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"BlackDeckMagic" by Chris Jones
£5 from Nothing Up My Sleeve (NUMS)

Overview
Simply put, this manuscript gives you a real reason for owning a Black Tiger Deck. It comprises of four effects designed solely with these beautiful cards in mind.

Like many others I am sure, I bought several packs of BTD’s only to realise that in the real world they were (imo) self defeating. The whole strangeness of the deck yelled “trick cards” to lay people and consequently made the job of wowing the audience actually harder and not easier.

For me they went straight into the draw of lost magic never to be seen again. Or so I thought...

After my first read of "Black Deck Magic", my BTD’s were quickly retrieved from their hiding place so I could immediately run through the four routines.

I have had the document for awhile now, and have been having huge amounts fun performing the routines.

Difficulty. 3/5
1=Even I can do it, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Obviously there are four effects and they all differ slightly in difficulty, but although there are sleights, I doubt there is anything anyone will find too taxing.

The Effects.

a) "Persistence of Vision".

The magician takes a deck of rather curious looking cards from their box. The cards are all inverse, white on black compared with a normal deck. The black/white reversal, the magician says, has been developed to uniquely display how the eye sees what it wants to see. He demonstrates…

This is just plain weird, and frankly not just a nice opener but an excellent way to introduce the cards in the first place. It leaves the spectator wanting to see more with the cards. If Luke Jermay did more card magic, I would imagine it would be something like this…

b) "The Legend of Lucky Jackie".

A story effect that has all the charm of a Damon Runyon book

This one reminded me greatly of “Aunt Mary’s terrible secret” in that although it is just one effect, it is almost a whole routine all by itself. I love using the pasteboards to tell a story like this. This one could have easily been sold as a stand alone effect.

c) The Black Heart.

Another charming story effect, that will in all likelihood send shivers down the spine of all that see it…

d) "Blood Curse of Count Eripmav".

This one uses a Red Pipped BTD and is both visually stunning and magical.

The Review

None of these effects would have worked without a BTD. And frankly, in my humble opinion, the BTD doesn’t work very well with most other card effects.

This document offers a perfect symbiotic partnership for the two, and as such every BTD owner should own it.

Rating. Effect/item: 9/10, Quality of goods: 9/10, Value for money: 10/10

Bottom Line

Lets face it. For the price of a new deck of Black Tiger's you can buy this manuscript. I honestly can’t see where you can go wrong. You get four brilliantly scripted effects (and I do mean brilliant) complete with a detailed descriptions of all the moves and if that wasn’t enough, I promise you it will start you on the road to thinking up your own BTD routines.

Very highly recommended.

Thanks Bananafish!

You got me in trouble with my wife! I'm blaming you 100% for me ordering this! I'm positively sure I am going to enjoy it. Seriously, thanks for the review, I ordered mine book along with a black gaff set right after I read your review.

I've been using black decks off and on. I particularly like the black with red pips. Usually I run through a quick patter to show the deck is real, but still get met with suspicion. I just love the look of them.

I don't really like having to use a black sharpie for the edges, but I'll live with it.

Sorry for my rambling, thanks for the review.

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You got me in trouble with my wife!

Would a written apology help?

To be honest I had a Black deck sitting around for ages not being used. I just didn't want to use them in a real situation as they just came across as being "magicians cards". But now I have used them for paid gigs on several occasions. They go down well. (as indeed did puss)

Can i ask where i could find loads of rutines for the black tiger gaff deck. i have seen videos of this and think it is an absolutely amazing deck and could be a great routine to just show off. I saw how it didn't come with instructions and that you need to know sleights, would anyone know which sleights would be needed?

I ordered mine from Ellusionist. Here is what is advertised....

Learn high-impact card work specifically designed for the Black Deck

Learn deck switches, color changes and fully scripted tricks that HIT HARD.

Learn routines and effects that can only be performed with the Black Deck

The book contains a complete listing of all the Gaff Cards including suggested powerful uses for each one.

Learn proper care, tricks and tips for taking care of your black deck.

The entire goal of the book is not to teach sleights-- not to teach moves-- but to give you a one-stop resource for creative ideas with the Black Tiger Deck and Gaff Deck.

Here are the Table of Contents:
Black Deck Book - Table of Contents
100 Packed Pages of Pure Gold...


Acknowledgements
Black Deck Creation by Mike Kelley
Foreword by The Shaman
Introduction by Brad Christian

CHAPTER 1: The Black Deck and Your Audience

Is That a Trick Deck?
Get People Used to It
Ways to Introduce the Black Deck
Magician’s Special Edition Mike Delbert
Bicycle® Production Mishap Mike Delbert
Treasures from Black Magick Roy Ornelas Jr.
The Art of Cartomancy Roy Ornelas Jr.

