Wizards of the Coast has acknowledged that defective copies of The Deck of Many Things were sold to North American customers via Amazon, and has told Wargamer it intends to replace them as soon as possible. The company is “committed to making it right for fans”, a Wizards spokesperson said, adding that the instructions for getting your damaged DnD decks replaced will soon be shared publicly via D&D Beyond.
The Deck of Many Things, a $99 bundle which included a 66-card deck and two DnD books, appears to have reached many customers in a poor state. The product’s Amazon page has been hit by negative reviews, with some customers citing warped cards, and others reporting damage or that certain cards were missing entirely. Many reviews had images showing off the product’s poor condition.
Manufacturing issues with the decks were actually spotted by Wizards a long time ago during an internal review. We got a personal look at the problem when our Deck of Many Things review copy, which we received in October 2023, arrived with bent cards, and art and borders that were off-center or misshapen.
As a result of problems like these, the release date for The Deck of Many Things was pushed back from November 2023 to January 2024, so Wizards of the Coast could fix the issue. But it seems there was some kind of mix up, and faulty copies of the deck were shipped to customers anyway.
In its statement to Wargamer, Wizards of the Coast appears to place the blame on Amazon vendors. “Though we requested vendors to return all defective products to us, it appears some orders were fulfilled with them,” it says. It adds that it’s now working through the vendors to ensure those who were sent faulty copies of the deck are issued a new one swiftly.
The Deck of Many Things is a premium product that represents one of the most famous DnD magic items, a tarot-style deck of cards with chaotic and varied magical effects. This bundle includes a physical version of the deck, with the number of cards expanded from 22 to 66. It also comes with a reference guide explaining how to use the cards, and a sourcebook full of dungeons, DnD feats, prompts, and other gameable content based around the deck.
Wargamer’s Mollie Russell looked past the physical issues in her review, assuming these would be fixed up in the final product. However, she still found The Deck of Many Things rather “hit and miss in terms of quality”, with lots to love, but still more that felt mundane or repetitive.
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