Cards Archives - Bicycle Cards

Abandoned Playing Cards by Dynamo – Review

Matt Homer — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 20:44:07 +0000

Hello everyone, Matt Homer here and in today’s playing card review, I shall be taking a look at the Dynamo Abandoned playing cards designed by Rick Davidson, for the infamous street magician Dynamo in conjunction with his “Abandoned Room Show”, I will give my honest, unbiased opinion based on my experience and love for the pasteboards. There is no question that Dynamo is a leading authority within the street magic scene, it’s time to see if his playing cards live up to everyone’s expectations!

Starting with the design, the tuck box is undeniably stunning, the gold and electric blue create an extremely visual contrast that immediately catches the eye, both of these colours are metallic meaning they glisten in the light. The entire design, every bit of detail, is embossed upon a matte textured box, this creates a luxurious aura to the cards both visually and tactilely.

The detail on the box is phenomenal, the more you look the more you discover, both the front and back designs of the tuck box are extremely elegant, featuring exquisite detail that you could study for hours, the right side of the box features some intriguing co-ordinates which I shall leave for you to decode, the left side features a quote which reads, “I could not rest by night or day for dreaming golden dreams”, this quote is full of insight and up to the reader to interpret.

Excluding the court cards, ace of spades and the jokers, the cards feature a standard face design with a very minimal tweak in colour to that of a regular bicycle deck. This could be viewed as a positive or negative thing depending on your area of expertise, for magicians the standard faces are perfect, card collectors and cardists may wish for something more extravagant, it merely comes down to personal taste and for magicians, performing practicality.

I mentioned that the Abandoned playing cards court cards, ace of spades and jokers are different, let’s take a look. All four suits of court cards(J-K) feature the same colourway, once again it is a metallic turquoise and gold design with the pips being untouched. The ace of spades is excellent, it is an elegant design featuring the metallic gold once again with a room contained within the ace, it continues to conform to the aesthetic of the deck and to the classical look of the ace of spades. The Jokers are two keys, they are not identical, mild differences occur such as the orientation of parts and the pip text colour, for magicians this isn’t ideal.

There are two extra cards within the Abandoned playing cards deck, one contains a poem suggesting there is more to it than meets the eye and the other is a red and gold, what seems to be a Red Herring, literally. I will be honest in saying I have no idea what the Herring is doing here, I can only assume it is a reference to something I am unfamiliar with, nevertheless, it’s a unique card just waiting for the card collectors to discover! The magicians, and/or cardists amongst you may be disappointed with the extra cards, let’s be honest, for us these two pose no practical value – it raises the question of, would a blank card or a double backer have been better which in return raises another question, do you use these gaffs enough to care?

Moving onto the feel and quality of the cards, they are printed on a true linen B9 Slimline paper by Cartamundi. Upon testing the cards out, they handle and feel good, they are soft cards to handle and also very flexible, this could be seen as a positive by some and a negative by others, thick cards often last longer than thin cards, it depends on how much you are going to properly use these and the rate at which you practice, I would certainly lean away from these for everyday practice otherwise practice suddenly becomes very expensive! As an individual I tend to use cards printed by USPCC, however, despite how good they feel, USPCC cards are prone to alignment issues, cartamundi cards feel great and shouldn’t, fingers crossed, have so many printing errors.

In terms of practicality, it varies per individual and what you would be buying these cards for. My honest opinion is if you are a magician wanting to practice and perform with these cards, buy something cheaper like a regular deck of Bicycles, however, for card collectors you simply cannot go wrong with this deck, it is elegant, detailed, unique, they handle great, what’s not to love! I am sure cardists would love this deck too but it’s hard for me to comment, each cardist has their own personal style and design preference, that’s something only you can answer!

In conclusion, the Abandoned Playing Cards deck is wonderful and it comes with my utmost recommendation, the deck ticks all of my criteria, I won’t be performing with this deck, nothing to say you can’t, but from a collectors stance it is simply wonderful and that is my honest opinion, buy this deck – you’ll love it! it will certainly be getting pride of place on my display, how about yours? Let me know your thoughts on the review and the cards down below!