CHAPTER 2: Black Deck Care and Additional Notes

Black Deck Care---How to Do It Right
Sharpie® Care with Your Black Deck
Using a Card Clip
The Black Deck Revolution---Other Options and Ideas
Trick Black Decks
Black Deck Presentation Concepts
The Zombie Card
Voodoo
Black Magick
Scratches on the Cards

CHAPTER 3: Tricks

Negative Flip Ken Sasamura
Hypnotic Induction Magius
Divergent Animation Malcolm Vendryes
Radial Telepathy Richard Agnew
Strange Art of Fortune Telling Roy Ornelas Jr.
Outcast Division Dominick Cancilla
Black Mantis Raymond Singson
Time Splitter Brad Christian

CHAPTER 4: Bonus Tricks Sleights and Deck Switches

Risk (The Routine)
The Redline Cut
Black Deck Blackjack
Black Deck Death
The Black Awakening
The Genius (Bonus)
Cerebral Calibration (Bonus)

CHAPTER 5: Color Changes

Open Finger Color Change
Bob McAllister’s Bet-A-Dollar Color Change

CHAPTER 6: Deck Switches

Black Deck Morph Chris Schuh
Ed Marlo’s Standing Deck Switch

CHAPTER 7: Working with Ellusionist Black Tiger Gaff Deck
Bonus Section
General Utility Gaff Cards
Special Artwork Gaff Cards

You can find it at: http://www.ellusionist.com/order/Black_ ... htm?cat=39



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EDIT: When I made this post I made an unjustified comment on the Black Deck Book, based on what I thought was the general view (I was wrong). I've apologized for this later on this thread, if I have put you off the book I am sorry. Please rethink it.

There are two different products out for the Black Tiger deck:

ellusionist sells a book called Black Deck Book

Black Deck Magic is a book by seige with four effects that is only sold through NUMS afaik.

Kati

Thanks for the info.

I ordered the book from NUMS when I saw Bananafish's review and got the Black Deck Book from Ellusionist at the same time. I only wrote the information from Ellusionist because Bananafish wrote the info on Black Deck Magic. Sorry, I should have been more specific.

Hopefully, I'll get something worthwhile from the Black Deck Book. After I go through it, I'll post a review.

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i was wondering whether there is a book for ghost deck?
or can we use these magics for ghost deck?

katrielalex wrote:That's a different thing mate - it's a book from Ellusionist that I think is widely considered to be junk...

Black Deck Magic is a book by seige with four effects that is only sold through NUMS afaik.

Kati

Kati - wha? Where did you get that from? "I think" is not good enough. Please back it up with facts.

EDIT: As posted above, I unfairly criticized ellusionist's Black Deck Book with out a good review. Please ignore this post.

katrielalex...I think your comments are a bit unfair.

The review you linked to was made by a 15 year old with a total of 14 postings on TM. That is (in my book) not evidence of "...widely considered to be junk..." It is based upon this review that you came up with that assumption/phrase.

You also stated that you haven't seen the book. Based on your comments you put a few people off a product (in the other thread) that you had no experience or knowledge of.

That really isn't fair or right. I haven't seen the book either but even if it wasn't popular or others had problems with it I can understand Brad taking umbrage with what you have written.

Let's be circumspect in what we all say.

.

It sounds like the guy that posted the review is upset about the fact that we listed WHERE you can learn the sleights - if necessary.

Here's the thing. We debated about teaching the sleights or not in the book. We decided against it, and that the gaff deck should be aimed at more experienced users. Especially since we'd have to repeat so much that we've already taught in Ellusionist videos.

So, what we did was prepare an absolutely gorgeous book on the black deck, dealing with issues people were having - with taking care of it, using it in real life... how to deal with people thinking it is a trick deck - ETC. We gathered several very powerful routines, and even scripted most of them. For the sake of completeness we HAD to say where you could learn the sleights involved in that section - in case the user didn't know that particular move(s).

It sounds like what we did for the sake of completeness, that kid took as nothing but advertising, and dissed the book. And the sources are simply listed at the end of each chapter - just listed.

The book is greaat - for the right person - someone who is more experienced with card magic. And it's just gorgeous... something we're very proud of.

Interesting how things are perceived. A simple review is posted. Then someone else takes that as 'wide spread knowledge' and bam - a great book gets dissed and forgotten.

If I didn't know better, I would have taken Katri's view as being the end all about the The Black Deck book by Ellusionist. And god knows how many times that same 'knowledge' has been spread around in different posts. That's the problem with the Internet. You are annonymous and no one is accountable.

OK, I apologize for that . I should be more careful when I post second- hand reviews of items I don't own. I've edited the post...

Sorry.

Kati

P.S. By the way, you said

Tom Lauten wrote:You also stated that you haven't seen the book. Based on your comments you put a few people off a product (in the other thread) that you had no experience or knowledge of.

I just wanted to point out that I didn't write the other review and infact I haven't even posted in the other thread. I agree I shouldn't have said what I said about ellusionist's book based on one unreliable review, but as far as I can see nobody has said that I put them off ellusionist's book either -- this thread is about seige's product which is a different kettle of fish.

No problem - thanks.

Brad.

The two books are VERY different, mine being written around May 2004 when the decks first came out, with the sole purpose of providing some effects to take advantage of the deck.

The Ellusionist Black Deck Book is more comprehensive in terms of coverage, and I believe was intended to be an accompaniment to the Gaff decks more than anything.

As for slating the Ellusionist book, I think people ought to actually take care to remember that these items are written by professionals, usually for use by professionals—and as such, the Black Deck Book from Ellusionist is great value for money.

It's a shame that the internet can provide such a hit-and-miss approach to subjective critiques in this way. It is also a shame when ignorance gets in the way of appreciation and credit where it's due.

I've personally over the course of 20 years spent thousands of pounds on what most of you would term 'pamphlets'—by such masters as Osterlind, Cassidy, Tamariz, Knepper, Sankey, Nyman and many many more. This is just the delivery method—the CONTENT is the important thing to me.

Don't judge a book by it's cover—especially if you've never owned or seen it.