Possibly the coolest deck box you've seen (KICKSTARTER)
Gear forum
Posted on Aug. 31, 2016, 2:30 p.m. by Aristocards
Hi guys, I'm part of a new Kickstarter campaign for a magnetic card deck box: The Talon.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1117116142/the-talon-magnetic-card-deck-box
Like many of you, I have owned a variety of card boxes over the years to store and transport decks. I don't particularly care for flimsy boxes that burst open in backpacks, don't actually protect our cards from liquids, and don't have a function beyond just transportation.
As fellow players I know you have high standards, so I wouldn't be sharing this here without thoroughly testing it.
I'd be happy to answer any questions you have here. Thanks for checking it out.
I've backed a TON of kickstarter projects and I have to say, you need more in between options. I have to agree with the above comment. You needed to have offered an option to order the pewter additions, obviously based on cost benefit analysis. Either way, this seems a bit out of reach for most MTG fans.
August 31, 2016 2:57 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #4
This is a very nice box. It looks like it's well made and would be very unique to set down at the table. I have a couple comments/questions - I'm going to be a little nitpicky here, but I imagine that some of these will be asked at some point:
- How does it protect from liquids? I can't imagine that the magnets alone create a tight enough seal. Is there some form of gasket that I missed in the video / description?
- I think it would be helpful if you post a video dedicated to showing how durable the box is. Being able to hit it off of a table or drop it onto a hard surface without any noticeable damage would help convince customers that your box is strong.
- Do you offer repairs? Maybe a magnet pops out or the dial becomes lose - it would reassure customers to have free repairs (within reason) for a designated time period and then have to pay for them after that.
- Isn't pewter a very malleable metal? I went to a pewter shop on a vacation in like 5th grade and the attraction was to make a bowl out of a pewter disk. Maybe this just had a high tin/low copper count and yours has more copper to make for a harder metal. I'd be concerned that the hexagonal dice and life counter would rattle against each other and dent.
If I were a customer, these are some of the questions I'd ask.
August 31, 2016 3:11 p.m.
Aristocards says... #5
Thanks for the early comments. Per your requests, I will discuss with Jason the option to offer the pewter dice a al carte. As far as coupons go, we are offering an "early bird" discount for the core box.
I will discuss the remainder of the questions with my partner and will post a full reply shortly. Thank again for your feedback.
August 31, 2016 3:29 p.m.
Have you thought about making a "budget-box"? A box that cost like half the price? Unfortunately, some of us can't afford to spend 100$ on a deck-box, but still like to get something in premium quality.
August 31, 2016 5:20 p.m.
Capjbadger says... #7
Hi Folks! Jason here...
I'd like to address some of the question you've asked here. :)
(sorry for the long post. Wanted to address everyone's questions)
Mailing list: We looked around and saw that it was very common to have a mailing list / couple $ level on a campaign, so we added one as well.
In between levels: Very good question. We wanted to focus on the box for this campaign, but I like the suggestion a lot. It may be too late in the game for this campaign, but if we run another one, we will certainly add this in. :)
Liquids: I wouldn't go dropping it in your local lake, but yes it will protect your cards from the guy next to you knocking over his soda and splashing your box. The liquid basically would have to get past both the outer box, and the inner. There is no gasket, just a very tight seal. The wood is also coated in multiple coats of polyurethane, which seals the wood, and blocks any liquids from being absorbed.
Durability: As with any wooden box, if you drop it onto a concrete floor, you're going to damage it. There are limits to the abuse wood can take. :) We've built it so that it will not be damaged during normal use. I've been using a couple of them since Jan (GP Oakland) and haven't had any issues. In and out of bags (bag got dropped too 0_0), knocked over, airports (and way too curious TSA agents. heh), etc. The only damage they've gotten so far is when a large bolt somehow ended up in my bag and scratched the box. A quick rub with some 220 grit sand paper and a wipe of the poly (minwax wipe-on poly (satin)) and the damage is gone.
Repairs: Something to look into for sure. As I said above, the box is built to stand up to regular use. If for some reason the dice box dial were to somehow get loose, there is actually a screw under the lid that can be turned to adjust how tight that dial is (1/8 turns at a time only! Over tightening it could cause the dial to fail!)
The back dial can't get loose because it's glued and pined in place. You would have to somehow sheer off four 1/2in thick wood pins and break the disk that make the dial only move 90 degrees to make that fail. The magnets are either trapped and thus can't come out, or they are press fitted tightly into the wood and glued. The wood would have to be badly broken to release a magnet. :) In a nutshell, someone would have to abuse the box pretty bad to have a repair type issue. It would end up being a replacement of that part of the box. We'll have to look into the logistics of such a thing. :)
Pewter: Yes, pewter can be a malleable metal depending on the alloy. The alloy we use is formulated for casting (harder, better flow) instead of forming (softer, more flexible). If you were to hit the corner of a die hard with something harder, yes, you could dent the corner a little, but the dice are solid cast pewter, so you would have to take a hammer to them to do anything more than cosmetic damage. The life counter disk is 1/8" thick and very hard to bend. If I really try, I can bend it with my hands. The top dial, no chance. It's even thicker and smaller, so I can't get leverage on it.So again, yes, you can damage them, but you have to go out of your way to do so. ;)
Budget Box: We've thrown around some ideas, but nothing fully formed, designed and tested at this time. It's hard to make a budget box out of these materials due to the cost of the wood and the cost of the milling process. We don't want to make "just a box" like other people have (like Wyrmwood). If/when we make a budget box, we'll make sure that it's quality and also unique like our Talon box. :)
Thanks for all the great questions! Keep'em coming! :)
-Jason
MollyMab says... #2
So you go from 2 dollars for a mailing list (something that should be free, FYI, if you want to sell your product) to 100 dollars for the box.
Nothing in between? No coupons, no being entered into a prize draw to win a box, no ordering stuff separately cause honestly I might be tempted by the dice, nothing?
August 31, 2016 2:33 p.m.