Thank you for reading and I truly hope this review provided the insight you were after,

Matt Homer

Stockists:

Merchant of Magic Stock Abandoned Playing Cards Here

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Steve Dela – Night Flight Deck – review

Phil Sweeting — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 21:04:24 +0000

So Steve Dela’s Night Flight Deck landed through my letterbox this week. “Do we really need another marked deck?” I hear you cry? If you’d asked me before I might have been unsure, but these Night Flights have gone some way to stealing my heart. Let me tell you more.

Who’s Steve Dela?

If you’re not familiar with Steve’s work, where have you been? He’s a busy and award-winning close-up magician. He’s responsible for the fabulous Will To Read (which remains my absolute favourite take on this type of Free Will effect), the awesome All About Eve book test and an At the Table lecture which I still haven’t got round to watching!

What makes Night Flight Deck special?

The most obvious difference from every other marked deck I have seen before is that the Night Flight Deck is 100% plastic. I still remember the first plastic deck I saw (it was the Karnival Death Heads, in case you’re wondering, back in 2011). It was a bit of a shock to the system of someone so used to cardboard-based playing cards. But I was (then) pleasantly surprised and still am.

In the context of mentalism – and that is the primary focus for this release – the ability to do all your fancy card moves is less important. In fact, I find the handling of these cards pretty solid – they riffle beautifully, though don’t fan (for me) quite as well – but I don’t think the material will cause handling issues for anyone. On the contrary, the big selling point is that they should last much better than normal cards. Too early for me to tell with this deck, but I see no reason to disbelieve the marketing on this one.

The Marked Difference

So what about the markings? I have to say they are brilliant. They really are hidden in plain sight. They will fly past a layperson – but once you know what you’re looking for they jump out at you. I have tried them in various lighting conditions and have found them simply the easiest deck to read I’ve ever tried. For ease of reading, they’ve even, for me, knocked the DMC Elites off their top spot (though the Elites still have a smarter tuck case!).

To make the point, this picture shows the same card from 3 well known marked decks. Even on this reduced quality JPG, I think it is clear which is easiest to read.

Not only are the main marks incredibly easy to see, but there are also several other marks which mean you can tell at a glance what colour a card is (even if you can’t see the name marking) and there’s a one-way feature – which is an often overlooked subtle method for aiding some miracles. So there’s a lot going for these. The overall effect is close enough to a Bicycle-style deck that no one will bat an eyelid. (Though they will eyeball some bats – did you see what I did there?!)

The tuck case looks innocuous – which is a bonus – especially in mentalism work. And has a classic mentalism reveal on the top. I found it slightly difficult to open – but that’s probably just me.

Other Bonus Features

The whole thing came nicely packaged in a plastic storage case – to keep it doubly safe. There are also some extra cards. The deck comes with two double backers – one red/blue and the other blue/blue. This latter has apparently caused some controversy – since the two blues are slightly different colours. Steve tells me this is deliberate – so you can use it as a key card in a spread. Sounds like a good idea to me.

In fact, that takes me to my only two small niggles with the deck. I actually prefer the ‘odd’ colour blue of the double backer to the ‘normal’ back colour which is a shade lighter. I suspect that is simply a familiarity thing – since the darker blue is closer to the standard Bicycle blue. This really is a personal preference thing – and I suspect that the more I use them the less it will bother me. And as I reflect on it the lighter colour probably makes it slightly easier to read in low lighting.

I’d also really have liked to get two jokers in the deck – since I do a mix of magic and mentalism and a pair of jokers is very useful for any number of tricks. But as I said these are both minor niggles.

The bottom line is that the Night Flight Deck is a superb marked deck. I will be using this whenever I do marked deck magic and I think it has the potential to become the new standard. Great job. I’m very grateful to Steve for sending me a review copy. And you can pick up your own deck here

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The Boris Wild Marked Deck Project – review

Phil Sweeting — Wed, 22 May 2019 20:19:45 +0000

The Boris Wild Marked Deck Project is a 2-DVD set (or download) from the excellent chaps at Big Blind Media which explores in great detail the magic you can create with this excellent tool. Boris Wild’s name is more or less synonymous with the Marked Deck – so you already know that it’s going to be a worthwhile resource. The 2 DVDs run to over 4 hours playing time – so we’re not going to be able to cover ever last detail. With that in mind, let’s get straight into our review.

