Howdy, folks. I just picked up the Deadlands Double Poker Deck. Unlike every other Deadlands product, I didn't grab it when it first came out. Admittedly, I was a bit wary of buying a sealed deck of cards, with art I hadn't seen. I broke down and bought them in a mad shopping frenzy when I discovered that I needed extra decks for Pinnacle's miniatures game, The Great Rail Wars. Hey, we all have moments of weakness, right?

These decks are a nice companion to the RPG- each deck has a distinctive illustration on the back, perfect for seeing the posse deck and the Marshal deck. Each deck comes with two jokers, again as dictated by the RPG. You'll never wonder which is the Red Joker and which is the Black Joker again!

If they offered no more, surely this would be a disappointment. But not so! All of the Aces and face cards (sixteen different illustrations) feature a different NPC from the game: Raven, Dr. Hellstromme, Ronan Lynch, and so on. They even remain true with one-eyed Jacks and the suicidal King.

Finally, each of the suits has a twist to it. Spades are illustrated with actual spades, hearts have a small pile of dripping blood, diamonds are a flaming chunk of ghost rock, and indian war clubs represent the final suit.

This is yet another product which a gaming group should have no trouble chipping in for. All in all, I felt happy with the buy, especially because of the actual quality of the cards themselves. I do recommend taking a look at them before you buy them- just so you know what you're getting into.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)