I feel I owe you an apology, gentle readers. On March 1st, Kevin Yu launched a kickstarter for an absolutely stunning deck: The Luna Moon Playing Cards, without mention here on GeniiOnline. Only 2500 units of the regular and deluxe versions of the deck were made available, and those were pre-sold in just 26 hours. Assuming there’s no second printing, the only way you’ll be able to get your hands on a Luna Moon deck will be by paying scalper prices to savvy Kickstarter backers. 

But while you’ve definitely missed the bus for the Luna deck, printing of a maroon red variant of the deck concept called Helius Sun was announced last week. I just checked, and those decks are still available. 

The Helius Sun deck was originally meant to be released on the Luna Moon deck’s one-year anniversary, but plans have obviously been accelerated to meet demand. It’s not quite as swank as the Luna Moon, but it’s still a very nice deck. 

Like its sister deck, the Helius is printed on air cushion finish Casino Stock. They’re decked in a deep maroon red, with rich indigo taking the place of stark black on the cards’ gorgeously designed faces. The faces themselves are works of art, with a unique retro-futuristic aesthetic. Unfortunately, the Luna Moon’s clever use of color around the edges of the cards that gives them their unique asymmetrical look hasn’t made it into the Helius variant. 

The box is similarly beautiful. The deluxe version of the deck comes with a box that expands outwards into a fan like shape, a configuration apparently inspired by the peeling of an orange. 

The cheapest tier of the Luna Moon and Helius Sun Kickstarter offers both a regular and a deluxe version of the Helius Sun Playing Cards deck and costs $27 US plus shipping.