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Hey guys,
I purchasing the How To Do Street Magic on DVD, and at the same time want to order a pack of cards to be able to train to at the same time. Now being new to the scene i hear the BLACK Bicycle® Black Tiger Deck, is really the way to go. I keep reading back and fourth between the Black Tiger Stripper Deck, The Black Tiger Svengali Deck , and the Stripper cards. Guys i am really confused and want to make a good investment. Please help.

Hi!

I'm not clear what you want here.

The Stripper and Svengali are gaff decks. This discussion has been had before but I don't think that it's a good idea having them in Tiger backs as this just draws even more attention to the cards.

The Black Tiger deck is quite cool but it has some disadvantages. I personally don't have one (although I have the Vipers, which are not that good) so I can't comment but I would recommend just a plain pack of Bikes (or Tally-Hos ).

Kati

i disagree about vipers, i find them easy to handle and great ot look at. I wouldn't rely on any reverse printed deck liek these, they get worn out quickly and if they do, its more expensive to replace them. I suggest Bicycle seconds, they are the factory seconds which are exactly the same quality in my experience. The colour on the back may be a bit darker in some of the packs, but who would notice that? Not me, obviously...

Go with Katriel on this one. If you're just starting out, you're going to go through a TON of decks, practicing.

Get your hands on some regular Bikes.

jokerdan wrote:i disagree about vipers, i find them easy to handle and great ot look at

They're great to look at, I'll give you that. For 10 minutes, until you faro/riffle and wear the edges down to white.

For £6, you'd think they could use black card stock instead of printing black onto white stock...

Also, they feel sort of greasy, and are not nearly as slippery as Bikes.

Just my opinion.

Kati

I prefer the greasy feel, but only for flourishes, not for normal trickery.

Hi Jose. In my opinion vipers & tigers are not good for street magic because spectators become suspicius that it isa a gaffed deck. Better to use normal bikes or other cards. The stripper and svengali are great for the beginner ( but whith a good presentation only) , but after some month of magic you will give up these gaffed decks.

P.S. in my opinion viper are better than Btigers ( as tally ho are better than bikes just my two cents

The Black Tigers do lose their colour during use, which can be a problem, and make the deck look untidy.

However, just buy yourself a black permanent marker pen (in the US I think they are Sharpies), and colour in those white bits.

No one has ever mentioned anything when I'm using them, and I have a few with the edges touched-up in this way.

Cheers.

Coloring in your cards with a sharpie is just..... I don't know. To me, it seems like repainting a scuff on your car with tempra paint - it just never looks right. I will say it again - I am highly annoyed by the fact that Ellusionist offered that "fix" in the gaff deck book.

I don't like the feeling that I need to wash my hands after handling a deck of cards for a few minutes.

If you're THAT psyched to get a cool looking deck - wait about a month and snag some ghost decks when they come out. At the very least, they'll be almost identical in feel to the tigers/vipers - and they're already white, so you won't need to buy a sharpie for touch-up work.

Good point from Demitri there... the Ghost deck looks pretty cool, and it's already white, so no touch-up work required.

I'll be getting myself a couple of these decks when they're released.

Cheers.

The ghost deck will be the first of these daft looking ones I will be purchasing, partly for that reason and partly cos I reckon they look the coolest so far!

Ghost deck? Ghost deck? What is this? I thought I not only owned about every variation of cards but owned them too! Can anyone enlighten me?

Check out the Ellusionist web site mate.

They are releasing a Ghost Deck sometime in August I think. There are some preview shots of the cards... they look pretty sweet.

The Ellusionist team has worked with the USPCC on these, and they've been in the pipeline for a while now. I'm planning on getting a couple of decks when they come out.

Cheers.

Yep, they are sweet. Another purchase will be happening when they come out. I never use these packs for performance though, but just gotta have them!

I have quite a few decks too.

I might take a picture of them all and post it. Would be interested in seeing your collection if possible.

Have you checked out www.cards4magic.co.uk

They have a huge selection of cards that may interest any serious collector of different decks. I've got a few from there myself.

Cheers.