That's right. Here, over the next few weeks, I am going to be comparing EVERY deck of cards I have ever had the privilege (or misfortune) of getting my hands on. I will be rating, from 1 to 10, the stock and finish, the style, the potential use in magic and also XCM, and any other key points I see on a card to card basis. All of my reviews will be based on a comparison with regular Bicycle playing cards, to which I will give a rating of 5. Let me get this straight -
5 is not bad. 5 is average. This is the reason for Bicycle cards having this rating, we will be comparing all other cards to them.
Bicycle (Red, Blue, Black, Green, and all sorts of Fashion Colors.)
Overall - 5/10
Stock - 5/10
Finish - 5/10 (Airflow)
Durability - 5/10
Design - 5/10 (Fashion colors can be a HUGE plus though for the right times)
Magic - 5/10
XCM - 5/10
Anyone who has ever played racing games on a video game console knows that there will always be a vehicle you can select that is balanced in ALL stats. Nothing exceptional, but nothing wrong either. This is Bicycle in the playing card world. They are the standard. The all around good card. We all have used them, and if they are still your favorites, you either are just someone who loves good old traditional cards, or you are someone who has never tried other cards.
Bikes have a fairly standard card stock, with the Airflow finish we are all used to. They are ideal for most every feat in card magic and XCM. There is great room for improvement though. The card stock is surpassed by many other cards, some thicker, some thinner. The airflow finish, while nice, is not top of the line. These cards will preform great out of the box, but will die with a few hours of hard handling. Many magicians can go through a deck or more in a day if they are working hard, even more if weather conditions are not right or the deck is not taken care of. Bicycle cards are (with the exception of the faces of some fashion colors) white bordered, which is pretty much a pre-requisite for magic. The design is classic and tend to lead people to trust the deck as normal, even though there are more gaffs and gimmicks availiable in Bicycle format than ANY other.
If you are unsure which deck to start off with, grab a Bike or two. They will work well enough to get you started, and will serve you until you decide to explore other options out there.
*********** Cards - Tigers, Vipers, Ghosts, Black Ghosts, Masters, Shadow Masters
Overall - 7.5/10
Stock - 8/10
Finish - 8/10 (UV500 Airflow)
Durability - 7/10
Design - 7/10
Magic - 8/10
XCM - 5/10
Let me start off simply - The ONLY difference between the above mentioned *********** cards is the DESIGN. They are ALL on the same nice, thick card stock that *********** prides themselves in. They ALL have the UV500 Airflow Finish that, yes, is nicer than the Air-Cushion finish on bikes. For all the above cards, they are the same, except the design. (NOTE - 1800 Series are different from the rest of the *********** cards and I will review them separately next.)
The thick carstock on E cards is a great thing, so long as you don't do XCM. The thickness of the deck can interfere with lots of XCM work, it will have to be your personal preference to determine if you use these or not. The cards have a great spring because of said card stock and will last a longer time than normal bikes.
The UV500 Airflow finish IS NOT the same as Air Cushion. Lots of rumors circulate of all finishes being the same. If you actually use different cards, you know better. UV500 is a very slick and smooth finish that I love for all my sleights. Between that and the stock, these cards handle everything that I throw at them.
These cards fan and spread like champs right out of the box. They do, like all cards, get sticky after a bit and this particular finish sometimes seems to lend itself to getting sticky faster than other finishes. Fanning power fixes this, but is funny on the black decks.
Ghost - Elegant. Very cool deck for mystical magic tricks. There is an unsettling feeling from these cards. Black Ghost - Also very elegant, and perfect for the darker tricks. Use this when you want to have a creepy feeling about your work. Black Tiger - Screams "Look at me!" Very flashy and bold, use with very visual tricks. Viper - Similar to Black Tigers, but they seem to exude an aura of coolness. You look smart and suave playing with Vipers. Masters - Same style points as regular bikes. Shadow Masters - The Darkest and Scariest deck E has. Take the black ghost, cover it in shadows, and add the boldness of the Tiger deck. Perfect for "haunted" tricks or for any trick that brings thoughts of spirits or demons.