Disk 1

The first DVD starts by explaining a little about the history of the marked deck and how and why Boris Wild created this deck. He explains exactly how it works and how you can make (or customise) your own – although these days you would probably find it just as easy to buy one ready printed (also available in Red Backed Bicycle or in Phoenix Deck Standard or Large Index).

Basic Uses

After the history come lots of helpful handling tips. These are great especially if you’ve never used a marked deck before. But even if you have, they also cover some specific aspects of this system.

The next section is really a bit of a plug for further resources. All the effects taught on this DVD can be done with a shuffled deck. But when you add other ideas such as a stacked deck then the possibilities really do multiply. And so Boris points you towards his book, Transparency, which explores some of these things in more detail.

Incidentally, if you like the idea of combining marked and stacked decks, you might like to look at Luke Jermay’s Marksman Deck – which is a bit like the Boris Wild Marked Deck on steroids!

More General Ideas

Boris also explains how his deck can function as a Safety Net. Yes, that’s right, a marked deck in everyday use can be useful when falling off a tight rope. OK, so not strictly speaking for falling off a tight rope – but it can be helpful as an ‘out’ in other magical disasters.

Boris also covers some work on the cull – which I as far as I can recall is identical to the material on his Sensations DVD.

Lots of routines

There are several really strong routines taught over the 2 DVDs. In truth a marked deck is one of those things that laymen think they know about. So a good presentation which completely obscures what you might be doing is a massive bonus. And you have that in spades on this set.

In one routine you appear to memorise a deck. In another incredible trick the spectator literally does all the work and yet still locates their card. And then another version where they repeat it!

These are all very simple in method and yet the presentation sells them and makes them remarkable.

There’s a very clever sandwich location effect – which also teaches you another sly way of allowing the spectator just to peak a card and yet for you to know its identity.

Inexplicable is an exceptionally strong prediction effect. You’ll need to be comfortable with a bit of jazzing– but the result is an absolute corker.

Invisible but marked is a very clean invisible deck type presentation using the Boris Wild Marked Deck.

Puracaan – which also on Sensastions set – as we’ve said before is a neat solution to the classic ACAAN effect.

I don’t know how many of these effects have been taught before on Boris’ earlier releases (apart from the ones I have mentioned) – but they are all worth spending some time on.

Final Thoughts

The performance setting can often make a big difference to a release like this, and I love that most of the performances are live (with the remainder in the studio).

Boris’ style is very different from most of the magicians releasing effects these days. His routines tend to be longer because he talks a lot! Perhaps it is the ‘French’ way? But I really enjoy the change of pace. And you will learn a lot about presentation and audience management by watching this experienced magician perform. And given that most of the effects are all about the sell it is great to see him work his magic!

If you don’t yet do any marked deck magic, this would be a great place to start. It will get you working like a pro! ~~My only frustration is that there doesn’t seem to be a bundle including the deck – so you will have to make a separate purchase.~~ EDIT – D’oh – yes there is – the link below is to the bundle including the deck!

If you already do some marked deck magic then it is still well worth a look – because there are some very different kinds of routines on here and it is a great chance to learn from someone who lives and breathes marked deck magic.

All in all another great release from Big Blind Media. You can pick up the Boris Wild Marked Deck project direct from Big Blind Media (who kindly supplied the review copy) for £34.99 at the time of writing.

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Russ Stevens – The Timeless Project – mini review

Phil Sweeting — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 23:01:21 +0000

Is the Timeless Project really Timeless? I ask this question because we actually reviewed this very clever release back in 2012! Roll the clock forward 6 years and it has been re-released and is being distributed by Murphys, so it was time for another look.

Truly Timeless Project?

