Let’s start with the tuck case. This has a decent quality feel (is it me, or have playing card manufacturers been making more effort on tuck cases in recent years?) Like the cards themselves, the theme is black (apologies – in some of the photos the flash has slightly washed out the colour and it looks almost gray, but it is definitely a matt black colour)

The text and graphics are embossed in silver making a pleasing minimalist effect.  The back of the case features the masked magician (the eponymous Anonymous Magician) stencil which is featured on the back designs too.

Whilst we’re on the subject of the back design, let’s go in to a little more detail. It is a simple black back with a white border and features a pair of masked magician faces. I’m not that fond of the faces – perhaps because of associations with exposure, but more likely because I find the picture ambiguous. Is that a stylised goatee or a tongue sticking out? Either way, it doesn’t do much for me, but on the other hand the overwhelming effect in fans and spreads is essentially black!

I’m rather more positive about the jokers which feature a maskles (ineed, headless!) torso which is simple and striking.  They are also identical – which is often a useful feature in magic routines.   Similarly the extra cards which come with the deck are both useful for magic applications – a double-backer and a blank faced card.

Otherwise, the Ace of Spades is the only deviation from normal Bicycle faces. It has the Magicians Anonymous logo in the centre of the pip and the word ‘anonymous’ underneath.

All in all this is a nice deck.  They are reasonably ‘discrete’ – they don’t shour ‘magic deck.’  They handle nicely as you would expect from a decent USPCC deck.  And as already mentioned, the extra cards provided make them useful for the magician, in addition to their appeal to the card collector.

The Magicians Anonymous Bicycle Playing Cards are available from the Merchant of Magic for £10.50 (at the time of writing).

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

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And they’ve also got some great new decks in recently. Have you seen the Fathom Deck from Ellusionist?

One of the complaints you used to get sometimes (less often these days) about Bicycle Cards was that they were sometimes mis-printed – off centre etc. Well, USPCC seem to be making a virtue out of this now with the rather unusual Irregular Deck!

If you want to see all their latest decks and effects, just head to their New Magic page.

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That, and Owen “Goatee Wizard” Packard of BBM waved his magic wand and managed to get a deck to me on holiday in the sunny South Coast, to look at before their official release date of 24th August. The skulls and hiroglyphics were a bit of a surprise for someone else of more delicate sensibilities living at the same address and having the same first name as me who happened to open the parcel which contained them. But enough of that. What about the cards?

Once I had managed to prize off the cellophane (why do USPCC make it so difficult?) I was able to appreciate Sam Hayles’ artwork in all its glory. A nice feature on this tuckcase is the image of the side view of a warn deck of cards on the side of the case.

Having broken the seal (see comments on cellophane), the overwhelming impression was of a fiery red colour – for this is the colour of the border and the majority of the back of the advertising card. This is classic Hoyles – intricate detail, blood and skulls, but this time including leaves, solar iconography and stars and Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The Jokers feature winged devils rising out of a pit of flames, and the aces have skulls nestling in their central pip. A fiery explosion is prominent in the centre of the card faces (Inferno – get it?!), and the court cards are aided by triedents.

In addition to the advertising card, there is an extra blank-faced card which will be useful for magicians, and the quality USPCC finish ensures they handle beautifully. I don’t have my other recent decks to hand, but they feel less flimsy than my memory of some recent decks (e.g. the Dead Eyes – but I am working from muscle memory here which could be deceptive).

All the usual caveats apply – the design won’t be for everyone, but if this is your kind of thing you will love the details and the handling. The Infernos would certainly add colour and drama to a certain kind of effect.

You can get them direct from BBM at £4.99
or if you are ordering other stuff too from the usual suspects e.g.
Magic Nevin – £5.49
FreePostMagic – not yet priced (but they have a price match!)

(apologies for stock images – haven’t yet worked out how to upload images from an ipad…)

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Cards are always our homeground here at Bicycle-Cards.co.uk – and here is a stylish new deck produced by the USPCC. The Criss Angel connection will put some off, but the Baroque Deck looks good and promises to handle well. £6.99

This DVD seems to be causing a lot of interest in the magic world. The Blinking Effect is a DVD from Jean-Luc Bertrand with a whole close up routine on it. The reviews are praising its high production values and the thinking which goes into it. We’ve not seen it ourselves yet, but it certainly sounds interesting. £33.99

And a BONUS recommendation since it is summer! I love to take a good book away with me when I go on holiday, and this year I will be taking Performing Magic by Tony Middleton. This is not a book of tricks, but a study of how to perform it in the real world. I’ve already started having a sneak peak and it looks very good. You will need to invest some effort into working through this, but if you are serious about improving your performance it will be worth the time and the money. £67.50

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Here’s the back and front of the tuck case. First impressions are good.

In case you haven’t worked it out yet – Hornets look a lot like Bees. And I’m not just talking about insects here! I’ve always like the understated class of the borderless Bee design, and that immediately inclines me towards these Hornets.

But as we know, Sam Hayles and the BBM folk are obsessed with skulls. So if you take a closer look at the ‘pleasing geometrical back design’ you see that it actually consists of skulls (and crossbones). Lots of them. All over…

The skull and crossbones and the hornets themselves also feature on the Ace of Spades and the Jokers (which bring in the inevitable skeleton too! and a 3S reveal). But all rather tastefully done.

