The Kadar Deck – from MagicTao – is certainly one of the most unusual decks we have ever had the pleasure of looking at. It has been designed, from the ground up, with a very specific purpose – to be used for ‘readings’ – a fortune-telling deck if you will.
The design, by the talented Christopher J Gould, is stylish and intricate and wonderfully evokes a bygone age. The faces have been completely re-designed to fit the theme and the court cards have all been styled as fortune tellers. (Apologies for the paucity of images – but the lighting was poor when I got round to reviewing these and there are plenty of more detailed images here).
Each suit stands for a different aspect of life: Hearts – the inner world of dreams and feelings; Spades – the world of judgement and rational thinking; Clubs – energy and communication; Diamonds – the material world including health, wealth and possessions. The images on the court cards tie in with these themes, and all the cards have words and phrases around their border which connect to those themes, and from which you can make your ‘readings’.
The inclusion of this wording on the cards makes it much easier for the person who is inexperienced with this kind of ‘reading’ – and a pdf booklet is also included which contains more details about how to use the deck for readings. The magicians’ version also includes details of how to mark the cards so that you can produce routines with even more impact.
The Kadar Deck is printed on standard USPCC ‘Bicycle’ stock – so handles beautifully. Though I imagine that the older and more battered the deck gets, the more atmospheric it will be in use. Although primarily designed for ‘fortune telling’ I could easily see this deck slotting into a more ‘standard’ magic routine and adding interest and contact. To that end, the deck also includes a blank-faced card and a double-backer – both of which would be very useful in magic routines.
In short, we love the design and can see real potential for creating an emotional hook with your audience using these carefully crafted cards. They are available for £9 (at the time of writing) from MoM (with many thanks to MagicTaowho kindly provided our review deck).
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