Having watched the included approximately 50 minute DVD again, I can confirm that it is unchanged. The Project includes two packs of the Timeless Deck, one of which has been specially prepared. The DVD remains a high quality production with live performances and very clear explanations from Gary Jones. I also found I rather enjoyed the mellow background music – but perhaps I am ageing even if the deck hasn’t!

I stand by my earlier review of the 5 effects included. They all focus around the endlessly fascinating subject of time and include predictions and some very visual magic. They range from essentially self-working to a couple that require a few more moves. But there is nothing in there that would be beyond the skill of your average amateur.

Further Thoughts

I could see myself incorporating any of these effects in my set – and think they would all appeal to an audience. The deck itself is beautifully produced with custom pips and special court cards featuring clock faces which are used in most of the effects.
With a little imagination you could easily bring your own twists to these routines or come up with some of your own.

Here’s a video performance to whet your appetite.

The only thing which isn’t timeless is the price – which has gone up to £39.99!
You can pick up the Timeless Project from MagicShop.co.uk.
The Deck is also available on its own (and this has actually gone down in price to just £7.50).

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

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Another Deck Selection – Cherry Casino, Mondrian Broadway, Infinitas Deck

Phil Sweeting — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 15:43:11 +0000

I feel like I ought to start this review with an apology. I’ve had these playing cards since May but pressure on time to do with moving house mean that I have only just got round to the review. Normally this wouldn’t matter – but I have a feeling that one of the decks may already be sold out! My bad! But let’s move on with the review. To get you in the mood I hope you appreciate the arty shot taken in North Wales.

Cherry Casino Playing Cards – Blue

These are the ones that have sold out I think. If I’m completely honest I hadn’t been expecting too much from them since the design hadn’t grabbed me from the tuck case. But in fact, they were a pleasant surprise.

The tuck case is simple and none the worse for that. I’ll confess that the ‘casino’ aspect feels slightly contrived. I know you get cherries on fruit machines at casino but that is really the only point of contact. The card stock felt a little on the thin side to me – but that did mean that they handled very easily.

A pleasant surprise on opening the deck was that they come stacked in Menemonica order. If you are a magician, this is potentially a massive advantage – to be able to open a new sealed deck and yet know exactly where every card is.

Another useful feature for magicians is that they come complete with a matching double-backed card and a blank faced card – two very useful gaff cards. The jokers are identical which is often useful for magic routines.

The Ace of Spades is good and bold – and regular readers will know I always favour a large centre pip on my aces! Otherwise, they are standard USPCC faces – but in a nice little detail, the normal ‘bright red’ colour has been replaced with, of course, a cherry red.

The Blue Cherry Playing Cards are a nice little deck. But sadly very difficult to get hold of now!

(Unless you go for the new red version – which are available at MagicShop.co.uk for £10.99 at the time of writing.)

Mondrian Broadway Playing Cards

I really liked the intriguing arty style – of the Mondrian Broadway deck. The design has been worked through in a very aesthetically pleasing way. But although it is pleasing on the eye and perhaps of interest to art fans, it doesn’t inherently lend itself to magic use (except perhaps cardistry) – so perhaps this is more one for the card collectors.

The tuck case is sophisticated and this is accentuated by a lovely detail of silver embossing on the inside of the tuck case.

I loved the fabulous jokers – and the two different colours would make for a very pretty colour change effect. The Ace of Spades also ticks all my boxes with a bold and beautiful design.

The rest of the faces are normal USPCC design but they incorporate the cyan colour of the design as detailing on the court cards which is a nice touch.

As with all the new decks in this review it includes a matching blank faced card and double backed card – both of which are useful for magic. It handles very well and I think it is a visually super deck. Time to come up with some art-inspired magic routines…

The Mondrian Broadway Deck is available at MagicShop.co.uk for £15.50 (at the time of writing).

Infinitas Deck

I’m a bit of a maths geek. Infinity is a fascinating concept for me. So the Infinitas Deck should have been an obvious hit. But I’m afraid, in spite of the number of pictures I took, this deck didn’t really do it for me. Let me go in to some detail.