If I’m honest, what I like most about the deck is that you don’t really notice the skulls at all. Now I know that a lot of the BBM faithful won’t understand that – but skulls don’t do it for me that much – which was why until now my favourite Karnival deck was the Karnival Ryujin.
But I think the Hornets may have taken that crown. And I love the slightly mesmerising effect of spreading or fanning the borderless deck (see pictures below).

Before we leave the appearance of the cards, the faces (apart from the AS and the Jokers) are classic Bicycle faces and easy to read. You are also provided with a rather odd extra card (not pictured here, sorry) – which has a Hornet back, and most of the front of a Karnival Dose but with a ‘torn away’ effect in the corner revealing the pip of a 6H. Don’t really know what that is useful for apart from advertising…
I should also just mention there is the almost obligatory barcode reveal on the tuckcase.

We need to say a word about card quality and handling. A new deck is incredibly smooth and slippy – handles like a dream. It is apparently printed on Bee stock – and I still don’t know if I’m imagining it but it feels slightly thinner. But there are few sleights that will be hindered by this – and many will actually be helped.

Feast your eyes on what I consider to be the attractive geometric effects of a stacked, spread and fanned deck before you read our conclusion…

All in all we’re a big fan of the Hornets. In Karnival terms it feels to be an understated design which is very pleasing on the eye and handles beautifully. Available right now direct from BBM for £4.99 + p&p.

And watch this space for our Christmas competition and the chance to win yourself a deck!

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As with all of the Diavoli designs (see our review of 3 earlier decks here) they are visually impressive. Here’s a look at the box:

As you can see, the design is inspired by Gothic style architecture and, in particular, Gargoyles. I found fascinating an extra card which is included by Lance T. Miller, the designer, explaining the rationale behind his design. You don’t need to have read this to enjoy the design (and I won’t spoil it here) but it frames the whole thing in the context of the struggle betwen good and evil – drawing on the Gargoyle’s historic role of warding off evil.

The card backs are printed in black and silver/gray ink. The overall effect is pleasing and looks nice in a spread – the Gargoyles themselves aren’t too prominent in that kind of layout:

The card faces are printed in silver rather than black ink, with the red indices only (not the actual pips in the middle of the cards) printed in red. It is a dramatic look, though to my eyes it makes the rest of the face on red cards look a little washed out.

Have a look at some court cards and see what you think (my photo may not help here)…

There is an extra prediction card included – a ‘slashed’ 3 of Spades – here it is, plus a look at the Jokers and another shot of the box.

The USPCC are advertising a new finish on these cards ‘magic finish’. I have to say that my first impressions of the handling were very favourable. In particular, a few of the decks I have recently tried from BBM have felt slightly on the thin side – these felt like a return to classic USPCC form, and were extremely smooth.

All in all a stylish pack, and like all the Diavoli decks, a limited edition. Available for £7.49 at MagicNevin immediately.

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Since David Blaine is such an ambiguous figure – especially in the UK (I think he may be rather more popular in the US) it will be interesting to see how these fare and whether they make it into the high street.

Ironically several ‘proper’ UK magic suppliers are stocking them. And at only £4.99/deck (at the time of writing) they probably come in cheaper than a USPCC factory prepared equivalent. Might make a great Christmas present for a child wanting to get into magic? But we haven’t looked at a deck in person yet so can’t comment on the quality. Do let us know if you see them first.

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The Look

This is now the 4th Generation of the Karnival Deck – which all feature the striking artwork of Sam Hayles.

The trademark skeleton, who first obtained ‘gangster’ clothes in the ‘Assassin’ editions, has now been given some new weapons – a knife and a bomb on the Jokers, and a cleaver and an axe on the Ace of Spades.

The Details

The pack comes complete with the ‘usual’ extra card which has a reveal (6C) on one side.  There is also a reveal on one of the Jokers (who has a 4S in his hat) and an extra double backed card which is useful for many routines.  There is no barcode reveal on the tuck case as we have seen in all the earlier editions.

Like the previous designs, this one incorporates a subtle 1-way feature in the back design.  I think this is an under-used device in magic – it is often discounted because it is found in so many elementary magic books, but with the right handling can be a powerful tool.

The Handling

The cards are printed on the usual USPCC  ‘Air Flow Finish’ stock and handle extremely well straight out of the pack.  If you are used to Bicycle Cards there will be no surprises here.  Like all packs they benefit from a little ‘breaking in’ and they won’t last forever, but they perform well and are ideal for all the usual moves and routines.

The Verdict

As usual, the appeal of these cards will depend on the kind of magic you do.  Now we have Assasins and Renegades there are effectively a red-backed and a blue-backed Karnival deck – and I can see all sorts of interesting effects involving colour-changes and the 4 different packs.  I wouldn’t use them for children’s magic or the vicar’s tea party, but for the right audience they will go down well.

And if you’re just one of those people that loves collecting playing cards, you’ll have to have one of these limited edition packs.  So get right on over to BBM and order yours now!

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A fitting way to celebrate 125 years of Bicycle Cards, the USPCC have released these Anniversary edition cards. They feature a distinctive Vintage aesthetic with a signature metallic foil face on the special edition tuck case.

The deck is sealed with a commemorative 125 years deck seal and features 2 jokers, one from 1885 and one from 2010. Each playing card is marked with 1885-2010 on its face.

I suspect they will become collectible. Now available at MagicNevin for only £4.99.

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