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End Taper Cut Deck
Price: around £9.00 from cards4magic.co.uk

Difficulty: 1/5
(1=great for begicians, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

Description
We all know the principles of a Wizard/Stripper deck... right?
No? Well, here's a quick 'laymans' guide:

(example of performance)
A deck of very ordinary looking cards (Bicycle - the magician's choice) are shown, shuffled and handed to the magician. One, two, even three or more spectators take a card, look at it, and return the cards to the deck. The deck is shuffled, cut, shuffled, incinerated in a furnace (forget that last one) and one by one, the magician reveals each of the spectators cards.

Made possible without clever passes, sleights or cuts. No additional gimmicks, gaffs or well-trained nano-bots to sort the cards out... all of the work is done by the deck.

This new 'cut' deck is a bit different from the 'trapezoid' decks we all know and love, as it is not tapered on each of the long edges - but just on one short edge...

Review
I've mentioned this deck a few times, so I thought I'd better review it so you know what I'm raving about.

I'm a huge fan of Wizard decks. Stripping decks are brilliant-the impossible becomes possible. Selected cards are lost, shuffled in and found - instantly.

But something I've always disliked is the direction of the 'stripping'. I'm a huge fan of the overhand shuffle, and like any fellow 'semi-purist' card magicians, you make sure you stick to your favourite shuffles, cuts and flourishes throughout your act, to sort of reinforce that when you ARE using a shuffle or cut as either a force or control, it just looks like part of your normal handling.

That's where the old method seemed to fail me... It required a kind of weird Hindu shuffle type of move to strip the cards, and even then, sometimes it's easy to miss a card on the first 'strip'.

Not any more! These cards are great. The taper is in fact not a taper at all, but more of just an incline on the top edge of the deck. Here's why this is so good...

1: On a normal stripper deck, it's quite easy to spot the tapered sides when looking at the back of the deck. This deck only shows it's true form on one edge, which can be easily hidden.

2: Usually, if a card is turned back to front (not end to end) in an oil & water routine, it lies along with the other cards. Not with this deck... turn a card over in any direction, and it can be stripped...

3: The angle of the taper at one end only makes it a doddle to riffle to the turned card - almost as quickly as a card that's been corner shorntened.

4: The fact that the card is edge cut means I can strip very easily during an overhand shuffle, and 'feel' my way to controlling the card to anywhere I like during a seemingly normal shuffle.

5: Even experienced, critical people who are looking out for a stripper deck will not spot this one!

Bear in mind that this is presented as a 'pro' item... there's no routines or guidance included. If you're a beginner, this is a great accompaniment to a '101 tricks with a wizard/stripper deck' type of book/video.

Overall
Would I recommend this deck?

Ohhhh, yes. Superb. In fact, I think my regular stripper decks will be going in the drawer.

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

The bottom line...
Perfect for beginners, even better for pro's. If you buy this and don't like it, and you can justify WHY you don't like it - it would very interesting to hear why!!!

The best gaffed deck since I bought my first ID.

hmmmmm think this may ba my next purchase... after i get the daddy neo of course...(gonna have to put in serious overtime to pay for all this stuff heh heh heh )

one thing though when you say incline on the top edge do you mean the short edge?

_______________
l............................/
l.........................../
l_____________/

like that? *looking on the back of the deck*(sorry about the crude drawing but i couldnt find anything to do a link to)

Spot on.

And let me say, I was going to compare the cards to a guillotine blade, but I really did not want to open yet ANOTHER can of worms which leaves my private life open for question!

Are they really just as easy to use as a stripper deck? it sounds a little fiddly to me.

I only got my stripper the other day, and at the moment the only way I can strip without being too obvious is to do it behind my back, and I think there are many people that recognise this as a strippers feature. So if its easier to do th stripping from the front - undetected then it has to be a good thing.

I think the best thing for me to do is get a pack and play with them awhile.

(see Seige - every time you review something I spend money ).

This deck is much easier to strip-out, as I mentioned in the review.

The stripping can be disguised as an overhand shuffle - which looks far more natural than a Hindu.

I've gotten restored faith in stripper decks since this came along. It's far more versatile.

I've written a couple of routines - let me know when you get the deck, and I'll pass them on.

recieved this today....nice shiny new bike deck with the bottom cut off... to be honest i think it looks alittle too noticable... HOWEVER i wont know till i try it in anger so to speak, so it will be off with me to work tonight and i'll let you know in the morning heh heh heh

Yes, but like I said, only one end is noticeable - and that's only because you're looking for it. Keep the cards moving, and no one will ever know. It's far less obvious than trapezium-cut decks, and much easier to strip out.

You can kill the spectator's view of one side quite casually, anyway.

Good luck with the performance!!! I've got a brilliant 'oil/water/revelation' routine with that deck that I've just perfected... I might post it in this thread later...

ok... well i gave it a go and i must say it passed brilliantly no more dodgy pinky breaks for this little mog, one guy was suspicious cos a) he does magic also and b) i told him i was getting them the other day anyways this should be in everyones toolkit.... except purists cos theyre so good they done need them


heh heh heh

Glad you've 'seen the light'.

There's so many more tricks besides 'finding the returned card' that you can do with this deck. The aforementioned oil & water it great, as even you're most scrutinous (real word?) audience will be amazed... here's the description - I'll stick the method and working in the Magi only section...

Oil/Water/Revelation/Triumph etc. etc. call it what you will!
A simple Triumph routine, by Seige

Effect
The magi takes out a deck of cards and shuffles them. He ribbon spreads the front, and does a 'twin-peaks' roll-over to show all the backs.

It's a normal deck ( ). He gathers the cards, and shuffles again. Then, he fans them and offers the specator a card. The specator takes the card, remembers it and returns it to the deck.

The magician squares the deck instantly, and fairly, and places it on the table - in full view.

The spectator is asked to cut the deck into 8 piles. This is done.

The spectator is then asked to flip four of the piles face-up!!! Scary moment for most magicians!

The magi gathers up the piles in order, and SHUFFLES - YES - SHUFFLES the cards. The corker - he then ribbon spreads AGAIN showing the cards all mixed up - VERY mixed up. Other magi start to cringe...

The magi gathers the deck, makes a cut or two to show some face up, some face down, then almost IMMEDIATELY ribbon spreads the cards face-up - THEY ARE ALL BACK FACING THE SAME WAY!!!

All, except one, which shows it's back...

The spectator is asked to take the face-down card - it was their original selection!!!

The method here is so diabolical, that when you do it for the first time and it works - flawlessly - all the hairs on the back of your neck will stand erect. This is REAL close-up magic - and all you need is the Tapered End-Cut deck!!!

These cards sound great, this post is around a year old though & I can't find these cards for sale anywhere. Are they still the best. Does anyone know where I can get them or under what name I should be looking if different?

And would someone just mind confirming that stripper cards are controlled by the length side... ahem & these end taper cards aren't.

Just so I know I'm not getting confused! Ta.

think of every card in the deck being a short card and you will be there

as a regular stripper myself the card type i meen, i can see the advantage of thease cards but havant found any for some time so any help wouldn't go a miss either.

search for"Stripper deck (Wizard) New Way"

Hi Mog

Checked card4magic & magictricks.co.uk & also a google search.
Nothing is actualy showing as stripper deck New or end taper cards.

As I have a stripper deck I want to be sure I get the right ones. Do you know where? Ta.

if you type in exactly whats in the above post on the cards4magic search then you'll get what your after. price without postage is £9

Whoops, didn't see the search box first time as it's not a part of the main site.
Got it now, thanks.