The tuck case itself doesn’t give too much away. In fact it played hard to get – as the only deck in this selection which had a deck seal on it.

Once we’d got inside thing remained minimal. The jokers are nondescript. I suppose you could put a positive spin on that and applaud their simplicity. But they just didn’t appeal.

Some hard work has obviously gone into the creation of the deck – and they have designed new pips for every suit. However, I found them quite difficult to tell apart! I found it interesting to note that the court cards also incorporate small ‘ordinary pips’ in their design which helped me tell them apart!

The ace of spades has some boldness, but is not as pleasing as many I have seen. In fact the ‘spades’ pip reminds me of a sword rather than bringing to mind ideas of infinity.

My favourite part of the design was the court cards. These are stylised and interesting – and I like their ‘cut out’ feeling. They have been freed from the borders which so often entrap our court cards and I think the result is very positive (see the gallery below).

The back design is so minimal that when you fan the cards it looks like a blank deck! In a spread, depending on the depth of the spread you will have a small bit of edge detail.

Like the other decks, the Infinitas deck comes with a double backed card and a blank faced card – so I suppose you could complete the illusion of the blank faced deck! You’ve probably gathered, I think this is an OK deck, but I can’t see myself using it.

You can pick up an Infinitas Deck from MagicShop.co.uk for £10.50 (at the time of writing).

Many thanks to Murphys Magic who provided the review decks and to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

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A clutch of new Bicycle Cards

Phil Sweeting — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 20:54:10 +0000

It has been some time since we’ve looked properly at any new Bicycle cards, and the following four decks had been languishing unloved in our cupboard for a few months. So as the sun was shining we thought we’d put them (briefly) through their paces and take a few pictures to share with you. (Apologies for the table – I was on holiday and failed to bring a nice close up mat with me…)

Let’s look at the decks in turn.

Bicycle Tangram Deck

First up is in some ways the weakest of the four. I’ve been playing with tangrams since I was a kid and even bought my own children a set to play with – so I love the concept. It is a novel idea and it is great fun to have a card with a tangram to cut out and play with – and another with some shapes to try to make.

But as a deck of cards it has some flaws. Although it is a clever idea to carry the tangram idea into the suit pips, in reality I found them quite difficult to distinguish – which would be a bit of a problem in either play or magic. The extremely stylised court cards did little for me.

The back design is ok but not that attractive nor does it particularly lend itself to attractive fans or flourishing. I think I liked the Jokers best. Handling is fine on nice USPCC playing card stock.

A mixed bag really, but not a bad deck for the collector or the Tangram enthusiast!

The Tangram Deck is available from MoM for £9.99 (at the time of writing).

David Koehler – Wonder Playing Cards

The stand out feature of the Wonder Playing Cards is their bold back design. Reminiscent of the sort of thing you could produce if you were a black belt in spyrograph (remember those?!) – in bold printing press colours which are pleasing to the eye. I’m not sure how well the design lends itself to spreads and fans – but a lot of fun to spin!

The faces are standard USPCC faces apart from the Ace of Spades. I really like the attractive Jokers – and the way the harsh diagonals contrast with the spirals of the main design. The deck also comes with a double backed card which is always useful for magic. And an extra four of hearts. I’m not sure why, but who knows when you might need an extra four of hearts!

A nice little deck. The Wonder Playing Cards are available from MoM for £9.99 (at the time of writing).

Blue Steel Deck – bu Bocopo Playing Card Company

Pacakged in an unassuming blue tuck case, I think the Blue Steel Deck is my favourite of the collection today.

It has an elegant, stylish but understated back design. For some reason it reminded me (but is not really anything like!) the classic Bee – but it has a border unlike the Bees.

The deck has standard faces with the exception of a custom ace of spades – which is big and bold – just the way I like Aces!

I particularly like the jokers – unusually the deck has 3 – 2 blue and 1 red – but apart from the colour they are identical which could make for some attractive colour change effects.

All in all a pleasingly stylish deck which I could see working nicely for magic or regular use.

Blue Steel Playing cards are £9.99 at MoM (at the time of writing).

