Number 17 Deck – review and photo feature

When we first saw the pictures of the Number 17 Deck we couldn’t wait to get our hands on one and now that chance has come.  We got a bit arty on the shoot – so I hope that’s ok.  But let’s have a look at what we’re talking about.

This is a red-based deck with custom court cards, beautiful aces and of interest to magicians, some extra cards about which more below.  This is technically the v.02 deck – though I haven’t seen v.01.

Here are a few shots of the tuck case which is elegant and understated.  It has a nice fancy seal, and the number 17 is inserted at every opportunity (e.g. there’s one sneakily on the inside tab). Embossing is used to add a little class to the feel.

There are many things that I like about this deck. The back design itself is ornate without being fussy – we think it strikes a nice balance being visually appealing but not over the top.

The wife’s memorable quote was “at least there are no skulls” – but she’s not so interested in playing cards as me!

The spot cards have been re-thought and have foregone the standard bicycle spacing.  The lower values form pleasing vertical lines and the higher values are beautifully spaced – this feels to hark back to an earlier time and I think the results are great.

I’ve said before that I’m a big fan of big aces – and these do not disappoint.  My only small critique would be the cat figure on the point of the Ace of Spades.  I think there may be something going on with cats here – since their latest kickstarter is called Le Chat Rouge (also known as v.03 of the deck).

The Jokers are fairly traditional in style but there is an extra Joker which shows American influence (slightly surprising for a Swedish deck) – the Joker’s head has been replaced with a Jack-O-Lantern – there’s also a Jackdaw on top of his head and the index reads ‘Jack-O’.  Not too subtle then!
Whilst we’re talking about the extra cards there’s a really useful (for magicians) extra card which is a double ended QH/QD – which has many applications in mentalism type routines. This is much nicer than receiving an advertising card or some such.

We love the bold court cards too.  (Apologies that the photos are slightly out of focus – we preferred the soft lighting but I hadn’t brought my tripod so was needing to improvise!)

Each one has been completely re-drawn in an elegant and evocative style.

We haven’t mentioned handling yet, but they’re on standard USPCC stock so handle smoothly and well.  As you can see – the effect of a spread deck is very pleasing.

All in all we feel that the deck is as good as it looked – and I would gladly use this in a magic routine or for normal card-playing use.  I’d certainly grab one for your collection – and look out for the v.03 coming soon.

You can get them from MagicNevin (who still have an October deal on if you get in quick) for £17.75

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

And here’s a few last pics for the collection…