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I'm seeking input and/or possible improvements to the make up of my Svengali. Any help is appreciated.

The short/force card is the 8s. 26 of 'em combined with 26 legit. Those 26 break down to 6 spades, 6 clubs, 7 diamonds and 7 hearts or 12 black and 14 red. The legit consist of:

*The paint cards were a lil' tricky for me. Obviously they are important as it would be odd if none were ever shown to the spec but if you use them all then you severely disportion them based on only using 26 legit cards. Ultimately I decided on...
-Ks, Kc, Kh I needed to drop a red so I kept the "Suicidal King" for story telling purposes.
-Qh, Qd Used to keep the red/black balance.
-Jh, Js Again to keep the red/black balance. They are also the "One-eyed Jacks" for story telling purposes.

*All four Aces. Because everyone loves to see 'em.

*All four deuces. Decided to use all of them due to the contrast of the heavily pipped 8 versus the open/white space of the deuces.

*4c, 4s, 4d Like the deuces, I used these for the contrast of pips.

*8h, 8d Eliminated the black eights due to the short card.

*10c, 10d Keep the red/black ratio.

*One each of the remaining values, suits chosen to keep balance... 9s, 7d, 6c and 5h.

(All of the treys were left out because I thought they look too much like the 8 and needed to trim cards out anyway.)

Somebody has too much time on their hands. What the hell does it matter what the indifferent cards are? One tip I will give you is that the key card should be a court card. More colourful when you spread them out. And incidentally take no notice of anyone who tells you that you should never show the cards to be identical. They are talking a load of tosh.

mark lewis wrote:And incidentally take no notice of anyone who tells you that you should never show the cards to be identical. They are talking a load of tosh.

But, but, Don Driver said...



The indifferent cads do matter to an extent. You wouldn't want them to all be red for instance. My 99 cent pack bought at Lance Burton's shop as a souvenier had 6 of the same indiferent cards.

Anyway, perfection is in the tediuos details.

Don Driver is sick right now so I won't be rude about him until he recovers.

No fun being sick anytime..especially at Christmas.

Wait till you get old Paul. Come to think of it you are nearly old now. In the slightest.

If your specs start to notice the indifferent cards in your Svengali deck while you are performing a routine then I recommend that you look for a new routine.

I now have a feeling that someone will start to plug his book

Won't do him any good, I don't need another copy.

Somehow I think the specs will notice some of the indifferent cards seeing as how they'll be fanned and ribbon spread in front of them. What I have posted is the best make up that I can come up with from a psychological standpoint to keep heat off of the cards. All I wanted was feedback on the deck. I have asked too much.

Buy a deck from a shop somewhere and take what you are given and don't make such a fuss. Nobody pays any attention to the indifferent cards anyway.

Attention to detail is good, and making the deck up that way won't do any harm, but as the others have said it isn't really necessary. I guarantee you your audience are aware of a lot less than you think they are, and they won't notice anything unusual about the indifferent cards in a shop-bought Svengali Deck, and this is the Psychological perspective you want to be thinking about these things from.

There are several popular marketed effects which make use of a repeated stock of cards for forcing which are used day in and day out with great success, for example.

BTW although you haven't received feedback on the deck itself, you have received feedback on your thinking behind the deck, which is far more valuable and useful IMO.