Keith Glover’s Runic Royalty Deck

The final deck we’re looking at today is an odd one out from the rest. It is a super limited edition (1,000 only) deck originally funded on Kickstarter (in conjunction with the same team who produced the interesting Alice in Wonderland Deck).

The first thing we noticed was that they are the only deck in this selection with a seal on the tuck case. A small, but significant, feature.

They feature an ‘aged’ design i.e. both faces and backs have been coloured to appear aged – which leads to a mellow and pleasing colouring.

The Jokers are very striking, and both they and the court cards feature custom drawn modern ‘cartoon’ style imagery. There’s a lot of detail here and I can see these appealing to lots of users. All the pips and indices on all the cards have been custom drawn and make a pleasant change from the standard USPCC design on so many other decks.

The back design is intriguing and I could see it fitting a number of interesting presentations. Including a double-ended court-card is another really useful (and unusual) feature for a deck which might be used by magicians. Mentalists, too, could find this useful.

This one’s going to appeal to magicians and collectors I would think.

PlayingCardDecks.com are available from MoM for £17.99 (at the time of writing).

And a final word for all those who love cardistry. I’m not sure any of the decks we’ve looked at today would really suit that kind of thing.

Although I haven’t seen these in person, I quite like the look of the Broken Borders deck – which lends itself to some fantastic bold flourishing effects. Head over to MoM to see some pictures of the Broken Borders playing cards.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our round up of these new bicycle cards. Keep checking back for more card and magic news and reviews.

Review decks kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed (apart from the Runic Royalty Deck which came from PlayingCardDecks.com).

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Alice in Wonderland Playing Cards – at Kickstarter

Phil Sweeting — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 13:18:16 +0000

These Alice in Wonderland Playing Cards are just delightful! Time does not permit a full review, but we were privileged to receive a prototype deck and wanted to share some pictures and thoughts…

What we love about the cards is the incredible attention to detail which has woven the theme so clearly throughout the deck. From the very first view of the tuck case (“We’re all mad here” it proclaims – which could well be my family motto!) there are lovely touches everywhere. The Cheshire Cat’s grin disappearing; the mock turtle and gryphon holding the crest; the messages on the side of the case. I particularly love the deck seal – which illustrates Alice’s frustration!

The stylised garden makes a pleasing back design with those elusive locked doors in view. Each suit has its own graphic (the pocket watch, the pepper pot, etc) which carries through the whole suit – and gives an interesting ‘edge marking’ effect.

The court cards have been delightfully illustrated with many of the main characters. Alice herself gets pride of place on the Aces with allusions to a number of the key scenes. The jokers represent that pesky potion and the cake which are responsible for so much of the mayhem.

The preview deck we saw didn’t include the delightful artwork inside the case – of Alice falling down the rabbit hole. So we may just have to get ourselves a real deck!

It really is a charming deck which will certainly appeal to any Alice in Wonderland fan. And as a limited edition deck it will appeal to collectors too.

It is printed on Bee Stock – which promises the same finish as ‘air cushion’ but felt smoother to me. I’m not sure I would use it as a magician unless I had a specifically Alice flavoured routine to perform. But well worth a look.

At the time of writing the Kickstarter campaign has 17 days to go (if you want to get some of those lovely bonuses – which include things like uncut sheets etc) – so what are you waiting for? You don’t want to be late…

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New deck review – Memento Mori Blue

Phil Sweeting — Sun, 06 Aug 2017 23:01:18 +0000

This is part 2 of our double deck review in which we look at the Memento Mori Blue deck. You can read part 1 – our review of the Fox Targets here.

Memento Mori Blue

Obviously all reviews are very subjective, but I found this deck to be a bit of a love it or hate it. The thing that I probably like most of all is the groovy 3d impressed tuck case. It is bold and striking and makes a statement.

Like the Fox Targets we looked at yesterday (also by Murphys Magic) there is no seal on the tuck case, which makes things a bit easier.

They have made the design decision to make all the pips the same colour. I am sure there are good artistic reason for this, but it seems perverse to me. You can see it clearly in this picture of the aces.