All in all, I love E decks. I always have a Black Ghost with me. It is just my style, and the deck can take a pounding for a long time because I keep it in a clip. A little on the expensive side, but if you are a serious magician, this is nothing and will be well worth the investment. They will last you far longer than the comparable amount of regular bikes you would get for the same price. My only downside is the thickness can be a pain for XCM and can also take a while to break in.
Bicycle 1800 Series from ***********
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Overall - 6/10
Stock - 5/10
Finish - 5/10 (Air Cushion)
Durability - 4/10
Design - 8/10
Magic - 7/10
XCM - 5/10
Lets start positive. These cards are insane. You look at them sitting on the table. You KNOW they are brand new, but you can just tell that they are going to feel nasty and old and work. The artwork will fool anyone. As soon as you pick these cards up, expect to find everything feeling just like a normal deck of Bikes. These are the only *********** cards availiable right now that lack the fancy thick card stock and the UV500 Airflow finish. *********** opted to print these cards on standard Bike stock with the standard Air Cushion finish. These cards are merely a fantastic looking Bicycle deck.
If you flourish, they will handle, imagine this, just like Bikes! They work generically well for just about everything, but not amazing for anything. The design might be a bit of a downfall though, as the sharp images that make for great looking flourishing are just not present.
For the right kinds of magic trick, these cards are a must have. Example - D+M's heritage. The principal is that you carry around 4 cards from your great grandfathers winning poker hand years and years ago, and you want the spec to complete the hand without looking at the 4 cards or the card they will pick to complete the hand. Fantastic effect with regular cards. If you pull 1800's out for just the 4 cards, the effect gains an indescribable aura of mysticism and truth. They are seeing cards as old as your great grandfather. You really have them. It's real. When they complete your hand by just a "gut feeling" they KNOW that they were influenced by the spirit of your great grandfather or something. If used wisely, these cards are worth their weight in gold.
Now, on to the one real negative I have with these. Durability. I killed these cards in only an hour and a half at work. I was bored while I was supposed to be selling clothing at a department store, so I pulled these out and was practicing my favorite false cut. These cards, even though I had clean hands, couldn't take much, and are now only good for simple magic tricks that don't involve flourishing and card control. On the other hand, an E-deck goes with me 24/7, I play with it all the time, and after a few weeks it is still functioning to one degree or another.
IMO - Get one. Use it. Just don't play with it. Make it an accent deck to add to your arsenal for when the right trick calls, else keep it pretty at home.
Smoke and Mirrors
Overall - 9/10
Stock - 9/10
Finish - 9/10
Durability - ?/10
Design - 9/10
Magic - 9/10
XCM - 8/10
Let me quote Cornman.
Quote:
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Just to throw this in here, the finish on these are absolute, uninhibited, pure and total sex. They feel so smooth in my hands. They fan beautifully. I feel sad when I put them down.
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Cornman and I are agreed. These are the most magical things to have been in my hands for a long time. The finish is the slickest I have ever felt, the stock is second to none. What Dan and Dave set out to do they did perfectly.
I can't say much, so I will give you a generalization. Thin, slick, snappy, suave, smooth, beautiful, bold, mysterious, perfect. Smoke and Mirrors are these things.
These card were made by two of the best flourisher/magicians in the world specifically for their art. If you do both magic and flourishing, these cards were made to be in your hands. The design is both beautiful and bold, lending to fantastic displays and stunning flourishes, and also draw attention enough to be great for magic.
That is all I have to say. I will post more later when I have enough experience to talk about the durability of these decks.
Absolut Deck
Overall - 7/10
Stock - 8/10
Finish - 5/10
Durability - 10/10
Design - 5/10
Magic - 5/10
XCM - 8/10
These cards are unlike any other cards you will ever feel. Good and bad point to cover here.
