Cartelago Standards: The First-Deck Origin Story
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Before Mirinos BLACKOUT, before Players, and before the current Cartelago visual world, there was Standards.
Standards was the first clean statement of what a Cartelago deck could be: a practical black-and-white playing-card deck for everyday carry, magic, and card handling. Outside retailer listings described it as a Franco Pascali deck, printed by the United States Playing Card Company on crushed Bicycle stock.
The important part is not just the production spec. It is the intent.
Cartelago Standards was not trying to be a novelty deck. It was a working deck with a modern visual twist: familiar enough to sit in a magician's hands, but specific enough to feel like its own object.
Vanishing Inc. listed the deck with context around a hidden system, a double backer, and a mis-indexed card. PlayingCardDecks.com described Standards as a 2021 release from Franco Pascali and pointed to the same USPCC/crushed Bicycle stock foundation. Butterfly Magic Store also framed the deck around practical magic and cardistry, with standard faces and special features for magicians.
That is the Cartelago lane in miniature:
Design that can be used.
Magic thinking without turning the object into a puzzle.
Cardistry and handling without losing the deck's identity as a deck of cards.
Standards is sold out now, but it matters because it explains everything after it. Mirinos, BLACKOUT, and Players all come from that same design problem: how do you make a deck that feels premium, practical, and unmistakably Cartelago?
Sources and references
- Vanishing Inc.: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/playing-cards/cartelago-playing-cards/
- PlayingCardDecks.com: https://playingcarddecks.com/products/cartelago-playing-cards-uspcc
- Butterfly Magic Store: https://www.butterflymagicstore.com/cartelago-playing-cards/