This theory11 deck pays tribute to the Grateful Dead, the Californian band formed in 1965 that blended rock, folk and jazz and went on to become a cultural phenomenon in the United States. It was released in 2021 under official licence, and the entire design is custom made with the iconography that their followers, the Deadheads, recognise instantly.

• Publishertheory11
• ThemeGrateful Dead (licensed product)
• Tuck boxsix-colour letterpress printing with embossing, FSC paper with hemp fibres
• ManufacturingUnited States
• Year2021
• Contents52 cards with custom-illustrated court cards and aces, plus jokers

Design

The back has the Steal Your Face logo (the skull split by a lightning bolt) at its centre, surrounded by the terrapin musicians and dancing bears the band used for decades. The aces carry full-card illustrations with the band's logos and mascots, and the court cards (J, Q and K) return to those same characters, bears, turtles and skeletons, in vivid colour. The typeface of the indices and the design of each suit are also custom. The front of the tuck box shows the skull and roses, another of the band's emblems.

Manufacturing

The tuck box is printed on 1960s letterpress machines (letterpress, a pressure printing method that leaves the design slightly pressed into the paper), with six layers of colour and embossing, giving it a very pronounced feel. The box uses FSC-certified paper (from sustainably managed forests) that incorporates hemp fibres. The deck is made in the United States and is closed with an ivory matte seal bearing the Stealie skull.