talkmagic.co.uk

Lots of talk on the sven and mirage...I own and use the sven but it appears the general opinion is the the mirage is a sven on steroids....anyone agree/disagree?

A couple of questions for you all....

1) I have a sven and about to get a mirage...am I going to find that one of them is going to dwindle from my routine or does anyone out there have both and use both in different situations....maybe having both is overkill?

2) For those that have worked/handled both if you had to get one or the other, which and why?

3) I have all the standard 101 sven books, etc.....are they all going to be workable with the mirage or is there handling differences that prevent certain effects?

I do not approve of this deck being known as the "Mirage" deck. Magicians of a certain age know that the proper name is the Rough and Smooth deck.

I should also clear up a myth. There is a mistaken assumption that you cannot handle a svengali deck in the same way as you can a so-called Mirage deck.

This assumption is more of a mirage than the bloody deck is.

Let me debunk this myth. You CAN spread a svengali deck just as much as you can a Mirage deck. You CAN fan them just as much as you can fan a Mirage deck. You CAN overhand shuffle them just like the Mirage deck.

In fact you can do EVERYTHING with a svengali deck that you can do with the Rough and Smooth deck with the advantage that you don't have to worry about the sticky stuff wearing out.

Where do you learn to do all these things? I shall give you three guesses.......................

mark lewis wrote:I do not approve of this deck being known as the "Mirage" deck. Magicians of a certain age know that the proper name is the Rough and Smooth deck.


In fact you can do EVERYTHING with a svengali deck that you can do with the Rough and Smooth deck with the advantage that you don't have to worry about the sticky stuff wearing out.

The description of the Mirage given by Henry Hay in "Amateur Magician's Handbook" implies that the Mirage has rather more properties than simply R&S. Are modern Mirage decks not made according to his description?

Barry

I think Mark's right. Somewhere in the magic I bought as a child are a couple of decks that were sold under the name 'Rough and Smooth' and I'm pretty sure they were exactly the same as the Mirage Deck.

I learned how to overhand shuffle and fan a Svengali Deck by playing around with the cards. It's really not that hard (if it were, I couldn't do it).

I think there are a couple of things you can can't with a Svengali Deck is to hand it out for examination. You have to be pretty gutsy to do that with a Mirage, but I've seen it done!

EDIT: I haven't had the privilege to read what Henry Hay says on the subject, but I thought that a Mirage Deck is a Svengali Deck plus R&S. They aren't 'just' half a forcing deck that's been roughed.

I'm fairly sure the decks from my childhood had the 'extra' modification. One effect detailed was to wrap the deck in paper, then find the card using a paper knife. I remember that vividly, as the blade damaged the edge of one of the cards when I tried it!

Good review! Straight and to the point.

These are the websites in which I could find sell a Mirage Deck (the second link sells it for less than 7 dollars):

http://www.magictricks.com/cards/mirage.htm

http://www.magic.org/store/product_info ... ts_id=4081

http://www.magical-tricks.com/Miragecarddeck.htm

http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/product_i ... ts_id=1066

http://www.wizmomagic.co.uk/mirage-deck-p-56.html

.:Ham:.

now here's a great trick from the mind of a magician. i don't have a mirage deck. i have a svengali the difference is with a mirage deck you can spread it. you can't do that with a svengali.

Yes you can.

did you know mr. lewis has a book about the svengali?

anyway, I'm quite fond of the new-fangled named mirage deck, purely cos for my clumsy hands, i can spread the cards face up without fear...

mark lewis wrote:Yes you can.

you can but you have to be very careful

Hey my names Mike, im a new member on this but i always like to check out the reviews on here, been doing magic for a good few months now and i bought a svengali deck. I must say its a pretty good deck and ive already got a routine with it, obviously nothing amazing, kind of along the lines of the ambitious card routine but it does get great reactions and people dont ever seem to want to inspect the deck, obviously i carry a regular with me if im ever using that one in case i need a quick switch. Im also planning on buying a stripper deck with the strip dvd by Jon Thompson, just wonder if any of ya could tell me if this is a worthy investment?? anyways im off great reviewson the forum an ill be sure to post more comments as time goes by.

Mike

You have to be careful spreading the mirage deck too. There are described two ways of spreading the svengali deck in my wondrous book.
They do take a moderate amount of practice but if anyone here is a fumble fingered dodo they probably shouldn't be doing magic in the first place.
Unless they should.

I will not explain what I mean by the last sentence. The more astute of you will figure out what I mean.

In other words you won't.

gaff boy wrote:...... Im also planning on buying a stripper deck with the strip dvd by Jon Thompson, just wonder if any of ya could tell me if this is a worthy investment??

He is a member here by the name of Tomo....pm him and I am sure he would answer any questions you may have.....I have actually thought about it myself!

mark lewis wrote:.....There are described two ways of spreading the svengali deck in my wondrous book.....

My understanding is that you really cover all there is to know about the deck.....may I ask you, do you exclusively use the sven or do you rotate it in and out with regular cards? I am curious about how much and often you use it as well as to what extent....how long of a sven routine do you perform with when using it?

I am a truly wondrous performer with regular cards and I am sick of the svengali deck so I virtually never use it when performing impromptu close up magic of which a huge part of my work is with cards.

However if I am at a paid performance I am far more likely to use it if the circumstances warrant it. And at a trade show I ALWAYS use since it fits in well there. It is ideal for product tie ins and it is almost as if God himself invented it for that purpose.

The routine lasts around 5 minutes. At a trade show I finish with it and announce that I am "going to use a trick deck that I purchased in a magic shop". I do explain that up to that point they have been watching magic with a regular deck.

There is no need to fiddle about secretly switching decks. I just tell them straight out that it is a trick deck. It makes no difference whatever. They are still utterly astounded and in fact the very body language of the crowd changes before my eyes. They appear transfixed and hardly move a muscle. Everyone is under my control.

This comes from years of selling them at consumer shows and is something that cannot be taught.

moodini wrote:

gaff boy wrote:...... Im also planning on buying a stripper deck with the strip dvd by Jon Thompson, just wonder if any of ya could tell me if this is a worthy investment??

He is a member here by the name of Tomo....pm him and I am sure he would answer any questions you may have.....I have actually thought about it myself!

Oh right thank you ill ask him about it then