The geometric pattern has been brought across into the design of the court cards. Personally, I just don’t like the style – but some will – so I have provided plenty of pictures for you to make your own mind up.

The design of the jokers seems slightly unimaginative but I could see them fitting into certain types of presentation.

The design really comes into its own in spreads and fans. As you can see, these are very attractive and make a striking display. This would make a great deck for cardistry or flashy manipulation within a standard magic act.

Time is fleeting – this deck proclaims – and so I will leave my words there and let you make up your own mind.

You can pick up a deck of Memento Mori Blue playing cards at magicshop.co.uk for £9.50 (at the time of writing).

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

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New deck review – Fox Targets

Phil Sweeting — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 23:01:51 +0000

We’ve got a double deck review for you – starting today. In part 1 we’re looking at the Fox Targets. Come back tomorrow for part 2 and more gorgeous pictures as we review the new Memento Mori blue deck. I like one of them rather more than the other – see if you can guess which…

Fox Targets

I really like these. Have I given the game away too early? Let’s start with the tuck case. The elegant front of the box is in keeping with the sophisticated feel to the deck. But I find the back design a little disappointing – not quite fitting with the understated nature of the rest of the deck and much more elaborate than the simple gray backs of the cards themselves.

Neither of the tuck-cases in this review come with seals on the deck – so they are easier to get into than some cards – and you don’t end up with the sticky residue or messy break.

One of my favourite aspects of the deck is the fabulous restyling of the court cards – wonderfully intricate yet simple designs.

In fact the faces continue to impress – with stylised pips and lots of white space. The large pips on the aces are particularly pleasing. This is a deck I would really enjoy using both in magic performances or for playing card games.

I have some sympathy for the poor foxes on the jokers! Where are you on fox hunting? In the UK it is quite a divisive issue – so let’s not go there.

All in all, the Fox Targets are a lovely deck which is available from the Merchant of Magic for £9.50 (at the time of writing)

(Sorry for the slightly washed out images – we were shooting outside on a particularly bright day – they are much clearer if you look at the larger images.)

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

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Bicycle Karnival Fatal Playing Cards – review

Phil Sweeting — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 12:28:17 +0000

It has been some time (a couple of years?) since we’ve looked at a new Karnival Deck from BigBlindMedia, so we were delighted when the Karnival Fatal playing cards dropped through our letterbox. Here’s our review…

As with previous decks, the talented Sam Hayles is responsible for the design. It is a highly stylised design which plays with the idea of ‘double exposure’ in a striking black and white design. There’s a lot of white space around the edges of the design which doesn’t make for the most interesting spreads and fans – so not a deck for cardistry perhaps.

The tuckcase suitably showcases the design and retains the prominent Bicycle branding of which we obviously approve!

One disappointment for me was the small number of faces which have been specially designed for the deck. So, as is traditional, the Ace of Spades gets a superb treatment featuring the femme fatal of the title and the cityscape which blends in (like the image on the front of the tuck case).

The jokers, too, get a redesign, again featuring the lady and cityscape – though here you can hide or display either aspect depending on how you arrange them. I like both Joker designs, but for magic use it is sometimes helpful if they are indistinguishable.

Otherwise, the rest of the cards have standard ‘Bicycle’ pips and faces. I would have like to see more work on these if possible.

Usefully, the deck also includes a double-backer and a blank faced card. These both have many applications for magicians – and the latter, in conjunction with the white space on the back design already mentioned – enable to the impression of a fully blank deck.

There’s not much more to say here. Printed on decent quality USPCC stock, the Karnival Fatal deck is a joy to handle, straight out of the box. Fans and spreads and sleights all easy to perform if you’re used to the airflow finish.

For us this is a nice deck, but not a ground-breaking one. But a must for all you collectors and Karnival nuts out there.

You can pick up a Karnival Deck from the Merchant of Magic for £7.99 (at the time of writing).

There are a few more pictures below. (With thanks to BigBlindMedia who kindly provided the review copy).

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The post Bicycle Karnival Fatal Playing Cards – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.