First off, if you are looking for a deck of cards to practice with, THESE ARE PRIME. They are the longest lasting cards (aside from plastic cards) I have ever played with. The finish on these cards is nearly waterproof, and the oils from your hands don't get through to ruin the cardstock. Speaking of cardstock, Bicycle is printed on a 3-ply cardstock. These are on a single, thin sheet of paper. They are unbelievably thin and snappy. This deck is perfect for honing your XCM skills, the thinness makes XCMing easy. The cards are responsive, and they just keep going and going. If you bend a card (within reason), it bends back without damage. 10/10 for durability and XCM practice.
Here comes the negative. The finish leaves something to be desired. Though it protects the cardstock, you can't fan these cards well. Right out of the box, they clump. After being broken in, they clump. They don't really slide well, which makes them nice for cuts and certain flourishes, but will kill certain other flourishes that require free flowing cards. These cards also leave something to be desired when it comes to the back design. Obviously one way, too obvious to use. The back design is just iffy, nothing great at all. The face cards are unique, but all in all the faces of the cards are not easy on the eyes. For looking pretty, you won't want to use these cards. Pick up a sharp deck of Ghosts or Wynns, or just about anything else for that matter.
All in all, I love my Absolut Decks. I have a few lying around out of the box that I always am playing with. They take a serious beating, and come back for more. I highly recommend picking up some, even at around $10 a pack, if you are lucky. They are worth the investment for their practice value and durability.
Wynns (Red and Blue)
Overall - 7.5/10
Stock - 8/10
Finish - 7/10 (Cambric)
Durability - 6/10
Design - 8.5/10
Magic - 8/10
XCM - 5/10 (Fans and Spreads)
XCM - 7.5/10
I love Wynns. Lets just start with that. Not my favorite deck, but definitely one of my performance
decks. I usually only break these out when I am doing a big gig or when I am recording something.
The stock is a high quality casino grade Bee stock, along with Bee's Cambric finish. You get a nice feel from these cards right out of the box. That being said, they will fan alright for a short while, but they clump up fast. They are nice, springy cards that work well for most other aspects of magic or XCM. Once they start to clump up, they make for amazing cuts, so their usefulness is by no means over.
These cards are beautiful. The simple, yet bold design makes for a very flashy deck that shows up well from a distance and on camera. If you are performing XCM, these are hard to beat for looks, hence Dan and Dave Buck, Daniel Madison, and many more use these cards right along side of Jerry's Nuggets.
Not a whole lot else to say. They last a long time, but start to feel really gross, you know when these cards are too old. These card will also die quickly if you don't treat them well. They will get sticky and warp quickly if you don't take care of them, but if you do, they will last just fine.
Theory 11 Cards -
Guardians
Overall - 5/10
Stock - 4/10
Finish - 5/10 (Air Cushion)
Durability - 4/10
Design - 5/10
Magic - 6/10
XCM - 6/10
I had very high hopes and expectations upon ordering both Guardians and Centurions. They concepts seem really cool and everyone at T11 raves about these decks. I was very anxious waiting for the package to arrive, and it finally did. The two decks I received are two completely different experiences.
When I first picked up my box of Guardians, I was struck buy something not being right. It was the artwork. The artwork is supposed to be an updated, more modern take on the back of a normal deck of bikes. You don’t feel it. If you stop and look, you can see the circular designs in the background, but that and the fact that “angels” are involved are the only tiny similarities to a Bike design. The artwork is not pretty either. Very rough and grainy. The card in general does not look very nice when you perform with it. Yes, it is a mirror image from top to bottom, but it just looks like a mess when you see it from a distance. The artwork on the back is a big miss for me. Awesome idea, but a miss. The only thing I like is the angel-wing Ace of Spades. Everything else is a joke.
