Royal Mischief Transformation
Royal Mischief Transformation reworks Patrick Valenza’s Royal Mischief characters and imagery as a complete transformation deck.
Patrick Valenza is a specialist playing-card creator and artist based in New York. He will be known to many collectors as the creative force and the artist behind the ‘Deviant Moon Tarot’, ‘Trionfi Della Luna’ (also a tarot) and ‘Royal Mischief’, based on standard playing cards. Each of these sets was designed by Patrick and published by US Games Systems.
He has also written a book, a comprehensively illustrated guide to the Deviant Moon Tarot which has explanations of the cards and their history as well as showing many of Patrick’s sources of inspiration. There is a very interesting biographical introduction, with examples of drawings from age 5 onwards. The book was awarded several national prizes after its publication in 2016.
Many of these sets also exist in additional formats with some color and design variations and also in foreign language editions, all attesting to the popularity and the global reach of Partick’s designs.
Above: 3♦ ‘Shark Bait’ in the Royal Mischief Transformation
Three of Diamonds “Shark Bait” from Royal Mischief Transformation Playing Cards, Patrick Valenza; published by U.S. Games Systems (USA), 2019. The diamond indices stay clear while the scene builds around them: a swimmer at the surface and sharks rising from below.
More recently Patrick has brought the world Mildred Payne’s Secret Pocket Oracle and its companion Mildred Payne’s Oracle of Black Enchantment. These are miniature masterpieces of iconic imagery made in the tradition of fortune telling yet entirely original. According to the Deviant Moon website, the Pocket Oracle was found in a secret pocket of an old hospital gown in an asylum. Patrick has brought this unique set to a wider audience – for some background stories, his website is highly commended.
Patrick’s most recent set – launched in May 2019 - is an entirely new transformation pack again with highly original and distinctive designs, given the title ‘Royal Mischief Transformation Playing Cards’ – a reference to the much-altered but recognizably ‘standard’ Royal Mischief set. These are available through the website just mentioned.
It is a true transformation, in that the designs are incorporated over correctly laid out formats for each numbered card. The pictures are full of excellent details like the faces and classic cars in ‘Rush Hour’ or the Devil’s devilish soft-toy companion below.
Above: 6♦ ‘Rush Hour’
Six of Diamonds “Rush Hour” — another numbered card from the 2019 transformation pack. Diamond-faced characters and classic cars animate the layout, while the six remains legible and correctly structured as a standard pip card.
Above: 4♣ ‘Even the Devil needs rest’
Four of Clubs “Even the Devil needs rest” from Valenza’s Royal Mischief Transformation set (U.S. Games Systems, 2019). The four clubs are integrated as bedposts, framing a domestic little tableau of the Devil at rest with a soft-toy companion.
By Paul Bostock
United Kingdom • Member since May 07, 2024 • Contact
Paul has been a collector of playing cards since his early teenage years, the mid 1970s. In the last 20 years or so he has specialised in standard English cards and their story. His collection, including many other English Standards, are featured on his website plainbacks.com. Paul is currently editor of Clear the Decks, the Journal of 52 Plus Joker, the American club for playing card collectors, and is a member of the IPCS Council, an EPCS member and a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing cards, a City of London livery company.
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