Although our card skills barely stretch to a rough knowledge of the rules of Pontoon, and er, Snap, we're a bit in love with these cards by Theory11 who called in San Francisco design studio Hatch to assist them in designing the ultimate deck.

And the result, 'Sentinels', is gorgeous.

Composed of entirely original artwork - the faces, the backs, the box, even the court cards; every single design element has a meaning behind it.

The deck represents magic, the industry of deception, and the allied arts.

Creating this special edition was no mean feat, with the final illustrations only coming to fruition after hundreds of pages of research on the history of magic, hermeticism, secret societies, and mythology.

The box is printed on imported paper 40% thicker than normal tuck cases and has metallic accents on six side whilst the graphic on the cards themselves is embossed in 20 locations and coated with a matte varnish to enhance durability.