Then I got the cards in my hands. Nothing breathtaking, but a nice deck of cards. Comparable to the feel of ***********’s cards. Nice, springy cardstock. Until… They start to warp. Oh, my gosh, these cards warp and bend fast. I have never seen anything like it. Instantly. My hands were washed and very dry before handling these, yet just from looking at the artwork I had card warped so terrible one way or another that they were not usable for tricks. Now, this DOES work its way out after some use, but to begin with, the warping almost scared me. Things like an Ego change that bend the card to an extent left seemingly permanent damage. Again, once you play with these cards for a while, you will work it out, but when new these cards will hold their misshapen identity too well. If you warp a card, count on being able to locate it in the deck just as well as an intentionally crimped card for a rather long time.
Fans work well when new, and above average once broken in. The artwork however does not do fans justice. Cuts are nice, and the deck would be good for general XCM, except for the artwork. The art just looks sloppy. It’s not clean.
Once broken in, the deck works well. It lasts. The deck also grew on me once I had played with it for a while. I will surely use it, but there are definitely other decks out there that I’d rather use. You can get a better looking and handling deck of cards for less money other places.
Centurions
Overall - 7/10
Stock - 7/10
Finish - 5/10 (Air Cushion)
Durability - 7/10
Design - 7/10
Magic - 7/10
XCM - 8/10
I picked up my deck of Centurions with much hesitation after my letdown with Guardians just before. The first thing I noticed this time was again the art. Again, very grainy, much like Guardians, but it looked a hundred times better. The design at least is very crisp and clean and looks nice by itself, in fans, and in all sorts of flourishes. Definitely the better looking of the T11 cards.
The moment I held the deck in my hand out of the box, I no longer feared the same lack-luster performance that Guardians displayed. These cards fell like serious tools in my hand. The perform like them as well. The same Air Cushion finish is held between both sets of cards, but the stock of Centurions is a far better choice. It retains its crisp feel and does not warp and bend like Guardians. It leaves you with a cleaner, more professional feel. It feels like you are in control of the deck, not the other way around.
Take away most of my negative comments from Guardians and you pretty much have Centurions. Still an expensive deck, but this time it may be worth it. I would still take most E cards or definitely Smoke and Mirrors, but these may likely become part of my act.
White Centurions to come if I can get my hands on them.
Massa Playing Cards
Overall - 8/10
Stock - 9/10
Finish - 4/10
Durability -8/10
Design - 8/0
Magic - 6/10
XCM - 9/10
If you haven’t got your hands on these, you really need to. They have a very unique look, black and gold backs, maroon instead of red on the faces, a unique color scheme for face cards, and unique jokers and an Ace of Spades. These cards mean business. They will add a very cool look to any XCM routine.
Straight out of the box these cards feel stunning. They fan like a dream. They are crisp and snappy. It is hard to describe the feel of these. They are thin and very flexible. After a few minutes working with them, the fans start to go bad, but this leads to one of the best decks for cuts. They hold together like a dream. If I am ever going to go show off XCM to anyone, you can bet this is the deck I am going to use.
For magic, these cards are nice if you need the snap of the cards, but there are drawbacks. These cards begin to stick. If you need slick cards for magic, pass on these. Also, they are white faced with black backs, no white border. This becomes a problem with a back-to-back double or things of that nature. They are one way, but not in such a manner that a spectator can’t figure it out. All and all, I’d stick to flourishing with these cards.
These cards, aside from the short life of the finish, are very durable. They last a nice long time. The box is a different story. The cards are thin, and the box is too big. If you use a porper, the clip will mess up the too-thick-for-its-own-good box. The black box also reveals every scuff in bold white.
In short, get these. Worth the investment.
Next for me to rate -
Bees
Alladins
Arcos
Bicycle Poker Peek Pro
Bicycle Tragic Royalty
Bicycle Faded
Bicycle Clear
Aristocrat
Studs
Split Spades
Tally-Ho
And any other cards I stumble upon. I will also take requests (within reason) to rate cards, and I will try my best to get my hands on them to try them out. I hope this ends us being a valuable resource to you all. Please chip in your thoughts as well.