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My 10 decks of Black Backs from Magicbox arrived while I was in France... and I now notice they're just the same as Tactical black backs—NOT the tiger backs. (sigh)

Never mind:)

On the subject of black tiger bikes... my .pdf is almost ready for release and now contains 4 effects!!! 3 effects purely with the black/white tigers and a bonus routine with the addition of a red-pipped deck!

Black Negative Deck Routines:
1. Persistence of Vision
2. The legend of Lucky Jackie
3. Black Heart

Persistence of Vision is a rather odd optical illusion, which goes from a trick of the eye to a trick of the mind. Uses the White 3 of Clubs

The legend of Luckie Jackie is the story of a rags-to-riches gambling cheat. Even when he's cornered, and the odds are against him, his luck shines through. Uses the Skewed Ace of Spades

Black Heart is a pure mentalism routine... but utilises the black deck's inherent 'retention of vision failure' properties to the full. Uses envelopes


The Red Pipped Deck effect:

The Blood Curse of Count Eripmav

The dark tale of a village cursed by the shadow of a vampire—and the tale of the king and queen who cheated his curse!


NOT LONG NOW... been in France for a few days, but back now and ready to rock on.

Best of luck on the 24th - the Tigers really are great looking beasties! It would be good if you could let us all know how you get on at the Magic Circle so don't be shy, let us in on the full details please!

Thanks Mandrake, Ill let you know. Should be intresting, we've got Alan Shaxon talking about stacked decks in the morning and some advice etc. on childrens magic in the afternoon. Ive been down once before (Im a member of the Offical Young Magicians Magic Circle) and It was really great. James Fortune showed us he cards across, coins through table (great routine) and some sympathetic silks. It was a great day. Oh yeah and I met ali bongo. Mad guy. Great fun though, he was giving advice on sponge balls..

where's the pdf gonna be at?

Another question: Why buy so many decks? I can understand three but ten and 24?

The more you buy the cheaper they are per deck. Not much good if you only want to play around with them but if you use them regulalry or professionally then tbey wear out after a while and need to be replaced.

I've noticed that there seems to be alot of negative feedback coming from these decks aswell as the praise that has been issued so far.

I think it's safe to say that they're the talk of the magic community at the moment but I havnt come accross a single magician who is undecided about these decks. Either they're great and one of the best things to hit the scene for a few years or they're useless novelities that have no practical function for a performer. At first I thought that those who have praised them were doing so simply for the novelty factor, but equally that those who critisised them did so because they didn't have a creative bone in their body and couldn't see their potential.

This was all before I had actually bought a deck myself and also before I had spoken face to face with a fellow magician at length about these decks. Now I'm sure that my original view points are true for a certain minority of the magic community but after discussing these decks with a particularly skilled magician who is almost totally against themI have realised that it might not just be about craetive ability but also after playing with these cards myself I have come to realise that they do have the potential to be much more than a novelty.

We know that the venerable Mr. Seige is so made up with these that he's releasing a set of (very good) routines to be used in conjunction wth theses cards, but I'd be interested to know if anybody looks on these cards from the other side of the pond?

Personally I think that these cards have alot of potential but at the moment due to the massive influx of them into the magic community we will not see the benifit of that potential for some time. But they're great fun to play with

Also, a bit of general knowledge for you here; apparently the second edition is primarily different to the first addition because the black ink on the first addition was causing the cards to stick. To combat this USPCC have coated the cards in a very slight layer of varnish thus making them appear superior quality, hence the "easier" fanning ability. This varnish should also increase the durability of the cards but it also means that they will take alot longer to "break-in" because of the extra coating. It also turns out that the UV sensitivity was an accident as it is the new layer of varnish which is UV sensitive. However, don't take my word for it, this is all hear say from friends of friends, but it does seem reasonably logical.

They shouldn't wear out too bad if you wear gloves. Preferably white. I wouldn't know because I will be getting them in about a week.

They shouldn't wear out too bad if you wear gloves. Preferably white

Wearing gloves for card magic? you gotta be joking?

in a word cardini, he lways wore white gloves when manipulating cards even in prison.

I guess I will have to resign myself to the fact that I am not as good with cards as cardini then.

Seriosly though the thought of doing any card manipulations whilst wearing a pair of gloves brings me out in a cold sweat. Bit then, heck, I striglle to do a neat overhand shuffle without gloves so what can UI expect...

with gloves? wow....

I have this memory of being quite young - 7-9 in fact - and watching a magic show on TV. I watched this amazing guy with hat and gloves perform this routine with cards and cigaretts. That memory has stayed with me but it wasn't until last year when I got seriously interested in magic that I found out that it was a gentleman by the name of Cardini and that he was world famous. It was charming to learn who he actually was and that he was world famous.


As to the Tiger cards I like their novelty and people I have shown them to comment on them which is a good reaction. I find them a little slippy and not as flexible but that could be as I only have 1 deck of them I don't want to wreck them and I am being gently with them.

I plan to work on a black light routine for Halloween which should be interesting. Anyone else done that?

I don't see what's so amazing about using gloves. Wouldn't gloves give you a better grip? Then give the spectator gloves to protect the cards from sweat and sticky substances. He/she would wear them knowing that it was "so hard" to get such "amazing" cards and that u don't want to mess them up.

p wrote:I don't see what's so amazing about using gloves. Wouldn't gloves give you a better grip? Then give the spectator gloves to protect the cards from sweat and sticky substances. He/she would wear them knowing that it was "so hard" to get such "amazing" cards and that u don't want to mess them up.

Well... wearing gloves during many sleights would be like trying to cut your toenails whilst wearing wellington boots.

The glide? Pinky break? Second deal?

And FYI... magician's synonymous with wearing white gloves did so as part of the 'gentlemanly' thing. I would defy even the most hardened pro to perform a whole routine with gloves on!

Anyway—back to topic—another 'oddity' of the tigers is that you can 'black' the edges of all the cards, EXCEPT ONE (I use the Ace of Hearts, dunno why). This un-touched card makes an excellent, visible keycard.

seige wrote:Anyway—back to topic—another 'oddity' of the tigers is that you can 'black' the edges of all the cards, EXCEPT ONE (I use the Ace of Hearts, dunno why). This un-touched card makes an excellent, visible keycard.

I've done this with the four aces except that I blackened all of their edges except for the opposing left corners. That way it makes it alot less obvious. I literally left about a millimeter of white edge on the card and blackened the rest. It may seem like a small ammount but if you know what your looking for its dead easy to find. You also have to make sure that all the other corners are TOTALLY black otherwse you may get confused. It also helps to do both opposing corners that way it doesn't matter which way the card is pointing in the deck. I used the left (if you're looking at the bottom end of the deck in mechanic's/dealer's grip) corners
because that way the opposing corner could be hidden by the index finger and make it even harder for the spectators to spot it.