seen it with Reina in Nationals 2018 from FFG, pleas keep it, I love it. I think also ACME had it.


Finally the Magnum Opus Cards, yeah! TY now we have all cards available in German, this is huge! And makes these cards easy accassible! But finally the Champions get art that matches their card. Not as good as Slot Machine, Labor Rights & Border Control commissioned by the Champions, but these are also not that easy get.

Haven’t looked on the new language of the cards and the differences of the design that was mentioned, hope to notice the new language in the next release of Ashes.

Great Job Nisei!

Can some one take a photo from the frosted Az please?

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Ok, got access to some frosted Az, so I thought let’s look into it and compare against the FFG cards.


The foto is not very good, so the cards itself is 100% ok.


The back… I was like, what is this? But then I compared it to the FFG ones, and they are the same.


Titan, Az & Maxx (a bit blury), you can see the different color touch FFG has to the Nisei cards. In reality FFG one look like blue, while Niseis looks like yellow.


Titan, Az & Maxx from the back

My verdict, Job very well done Nisei!

Still want to know, where can you print this?

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Would love to see some of the Cards from the National Kit, anyone?