So the Scala solution for this is: http://ideone.com/Vussjh

  object Cards {
    sealed trait Suit
    case object Spades extends Suit
    case object Clubs extends Suit
    case object Hearts extends Suit
    case object Diamonds extends Suit

    sealed trait Rank
    trait FaceCard extends Rank

    case object Jack  extends FaceCard
    case object Queen extends FaceCard
    case object King  extends FaceCard
    case object Ace   extends FaceCard

    case class ValueCard(n: Int) extends Rank

    case class Card(rank: Rank, suit: Suit)

    type Deck = IndexedSeq[Card]

    def numberToRank(n: Int): Rank = n match {
      case 1 => Ace
      case x if x <= 10 => ValueCard(x)
      case 11 => Jack
      case 12 => Queen
      case 13 => King
      case 14 => Ace
      case _ => throw new IllegalArgumentException
    }

    def numberToSuit(n: Int): Suit = n match {
      case 0 => Spades
      case 1 => Clubs
      case 2 => Hearts
      case 3 => Diamonds
    }

    def apply(): Deck = for(rank <- 1 to 13; suit <- 0 to 3) yield Card(numberToRank(rank), numberToSuit(suit))
  }

Now I have: normal operations bound to Deck (head, take, drop etc) and the ability to pattern match on cards. Also strongly typed. This took about 5 minutes top to write.

edit: I'd say the 'numberToRank' parts are probably code smells, but given that its Christmas Eve, I really can't be bothered to think of a better solution right now. Implementing ordering etc can be done on the traits very easily too, but that is game specific (for example are aces high or low, is a King ranked higher than a Jack etc).