Posted on by Matt

Master Using Them And You Can Have Them – Cards of Legend

The Legend of Zelda. Galvanizing and polarizing. Mythos rich and disputed, breathless masses with horns locked about game quality and game canon. A fruitless dance. Futile, exhausting.

The fanbase has to chill, brother. They need an outlet for this misdirected energy. They’ve got to reach deep into that treasure chest and pull out the key to resolution. A mechanism to settle things. Sometimes you just need to slap the cards on the table and let them do the talking.

Pull hallowed item from master chest of Gnarled Root.

Playing Cards featuring the Legend of Zelda is an idea that has come up in a few places, including Nintendo themselves. But there have been few finer than the Cards of Legends, designed by DeviantArt user Nelde. Fangamer has an eye for talent, and have released the Cards of Legends for sale, in the store right now and as of this post. If you like what you see, consider rocking a deck.

What is striking about The Cards of Legend, and yes most products in the Fangamer store, is the amount of creativity inherent in the product. That is, to create something new and beautiful inspired by an established quantity. It’ an extra mile that adds serious flavour to a product. I’m not a fan of the constant reuse of official assets on merchandise, it stifles creativity and screams laziness. The Cards of Legends are the exact opposite, creative and just dripping with the obvious care the artist took in crafting his work.

As for the cards and their functionality, these are definitely playable. The cards are a bit lighter than I am used to, so discretion is required… The issue I face is that folks in my neck of the woods can be very aggressive card players. This means I will only deploy The Cards of Legends when I’m playing with people who can appreciate the art and the care enough to use discretion. These are definitely an artistic product, but I see them as playing cards and so they will be used as such.

 

Opening the product.

I was surprised to see that these cards came in a plastic shell and cardboard sleeve, given that Fangamer’s packaging is usually as ornate as the actual product. But this is functional, they survived shipment without incident and they will be kept safe. I suppose assembling tiny little card boxes would be extremely tedious, after all ;). I will probably place one of Fangamer’s Zelda inspired stickers on the case for an extra level of pizazz.

Let’s take a look at the cards to round out this post:

Back detail.
Back detail again. Take a look at the meticulous care and balance the artist has taken in crafting these cards. These emulate a well known series and a familiar deck of cards while simultaneously creating something wholly new. Also peep the best Zelda game poking out at the top.
The Jokers are Skull Kids, and appropriately whimsical (with dire undertones no less).
The Spades have been replaced with a Triforce suit.
The Ace of Triforces is just as ornate as an Ace of Spades. Beautiful!
The face cards for the Triforce suit are the three recurring characters of the series. They each possess the mark, and they each seamlessly fit stylistically into the classic roles of the face cards.
Hearts don't really need to be altered very much for a Zelda themed deck. But I like these hearts nonetheless. They are voluptuous and oh so curvy~ #DatHeartSuit
The Heart face cards are comprised of Zoran royalty. Also present is the guitarist, Mikau, from Majora's Mask. Complete with guitar so he can shred while you stomp the competition.
The Club suit has been changed to Swords. By the hilt, it seems to be the Master Sword.
Interesting enough, the face cards of the Swords suit feature Dark Link as well as (Twilight Princess Spoilers) Midna and Zant. They work well here, and I'm glad to see the Twili get some reppin'
I just want to highlight this card to demonstrate the artist's incredible attention to detail. Instead of a standard flower, she is holding one that invokes the designs of the portals from Twilight Princess. This oozes creative intuition, and being one for the small details it's things like this that impress me the most about this deck.
The final suit, Diamonds, have been replaced by Rupees. So what's the deal with Rupees anyways? They are huge. Where do Hyrulians keep them? Are they naturally perfectly faceted? The time and effort it would take an artisan to carve one green Rupee would cost more than the Rupee is worth and... but I digress, let's continue.
The face cards of the Rupee suit are the Gorons. Darmani from Majora's Mask is the Jack, and I think Darunia is the King? I'm not certain who the Queen is, so I apologize to all my scornful Zelda bros if I've missed someone important!

So there you have it, The Cards of Legend. Great for anyone who likes Zelda or playing cards, or both. Now Fangamer just needs to release some Tingle merchandise. Tingle underwear.

7 Replies to “Master Using Them And You Can Have Them – Cards of Legend”

  1. Great article! I think the queen goron is actually Biggoron from OoT, and I’m pretty sure that the Jack of Swords is Fierce Deity rather than Dark Link

    Reply

  2. Tingle underwear? I REALLY like that suggestion. 😀

    Anyway, it’s an interesting theme to use for a deck of cards and the suits are appropriately used. I’ve never been huge on playing card games and I have a feeling you got these more for a collectable reason rather than playing.

    Reply

      1. Do it! I was in exactly the same pisitoon as you, only I have been on love with zelda for as long as i can remember. I haven’t used my wii since the twilight princess came out, so naturally I too didn’t have a motion plus attachment. Buying the attachment and the game separately costs more than the bundle, so it seems a little silly not to buy the bundle. Not to mention you get a cool golden Wii Remote plus!

        Reply

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